http://www.houstonpbs.org: Barbara Elliott Resources

Journalist, Human Rights Activist, International TV Correspondent, Author, Philanthropic Advisor

On Living Smart Ms. Elliott talks about equipping released inmates for a better life, empowering compassion and the principles of philanthropy and civic renewal.

Contact Information

Phone: (713)984-0645
Email: belliott@centerforrenewal.org.
Website: http://www.centerforrenewal.org/ and http://www.streetsaints.com/
By Mail: 9525 Katy Freeway Suite 303, Houston, TX 77024

Biography

Barbara Elliott is the president of the Center for Renewal, a resource center she founded in 1997 for faith-based organizations working to renew the inner cities of America. She is the author of Street Saints: Renewing America’s Cities (Templeton Foundation Press, 2004) based on more than three hundred interviews across the country. Since Street Saints was published, along with the companion volume Equipping the Saints, she has addressed audiences throughout the country, including universities, public policy think tanks, philanthropists, churches, civic organizations, radio broadcasts, and national television. As an analyst on faith-based and community initiatives and the author of scores of articles on civic renewal, she has served as a Senior Fellow with the Hudson Institute and Associate Fellow for the Sagamore Institute. The Dominican School of Philosophy and Theology inducted her as a fellow in May 2006. She is also a Philanthropic Advisor with the Legacy Group and lecturer for the Catherine of Siena Institute. President George W. Bush awarded her the Eleanor Roosevelt Award for Human Rights in 2001, recognizing her work with refugees and the poor. She has collaborated with the White House Office for Faith-Based and Community Initiatives and the Compassion Capital Fund. She was an international television correspondent, covering economic and political news for PBS in Europe. She launched a private initiative to assist refugees fleeing communist countries in 1989. From that work came 150 interviews in Eastern bloc and the former Soviet Union with Christians who resisted communism because of their faith. The result is the book Candles Behind the Wall: Heroes of the Peaceful Revolution that Shattered Communism (Erdmans 1993). Barbara served President Ronald Reagan in the White House Office of Public Liaison, having been the Director of Legislative Information for the Heritage Foundation on Capitol Hill. Before that, she was the director of the Center for Constructive Alternatives at Hillsdale College, and the editor of its journal, Imprimis. Her undergraduate work was done at Ohio Wesleyan University, and graduate work in theology at the University of St. Thomas in Houston.

“I know that I am living smart if I am focusing on that which is lasting and which is eternal, not on the things that are fleeting. I know that if I’m genuinely living with love and if I can think about faith hope and charity and remember that love is the best of all then I’m living smart.” -Brene Brown

Quotes

“How far you go in life depends on your being tender with the young, compassionate with the aged, sympathetic with the striving and tolerant of the weak and strong. Because someday in life you will have been all of these.” --George Washington Carver

“The strongest bond of human sympathy outside the family relation should be one uniting working people of all nations and tongues and kindreds.” --Abraham Lincoln

“Love and compassion are necessities, not luxuries. Without them humanity cannot survive” --The Dalai Lama

“Human life in common is only made possible when a majority comes together which is stronger than any separate individual and which remains united against all separate individuals. The power of this community is then set up as “right” in opposition to the power of the individual, which is condemned as “brute force.” --Sigmund Freud

“No man is so poor as to have nothing worth giving. Give what you have. To someone it may be better than you dare to think.” --Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, American Poet

Books & Publications

1. Street Saints -- Barbara Elliott

2. Candles Behind the Wall: Heroes of the Peaceful Revolution That Shattered Communism -- Barbara Elliott

3. Doing Good: Passion and Commitment for Helping Others -- Jeffrey Kottler

4. Renewing the Cities: Reflections on Community Development and Urban Renewal -- Robert D. Lupton

5. Passionaries: Turning Compassion into Action -- Barbara R. Metzler

6. Building Communities from the Inside Out: A Path toward Finding and Mobilizing a Community’s Assets -- John P. Kretzman