Center for Social Research

Volunteer now: See colors and spot churches

Volunteers are needed to visit rural areas this fall to help finish a congregational census of Kent County.

Sign up for training, then cover a part of the county in late September and early October. About ten pairs of volunteers can finish the job in under a week.

Training:  Saturday, September 23, 9am - 12pm at Grand Valley State University’s downtown campus. Read more below to RSVP.

Drive all over a part of rural Kent County and document the churches you find. Approaching the covered bridge at Fallasburg Park in northeast Kent County, October 2005.

The Kent County Congregations Census Project is a collaborative research project among the following organizations:

• The Community Research Institute (CRI) at Grand Valley State University
• The Center for Social Research (CSR) at Calvin College.
• And the Grand Rapids Area Center for Ecumenism (GRACE).

The project is sponsored by the Doug and Maria DeVos Foundation. The census project is part of a larger research effort designed to study how congregations in Kent County provide social services to their neighborhoods, specifically as it relates to the educational lives of children in our community. The census project is the first time we know of that anyone has sought to identify the location and basic characteristics of all congregations in our region.

The project is seeking volunteers to complete the census. This will involve going out in pairs with maps prepared by the research team and visually verifying the existence of established or new congregations. Volunteers must have transportation, time and a digital camera (or at least the ability to use one) to photograph congregations. The project will provide mileage reimbursement and the county will provide the joy of exploration.

A training session is required of all volunteers; it will be held at Grand Valley State University on September 23 from 9 a.m. to 12 noon; a light breakfast and coffee break will be provided. If you are interested, please RSVP by contacting Korrie Ottenwess by September 18 at 616-331-7211 or email: .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address). Please be a part of this historic project!!

<< Back to main