Previously Funded Projects

Berea College and Union Church
Transportation for the Elderly: Berea, Kentucky

As a result of a recent community needs assessment, the Micah 6 project now focuses on elderly in the Berea community and their access to necessary support services. There is no public transportation in the community, and many elderly live alone and without access to necessary services. Berea students and Union Church members are developing supportive relationships with elderly residents and providing necessary transportation services and advocacy efforts to help sustain independent living. The church pastor and college chaplain lead students in a bi-weekly program for spiritual reflection, prayer and study, related to the students’ service commitment.

Davidson College and Davidson United Methodist Church
The Hope Team: Davidson, North Carolina

Davidson students and church members partner with the Charlotte Crisis Assistance Ministry to provide low-income families with direct services in lifeskill mentoring, job training, budget management, credit resolution, and educational support. After training with staff at Crisis Assistance in Charlotte, the Davidson Hope Team works closely with one family at a time, for several months up to a full year, while training additional Hope Teams to work with other families in need. Though family mentoring, educational services and a program of small loans for crisis assistance, The Hope Team addresses immediate housing and health conditions of the family, and helps develop long-term family solutions for employment, improved education, and independent living. The church’s associate pastor meets weekly with students for discussion of faith issues and practical matters that emerge from their service with families.

Emory & Henry College and Emory United Methodist Church
E & H Afternoon Academy: Emory, Virginia

The E & H Afternoon Academy is an afterschool tutoring, enrichment and mentoring program, especially for rising sixth graders in rural Virginia. Focusing on the critical transition from elementary school to middle school, teachers and counselors recommend prospective students who are underachieving and without opportunities for other enrichment programs. Emory & Henry students join with church members to serve as tutors and mentors, prepare nutritional snacks two days/week, and lead special enrichment themes, which address issues of conflict and violence, homework and study skills, environmental concerns, the arts, community-building, and a call to service. Students meet twice monthly for discussion of personal growth, the relationship of faith and service, social justice, and particular issues raised in their service experiences.

Lees-McRae College and Banner Elk Presbyterian Church
Micah 6 ESL Tutoring Program: Banner Elk, North Carolina

The Lees-McRae partnership offers much needed English language and enrichment classes to Spanish-speaking residents in Avery County, NC. Most program participants are adult migrant workers and their families. Along with ESL classes for adults, the program includes lifeskills, children’s activities, nutritional meals and community fellowship each week. Training and assistance to student volunteers is provided by retired Presbyterian missionaries (from Guatemala) and church members experienced in teaching English as a second language. Spiritual retreats for students will be held at the beginning and end of each semester, to reflect on how faith helps us in crossing barriers of language, culture and race, working with the poor, and challenging society for the common good.

Maryville College and Highland Presbyterian Church
Maryville Initiative for Juvenile Justice: Maryville, Tennessee

Maryville students work closely with youth in the county juvenile detention center. Through spiritual and personal support services and fellowship activities, Maryville students provide leadership for a youth-group style enrichment program, in cooperation with the Blount County Juvenile Detention Center. The program includes youth ministry and fellowship activities, as allowed by the detention center, as well as reflection on what puts young people at risk in our society, with readings on service and social responsibility. The Maryville Chaplain will lead retreats and regular meetings with the Micah 6 team on prayer and spiritual reflection, issues of juvenile justice, and the call to service.

Pfeiffer College, with First Baptist Church and Victory Deliverance Center
Campus & Congregations Working Together: Misenheimer, North Carolina

The Pfeiffer partnership seeks (1) to work with two congregations in providing direct assistance for low-income migrant and minority families in rural North Carolina, and (2) to develop an on-line resource service to help facilitate area services and expanded outreach by churches. Students and churches will plan and staff “character building” activities and workshops for migrant and minority children and assist in a local free medical clinic. Beyond these direct services, students will develop an on-line service resource bank, which will be available to congregations and social services that serve or link with this population. The Pfeiffer Chaplain will lead two retreats for students to reflect on the ideals of servant leadership, diversity, call and community, being with the poor, and becoming God’s instruments of hope and healing.

Rhodes College and First Baptist Church
Crestmere Servant Leader House: Memphis, Tennessee

The Rhodes Micah 6 and Servant Leaders Program has established an urban community house for faith and action, in partnership with First Baptist Church. The community house is a center for servant leadership classes, a residence for student interns, and coordinating center for three collaborative Micah 6 projects with nearby urban churches. The three projects are: children’s tutoring, meals and mission program with First Baptist; a children’s program for nonviolence education with Holy Community; and an urban scouting program for girls with the New Hope downtown academy. The Chaplain’s staff and local clergy lead a series of servant leader classes for students, focusing on spiritual formation with a deepening commitment to service and social justice.

Wheeling Jesuit University and Laughlin Chapel, First Presbyterian Church
Rosa Parks Enrichment Program: Wheeling, West Virginia

Wheeling Jesuit and First Presbyterian Church have established the Mother Jones House as a community residence for students in the Bonner Leaders Program. The partnership further engages Wheeling students with direct services to youth in the Rosa Parks Enrichment Program. The youth are from multiracial, low-income, urban neighborhoods of East Wheeling, which are marked by frequent drug activity and violence. Students help the Laughlin Chapel host afterschool mentoring and tutoring services for youth, and an extended evening program with meals, fellowship and recreation. Additional program opportunities include weekend youth trips, holiday celebrations, and cultural outings. Members of the Chapel staff lead a series of retreats and monthly programs for students to reflect on their service in the community and implementing faith in the world.

Wofford College and Gravely United Methodist Church
Seeking Solutions in Lone Oak: Spartanburg, South Carolina

Church members and Wofford students provide educational enrichment and hot nutritional meals for children (kindergarten through 2nd grade) of poor working families, living in trailer park neighborhoods surrounding the Gravely Church. The church has taken a big step in opening its doors to this growing and rapidly changing community. An increasing number of participants are Mexican-American, and an increasing emphasis is placed on language needs of children, as well as individualized tutoring and mentoring. The church pastor and college chaplain lead student reflection on social justice ministry and their own spiritual connections to the work in Lone Oak.