Building safe and caring communities

Building Safe and Caring Communities through Positive Relationships

What is Positive Impact about?

Building safe and caring communities through positive relationships has been the goal of Positive Impact since it was founded by Alan Delery and the late Paul Dix in 1993.

According to founder Alan Delery, “So many of the problems we face today from drug abuse to general apathy could be turned around if we built stronger, more caring communities. When we started Positive Impact our initial focus was helping the youth learn to be competent and compassionate members of their communities. However, as we grew and built families of our own, we soon realized that the entire family unit and the entire community would need to be on board if we are going to make a positive impact.“

Watch the video below for an introduction to Positive Impact.

5 Principles for Growth

We believe that safe and caring communities exist when all individuals, families and institutions in those communities are nurtured and encouraged to grow and flourish. We have identified 5 principles of healthy growth as a foundation for individual and community development, with each visualized as one of the seed pockets in an apple:

VISION

Begin with a vision from God on what can be accomplished.

WORK

Use the vision to prioritize our work and give order to our labor.

REST

Maintain balance in our lives with proper rest and self care.

ACCOUNTING

An accounting of the harvest helps us to divide resources.

WORSHIP

We should give thanks and worship God in every phase of our journey.

We can expect a harvest from our labors. We don’t assume that what we have accomplished is simply the fruit of our own strength and ability. We should thank Him for the vision, rest, the harvest and the wisdom to know what to do with every portion of our harvest.

What does Positive Impact do?

As we look at the landscape of community resources and programs, it’s hard to know where to start. Because there seems to be a program to fit just about every need, where do you start when you are trying to make a positive impact on a community that is plagued with multiple problems?

Firstly, Positive Impact helps meet the need of connecting people with resources. Secondly, we build teams, led by the next generation of youth leaders, to address the needs of the community in a coordinated fashion. Thirdly, we continue to support these teams as they engage our communities.

Our focus is simple: Establish partnerships with local agencies, civic organizations, the business community and schools to connect with youth leaders in promoting safe and caring communities.

Positive Impact utilizes guided adventure, experiential learning and a service learning to train youth leaders and promote greater community engagement and volunteerism. Once trained in the concepts of Investigation, Preparation and Planning, Action, Reflection, and Demonstration, these young people are connected with resources to begin the work of positive change.

S.T.I.N.G.

The foundation of Positive Impact is its S.T.I.N.G. (Striving To Impact Neighborhood Group) program.

A STING is a youth or adult group formed in a specific neighborhood that provides structure, leadership, opportunities, motivation, and hope. By reaching out to our neighbors, WE can help build and strengthen safe and caring communities.

Peacemaker Retreats

Peacemaker Retreats reflect on and develop a path toward peace by connecting with God, self and others. The retreats utilize the book, He Called Me Little Rock: Reflections of a Peacemaker to move participants through what is called The Peacemaker Ladder. It examines the Beatitudes taught by Jesus in the Sermon on the Mount.

Restorative Circles

A Restorative Circle is a conflict-resolution discussion where those affected develop their own solutions on how to make the situation right.

In this process, a trained facilitator brings together those responsible, those impacted and others to create a plan of action to repair the harm and prevent it from happening again.

Service Learning

Positive Impact is a Certifying organization for the Presidential Service Award.

Those participating in service-learning projects are eligible to receive the award, which is issued by the Points of Light Institute and the Corporation for National and Community Service on behalf of the President of the United States.

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Positive Impact Blog

Justice, Peace

Why Another Peace Fest?

by Alan Delery The last Peace Fest that I was involved with was the Algiers Peace Fest in 2017. With my guidance, the event was developed by a group of high school students to fulfill their service hour requirements. After the Peace Fest,…

Life Focus Principles

Who Has What it Takes?

If we’re not careful, we could get pretty discouraged observing the world around us. I don’t even want to begin to list the things that we might find discouraging. I don’t want to go into a big theoretical, theological or philosophical…

Mindfulness

Stuff in The Big Easy

by Alan Delery While New Orleans is known for the gentle, slow and easy-going way of life, it is not always so easy to live here. I was recently talking to someone who pointed out that we all have stuff that makes life not so easy. We brought…

Want to Help Us in Building Safe and Caring Communities?

If you are interested in building safe and caring communities, please get in touch.

“If all we see is hatred, anger, division and fear, and never talk about love, then we will never see the world change. Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount was recorded in the Gospel of Matthew more than 2,000 years ago. It is my hope that my story transforms this sermon into a modern-day path toward peace.”

~ Alan Delery, President of Positive Impact NOLA