Community Renewal of Pottawatomie County is a nonprofit located in the Shawnee area whose primary focus is on building relationships within the community.
The organization first came to be seven years ago when the Founding CEO of the Avedis Foundation, Michelle Briggs, learned about the work being done by Community Renewal International in Shreveport, Louisiana. The Foundation met with some of their representatives and felt like it was a way for Avedis to invest in their community.
Executive Director of Community Renewal Brandon Dyer said unlike some other local nonprofits, Community Renewal is not considered a relief organization. The nonprofit primarily focuses on restorative work Dyer said their mission “is to really help communities restore trust through intentional relationships.” Community Renewal follows through with this mission with the work they do within its different programs, such as We Care. Campus and We Care. Team Programs.
According to the Community Renewal website, The We Care. Campus program is a “Caring-centered character development partnership with local schools to grow the next generation of competent and compassionate adults.”
The campus program currently exists at 10 different school locations and about 2200 students receive some type of programming.
At Shawnee Middle School and High School the nonprofit does a program called Elevate which is a branch of the campus program, where Community Renewal staff teaches a first-hour class every day.
“It’s really targeted at kiddos who are chronically absent…or are truant a lot,” Dyer said. “And so the idea is if we can really begin to build relationships with these students, and…come alongside them and show them that they’re loved and cared for and really work with them well, we can get them on the path to reaching their goals, graduating high school and moving on into the workforce.”
The We Care. Team program, however, focuses mainly on the relationships between neighbors.
Dyer said, “In underserved neighborhoods, we work to build the kind of relationships that it takes our community to get healthy. So, neighbors work together to take care of each other, and look out for each other, to throw block parties and things like that to build neighborhood cohesion and safety.”
Community renewal also has two Friendship Houses located in the South portion of Shawnee to help with their efforts within neighborhoods. The houses serve not only as a home to some Community Renewal staff but also as community rooms for members of the neighborhoods to come and take part in job trainings, after-school clubs, block parties, etc.
Anyone interested in volunteering with Community Renewal of Pottawatomie County can visit their website at www.communityrenewal. org/join-the-neighbor-network.
