Healing Hearts, Inspiring Community
- PICO Leadership Training Conference July 1-3 2002, Taos, NM
Ten Sikhs from Espanola joined with 140 faith-leaders from Northern New Mexico to seek solutions for the drug and alcohol abuse which is killing young and old alike in Northern New Mexico. Everyone was committed to putting aside individual religious differences and uniting in a faith-based effort to solve this major problem. PICO (Pacific Institute for Community Organizing), a non-profit organization, trains people already organized around spirit - congregations of churches and temples - to organize into a stronger cross-faith network to support community initiatives. Leaders visit individual homes one by one and actively listen to each person’s story so that every single person contributes to the process.
New relationships were built among neighbors as together we ate, socialized, shared our prayers, and sang “Amazing Grace” and “Sat Nam Wahe Guru” with open-hearts. More information and useful articles on community building are available on PICO’s website: www.piconetwork.org