URBAN MINISTRY


COOPERATIVE URBAN MINISTRIES IN THE BALTIMORE METROPOLITAN AREA

1) Faith Community/DHR Partnership Council Information and Referral Hotline 1-800-332-6347 option 7

A Faith Community Information and Referral Hotline was established and is administered by the Constituent Services Office of the Department of Human Resources at 311 West Saratoga Street in Baltimore. You may reach the hotline by calling 1-800-332-6347 option 7. This information and referral clearing house was developed with a "one stop shopping" concept providing information on a variety of existing services.

2) Charitable Choice

Charitable Choice: Everything You Need to Know
Stanley W. Carlson-Thies, Director of Social Policy Studies
The Center for Public Justice
P.O. Box 48368
Washington DC 20002-0368
410 571 6300
http://cpjustice.org

Charitable Choice is a rule of the 1996 federal welfare reform law (P.L. 104-193 the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act), a condition or "string" that comes with the federal welfare block grant to each state and to the counties and cities within them. This rule about how government spends its welfare funds ensures that faith-based providers that accept public funds to assist the poor do not have to secularize themselves. And it encourages religious organizations that have feared secularization to consider cooperating with the public welfare effort.

3) Kingdom Ministries

What is Kingdom Ministries? Kingdom Ministries is modeled after the Metro Ministries Program founded by Rev. Bill Wilson in Brooklyn, N.Y. The folks at Metro reach 21,000 children each week.

For who is Kingdom Ministries? Kingdom Ministries is a program designed to help at risk youth and their families. It is broken down into stages:

  • Preschool program designed for children 3-6 years old
  • Yogi Bear program designed for children 5-12 years old
  • Club Life program designed for teens 11-18 years old
  • Once a child reaches eleven years old they are invited but not required to attend Club Life.

    How does Kingdom Ministries work? The neighborhood is patrolled with a big yellow truck, playing loud Christian rap or rock music, announcing when and where we will be starting. Once at the site the truck converts to a stage and the music continues to play while "Sidewalk Sunday school" is being set up. "Sidewalk Sunday school" consists of:

  • Opening with prayer
  • Singing songs of praise
  • Playing games
  • Learning a bible verse, reinforce the verse with skits, equate the verse to modern times with a life lesson
  • Closing with prayer.
  • MOST IMPORTANT: During the week a volunteer visit is made to each child's home. These visitations are the key to the program. This allows relationships to develop with children and their families. The volunteers check to see how the children are doing in school and with life in general. Since the start of the program at Most Precious Blood Church, 5010 Bowleys Lane, Baltimore, MD, 21206, there have been identified families that needed food, medication, job assistance, drug counseling, family counseling, and spiritual guidance. Referrals for these families are made to the appropriate agencies and the families get the help they need.

    In Baltimore the Kingdom Ministries is sponsored by The Catholic Faith Community of St. Anthony of Padua / Most Precious Blood Church. 4414 Frankford Avenue
    Baltimore, MD 21206-5133
    (410) 488 0400
    Fax (410) 488 0032

    Or contact:
    Deacon Lauren M. Welch, or phone (410) 668 4565

    Facts about Metro Ministries:

    Bill Wilson is the founder of METRO INNER CITY SUNDAY SCHOOL in Brooklyn, New York. In 1980, the work began in one of the toughest neighborhoods of America. Metro is the largest Sunday School in the United States, currently averaging over 20,000 children 12 years old and under weekly. Metro currently runs 50 buses to bring in 91 routes for the three Saturday sessions. Sidewalk Sunday school furthers Metro's outreach to the city's children as Sunday School is conducted four days a week at 58 sites around the city facilitated by 15 trucks.

    Visitation is key to the continuing success and growth of the Sunday School. Each week every child receives a personal home visit from one of the 120 full-time staff or 400 trained volunteers.

    Because of the success of METRO INNER CITY SUNDAY SCHOOL, the concept is being duplicated in over 1000 cities across North America and countries around the world.

    Unique concepts such as the "Saturday Sunday School" / "Sidewalk Sunday School" as well as the "Divisional Leader Training Program," and "Building A Church From a Sunday School" are concepts originated and developed by Bill Wilson and the staff of Metro.

    Metro's energetic youth program reaches over a 1000 teens at Club L.I.F.E each week

    Metro's thriving adult church offers Sunday services in English and Spanish to meet the needs of the Inner City population.

    The Won-by-One Sponsorship Program has successfully linked caring adults from all over the world with faithful children and teens of the Sunday School. The Won-by-One program allows a person or group to adopt a child for the program for $20.00 per month, the cost per month per child. The child and the sponsor communicate with cards, letters and gifts through the Metro Ministries Office so that privacy is maintained. It is wonderful to see when sponsors and children have an opportunity to meet. This further enables Metro staff and volunteers to keep close and personal contact with the kids and their families.

    Metro helps kids and their families through annual projects that include:

  • Camp Scholarships and Camp Duffel Bags (over 550 each year)
  • Back-to-School Bookbags (approximately 2500 a year)
  • Boxes of Love / Thanksgiving Dinners (generally 2500 boxes for the holiday season)
  • Christmas stockings (about 30,000 are given away each Christmas)
  • Operation Holiday Hope, a Christmas Present Project (about 24,000 presents are given to New York's Inner-city children)
  • Dollars of Destiny is a monthly feeding program (generally 900 needy families receive a box of groceries each month).
  • 4) The Church and the City

    For Christians, PARADISE is a CITY, but you'd never know it to see how Christians treat their cities on earth. It doesn't have to be this way. People and congregations can make real improvements. It starts with The Church and the City.

    THE CHURCH AND THE CITY IS:

  • An exciting series of talks, slide shows, and workshops designed for congregations in Metropolitan Baltimore
  • A blend of history, scripture, business, politics, and common sense
  • A clear, easy- to- understand approach to complicated issues
  • A NEW kind of CALL to congregational ACTION
  • The Church and the City is a teaching ministry of Jubilee Baltimore. It is presented by Jubilee's President, Charles Duff", noted city planner, historian, and developer. Charles is a member of Memorial, Bolton Hill. For more information, call him at (410) 327 7373 x 21.