This summer, the HUB grantee project, Exploring Church Spaces (Emmanuel Gospel Center - EGC), hosted their second field trip at Second Church in Dorchester, focused on historic preservation and creative community use. Thirteen church and community leaders participated in a day of learning, reflection, and connection. They explored a range of church spaces at different stages of development. Two guest experts: Tony Lopes of Historic Boston Inc. and Jeffrey Gonyeau shared from their knowledge and experience.
On July 17th, the HUB grantee project Exploring Church Spaces project (Emmanuel Gospel Center - EGC) hosted their second field trip at Second Church in Dorchester, focused on historic preservation and creative community use. Thirteen church and community leaders participated in a day of learning, reflection, and connection. They explored a range of church spaces at different stages of development—from fully active spaces like an indoor green space and a newly completed recording studio, to in-progress projects like the transformation of the burial ground into a public park, to undeveloped areas still in the dreaming stage, such as a former kitchen envisioned as a commercial kitchen for classes, food entrepreneurs, and shared community meals. They heard from two guest experts: Tony Lopes of Historic Boston Inc., who presented actionable strategies for activating underutilized church space, and Jeffrey Gonyeau who outlined concrete funding opportunities for historic church properties as well as planning for successful projects from start to finish. Attendees left with practical tools and inspiration, and we received follow-up inquiries from those who couldn’t attend, expressing interest in future offerings. In parallel, the project has been conducting follow-up interviews with churches from our original 2023 study to learn what factors have helped—or hindered—their progress in activating their spaces. These insights are feeding directly into their systems mapping work and upcoming resource development to support churches navigating space innovation.