BUILDING COMMUNITIES THROUGH BUILDING PROJECTS

GOOD ACRES

Good Acres mission is reimagining land for the renewal of communities. As a community development incubator, we work with congregations to gain a new imagination for how underutilized property can be activated for the good of our neighborhoods and city. We provide workshops, learning cohorts, tools, community organizing, project management and a network of professionals to build projects that build communities.

THE OPPORTUNITY

3,000 acres of church property are underutilized in San Antonio. What if instead we activated them to meet needs in our community? Access to housing, green space, food, education, mental health resources, small business incubation. Churches across the country are realizing this and taking steps to make the most of their property for community problem-solving. If one acre of creatively-used church property could improve the lives of dozens of neighbors a year, just imagine how many families can be served with our unlocked potential. For many congregations, it is matter of capacity — having the resources and expertise to deliver such a vision. This is where we can help.

WHAT WE DO

GOOD ACRES ROUNDTABLES

We host regular gatherings for faith leaders asking: How can our congregations use our resources to be good neighbors? Open to all, this is a space to share stories and resources in a network of support.

GOOD FUTURES ACCELERATOR

A 9-month learning cohort comprised of congregational teams from across San Antonio — Exploring how to reimagine their mission and money through a social enterprise, using their property.

PROJECT FACILITATION

We take a deep dive alongside your congregation and help you in areas such as: project goals, initial site feasibility, community engagement, development of an RFP and selection of a mission-aligned development partner.

UPCOMING GATHERINGS

GOOD ACRES ROUNDTABLES

Good Acres is building a network of faith leaders with a mission to be Good Neighbors in San Antonio and who are exploring ways to creatively steward our resources and property toward Creative Problem-Solving in our Communities. Each gathering focuses on:

STORY: Visit a neighborhood project and hear the story of a pracitioner in our network as we are inspired by Ideas & Models 

RELATIONSHIP: The relationships of this Connected Network grow as we ask questions and listen around the table about what it means to be ‘congregations in community’

RESOURCES: We finish every gathering sharing, upcoming Workshops, helpful tools/books/resources and specific opportunities/needs with one another.

March 26, 2024

Trusted Spaces 

Winter Warming & Dream Center @ El Templo Cristiano

February 26, 2024

Church Assets Mixer 

Neighborhood Economics @ Travis Park Church

JANUARY 24, 2024

ORGANIZATIONAL FOCUS

Old School Makerspace @ Grace Northridge Church

NOVEMBER 14, 2023

GOOD FOR WHO?

Affordable Christmas @ Good Hood

OCTOBER 17, 2023

Reciprocity in Community

Charis Park @ Sunset Ridge

SEPTEMBER 15, 2023

Neighboring As Mission

@ HE Butt Foundation

“Good Acres has been an indispensable partner in helping us take our vision for activating our underutilized church property from concept to reality. We had a dream for what we wanted to do but did have the professional experience, resources, or connections to know how to successfully create a clear program and hire an architect partners to execute it. Good Acres walked us through that process and helped us feel confident in making decisions as a team, including representatives from our congregation and neighborhood, and ultimately helped us secure the right architect partners to bring our projects to fruition.”

— Taylor Bates, Sunset Ridge Collective

STORIES & RESOURCES

CASE STUDY: IMPACT GUILD

A COMMUNITY PROJECT

The Impact Guild operated a social innovation coworking space and community center in a 6,000 square foot building in the heart of the neighborhood of Beacon Hill from 2017-2022. This hybrid project between The Impact Guild and the congregation of the Park Community Church activated an unutilized real-estate asset, provided a values-driven enterprise that meets needs in our community and allowed two organizations to build models of financial sustainability.

GOOD ACRES ROUNDTABLE

VIDEO SERIES

Before it was an in-person gathering, the Good Acres Roundtable was a video series of conversations featuring case studies of churches around the country that have reimagined their properties. These talks serve as a way to share learnings and experiences with our network of congregations and mission-minded development professionals. Join hosts Ramiro Gonzales and Elizabeth Coffee who respectively bring their real estate congregational leadership expertise to the table as they dive into a different project and set of challenges in each episode.

MISSION-DRIVEN DEVELOPMENT SUMMIT

RESOURCES

In 2019, the MDDS brought together faith-leaders and mission-minded development professionals for a vision summit to reimagine congregation property for affordable housing and other community benefit projects co-hosted as a collaboration between Good Acres, the City of San Antonio and LISC San Antonio. View our resource page to watch the summit and access other resources and technical assistance from the presenting organizations.

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