The project, My inspiration

Hey Friends- So once again I apologize for not getting things posted earlier. It is amazing how much time flies when you are having fun-or just working full-time :) ) Anywho, I will hopefully get "my story" posted soon, it is a challenge to get it typed up, I also attended a conference this past Friday about Interfaith and the Environment which has been really thought-provoking so I will hopefully blog about that as well. Other than that, life is going amazingly well.

While you are waiting for all the promised blogs, here is a blog that I wrote about One Chicago, One Nation.


In his song, If You’re Out There, John Legend sings ,

“We’re the generation. / We can’tafford to wait.

The future started yesterday. / We’re already late.”

These lyrics present the kind of call to action that Gandhi made when he asked us to “be the change you wish to see in the world.” Legend’s lyrics expand on Gandhi’s call continuing:

“Oh I was looking for a song to sing / I searched fora leader

But the leader was me… / We don't have to wait for destiny

We should be the change that we want to see.”

When I was younger, my parents taught me by the way they lived their lives that our Christian faith is deeply linked to the way we live our lives. This lesson has led me to embrace my Christian faith as a lifestyle. Each day I find faith intersecting and overlapping with my day-to-day activities and decisions. As a senior social work major at Luther College in Decorah, Iowa, I’ve been working to discern how I’m going to connect my faith to social work in way that allows me to bring my entire self to the table, not leaving my faith behind.

This spring, I’ve been interning in Chicago with a non-profit organization, Interfaith Youth Core (IFYC). IFYC’s work to build mutual respect and pluralism among different religious and philosophical traditions spoke directly to my desire for my work and faith to intersect, allowing me to explore new concepts of change. At IFYC, every day I work with people who identify as Jewish, Muslim, Buddhist, and some who claim no religious tradition at all. Yet, rather than focusing on those things that could potentially separate and divide us, we find commonality through empowering young people from diverse religious and non religious backgrounds to serve the common good.

One way we’re doing this is through a new Chicago-based civic engagement program, One Chicago, One Nation that we’ve launched in partnership with The Chicago Community Trust, Inner-City Muslim Action Network (IMAN), One Nation, and Link TV. As part of the program, One Chicago, One Nation is looking for 100 intergenerational Chicagoland leaders from diverse social, religious, cultural, and ethnic backgrounds to work for the common good in their own communities. These leaders will serve as One Chicago, One Nation Community Ambassadors.

Community Ambassadors will receive training by IFYC and IMAN in storytelling, interfaith and intercultural dialogue facilitation, community listening, and community service strategies. Using the training, Community Ambassadors will facilitate conversations around Chicago about issues that are relevant to their communities, and they’ll have the opportunity apply for service grants to enable collaborative community service projects.

As I get the opportunity to read applications from potential Community Ambassadors, I’m inspired by a refusal to sit idly by and let others define the world we live in. By simply applying to be a part of the program, Chicagoans are embracing the challenge and changing the world. In these applications, I find that for many of us, our identities and our lifestyles are inextricably linked together through a desire to work for a better world.

To learn more about One Chicago, One Nation, see: http://onechicago-onenation.org. To apply to be a Community Ambassador, please see: http://onechicago-onenation.org/community-ambassador-application/.