WHALE, the Inter-Church Council of Greater New Bedford, and the city of NB will be bringing a full scale series of workshops for sustaining older religious properties to New Bedford this year. The program is called “New Dollars New Partners” by Partners for Sacred Places, a national organization dedicated to the sound stewardship and active community use of America’s older religious properties. The program consists of four days of training for congregations that are seeking to learn how to unleash their unique heritage as a tool for restoring their infrastructure, recruiting supporters, and revitalizing their community. The workshops, being held March 21st and 22nd and September 12th and 13, allow the congregations to do work necessary to implement what is learned from the program. WHALE, the city, and the Inter-Church Council will be on the ground to help each congregation develop their plans.
Funding for New Dollars New Partners is being generously supported by grants to WHALE from The Island Foundation, the National Trust for Historic Preservation, and the Community Foundation. If you are interested in learning more and getting involved in this dynamic strategy to restore historic religious buildings call WHALE at 508-997-1776.
