The desire to positively impact South Los Angeles inspired Pastor Wendell Miller and the members of Lincoln Memorial Congregational Church to explore avenues to make a tangible difference. The church, located at 4126 Arlington Ave., already operates several outreach ministries and even rent space to a local charter school. Yet, the parishioners wanted to do more to help their community.
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To address their concerns, the church hosted a meeting between members and the board of directors of the Cornerstone Fund, a branch of the United Churches of Christ that financially assists local churches and nonprofits to create change in their communities via loans, credit or other investments. Also, Cornerstone offers churches innovative uses of their property to expand ministry.
“We know that here in Los Angeles, housing is a problem. We also know we are moving towards electric vehicles and solar is another thing we’re interested in, so we’re looking at ways where we can find financing to provide more for our community,” said Rev. Miller, who added that “more” ranges from affordable housing to EV charging stations and everything in between.
The gathering featured a discussion moderated by Maria C. Coyne, president and CEO of the Cornerstone Fund. The panelists included Scott Hackenburg, Cornerstone’s chief lending officer; Bob Fard, vice president of Development and Acquisition for the Retirement Housing Foundation that provides housing and services to more than 19,000 adults and families in 27 states; Lee Barken, chief community officer of Collective Sun, which works with nonprofits on solar projects; Vanessa Howard, chair on Lincoln Memorial Board of Trustees; and Pastor Miller.
The panelists provided insight and lessons learned during their experiences with church upgrades, expansion, and financing. Lincoln Memorial actually had a history of working with Cornerstone.
“We first worked with Lincoln Memorial in 2002 to help them finish their Family Life Center. They had completed the first floor in 1999, but not the second. They came to us and we provided financing and we’ve been working with them ever since on a variety of financing to do renovations or make improvements to continue to grow and thrive and provide services to the neighborhood,” said Hackenburg.
The Cornerstone board also visited UCC churches in Irvine, Huntington Beach and Long Beach to assist with the congregation’s aspirations to invest in their community.
Pleased with the outcome of the meeting, Pastor Miller said, “We’re looking at a myriad of ways to finding the best type of development and we’re looking for partners like Cornerstone to help us explore our options.”
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