OUR STORY

Today's Urban Renewal Network was birthed in 2003 when a young mother of 4 was working for a small inner-city church in Southern California. As she prayer-walked through the neighborhood, she noticed that there were numerous churches within a mile or so of her church, but not only were they not collaborating in ministry to their neighbors in need, they didn't even know each other. This insight led to a mission to be silo breakers and bridge builders within the faith and non-profit community and with government to form relationships and partnerships to support the less privileged in our communities.

WORK IN SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA

TURN was incorporated as a 501(c)(3) non-profit in 2004 and began reaching out to the faith community in Riverside, California to meet the needs in the city. This early collaborative effort led to TURN's network of churches supporting Path of Life Ministries efforts to help the homeless - including the establishment of King's Hall woman's and children's shelter at March Air Force Base. The partnership of the faith community lives to this day in collaborative efforts between Path of Life and the City of Riverside to support the homeless including innovative efforts to build housing on church properties who were part of the TURN Network.

TURN was further called to work in the area of foster care by the County of Riverside and helped establish the Faith in Motion collaborative in 2008. This effort was formalized in 2018 when TURN was commissioned by the Board of Supervisors to lead an effort to engage the faith community across Riverside County to become involved in foster care. While TURN passed this work on to our friends at FosterAll when the Colliers moved to West Africa, this great collaborative also lives on and is thriving.

TURN also partnered with Glocally Connected as well as other faith based ministries, universities and government in the support and care of refugees who had become our neighbors in Southern California.

The two decade collaboration of the faith community between denominations and with the City and County of Riverside has through the grace of God changed the landscape of how the less fortunate are cared for and has become a model for other cities and counties throughout California and the U.S.

WORK INTERNATIONALLY

In 2005, the Colliers became burdened for the situation in Northern Uganda where children were being kidnapped into a rebel army as soldiers and sex slaves. In partnership with World Vision, TURN built a bridge so that churches in the South could support their brothers and sisters in need in the North. This has lead to a life-long relationship with Uganda where TURN has partnered with local NGO’s to support and empower those in need. TURN currently partners with GLOW based in Bomba, Uganda in the support of women at risk through training, support and micro-finance loans for the establishment of local businesses.

In 2018, Alan traveled to Uganda to lead a prison project with his alma mater Pepperdine University School of Law’s Sudreau Global Justice Institute (SGJI). This relationship led to the President of Pepperdine asking the Colliers to move to Accra, Ghana in September of 2019 for Alan to serve as Director for West Africa for SGJI as an independent contractor from TURN. Alan is now partnering with the Legal Aid Commission of Ghana, the US Justice Department and the Ghana Prison Service in efforts to provide legal services to the indigent through Prison Justice Clinics and Rule of Law efforts involving Plea Bargaining and the establishment of a Public Defender system in Ghana. SGJI is also working with the Lagos State of Nigeria in a project to reorganize their Ministry of Justice to be more efficient and effective as well as pioneering efforts in The Gambia and Liberia. Our goal is to not only fight for justice for those in need, but to prove that building a system of free public criminal defense for all in need is possible in West Africa and beyond.

TURN’s work in Ghana has expanded to provide business training and support to the vulnerable as well as those just released from prison. One such effort is Libby’s mentoring of a former Liberian refugee in creating a design business (BoHo Design) which is not only making her independent but supporting her extended family from Liberia. TURN also sponsors future leaders through educational support for a future doctor in Uganda, a future mediator from Liberia who is getting her Masters in Dispute Resolution at Pepperdine University, a young future lawyer from Liberia who is obtaining his high school eduction in Ghana, and two young students in Ghana who would not be able to go to school without the support of TURN.

TURN also partners with like-minded ministry partners in Israel and the United Kingdom in the support of refugees and asylum seekers.