Friendships are finally getting their due. Once relegated to a distant third position after life partners and children, a spate of new books are spotlighting the importance of friends. And research shows that people with close friends are healthier – both emotionally...
Purpose Prize
The Latest from CoGenerate
An Intergenerational Approach to Getting Families Housed in Santa Barbara
Lyiam Galo is the co-director of Generations United for Service, a program of the Northern Santa Barbara County United Way and one of 10 awardees of the CoGen Challenge to Advance Economic Opportunity. Watch for interviews with all 10 of these innovators bringing...
Utilizing Faith-Owned Land to Strengthen Intergenerational Community in Seattle
E.N. West is the co-founder and lead organizer of the Faith Land Initiative of the Church Council of Greater Seattle, one of 10 awardees of the CoGen Challenge to Advance Economic Opportunity. Watch for interviews with all 10 of these innovators bringing older and...
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Robert Sanders
Purpose Prize Fellow 2009
Under Bishop Sanders’ leadership, the Harvey Brooks Foundation provides programs and services for low-income, urban youth and adults that build character, life skills, scholastic achievement, and economic opportunities.
A longtime minister, Sanders took his faith in God and applied it to his faith in his community. As pastor of All Nations Church of God in Christ in Joliet, Illinois, and a bishop with more than 70 churches in his jurisdiction, Sanders sees the effects of poverty, teen pregnancy, and gang violence in the urban areas near Chicago. In 1998, Sanders established the faith-based Harvey Brooks Foundation (named for the founding pastor of Sanders’ church) in Joliet. The foundation serves as a community organization that provides an array of programs and services for at-risk youth and families, substance abusers, and senior citizens – including after-school tutoring, recreational activities, counseling for juveniles and ex-offenders, and free meals. The programs encourage community-grown efforts to minister to the entire neighborhood, regardless of church affiliation or membership. Though Sanders’ foundation serves all ages, its focus is on youth. “I understand what attracts a child to the gang culture: the syndrome of violence from one generation to the next; youth in need of help with nowhere to turn; and the sense of helplessness that leads to hopelessness,” Sanders says.