Access cultivates wholistic solutions to poverty through three main programs: Congregation Connections, Good Food Systems, and Poverty Education. Each of these programs offer specialized training opportunities.
Training opportunities offered include: Church Benevolence Best Practices, Food Justice Training, Good Food Challenge, Poverty Education Workshop, and more. Contact us to learn about how we can partner with you to offer training to your organization, business, or church.
Speaking Engagements
Presentations and speaking engagements can be on any of the below topics:
- Food Systems and Food Justice
- Understanding the charity food system and the need for change
- Understanding Systems of Poverty
- Understanding Benevolence for Congregations
(churches, non-profits): $125-$175/hour based on a sliding scale.
$175-$275/hour based on a sliding scale.
Workshop Opportunities
Workshops are meant for for you and your team to dig deeper into topics together as a community. Here you will work with an Access team member to address one of the three topics. Each workshop varies in group size and length of time to encourage participants to focus on best practices and education for each topic.
Usually done with a small group from your church of 3-8 people, 1.5-2 hours in duration.
This session focuses on assessing all of your current benevolence ministry practices (intake, decision-making, financial system, neighbor interaction and resourcing, follow-up) as well as helping your team understand the “why” behind your benevolences practices.
The deliverables from the session include an updated purpose statement and values set for your ministry, documentation of practices/policies, and clear next steps for your team to ensure process flow is shared with newly onboarding deacons/team members.
Can accommodate any size group, 1.5-2 hours in duration
This session is an interactive presentation to help your group grapple with the systems related to and causing poverty in our community. Material covers various perspectives on poverty, with 3 hands-on group activities to help synthesize the content for participants.
Can accommodate small and large groups, 1.5-2 hours in duration
This session is a conversation in which we will dive into the history of the U.S. food system in parallel with the charity food system. We will investigate the ways in which the charity food system has perpetuated and contributed to health and wealth disparities, explore the topic of food justice, and imagine ways that food access efforts and local food can intersect to grow thriving, local, equitable food systems.
(churches, nonprofits): $250-$350 based on a sliding scale.
Our fee covers the cost of:
- Staff time
- 2-hour training
- Travel (within 50 miles of central Grand Rapids)
- Materials and content development
$350-$550 based on a sliding scale.
Our fee covers the cost of:
- Staff time
- 2-hour training
- Travel (within 50 miles of central Grand Rapids)
- Materials and content development
If you are interested in scheduling a speaking engagement or workshop, please contact us info@accessofwestmichigan.org