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

AFRICA

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’s justice work over his 5 1/2 years in West Africa included work with pre-law interns from Abilene Christian University and law students from Pepperdine Law, as well as with Ugandan and Ghanian law students training and introducing them to human rights work in prisons. Alan also partnered 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 the establishment of a Plea Bargaining law and the establishment of a Public Defender system in Ghana. Alan’s work expanded to include pioneering projects in Liberia and The Gambia related to pre-trial detention issues, and Lagos, Nigeria with regard to creating a “Change Model” for their Ministry of Justice.

Our goal during our 5 years in Ghana was 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. It was also to inspire law students from both the US and Africa to work in the area of public defense and human rights.

TURN’s work in Ghana 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 world changer from Liberia who received her Masters in Dispute Resolution at Pepperdine University on full scholarship and support from TURN donors, a young future lawyer from Liberia who is obtained 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.

UNITED KINGDOM

Alan and Libby have recently moved to the United Kingdom to serve the Free Methodist United Kingdom with its new group of Iranian churchs filled with many asylum seekers and refugees. Work with asylum seekers and refugees will also include partnering with UK NGOs working in the area of unaccompanied minors arriving in the UK, among other projects that are still developing.