Faith Engagement Initiative Connects Schools with Local Faith Leaders

Gathering of faith-based leaders from seven organizations throughout South Atlanta.

Faith-based institutions are part of the fabric of every community. We recognize the challenges faced by our students, families, and communities can be wide and deep, and so we purposefully partner with the faith leaders who support our students, families and neighborhoods.

“The Purpose Built Schools Faith Engagement Initiative connects education and the faith-based community for the betterment of our scholars,” says Dr. Nikkita Warfield, Chief Academic Officer of Purpose Built Schools. “This innovative initiative combines local resources to create opportunities, experiences and benefits that will propel our scholars to achieve their maximum potential.”

Luqman Abdur-Rahman, principal of Price Middle School, recently gave the keynote speech at a gathering of faith-based leaders from seven organizations throughout South Atlanta. During his remarks, he discussed the importance of neighborhood and the shared mission of faith leaders and educators to bring forth the best in people. Educators and faith-based leaders find common ground in their work toward creating peace for future generations. According to Abdur-Rahman, those in education and religious leadership acknowledge that “we plant seeds and water the soil of trees under which we will never feel the shade.”

Abdur-Rahman discussed the importance of making a conscious choice to speak to people in ways that seek commonality and togetherness instead of choosing to highlight inevitable differences. As he says, “I choose to seek peace in brotherhood, sisterhood, and “neighborhood.”

Educators are fighting for that value and potential called intellect, seeking to awaken it and inspire it…just as faith leaders seek to inspire the awakening of the soul.

According to Abdur-Rahman, “We want justice on behalf of the marginalized. We want the opportunity for our children to reach their full potential.”

He encouraged faith leaders to work in partnership with Purpose Built Schools to strengthen the communities of our students, because secure and stable families bear amazing students. And to continue to strive — together — toward peace. For ourselves and our brothers and sisters and our children.