Our Programs
Here is an overview of our activity in the neighborhood. Our work in the community fits into four target areas: Economic Development, Affordable Housing, Holistic Health, and Community Cultivation. Check out our Mission page to learn more about these strategic focus pillars and our values as an organization.
New City Cafe & Roastery
We roast quality coffee from around the world while partnering with the community to create a Beechwood gathering space unlike any other.
Our mission to serve begins with our team. We intentionally employ teens and young adults from within the community, helping them discover and utilize their gifts as they do meaningful work. Our hands-on mentorship helps them develop the skills to envision and pursue successful futures living out their potential as image-bearers of God. Each Apprentice is partnered with a mentor from the neighborhood to help foster a meaningful relationship.
Between Supervisors that long to see the Apprentices flourish in developing effective workplace habits and Mentors that help them address other dimensions of their health (e.g. financial, physical, mental, etc), each Apprentice has multiple people encouraging and equipping them for success. We also host ongoing Health and Wellness events, as well as team-building and social activities, to foster community and friendship that goes beyond the workplace.
Kids Club & Teen Club
In partnership with a neighborhood church, New City Fellowship Beechwood, we offer programs for Kids and Teens throughout the year.
Kids Club: Meets every Saturday from 3:00pm - 4:30pm during the school year. During the summer months we transition to a daily Monday - Friday lunchtime Kids Camp and Summer Meals program in collaboration with Foodlink to provide not only biblical nourishment, but a healthy lunch, fun, nutrition and exercise lessons to promote wellness.
Teen Club & Mentoring: a natural outgrowth of our Kids' Club to provide continued engagement as our neighbors grow older. The entire group meets every other Friday afternoon and periodic field trips promoting discipleship, deepening relationships, leadership, and community service. On the alternating weeks students meet with their mentors to work on academics, spiritual growth, and to just have fun.
Kids Club, Ages 4-10, Saturdays 3:00-4:30 PM
Teen Club, Ages 10-18, every other Friday 4:30-6:30 PM
Live in the neighborhood and interested in joining? Let us know!
HOLISTIC HEALTH PARTNERSHIPS
We partner with many other organizations to provide for the mental, physical, and spiritual health needs of our community.
Foodlink's Curbside Market: Every Thursday from 3:30-4:15pm each week. The Curbside Market brings a variety of fresh fruits and vegetables to Beechwood. It continues to be our hope and prayer that one day Beechwood residents will have their own small full service market to be able to access fresh produce and healthier groceries on a daily basis.
Beechwood Community Garden: Our neighborhood has all the characteristics of a food desert, which means our neighbors do not have ready access to fresh produce. Many do not have their own transportation and navigating public transportation can be a daunting task. In an attempt to respond to this situation in May of 2016 we established the Beechwood Community Garden on the corner of Parsells and Stout. Not only has the garden provided much needed fresh produce but we have been able to offer gardening lessons and nutrition classes as well. Laboring together is an amazing way to develop relationships and build community.
Summertime Free Bike Repair Clinic: We partner with R-Community Bikes and the Little Flower Community to provide a free weekly bicycle repair clinic on Wednesdays afternoons from 4:00-7:00pm June-August. Not only does this equip our neighbors with a simple form of transportation, it also provides a gathering space for people. It’s not uncommon for a number of teens to be gathered, learning how to repair their own bikes.
Affordable Housing & HOMES Program
A key to breaking the cycle of poverty is addressing the need for stable, decent, and affordable housing. About 75% of the lowest income earners put more than half their income towards the cost of housing. Time and time again, research has shown that increasing access to affordable housing is the most cost-effective way to increase economic mobility, reduce childhood poverty, and improve outcomes for children as they enter adulthood.
We operate 13 apartments below market value to address this concern. But we don’t see these apartments simply as cheap housing. Our hope and goal is to cultivate a community that encourages, support, and empowers our tenants to grow and flourish.
Through our HOMES Program, we wrap around our tenants with an approach to their health and their future that acknowledges that there are many facets to human flourishing.
Social determinants of health (SDOH) are those factors in our environment that can dramatically impact our health and our quality of life. In our approach, we directly dialogue with our tenants about five key SDOH areas: education and resource access, healthcare and physical health, neighborhood and environment, relationships and community, and economic and financial stability. We believe that by intentionally addressing these five areas and connecting our tenants with our network of resources, we will see improvement in the outcomes our tenants experience!
This program begins with a relationship. Our Property Manager will connects regularly with each tenant for a conversation about their circumstances. This includes a survey of their SDOH. Next, we help our tenants find the appropriate resources and connections to meet the gaps in their personal and unique story and we walk alongside them as they participate. The cycle begins again as we continue to connect.
But the relationship-building will not be confined to these formal check-ins with tenants. We also host regular social gatherings to build community between the tenants and others in our area. We have also recruited one of our tenants to serve as our Tenant Liaison, providing every tenant with multiple people who have their good in mind.