homelessness

Young Adult Volunteers in Miami encounter a city with promise and challenge

Beyond the white sand beaches, palm trees and luxury oceanfront properties lies another Miami—in the lives of marginalized people who have arrived in this city full of promise and culture. Three Young Adult Volunteers (YAVs) from the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) are focusing their energies on residents of this other Miami, spending a year of service and learning in the community.

Partners in Christ’s Service

Stories of churches that connect to serve their communities by Emily Enders Odom | Communications strategist for the Presbyterian Mission Agency   Career network: ‘The most meaningful thing I’ve ever… Read more »

Broad Street Ministry Extends Welcome in Downtown Philadelphia

Broad Street Ministry extends welcome in downtown Philadelphia “YOU BELONG HERE NO MATTER WHAT,” reads the sign outside Broad Street Ministry in the heart of Philadelphia—a city where deep poverty and rapid gentrification exist side by side. The sign’s bright green lettering is one of the first things people notice when walking by the church’s arched façade.

Presbytery of Nevada

First Thai-Laotian Church receives 2016 Walton Award for new church excellence

First Thai-Laotian Presbyterian Church is the sole recipient of the 2016 Sam and Helen R. Walton Award of $50,000. First Thai-Laotian began in 2002 with 15 people who wanted to reach the estimated 15,000 Thai and Laotian persons living in Las Vegas. The majority of the first generation of the immigrants attended Buddhist temples, but due to the language barrier the younger generations had begun to drift from the faith of their parents.

Presbytery of the Twin Cities Area

Women’s Space: ministry for the marginalized

In Minneapolis, Kwanzaa Community Church’s Northside Women’s Space is reaching some of the most marginalized people in the community—women and children who are facing homelessness and precarious housing, poverty and unemployment, and those struggling to break the chains of sexual exploitation, prostitution and sex trafficking.

Presbytery of Riverside

Congregation, partners seek to meet multifaceted needs of the homeless

Serving those living outside is nothing new for Calvary Presbyterian Church in Riverside, California. The church has a history of feeding homeless guests since 1985. For more than 30 years the congregation of Calvary, with support from the community, has provided a healthy and balanced meal every Sunday night to people living outside and others in need. And volunteers from Victoria Presbyterian Church in Riverside bake fresh desserts for Calvary’s guests. In 2015, the church served over 7,000 meals and has served more than 35,000 since 2011.

Presbytery of Milwaukee

Milwaukee church addresses homelessness with ‘Divine Intervention’

“Once you open the door of possibility, things happen,” says Karen Hagen, pastor of Tippecanoe Presbyterian Church in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Things really began to happen for this 51-member congregation when they decided to open their church doors in response to the needs of homeless people in their city.