Salt & Light: A Guide to Loving Northwest Indiana

PREFACE A GUIDE TO THE GUIDEBOOK This book is the culmination of nearly two years of research, interviews, and focus groups of stakeholders in Northwest Indiana. It outlines what we found to be not only key issues affecting our region, but also great building blocks for community transformation. These community assets are conveyed throughout the book, but particularly noted in our Ways to Connect and Stories of Hope sections. In our research, three areas that affect Northwest Indiana regardless of social status, education level, or race surfaced repeatedly. These three areas fall under the broad category of family restoration. :WLJPÄJHSS` [OL` HYL :PUNSL 7HYLU[PUN *OPSKYLU @V\[O HUK 4HYYPHNL -HTPS` CWXb VdXSTQ^^Z UTPcdaTb cW^bT XbbdTb Pb cWaTT RWP_cTab TPRW fXcW cWT U^[[^fX]V bcadRcdaT) ‹ Glimpse in the Life: A short biographical sketch allowing you to step into the life of someone dealing with a speJPÄJ PZZ\L ‹ A Focus Essay: A detailed, experience and statistic-driven essay on the issue as it pertains to Northwest Indiana, as well as suggestions on how you can be a part of the solution. ‹ Fast Facts: Sidebars with more in-depth statistical analysis and information. ‹ A Story of Hope: A story highlighting an organization or individual who has made great strides to serve the community in a particular area. ‹ A Biblical View: An essay describing God’s heart for each area and what the Bible teaches us in regards to it. ‹ Ways to Connect: A listing of organizations, agencies, and churches doing work in each area, and how you can volunteer alongside them to help serve Northwest Indiana.

A Few General Notes ‹ We realize there are more issues and assets than what is outlined in this book. It is our hope that as the community’s heart is drawn together over these topics, a larger team will be assembled to complete further, more comprehensive editions of the Salt & Light Guidebook. ‹ -VY [OL ÄYZ[ LKP[PVU ^L OH]L JOVZLU [V MVJ\Z V\Y Z[H[PZ[PJHS YLZLHYJO VU 3HRL *V\U[` 05 K\L [V [OL V]LY^OLSTPUN amount of information available. It is our hope that in future editions, a larger area will be represented more fully. ‹ Scripture quotations are from The Holy Bible, English Standard VersionŽ (ESVŽ), copyright Š 2001 by Crossway.

Used by permission. All rights reserved. Â&#x2039; ;OL [HISLZ MYVT [OL < : *LUZ\Z )\YLH\ÂťZ (TLYPJHU *VTT\UP[` :\Y]L` (*: ^LYL NLULYH[LK I` 1VL` 4H`Ă&#x201E;LSK \ZPUN (TLYPJHU -HJ[-PUKLY ;OL (TLYPJHU -HJ[-PUKLY ^LIZP[L PZ O[[W! MHJ[Ă&#x201E;UKLY JLUZ\Z NV] -VY [OL ZHRL VM ZWHJL the website will not be repeated in the footnotes. Â&#x2039; All of the maps and many of the tables were generated with data from the U.S. Census Bureauâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s American

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