CITY OF REFUGE INC
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Mission Statement
City of Refuge exists to bring light, hope, and transformation to individuals and families of Atlanta by providing life-changing services in the areas of health and wellness, housing, vocational training, and youth development. We envision thriving communities where the cycle of poverty has been broken.
About This Cause
Over the past 23 years, City of Refuge (COR) has provided life-building resources of Health and Wellness, Housing, Vocational Training, and Youth Development for more than 20,000 neighbors to create a pathway out of poverty. Now, the global pandemic has exacerbated historic inequities. Community members already suffering injustice and experiencing a lack of opportunities have been hard hit by current realities. Vocational Training Two of the greatest barriers that individuals in this community face in finding and retaining employment are limited access to quality training and lack of connections to potential employers. These barriers are compounded by limited access to key supports such as childcare and transportation. The Hub is specifically designed to remove these barriers. The Hub provides a comprehensive approach to workforce development: recruiting potential students from the community; assessing candidates to create an individualized employment plan, mentoring students throughout; training individuals in job-specific skills; and placing individuals in the best jobs for them through coordinated agreements with businesses that match skills learned. Immersive training emphasizes practical tasks and utilizes both classroom instruction and hands-on experience. Current vocational training tracks include high-needs sectors of Automotive, CDL, Culinary, Security, and Tech. All programs have small cohorts and low participant/staff ratios. Along with specific occupational skills, the Hub incorporates soft skills such as effective communication, punctuality, cooperation, and positive attitude necessary for success. In addition, the Hub offers financial literacy, GED prep, resume and interview assistance, dressing for success, computer time, regular job fairs, and help setting up interviews. Throughout, COR provides full wrap-around services including access to health and wellness solutions, childcare, transportation, meals, and housing. This comprehensive approach increases the success rate for participants to maintain long term meaningful employment. Over the past two years, the Hub has placed 977 residents in jobs with the opportunity to earn a living wage. This includes the homeless, high-school dropouts, victims of domestic violence and trafficking, ex-offenders, and re-entering workers. More than 90% are Black, and 100% are low-income. For 2021, the goal is to place at least 500 community members in jobs as we create a more self-sufficient, equitable community. Housing Eden Village provides housing along with comprehensive support services for hundreds of women and children each day, 365 days per year. Last year alone, EV received 7,737 calls requesting assistance and helped 484 women and children work to gain stability. The 1300: A Beloved Inspired Community, directly across the street from COR’s campus, opened this summer with 12 permanent supportive housing for community members to take the next step toward independence in a place of their own. All residents receive dignified housing and hot and healthy meals, regular case management, access to healthcare, opportunities to develop life skills including classes in financial literacy and parenting education, and access to vocational training. Youth Development This program serves youth and families who have suffered injustice and experienced a lack of opportunities in zip code 30314 and surrounding neighborhoods of Atlanta’s Westside community. In this historically Black community, the effects of institutional discrimination are profound. Here, the state’s highest incidents of poverty, crime, drug abuse, incarceration, homelessness, and teen pregnancies occur. Given the systemic and cyclical poverty, many individuals and families lack access to safe and affordable housing, nutritious food, quality education, adequate healthcare, and jobs that pay a living wage. Every student enrolled in the public schools in zip code 30314 participates in the free lunch program. Children living under the poverty level are 25% more likely to drop out of school, 40% more likely to become a teenage parent, and 70% more likely to be arrested for a violent crime. Many of the students have gaps in learning. The global pandemic has exacerbated these inequities. New research by NWEA projects that due to school closures, students may start the new school year having lost close to 30% of their learning gains in reading and 50% of their gains in math from the previous year. The Pew Research Center reports that lower-income parents are most concerned about their children falling behind due to closures. Without help, there’s little chance for children to escape the generational poverty into which they were born. School-age children spend up to 80% of their time outside of school. As children’s brains are continuously developing during this time, they need continual support. Hours when children are alone and unsupervised can be hours of increased risk and lost opportunities. They also can be a time of opportunity for youth centered activities and individualized support. Accumulating research shows that access to afterschool and summer programs is critical to success particularly for low-income students. It can enable children who are behind to catch up and experience the “extras” that advantaged children often take for granted but that poorer children desperately need. Unfortunately, families living in areas of high poverty such as those surrounding City of Refuge are significantly less likely to have access to safe, engaging out of school options for their children. And the quality of opportunities that youth have during the time away from school have a profound effect not only on their immediate health and well-being, but also on their long-term chances of success in school and in life. The challenges of the ongoing pandemic and racial unrest have highlighted the importance of programs that can meet the unique needs of both the children and the families experiencing homelessness and living in extreme poverty such as in 30314. As City of Refuge has devoted extra resources to ensuring that the 30+ children who live on campus have the support they need to stay on track during the time when all Atlanta Public Schools students must attend school virtually, we have recognized the need to enhance the existing Kid City youth development program to become a true source of inspiration bringing light, hope, and transformation for the children, the families, and Atlanta’s Westside community. In 2020 City of Refuge accomplished the following metrics: 484 Women and Children housed 492 Jobs placed 830 Job fair participants 125 Job training graduates 26 Reentry Citizens served 254 Youth served 850 counseling hours 257,400 meals served Please join us in 2021 to accomplish the following: Housing: Eden Village will provide safe, dignified housing with support services for at least 300 women and children experiencing homelessness, with at least 100 households graduating to more stable housing. Vocational Training: The Workforce Innovation Hub will provide comprehensive workforce development for at least 400 under- or unemployed residents to secure jobs, including participants in the Reentry Hub, residents of Eden Village, and the community around City of Refuge. Youth Development: o Feed My Lambs will provide foundational Christian education and love for up to 65 children ages 6 weeks to 5 years old. FML has met the critical need for tuition-free early childcare on COR’s campus as a close nonprofit partner since 2008 and we are pleased that FML now has transitioned to become a key COR-operated program. o Kid City will provide youth skill development, homework help, tutoring, literacy programs, social-emotional learning programs and other services for at least 50 low income students grades K-12. Health and Wellness: The 180 Degree Kitchen will serve at least 250,000 meals. All City of Refuge residents and program participants will have access to physical and mental health services as they pursue their journey to self-sufficiency.