Lupton Center
We often talk about flourishing neighborhoods…but what exactly do we mean? It’s not just a pleasant phrase – our view of flourishing neighborhoods is a well-defined concept that we use to power our mission at Focused Community Strategies. The concept of a flourishing...
Recently, we’ve determined five priorities to guide FCS. Within these priorities, which will help align our work for the year, we determined not to include the idea of racial equity. At first glance, that seems very surprising. However, we’ve made a commitment to view...
At Focused Community Strategies, we’re powered by our core values. They can be stated quickly, but they’re profound when you dig into their deeper meanings. We’ve discussed our core value of development before, but today, we’ll dive into the other values of...
At FCS, our mission statement isn’t just a paragraph on our website – it’s infused into everything we do every day. We’ve been thoughtful about the way we’ve constructed our mission statement and core values, and they’re a great way for us to unpack the way we...
It’s one of our greatest honors at the Lupton Center, the training and consulting division of Focused Community Strategies, to be able to share our hard-won knowledge with other organizations who are seeking to help their communities flourish. One of those...
At FCS, we believe that the neighborhood is the unit of change. Our approach differs from many nonprofits and ministries in this key way. Our belief is woven into our DNA. Why is the Neighborhood the Best Unit of Change to Examine? When we think about the work of...
Since 1978, Focused Community Strategies (or FCS) has been partnering with neighborhoods in Atlanta. We believe that the path towards ending inequity and promoting flourishing is through the work of holistic neighborhood development. To that end, we’ve also been...
It’s wonderful to desire positive change in your community. It’s admirable to want to see neighbors flourish. However, too many current strategies emphasize a limited view of the people we wish to “serve.” In order to join with neighbors in removing barriers to a...
We were so happy to present our first post-pandemic Open House this March! After such a long hiatus, it felt amazing to be able to showcase the work of FCS and our neighbors in the community of Historic South Atlanta. Throughout the two days, we were able to welcome...
We love to hear stories of neighbors and leaders finding creative ways to lift the lives of those who live around them. Today, we’ll be sharing a story from Ali Parrish, Executive Director of Iowa Heartland Habitat for Humanity. Ali joined with her team and the...
We are celebrating with the City Shapers cohort in Bowling Green, Kentucky! After a long and multifaceted journey, they have completed the City Shapers program. Rather than an ending, we know that a new phase of deep, long-term work is just beginning. Rhondell Miller,...
There’s an old saying – “Good fences make good neighbors.” It couldn’t be further from the truth! Great neighborhoods happen when neighbors take the time to interact with and care for one another. If you are interested in seeing your neighborhood thrive, working to be...
Community doesn’t exist without neighbors, and transformation rarely happens without the involvement of great neighbors. Whether they live next door, across the street, and down the block, they are the ones who truly understand your daily life. But what makes a good...
We all have neighbors, but you may be wondering if neighbors can double as friends. Loneliness has become an epidemic in our modern world. Though the pandemic hasn’t helped, the situation was bad even before COVID. In 2019, 61% of Americans over the age of 18 reported...
Should we really care so much about neighbors? Sharing pieces of everyday life with those around you sounds like a nice idea, but is it really necessary? Lots of us would love to have more fulfilling relationships with our neighbors, but is it worth the time and...
A Holistic Overview of Neighboring We know that people like you want to see the world get better. We want to play a role in ending chronic material poverty, illness, systemic racism, and even the hurts of everyday life. If you’re here, you likely also know that the...
Now that we have 3 City Shapers cohorts fully underway, we’re getting a clearer, first-hand view of what makes an effective City Shapers cohort. You can probably guess a few of them: strong partnerships, a clear geographic focus, flexibility. Relationships and...
You may recall that we have been running six Flourishing Neighborhood Index assessments in neighborhoods across the country, including in our hometown of South Atlanta! One of these neighborhoods was in Cleveland, Tennessee. It’s a community about an hour outside of...
Sense of Place is crucial to neighborhood development. It’s a framework to describe a neighborhood’s character and neighbors’ attachment to it. As you enter a school or local restaurant, you may feel attached to your surroundings. These emotional responses are...
As you know, we have been launching City Shapers cohorts across the country! We recently got back from our second gathering with the Holland City Shapers team. We caught up with Lead Trainer David Park to hear about the progress being made in this city. If YOU are...
You’ve heard us talk about the importance of focusing on Place. In particular, we’ve been explaining the concept of Sense of Place and how it can supercharge neighborhood transformation. Today, we want to talk about related but distinct concepts: rootedness and...
We are celebrating BIG! Our first ever City Shapers cohort has nearly completed the 2-year curriculum. When the City of Bowling Green first approached us, they came with one glaring challenge: the housing crisis. In those early days, we had a lot of conversations to...
Why Sense of Place Matters to Development “A place is only a place.” If you are well-versed in traveling and experiences, you may cast doubt upon author Frank Herbert’s words. They are only true if you deprive a place of its character. Places carry...
You may recall that 18 months ago, we stepped into a tremendous opportunity: we received a $1 million grant to expand the work of the Lupton Center at FCS. Specifically, these funds would empower us to launch City Shapers cohorts in 12 cities over the next few years....
Sense of Place is a little bit like the elephant touched by various mice in the fable – lots of other concepts touch on pieces of it. Neighborhood identity, local pride, character, and vibe are all different terms and words you may hear people use when...
We all know what a thriving community looks like, but it can be tough to nail down WHY we know it’s healthy or what to look for. One of the key pieces we look for when assessing a neighborhood’s health is “Sense of Place.” Like the idea of...
The Flourishing Neighborhood Index makes Holistic Neighborhood Development work more effective by offering key insight and boosting local trust. We know because our parent organization, Focused Community Strategies, uses the FNI every few years to make sure we’re in...
We exist to make your Change-Making work more effective. Effective strategies start with accurate diagnoses. It’s why we have been thrilled to offer the Flourishing Neighborhood Index (FNI) to clients for the past several years. The FNI measures the health of your...
Want to see this idea in action? Come to our Open House October 7 – 8. Our parent organization, Focused Community Strategies, is passionate about helping neighborhood practitioners move far away from toxic charity. In fact, our existence stems from the...
Recently, Lupton Center trainer and consultant David Park had the privilege to interview Dr. Dave Kresta to discuss community development. Kresta holds a Ph.D. in Urban Studies and is an adjunct assistant professor at Portland State University. In this interview, they...
Impact only matters if we know it’s happening. It is key to Community Development, community-based solutions to uplift the disenfranchised. It’s one thing to implement a plan, but it’s another to understand how a plan reflects your goals. Thus, community Impact...
Relationships are at the core of everything we do within holistic community development. At the foundation of every project are people who have a vested interest in the work. These stakeholders are all connected to each other. Each has their own dynamics and roles to...
Community Impact Statements: What Are They & How to Write One Impact is the quantifiable difference your work makes in a neighborhood. It extends beyond program success. Real impact comes from the willingness to approach holistically and adapt for the sake of...
We’re so excited about our best Leaders Lab yet! The Lupton Center’s Leaders Lab is a unique training experience built for innovative leaders who are willing to disrupt old patterns and create new possibilities. Today’s profile comes from Caterpillar...
We’re all about helping you make lasting change. In holistic neighborhood development, this change means working with a neighborhood to restore flourishing. This kind of deep transformation only happens when we pay attention to impact, whether on a large scale...
Wanting to have an impact on your community is a great idea. And great ideas can go a long way. In fact, great ideas are the basis of community development programs that want to make meaningful change. But after the initial phase of deciding to work for neighborhood...
We are thrilled to announce that our third City Shapers has officially launched! The catalyzing team in Holland, Michigan has begun to meet virtually and start the Assessment phase of their journey. These initial months are all about getting clarity on the current...
At the Lupton Center, we talk about the need for adaptive change quite a bit. At the same talk, we talk about strategy quite a bit. For organizational leaders, we understand how pursuing both of these can pose a paradox. How do you plan and simultaneously plan to...
Here are our top 10 insights in how to avoid Toxic Charity. We’ve learned these lessons in the 10 years since Toxic Charity first came out! FCS Founder Bob Lupton shined a light on the ways that traditional philanthropic models were failing to have a lasting...
The Lupton Center exists with one goal in mind: equipping others to do holistic, place-based development work. Today, we want to give you an in-depth look at how one Change-Maker radically transformed the nonprofit she was working. Alongside her team, she swapped out...
We are celebrating a milestone with our latest Leaders Lab cohort! Participants have just completed the SPIRE Assessment. Throughout the duration of the cohort, participants learn our Assess, Align, and Activate process. First, they Assess their current organizational...
We have already launched 1 of our new City Shapers cohorts. Now, we’re getting ready to launch a cohort in another city, Holland, Michigan. Both of these new cohorts have been made possible by a $1 Million Thriving Congregations grant FCS received one year ago from...
We are thrilled to announce that we have 2 new City Shapers Cohorts starting this fall! Over the next couple of weeks, we will introduce these cities and the incredible people working to transform them. Today, we’re extending a warm welcome and shout-out to the...
Hey Change-Maker! You’ve come to this page because you love your neighbor and you want to make an impact. We want to affirm that. And we know that you want to avoid causing harm to your neighbors and your neighborhoods. That means avoiding Toxic Charity. If you’ve...
The Lupton Center recently completed a 2-day event for a client who was ready to launch into a robust initiative focusing on place-based, deep-dive, holistic development. They started their journey with us through a virtual open house that included a mixture of our...
Our founder Bob Lupton published Toxic Charity ten years ago. After years of working alongside neighbors in Atlanta, he realized the ways that well-meaning people who wanted to help ended up causing harm to the very people they wanted to serve. His passion to help...
In October 2011, a transformative book hit the scene. Bob Lupton had penned Toxic Charity: How the Churches and Charities Hurts Those They Help and How to Reverse It. The book shined a light on the ways traditional charity models typically failed to alleviate poverty,...
We talk about how innovation undergirds all of our initiatives here at FCS. We stay innovative by doggedly pursuing a mission greater than the needs of our organization: the flourishing of South Atlanta. From experience, we know that by choosing a mission greater than...
“There comes a point where we need to stop just pulling people out of the river. We need to go upstream and find out why they’re falling in.” ~ Desmond Tutu When I first ran into this quote, I laughed out loud. I didn’t laugh because the quote is funny, but rather...
“Program is our native tongue,” the missions pastor told me. Her words caused the gears in my brain to realign and click together. After meeting with countless groups who deeply desire to love and serve their neighbors, but struggle in many ways to do so, the metaphor...
Charity is often the result of, well, charitable feelings prompting someone to act on behalf of someone else. It seems obvious: Someone needs something. I have that something. I give them that something, and they now have what they need. Problem solved. What we are...
Have you ever wondered how to recognize a flourishing community? In this journey of being a Change-Maker, sometimes it helps to see an example of what holistic success really looks like. Over the last forty years as a part of FCS, we’ve refined our vision of what it...
Every community of faith we have ever worked with knows, without a doubt, THAT the Bible calls us to respond to poverty, but very few of them have much clarity on what it says about HOW. Let me explain. The Good Samaritanization of Poverty Alleviation I never would...
If you’ve been following our series on flourishing or explored Seeking Shalom, you know that flourishing is the meaning and measure to our approach to community development. Today, we want to dig a little deeper and talk about why flourishing matters so much in...
How Human Flourishing Works Human flourishing is the end-goal of all holistic neighborhood development work. When we say flourishing, we mean when individuals and neighborhoods are living with joy, purpose, connection, and autonomy. Systemic inequity disrupts...
Flourishing in place is the end goal of all of our community development work. We want everyone to Flourish in Place. It’s why we exist at the Lupton Center – to equip change-makers to build neighborhoods that thrive. Any work we do in development or ministry or...
“If you could describe your neighborhood in one word, what would it be?” This was a question our team asked of a group of leaders who are using our Flourishing Neighborhood Index. Their neighborhood is one of a handful of unique and storied neighborhoods that make up...
Impact is more important than intent. We live by that, and we emphasize it to every change-maker we work with. At the same time, it’s important to dream! Results are beautiful and important, but they are most inspiring when connected to a grander, captivating vision...
The spirituality of my young adulthood was fueled by an almost liturgical refrain, “God has great plans for your life.” This summons was intoxicating for me and my university peers. Our lives, our futures, our careers – which we felt we were on the cusp of...
How Community Development and Community Organizing Work Together As a change-maker, you’ve probably run into the phrases “community development” and “community organizing” many times. But did you know that these two concepts work together for mutual benefit? Today,...
Community Development was an innovation. Now, we are innovating even further by implementing. Holistic Neighborhood Development. Over 40 years ago, Bob Lupton and his team at Focused Community Strategies questioned the standard nonprofit model. In particular, they...
“My name is William, and I am an alcoholic. It has been 19 years since my last drink.” This was how a guest speaker in my college class introduced himself. I thought to myself, “Wait. How can you call yourself an alcoholic if your last drink was a...
How Neighborhood Development Disrupts Chronic Poverty Let’s get right to it: humanitarian organizations exist for the sake of… humans. Whether you’re doing nonprofit work, faith-based ministry, philanthropy, or volunteer work, your work is all about making life better...
How to Evaluate Community Development Program Impact It’s important to assess the impact of your community development program. Every community development organization wants to make change. We care about our neighbors and want to make things better, otherwise...
12 Approaches to Neighborhood Development It can be tough to find a list of common community development approaches. At the Lupton Center, we know that’s what budding developers need. A movement of people like you are ready to disrupt chronic inequity for good....
If you’ve landed on this page, it’s likely that you care a lot about material poverty and inequity. You’re dissatisfied with just treating symptoms of poverty. You want to know what you can do to make lasting change in people’s lives. If that sounds familiar,...
We are proud to announce that FCS has been awarded a $1 million grant by Lilly Endowment Inc. to support The Lupton Center’s expansion of City Shapers! With these funds, we will launch this program in 12 cities over the next five years! City Shapers is a place-based,...
We have a serious problem. Most leaders who know poverty alleviation efforts aren’t working don’t know what to do about it. That is why we created Leader Lab, a 12-month process to guide you through the phases of change liberating you from the frustration of...
“You are not going to believe this, Katie.” Ms. Ethel declared as I passed through our food co-op meeting last week. “I just got back from the doctor, and he told me I’ve lost 10 pounds and my diabetes levels are the lowest they’ve ever been. He asked what’s made the...
We are currently accepting applications for the next cohort of Leaders Lab, which will begin on October 23. As we prepare for the new cohort to start, we are sharing the experiences of Leaders Lab participants from earlier cohorts. I have been inspired by these...
We are currently accepting applications for the next cohort of Leaders Lab, which will begin on October 23. Over the next few weeks, while we are still selling at early bird pricing, we will be sharing the experiences of Leaders Lab participants from earlier cohorts....
We are currently accepting applications for the next cohort of Leaders Lab, which will begin in October. Over the next few weeks, while we are still selling at early bird pricing, we will be sharing the experiences of Leaders Lab participants from earlier cohorts. I...
We are currently accepting applications for the next cohort of Leaders Lab, which will begin in October. Over the next few weeks, while we are still selling at early bird pricing, we will be sharing the experiences of Leaders Lab participants from earlier cohorts. I...
FCS is known for creating a cafe and grocery store in a food desert. We are known for building gorgeous, affordable houses in low-income neighborhoods. Soon, we will be known for turning a defunct gas station into a restaurant. Because of our accomplishments, people...
I once worked at a youth development after-school and summer program for middle and high school students in an underserved neighborhood. At the beginning of each semester, we spent a lot of time asking the students what activities they wanted us to offer them. Did...
As the Director of Training and Education here at FCS, I wrestle with the tension between God’s ability to use anyone, regardless of credentials, and the helpfulness of applicable skills. When it comes to ministry and working towards holistic community development,...
At FCS, our hyper-focus on local neighborhood has been a hallmark and a boon. It has helped us to weave the fabric of place here in South Atlanta. It’s helped us to build deep relationships, to recognize the image of God in our neighbors. Integrating into this place...
“There comes a point where we need to stop just pulling people out of the river. We need to go upstream and find out why they’re falling in.” ~ Desmond Tutu When I first ran into this quote, I laughed out loud. I didn’t laugh because the quote is funny, but...