CCDA Collective is curated to respond to this year's unique obstacles and opportunities. The story of The Valley of Dry Bones is a fitting narrative to help us recenter our work as Christian Community Development practitioners. Right now, we feel we’ve been led to a place where we are searching [...]Read More
Navigating the work/home/church/school Life
Dear CCDA familia, I hope you are doing well in light of the ongoing supports and strictures of the coronavirus pandemic we are experiencing. As an educator, mom of a fifth and third grader, and wife of a professor, the Jonas family purviews of e-learning have been varied and intersecting. I feel [...]Read More
A Look Back & the Journey Ahead
My Dear CCDA Family, Eighteen years ago, I walked wide-eyed into the worship space at Lake Avenue Baptist Church for my very first CCDA Conference. It’s a time I will never forget. I remember thinking, I’ve had more aha moments at Conference than in all my years in the church and seminary. From [...]Read More
Brown Church: Five Centuries of Latina/o Social Justice, Theology, and Identity
By Robert Chao Romero Rosa was excited about attending her first college lecture. She was valedictorian, the star student of her local CCDA youth development program, and the first of her family to attend college. Rosa’s Mom and Dad were deacons in their local church and had brought her up [...]Read More
A Foundation of Justice
By Mayra Macedo-Nolan, CCDA Board Chair The majestic crown of the City of Roses, otherwise known as Pasadena City Hall, was the backdrop for two protests that drew significantly diverse crowds in support of the #blacklivesmatter movement. Dozens of faith leaders and their congregations, a [...]Read More
To my people – the white ones,
By Michelle Ferrigno Warren,Advocacy & Strategic Engagement Director To my people-the white ones,I am glad you are marching. I am glad you are feeling a sense of outrage. The movement is kindly allowing you to join so please quickly learn your place not just for this moment but for the [...]Read More
Engaging in Prophetic Witness
by Lisa Rodriguez-WatsonDirector of Leadership Development & Training It’s been a devastating few weeks. Ahmaud Arbery, Breonna Taylor, George Floyd, 100,000 COVID deaths, violence in our streets, extreme action by some, inaction by others, silence and complicity, curfews, virtue signaling, [...]Read More
CCDA’s Response in this Critical Moment
Dear CCDA Family, There are moments when it is difficult to know what to say as leaders. Many of us find ourselves in such a moment as we try to comprehend what is ever-present before us. This week, we watched as Minneapolis resident George Floyd desperately pleaded for his life, while an [...]Read More