Our Mission - to build, weave, transform
Communities of Shalom seeks to build community, weave unity, and transform the world one community at a time.
Building community
Shalom teams engage congregations and communities to build a future of hope and peace together through multi-cultural, multi-faith, collaboration and asset-based community development.
Weaving unity
Shalom teams help weave the fabric of community into a single garment of many colors expressing both diversity and unity.
Martin Luther King, Jr. wrote:
“…all of life is interrelated. We are caught in an inescapable network of mutuality; tied in a single garment of destiny. Whatever affects one directly, affects all indirectly. As long as there is poverty in the world, no one can be totally rich…Strangely enough, I can never be what I ought to be until you are what you ought to be. You can never be what you ought to be until I am what I ought to be. This is the way the world is made. I didn’t make it that way, but this is the interrelated structure of reality.” (Martin Luther King, Jr.)The ’single garment of destiny’ envisioned by King may be woven with the many intentions behind the words for peace, including: shalom, salaam, shanti, sipala, pax, paz, pes, mir, and mirembe.
Transforming the World
The Shalom Resource Center at Drew University provides on-going training, technical assistance, and relational support to registered communities of shalom.
Build, Weave, Transform… one community at a time
Specifically, what do Communities of Shalom do in the world?
•Combat extreme poverty in Appalachia
Combat extreme poverty in Appalachia•Work to reduce high murder rate in Baltimore
Work to reduce high murder rate in Baltimore •Provide legal services for illegal immigrants in Dallas
Provide legal services for illegal immigrants in Dallas•Build affordable housing and work for racial reconciliation in Richmond
Build affordable housing and work for racial reconciliation in Richmond•Coordinate community services on native reservations in the Dakotas
Coordinate community services on native reservations in the Dakotas•Engage in addiction and recovery ministries in Little Rock
Engage in addiction and recovery ministries in Little Rock•Create green ShalomZones in Scranton and Santa Cruz
Create green ShalomZones in Scranton and Santa Cruz •Raise hope through mobile health clinics in Houston and Ghana
Raise hope through mobile health clinics in Houston and Ghana•Organize micro enterprises in Zimbabwe and Malawi
Organize micro enterprises in Zimbabwe and Malawi•Engage gang culture and reduce gang violence in Newark
Engage gang culture and reduce gang violence in Newark•Protect and empower children in Camden and Horntown, VA
Protect and empower children in Camden and Horntown, VA•Organize communities to change illegal immigration policies in Pheonix
Organize communities to change illegal immigration policies in Pheonix 
