BUILD

Building a United Interfaith Lexington through Direct-action

Mission

The purpose of BUILD (Building a United Interfaith Lexington through Direct Action) is to create a self-sustaining, interfaith, interracial, proactive organization, rooted in religious congregations, which is capable of creating system-wide, long-lasting change for low-to-moderate-income communities in Lexington/Fayette County, Kentucky.

The member clergy and congregations of BUILD take seriously the biblical injunction to “do justice” (Micah 6:8). This is what we mean by “direct action”—taking action to hold officials accountable for justice and fairness in our communities—rather than “direct service,” which is what many traditional nonprofits provide. Direct-service organizations deal with helping individuals (mercy); direct-action organizations like BUILD try to get at the root causes of community problems (justice).

Past Accomplishments

In its six-year history, BUILD has made a real difference on a number of community problems, including:

• Affordable Housing
  In 2008, BUILD secured a commitment from Mayor Newberry to support the creation of an Affordable Housing Trust Fund which will make millions of dollars available for affordable housing projects available to the most vulnerable in our community.
• Health Care for the Uninsured
  In 2008, BUILD got a number of hospitals, nonprofit clinics, and the Fayette County Health Department to agree to create a plan which will meet the primary care need for an additional 6,000 uninsured adults over 3 years.
• Code Enforcement
  Due to BUILD’s taking action, in 2007 the Code Enforcement Division agreed to step up its inspections of trailer parks in Fayette County, some of which had rotting floors, leaking roofs, and open sewage.
• Drug Treatment in Jails
  BUILD discovered in 2006 that there was no drug treatment program for women in the Fayette County Jail, while the program for men was reducing the recidivism rate from 60% to 19%. BUILD got then-Mayor Teresa Isaac to put $175,000 in the budget for a women’s drug treatment program at the Fayette County Jail. We have followed up each year since then to ensure that the program remains funded.
• Police/Community Relations
  BUILD worked with then-Police Chief Beatty on developing an anonymous safety tip card program that resulted in increased policing of high drug trafficking areas of the city and numerous arrests, and a commitment from the Police Chief to continue and improve the program.
• Fayette County Public Schools
  Though Individualized Graduation Plans are required by state law, students at Bryan Station High School did not have them, until BUILD took action. Now all students at Byan Station have IGPs, and there have been continued improvements in the graduation rate since then.
• Public Transportation
  BUILD brought together the Society for Human Resources Management (SHRM), University of Kentucky, Metropolitan Planning Organization (MPO), and LexTran to work on identifying improvements to bus routes that enable people without cars to get to good-paying jobs

BUILD has followed up over the years to make sure that all of these commitments are met.

Current Membership

BUILD is currently made up of 17 religious congregations located in Lexington/Fayette County, Kentucky.

Contact Info

Benjamin Van Dyne
Lead Organizer

P. O. Box 21874
Lexington, KY 40522

(859) 367-0152
build_organizer /at/ yahoo.com