11:7,6 - The Mennonite

Anna Groff
lace’ The
First job: Sadeá Frison works at the Union Project’s café.
After graduating from Eastern Mennonite
University, Harrisonburg, Va., 10 years ago, King
participated in the Pittsburgh Urban Leadership
Service Experience (PULSE) program and worked
as a founder of the Union Project. She experienced
the close-knit church and ethnic communities in
that part of Pittsburgh, which is predominantly
poor and almost entirely African-American. She
says she learned what it means to live, invest and
find home in a city. “That laid the groundwork for
this level of enterprise,” she says.
Growing up Mennonite in Lancaster County,
Pa., King finds the concept of community
“ingrained” in her experience. Mennonites have
this cultural and religious heritage of mutual aid
and taking care of one another, she says. While it
might be a foreign concept to some people, it
“strikes a chord” with a lot of people, she adds.
King says the café serves as a “third place,” a
term from a theory that people need a physical
space, other than work or home, to visit on a daily
basis. These third places offer a public space for
people to regularly meet and build relationships.
Union Station Café
helps build community
in a poor
Pittsburgh neighborhood.
John Stahl-Wert, who founded PULSE,
MennoCorp’s inaugural program, and serves as
the president of the Pittsburgh Leadership
Foundation, says the bedrock of the Union
Project’s strategy plan is to create enterprises that
address the surrounding community’s economic,
spiritual and social needs. The way the leaders of
the Union Project think is more “entrepreneurial
than charitable,” he says.
The bedrock of the Union Project’s
strategy plan is to create
enterprises that address the
surrounding community’s
economic, spiritual and social needs.
Opening the café fulfills one of the core dreams
of the Union Project’s founding group, he says.
From a financial standpoint, Stahl-Wert says the
café must profit the Union Project, and the “results
are hitting the targets.” As profit margins grow,
programs can continue to grow.
King says the Union Project is slowly seeing the
impact of the café. “It’s really encouraging to see
the diversity of customers,” she says. The usage of
the rest of the space is increasing, she adds.
The café also functions as a caterer for events,
such as community meetings and board meetings.
It has provided coffee services for five weddings
since its opening.
The Union Project also houses several offices,
including PULSE and Plumb Media, a multimedia
developing company started by Goshen College
graduates Nik Stoltzfus and Matt Mullet, moved in
last month.
Anna Groff is assistant editor of The Mennonite.
November 7, 2006 TheMennonite 17