|
What's In A Name? |
| |
|
In Shakespeare's great romantic drama, Romeo and Juliet,
the heroine asked, "What's in a name? That which we
call a rose by any other name would smell as sweet" (Act
II, Scene 2). Well, sometimes what's in a name is a
trademark!
Several months ago, Syracuse University notified Project
Advance Academy that we were using the name of one of
their programs, and that name had been trademarked.
That meant Partners In Urban Transformation could no
longer use that name to describe its mission with
agencies working among the extremely poor of the Global
South.
On May 23, 2008 the Board of PIUT voted to change the
name of Project Advance Academy to "Millennium
Tools". The new name has now been registered by PIUT,
the PAA website is being changed and the board is taking
action to trademark it.
But why call ourselves, "Millennium Tools"?
Well, our work responds directly to the challenge of the
UN Millennium Development Goals. Likewise, community
organizing methodologies represent a set of critical
"tools" the poor can use to craft holistic solutions to
their poverty, particularly when the poor themselves are
able to hold these tools "in their own hands".
Therefore, we believe that the name "Millennium Tools"
integrates vision and practice. "Millennium" conveys
that the world can now imagine solutions on a scale that
addresses the scope of extreme poverty. The "Tools" of
community organizing enable those weighed down by
poverty to take charge of handcrafting transformed
communities. And these "tools" can be utilized by any
organization or any person who shares a commitment with
us to stand in solidarity with the world's poorest in
order to eliminate world poverty.
Finally, nobody else is using the name! No one else has
a website or domain name of "Millennium Tools". And no
other company has trademarked it or is using it,
according to the U.S. Patent Office.
So - from now on - it's "Millennium Tools!"
|
|
|
| |
 |
|
Bob Linthicum Announces Retirement |
|
Moving On!
At its annual Board of Directors' meeting, Dr. Robert
Linthicum, president of Partners In Urban
Transformation, announced his retirement effective April
23, 2009.
In order to ensure a smooth transition, a Succession
Task Force is planning for PIUT's leadership after April
2009. Additionally, the board directed Dr. Linthicum to
reflect and plan with those who have been involved in
PIUT and Millennium Tools (the former Project Advance
Academy; see sidebar) regarding future directions for
PIUT. Recommendations will be returned to the board at
their November 2008 meeting.
Bob's retirement plans include time with his wife
and family, as well as continuing to write for
publication. He is creating a trilogy on power, with
the first book, "Building a People of Power", already
written and published. The second book, "Building A
Church of Power", examines principles and strategies for
church engagement of the world and the third book,
"Building Christians of Power", explores the biblical
doctrine of call. He also intends to expand and convert
the three-year lectionary commentaries that have been
posted on the PIUT website www.piut.org
into a multi-volume commentary on the entire Bible that
examines scripture from a public, corporate, urban,
justice and transformational perspective rather than a
private, individual and devotional perspective. Most of
all, Bob will enjoy laying down the everyday burden of
operating PIUT! . |
|
Back to the Future |
|
Next Steps
What is the future for PIUT? The board decided that the
way to move into our future was to go back to our
origins - back to the future!
We asked, what is PIUT all about? It's about equipping
others to get involved in public life based on our
common commitment to work for political justice,
economic equity and the building of a relational
culture. PIUT believes that community organizing is
the means by which people are empowered to do this.
If we are faithful to our foundation of community
organizing, how should we go about discerning our
future? We should not initiate some strategic plan
or mission study; the future of PIUT should not be built
around a preconceived program or structure.
The future direction of PIUT should be built around
discovering who has a passion for undertaking a
particular mission or addressing a certain issue. Then
there needs to be a way for interested people to act
upon that mission. But it there isn't interest, then we
shouldn't continue to do things simply because they have
been done in the past!
Millennium Tools models this approach. Ken Luscombe and
Ken Caddell, two members of PIUT, got a vision for the
expansion of the work of PIUT to provide training to
action agencies working for the empowering of the
extremely poor in the Global South. In other words,
they had a passion to work with other agencies to
enhance the empowering of the poor. They convinced Bob
Linthicum and later Rebecca Gifford to join this effort
and Project Advance Academy (the original name of
Millennium Tools) was born. Without such stake-holders,
Millennium Tools would not be working today in Uganda,
Kenya, the Philippines and Mexico.
|
|
New Directions for PIUT |
|
More Mission Possibilities
Besides Millennium Tools, what other
possible missions could emerge from PIUT? From the
beginning, PIUT has worked to be responsive to the needs
of its constituency.
We're here to further your ministry, your calling,
your work with the urban poor. To that end, PIUT
has conducted workshops, addressed conferences, and
provided consultancies. We've initiated a religious
order and mentored individuals. We've developed a
variety of publications, two websites and a web-based
commentary on the standard lectionary.
Any of these missions could be continued and expanded
in the future IF there are those with the appetite to
continue them. Likewise, any of these could close
because of lack of interest. There are also new
directions in which PIUT could move. Two
possibilities suggested thus far are:
- Shalom Associates - an association of people who
join together and are mentored by PIUT/MT leaders,
attending designated training events, following
spiritual and action disciplines, and providing
service to PIUT.
- PIUT Together - an international constituency of
clergy and laity committed to active engagement in
public life through the discipline of community
organizing, and binding that constituency together by
the holding of an annual conference.
These are just two ideas - and there are likely many
more. This summer, Bob Linthicum will be contacting
people who have been connected with PIUT to see if there
is a desire to further explore any specific mission
direction. If several people express interest in one of
the above missions or in another mission direction we
will connect these people so that they can explore
whether this is a mission in which they want to be
engaged. Hopefully, by the November 2008 PIUT board
meeting, Linthicum will be able to report that there are
several groups that are ready to act (like the
stake-holders of Project Advance/Millenium Tools did two
years ago). And that, in turn, should set the future
for Partners In Urban Transformation.
Would you like to talk with Dr. Linthicum about your
passion for engagement in public life through the work
of PIUT? If so, email him at
rclinthicum@verizon.net and he will get in touch
with you for a personal conversation. Let's see what
God will do through us!
|
|
COMING ATTRACTIONS! |
| |
|
There has been much more happening in Project Advance
Academy the past few months than changing its name! The
next issue of "Partners in Touch" will be dedicated to
the latest developments in Millennium Tools. Don't miss
that issue.
|
|
Sincerely,
Robert Linthicum
Partners In Urban Transformation |
|
|
|
|
