Michael Mata, John Liotti and Mary Nelson recently represented CCDA at the Urban Shalom Project prelude to the UN Urban Habitat III gathering in Quito, Ecuador. The hope was to articulate the value added voice of Christians to the vision and work of just, sustainable cities at the UN Conference, a [...]Read More
Cultivating generative friendships among practitioners of CCD
"I am CCDA." "Dear Familia..." We use these phrases and descriptors a lot in our CCDA circles. Both reveal the essence of who we are as an association. I am CCDA, speaks to being a community of practitioners doing Christian community development. What you and I do as we live out the key components [...]Read More
Camino Devotional 11: August 30, 2016
LECTURA: ISAÍAS 53:2b-4 (NVI) 2 No había en él belleza ni majestad alguna; su aspecto no era atractivo y nada en su apariencia lo hacía deseable. 3 Despreciado y rechazado por los hombres, varón de dolores, hecho para el sufrimiento. Todos evitaban mirarlo; fue despreciado, y no lo [...]Read More
Bethany Anderson: Why I am doing El Camino
In 2013, I had the opportunity to participate in a public display of solidarity with my immigrant brothers and sisters on the lawn of Congress in Washington DC through the Fast 4 Families. I was almost a decade into my journey of understanding our broken immigration system in the context of the [...]Read More
Melina Rapazzini: Why I am doing El Camino
As a middle class, suburban-dwelling, white girl, I did not meet immigrants or refugees in America until I sought out a narrative different from which I was raised. Last summer I obtained a grant to organize and run a summer camp for children in Oakland, CA, who were largely refugees and [...]Read More
In Legacy of César Chávez: Robert Chao Romero
Inspired by César Chávez and the Chicana/o civil rights movement of the 1960’s, I am walking El Camino to declare that Jesus loves and cares for immigrants, and that our broken immigration system desperately needs to be reformed. On March 17, 1966, Chávez and the farmworker community embarked [...]Read More
A Call for Unity in the Body: Dominique Gilliard
I am participating in the CCDA Camino because I cannot apathetically watch families be torn apart, laborers economically exploited, and entire people groups dehumanized and depicted as criminals. In the midst of such darkness, the Church is called to bear witness to the light, who is Jesus [...]Read More
Felicia Graham: Why I am doing El Camino
This summer has been bittersweet. The bitter part of this summer has been losing family members. My Uncle Greg, my Tio Agustine, and my cousin Norma all passed away within weeks of each other. At my Tio Agustine’s funeral, I had the honor of meeting my 96-year-old Tia Concha. I also learned that my [...]Read More