Bricks and Mortar

A Clearinghouse on Faith, Development and Nonprofits

Archive for About me

Back again

July 28, 2009 at 6:12 pm · Filed under About me, About this blog, PhD, Taylor University

I’m back in the United States after spending four weeks in Sri Lanka.  There, I was able to lecture at a local seminary and conduct training at World Vision Sri Lanka.  All of these teaching assignments were stretching!

During my time in Sri Lanka, I was also able to meet with some NGOs who will partner with me for my dissertation.  I also identified three additional funding sources which should allow me to spend seven months in Sri Lanka doing data collection for the dissertation.  This all seems too far away but I know things will move fast.  For the rest of the summer, I will be speaking at the Transformational Development Conference next week, continue to prepare a new course on Nonprofit Management for the fall and get ready for PhD classes.  My plate is full.

This year you should continue to expect biweekly posts from me.  I hope you are finding Bricks and Mortar an important resource in your work.

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Community Economic Development Programs – United States

March 24, 2009 at 12:23 pm · Filed under About me, Affordable Housing, Community Development, Community Organizing, Higher education, International Development, SNHU, Social Work, Taylor University

I’m on Spring Break and I am in the midst of reading social theorists, grading and writing papers.  No break for me! Enough whining…

I received a list of Community Economic Development programs (certificate, bachelor, master and doctoral) from one of my professors.  I will not be able to post the list, but I am willing to send the document to you by e-mail, should you be interested.  If you would like to receive the list, e-mail me at rkfernando at taylor dot edu.

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Mashable

March 13, 2009 at 8:46 pm · Filed under About me, About this blog, Jobs, Nonprofit Management, Nonprofits, Social Entrepreneurship

I’ve found a social networking website, Mashable through one of the nonprofit professional listservs I’m on.  Mashable is an excellent repository of social media tools.  They also good advice on networking through social media, using broswers like Firefox and search engines, and ways to effectively market your blog.  Here are some of favorite posts:

Top 10 Social Networks for Entrepreneurs

WordPress Resource Lists

How to make Firefox your productivity machine

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Lessons from a first year PhD student

February 25, 2009 at 10:26 pm · Filed under About me, About this blog, Community Development, Community Economic Development, Community Organizing, Higher education, International Development, PhD, Social Work

  1. The PhD will change the way you think – you begin to see the connections between theoretical and practitioner mindsets.
  2. Eat curry – it will make you smarter.
  3. Make a detailed chart outlining what you plan to do each day – when you are done with your daily task list – stop working.
  4. Remove all tertiary commitments from your life – this is especially true if you have full-time job and a family.
  5. Talk with other faculty members at your alma mater  about what worked and did not work for them during their PhDs.
  6. Spend time playing matchbox cars, monopoly and uno with your kids — kids keep you grounded.
  7. Tailor your assignments to your dissertation topic
  8. Take an independent study and use it as the way to expand and build your literature review section
  9. Take time to break bread with your fellow students
  10. Take time to critique your dissertation topic (design, methods, etc.) with fellow students and faculty outside of your field
  11. Start talking/interviewing experts in the field of your topic – one of them might be willing to be on your committee
  12. Your chair should be vested in your topic, but you also need to have a methodologist who will help you to create a robust research design
  13. Create a database on excel of your literature review – author(s), title, full abstract, and content area which the article fits into your “literature tree”
  14. Reflect on what you read – don’t inhale it. (This is very difficult to do when you are not a full-time student).
  15. Watch a good movie every week that stirs your soul.

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Upcoming Nonprofit Job Fairs

February 10, 2009 at 10:49 am · Filed under About me, Favorite Personal Links, Jobs, Nonprofit Management, Nonprofits, Social Work, Taylor University

My students are getting into the gear of thinking about life after university.  Perish the thought!  Anyway, I thought I would provide you with a link to a list of the upcoming Idealist Nonprofit Career Fairs in the US over the next few months.  If you are looking for a job, good luck.

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Listings of Nonprofit Management and NGO Management Education programs

January 30, 2009 at 10:49 am · Filed under About me, Community Development, Community Economic Development, Community Organizing, Disaster Relief, Favorite Personal Links, Higher education, International Development, Nonprofit Management, Nonprofits, Social Entrepreneurship, Social Justice, Social Work, Taylor University

If you are looking to go back to graduate school and would like to obtain skills in nonprofit management and/or NGO management, Dr. Roseanne M. Mirabella, Professor of Political Science, has an comprehensive list of these programs on two separate websites.  I’ve found these lists very helpful as I am currently creating a nonprofit management course for the fall at Taylor University.

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Faith and International Development Conference: Feb 5-7 at Calvin College

January 20, 2009 at 8:20 pm · Filed under About me, Community Development, Community Economic Development, Globalization, Higher education, Holistic Missions, International Development

If you are a professor and would like to take your students to an international development conference geared to students, I would recommend the upcoming Faith and International Development Conference.  The conference will be held at Calvin College in Grand Rapids, Michigan from Feb 5-7.  I’ve had some of my students attend this conference in past years and they return to class energized and connected with some professionals in the development field.  The registration fee is set to increase tomorrow (Jan 21.), but I think the regular fee is reasonable.  Bwlow is a document I received from the conference co-chair.  Thanks to Calvin for their leadership in this much area.

Faith and International Development Conference, February 5-7, 2009

Partnership: United in Service

The body is a unit, though it is

made up of many parts; and though all its parts are many, they form one body… Now you

are the body of Christ, and each one of you is a part of it. Under Christ who is the head,

the whole body is fitted together perfectly. As each part does its own special

work, it helps the other parts grow, so that the whole body grows and builds itself up in

love (1 Corinthians 12:12,27 NIV; Ephesians 4:16 NLT).

The Faith and International Development Conference is held every February at Calvin College in Grand Rapids, Michigan with a goal of creating a space for sharing ideas and exploring passions among students and professionals from a wide range of backgrounds. Entering its fourth year, the conference’s participation has grown to over 500 students, faculty leaders and organization representatives. Together we struggle to connect minds, hearts and hands in an international context under the Lordship of Jesus Christ. The conference strives to balance prayerful discernment of students’ callings, relationship building among students and professionals and practical learning about international development.

Partnership: United in Service

The overarching theme of the 2009 Faith and International Development Conference is partnership.  A major theme will be how to develop authentic partnerships between the Global North and the Global South.  Our goal is to encourage dialogue between students and development professionals about what promotes mutually-beneficial partnerships and to challenge one another to work together to build dynamic and effective partnerships.

Conference Highlights

  • Over 70 different small group breakout sessions with in-depth discussion of a wide variety of topics
  • Plenary presentations by 4 development professionals who draw on field experience to address the theme of partnership
  • Information tables from over 15 development organizations provide internship and volunteer opportunities
  • Topic Tables to stimulate lunchtime discussions on subjects of mutual interest
  • Activism meal providing a way to connect with the reality of suffering in the world

Major Sponsors

  • CRWRC
  • Food for the Hungry
  • Partners Worldwide
  • World Vision US

Contributing Sponsors

  • Association for a More Just Society
  • Bread for the World
  • Mennonite Central Committee
  • Hope International
  • ECHO
  • Floresta
  • Pax Africana
  • World Hope International
  • Christian Connections for International Health

More Information

Check out our website at www.calvin.edu/go/development-conference.

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Reading List on Corporate Social Responsibility

December 9, 2008 at 12:47 pm · Filed under About me, Community Development, Community Economic Development, Corporate Social Responsibility, Globalization, Social Entrepreneurship, Social Justice, Uncategorized

I am in the process of writing a paper on corporare social responsibility.  I’ve been rushing around borrowing books through ILL because I’m too cheap to buy them.  Thought I would share some of the “gems” with you.  Warning – reading these books over Christmas vacation may label you as a nerd.  Enter this knowledge at your own risk.

The Debate over Corporate Social Responsibility

When Principles Pay: Corporate Social Responsibility and the Bottom Line

Corporate Social Responsibility and International Development

Beyond Growth:  The Economics of Sustainable Development

The Market for Virtue: The Potential and Limits of Corporate Social Responsibility

Out of all of these, I have found the Market For Virtue and Principles that Pay most grounded in research.  While Hopkins’ book in corporate social responsibility and international development  is an interesting read, some of his claims on corporate social responsibility are not supported by a review of the literature especially concerning the relationship between corporate ethics and profits which show negative to neutral relationship between these two variables.

Another resource:  If you are looking to collect bibliographies in an easy way – make sure that you use WorldCat.  I collect a variety of books on various issues on WorldCat, which I have made public in case you are looking for books on international development, corporate social responsibility, and community economic development.  You can go to WorldCat and search for rkfernando.

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Brian McLaren on Faith and Politics

October 13, 2008 at 9:02 am · Filed under About me, Faith, Favorite Personal Links, Social Justice

Brian Mclaren will be speaking in Marion, Indiana on the issue of Faith and Politics.  For those in the area, he will be speaking at 2:15 today. Attached please find the flyer that details the event.

obama-marion-faith-event-oct131

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Development as Poison

September 29, 2008 at 10:18 am · Filed under About me, Community Development, Community Economic Development, Globalization, Holistic Missions, International Development, SNHU, Social Justice

As part of my reading for my doctoral Political Economy class at the School of Community Economic Development at Southern New Hampshire (notice the shameless plug!)  I read a recent article in the Harvard International Review titled Development as Poison.  It is an excellent synopsis of the role of western development initiatives and models in the global south.  Specifically, I appreciated on the writer’s focus on the West’s predominant thinking in terms of markets, effectiveness and productivity as opposed to community with respect to the development process.  Please take a look at this work, if you have not already!

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