Press Release Sample

 The Jubilee House Community is a US 501(c)(3), established in 1979, and made up of a small group of committed individuals who chose to spend their lives living in solidarity with the poor.  Originally they did this by opening shelters for the homeless, and battered women and children in Statesville, North Carolina.  In 1994, the JHC—at the invitation of Father Miguel D’Escoto, former Foreign Minister of Nicaragua and later President of the United Nations General Assembly—founded the Center for Development in Central America, or CDCA.  In practical terms, this meant that five adults and three children moved from a small town in North Carolina to an abandoned house on the outskirts of Managua, Nicaragua, and set about trying to engage in the type of development work that is so rarely seen in the world: that which respects the recipients.

The CDCA uses, as their guiding principle, the idea that the poor know best what they need.  That all the land in the world will not aid a fisher in becoming a farmer, if that is not where his or her skills lie.  That individuals and communities know what their immediate needs are, and that if those with resources wish to truly aid them in the spirit of brother and sisterhood—rather than paternalism—the “haves” of the world must be willing to listen to the “have nots.”

To that end, the CDCA has been instrumental in garnering funds, organizing, and then launching projects that are conceived by the Nicaraguans that they live and work alongside.  The main focus is to connect the resources in the first world with the needs in the developing world.  They have helped bring about an organic growing cooperative of thousands of farmers, started a health clinic to service the needs of a former refugee community, begun a rotating, low-interest loan fund for small business inception, assisted in the founding of worker-owned cooperatives, and completed countless “emergency relief” projects, from building schools to installing running water in communities.  For the long term, it is their goal to create only sustainable, self-supporting projects that allow the Nicaraguan founders to be independent as soon as possible.  

In addition to the vital development work they engage in, the CDCA also takes very seriously the role of assisting the education of those in the United States and other developed nations.  They host individual volunteers and delegations, teaching them about Nicaragua’s long and involved history with the United States, opening their eyes to the realities of poverty and the difficult position of developing nations, and beginning what—for many volunteers—is a lifelong discussion about the impact of the wealthy on the poor, and the ways we can turn our lives towards justice and equality.

Kathleen Murdock and Mike Woodard are two of the founding members of the Jubilee House Community, and were part of the original eight who moved to Nicaragua from North Carolina in 1994 to begin the CDCA.  Both studied theology at Erskine Seminary, and it was their understanding of their own faith that led them to choose a life of service.  In 1989 they were the co-recipients of North Carolinian’s Against Racist and Religious Violence Person of the Year Award.  Kathleen was one of the founding members of the North Carolina Coalition Against Domestic Violence as well as the Rape Crisis and Prevention Hot-Line, and they both helped start the local Habitat Chapter and Soup Kitchen.   

 

In Nicaragua, Kathleen is the director and visionary of the clinic, and she helps to guide the clinic’s operations beyond the basics of medical exams.  It exists not just as a palliative option, but with the intent of improving health quality for the poor, and to that end the clinic holds basic medical education seminars, support and education groups for pregnant and nursing mothers, nutrition and sanitation workshops, and community outreach in the form of neighborhood health promoters.  The clinic is staffed by Nicaraguans, and is moving close to the day when it will be entirely run by Nicaraguans as well.  As with health services everywhere, the clinic requires infusions of funds in order to operate, and that is why it will require an endowment in order to ultimately become self-sustaining.  It is a vital need, however, and Kathleen hopes it will be able to continue, and expand the health service outreach in this, the poorest municipality in Nicaragua.  

 

She is also a playwright, and uses her writing skills on behalf of the CDCA’s public relations, writing the CDCA’s quarterly newsletter, thank you letters, brochures, slide scripts, and blog, as well as engaging in a great deal of fundraising. In her “spare time” she cooks dinner for 12 to 45 people five nights a week.  

Mike is the lynchpin of the sustainable economic development focus of the CDCA.  For just one example; in the first years here, Mike worked with a small group of farmers to grow and market a single crop of organic sesame.  From that one field has grown an organic cooperative that joins together more than 3,000 farmers all across the Western part of Nicaragua, giving them greater marketing power for their organic cotton, coffee, sesame, and peanuts.  When COPROEXNIC, the organic growing coop, realized that they would prefer to process their own crops, to control the quality of the processing, Mike helped them expand into that area, finding a plant with the necessary set-up, revamping it so that it could be certified organic, and getting it running.  He is committed to the concept of worker-owned production chains, keeping both the control and the profit in the hands of those that do the labor.

Mike was a recipient of the prestigious Opus Prize in 2008, awarded to people who have made a difference working with the poor around the world.  He is also a frequently requested speaker for organizations around the world attempting to replicate what he has accomplished in Nicaragua.  

Both Kathleen and Mike provide a unique and, for many, invaluable insight into social justice, economic imperialism, and the relationship between the two.  They are scholars, but their understanding is not simply scholarly.  It is one that stems from a lifetime of experience and struggle, and they speak with a powerful voice, one which—with no hyperbole—can be said to have changed the lives of those that hear them.  

Margaret Mead once said “Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world; indeed, it's the only thing that ever has.”  Mike and Kathleen, along with the rest of the CDCA, are the living proof of these words.