NewBridges IRC started in 2000 when a group of Mennonite churches in Harrisonburg, VA decided to address the needs of a new local demographic. The first Executive Director, Susannah Gerber Lepley, led the agency for 9 years and continues to support diversity initiatives in Harrisonburg.
The Board:
Byron Peachey, President
Les Helmuth, Vice-President
Cristina Graber Neufeld, Treasurer
Jennifer Ulrich, Secretary
Isabel Castillo
Keo Cavalcanti
Marta Frederick
Tina Glanzer
Luke Schrock Hurst
Lynn Suter
The Staff:
Alicia Horst, Executive Director
Mildred Delgado, Program and Administrative Assistant
Theresa Ruggiero, Case Manager and Special Events Coordinator
Scott Amott, Immigrants Academy consultant
Vision: Micah 4:4 (New International Version, ©2011)
4 Everyone will sit under their own vine
and under their own fig tree,
and no one will make them afraid,
for the LORD Almighty has spoken.
Mission: to be a leading resource for spiritual, social and economic needs of immigrants in the Shenandoah Valley and to connect people and congregations in building a compassionate, just, culturally diverse community.
Values
- Anabaptism is the context for our calling through Christian discipleship, community, peace, justice
- Advocacy permeates our role as a service provider that addresses needs by creating new systems, witnessing to injustice, and mentoring storytellers
- Empowerment that honors dignity, personal agency, initiative, self-determination in assimilation, capacity building, and creating resources
- Cultural diversity inclusion is celebrated and observed
- Approachability and trustworthiness are embodied as welcoming service providers
- Qualified through professionalism, excellence and best practice, expertise and accountability
