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Urban Ministry's outreach programs keep blogs about life at the Center and our ongoing work and stories. That's the place to find pictures and a look at what's happening right now. Simply click on the link or picture below. Watch this site for additional blogs from the Urban Ministry.
Our hope is to ensure the voices of those who gather for soup and sandwiches at 945 N. College St. are part of public dialogue. Sometimes folks forget, ourselves included, that we are all part of the community. The HHH blog is our lively expression of our perspectives — and one of the best places in town for keeping up with the public policy debates about homelessness and poverty.
HHH was born during voting season in 2002. The original intention was to ensure folks experiencing homelessness registered to vote and were in conversation with elected officials. We still are meeting weekly today. We are currently and formerly homeless individuals (and a couple of housed ones) helping improve the lives of individuals experiencing homelessness. That includes the big picture — advocating for more supportive housing, more employment opportunities for ex-offenders, etc. and the small picture — how we can help each other solve problems and reach our personal goals.
Read our garden blog to keep up with the green side of the Center's ministry. Our big news this year is a grant from Rodale's Organic Gardening to install a "real" rainwater harvesting system, so we'll be blogging a lot about that.
The Urban Ministry Center Community Garden is unusual because the gardeners are homeless. Other than that, we are like many urban community gardens. We grow food, plus we beautify the landscape with flowers, trees and native/well-adapted plants that fit well in our local ecology. As with any community garden, community comes first. Meaning that our harvests of stories, good will and shared experiences are every bit as important and nourishing as our tomatoes, okra, broccoli and greens. And we provide a welcoming place for people who spend their lives being chased away or ignored, and a unabashed home for improvised urban art. We feed the soil with compost and organic soil amendments, and manage our garden as an ecosystem, without using dangerous pesticides.
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The Urban Ministry Center's street soccer program is part of a global network of programs seeking to give people who are homeless a focus for their energy and talents in the world's most popular sport. The blog tells the story of their adventures and stuggles, both here in Charlotte and in competition around the world at the annual Street Soccer World Cup. The program is transformative and requires dedication, commitment, teamwork and focus — exactly the kinds of skills needed to get off the street. At the blog site, you'll find links to the Sundance Film Festival hit "Kicking It", which features our program.
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Located in the old train depot on 945 N. College Street, Art Works 945 is a living documentary project, studio, and gallery where the homeless tell their own stories, beautify their surroundings, and reach out to the rest of society. Art Works 945 is based on the premise that by understanding "the other" in society we begin to understand ourselves. The ArtWorks blog tells that story, and shows what's happening in our art studios, projects and periodic shows and open mike nights.
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October 2007 (pdf)
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March 2001 (pdf)
December 2000 (pdf)
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