Welcome to LifeLine CDC a non-profit community benefit corporation that started in 2007 with a dream to empower community members to thrive.
LABELS!
How often do we use them to put people into their places! We all have been labeled in our lives and most likely have lived into those labels! "stupid" "unemployed" "musician" "single mom" "homeless" "ex-offender" "business women" and the list goes on. When you are labeled "poor" "under-resourced" "uneducated" you start living into those labels.
LifeLine CDC has a saying Everyone no matter how rich has a need. Everyone no matter how poor has a gift. That is why we build and celebrate community.
Monika Grasley, the Founding Director, noticed the huge amounts of money and resources given to under-resourced people, and how little impact it had overcoming the despair people were often in.
The question arose, how do we build healthy relationships with people, discover their gifts and abilities and what they have to offer and build long-term relationships to find out what people really want and need and then come alongside them to help them achieve their goals. We want to help people remove their bad labels and replace them with the amazing giftedness that every human being has.
30 years prior, Monika was working on her Master's in Community Development for Developing Nations and her training was based on discovering the assets that are already in the community, find community connectors and have them be the lead agent for change. Instead of us coming into a country and bringing resources only to find them broken or unused on our return we would equip and train local people with the resources that THEY found to be beneficial to them.
So, what if we look at the wonderful things people have to offer and come alongside them to give them the tools and resources they need to thrive. Will it change how a person and a community sees itself? Will it change how we interact with the neighbors? Will it change how much money we invest?
Over the last 7 years we have seen some amazing changes in neighborhoods. When people are engaged in the change they want to make, when they care enough to act, then real change can happen!
We are using Asset Based Community Development principles and practices in our work. You will learn more about it throughout this site.