Job description:

-diverse child-welfare caseload including services to foster children, their birth parents, & foster parents
-pro-life, non-directive and supportive counseling services to pregnant women
-preparation, placement, follow-up, and referral services to adoptive families

For more information, please contact Jimmy Dobbs at jdobbsagape@gmail.com.

“We were blown away by the powerful message Ron Hall brought to us and how much it matched our mission to not only serve those in need but also to learn more about ourselves from them,” said David Jordan, executive director of Agape. “We are humbled by the lives we have been given the opportunity to serve with and want to provide for others the way the Lord has provided for us.”

Agape Child & Family Services Executive Director, David Jordan from left, Karla Davis and Kristee Bell celebrate the recent GED pilot program graduation.

Agape Child & Family Services executive director David Jordan, from left, Karla Davis and Kristee Bell celebrate the recent GED pilot program graduation.
(Photo: courtesy of Agape)

But a new pilot program spearheaded by the Memphis nonprofit Agape Child & Family Services is taking that goal a step further by making sure more people have the educational credentials such as the General Educational Development test to get into college in the first place.

“We’re engaged with the Leadership Memphis and the Talent Dividend and have a partnership with them, but there’s also data around GED/high school graduation rates and what it means for jobs and an increase in pay, and then for junior college and college attainment,” said David Jordan, Agape’s longtime executive director. “Getting a GED makes someone more marketable.”

Last week, about 50 residents of the city’s Whitehaven neighborhood graduated from an Agape-led GED pilot program during a ceremony at Boulevard Church of Christ, 4439 Elvis Presley Blvd.

Tennessee Department of Labor and Workforce Development commissioner Karla Davis spoke at the graduation ceremony.

“It was very gratifying to get to know some of the participants in the program,” Davis said. “It really touched me to see how important this is to them. Adult education is significant on so many levels because the graduates empower themselves with confidence, a much higher chance of employment, and the potential for higher income. The effect is contagious. When they bring that feeling home and share the success with their family, friends and especially their children, we know the impact is spread exponentially.”

The program involves collaboration between Agape and its community partners, the Tennessee Department of Labor and Workforce Development, Teach for America and the University of Tennessee.

Agape – which means “love” in Greek – is a 41-year-old Christian-based organization that is dedicated to providing children and families with healthy homes through a wide range of programs, including adoption and foster care, maternity services, counseling and homelessness prevention.

The GED pilot program is the latest model added to the organization’s services. It’s made possible through Agape’s Powerlines Community Network Program, which works to connect local under-resourced communities with the resources they need to help shape a more nurturing environment for children and their families.

The Powerlines Community Network is currently active in three communities: Whitehaven, Hickory Hill/Southeast Memphis and Frayser/Raleigh.

Churches, businesses and other stakeholders partner with local neighborhoods to deliver services in a culturally sensitive, site-based manner. Partners include everyone from the City of Memphis to Literacy Mid-South to the Church Health Center.

“The purpose of Powerlines Community Network is to be with the people, of the people, among the people,” Jordan said. “It’s relational, and engaging with people. … It’s finding out what they need. And when they need a GED class, it’s walking them through the process.”

The program uses employees called “connectors” who not only guide participants toward attaining their GEDs, but help them tackle barriers to studying and class attendance.

“Often folks drop out of programs because of other issues,” Jordan said. “Their car’s in the shop, they’ve got child care issues, or they’ve got a significant relational problem in their home. The issues can be numerous. The connectors are working to address that range of barriers to help them be successful in what they started out to do – which is to get their GED.”

Connectors will also stay in communication with graduates as they enter into the job market.

The hope is that the program will be replicated in other parts of the state. Tennessee Gov. Bill Haslam was given weekly updates on the progress of the program.

“They wanted to start in Memphis, take this program to Nashville and then go all the way to Knoxville,” said Kristee Bell, director of Agape’s Powerlines Community Network. “This is a program they would like to duplicate, especially the partnership aspect of it.”

Davis said job creation is a major concern right now, and programs like this can increase Tennesseans workplace marketability and employment options.

“That’s why we were hopeful that this pilot program with Powerlines and Agape would be successful and it was. While some of the students will earn their GED diploma, all of them made academic gains and proved they can pass the test with a little more instruction.”
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In order to gain that perspective, one of our Westview team members, Jason Roark, recently served as a member of a mission team to Tegucigalpa, Honduras. Jason went because of his long-term interest in serving children and the poor, and because of his interest in the possibility of taking a small team of young men from Westview to serve there.

Here is Jason’s report:

Preparing to build a house
Our trip to Honduras was an opportunity to be the hands and feet of Jesus Christ. Altogether there were over 60 of us on the team to work and minister to the people of Tegucigalpa, Honduras.

Every morning we would wake up and split up into teams going in several directions. Some of us would go and work on the block house, which is what the majority of the homes are made of in Honduras, or join one of four teams going to build a wood house. Many homes here are patched-together of pieces of cardboard, tin, or crates. Some of us would join the team to work on the garden, which will eventually be capable to feed thousands. There were also two teams that would go and visit one of the many boys’ homes, or one of the children’s hospitals.

The block house took four days to complete due to the concrete work needed to finish it off. The wood houses could be completed in one day. The plots of land that we had to work with were no bigger than 20 feet by 20 feet and we would build houses on those plots that would measure 16 feet by16 feet. Many of us learned construction work on the spot, but we all worked together to bless and be blessed by the recipients of the homes.

Getting ready for concrete
One day we broke up the house building and went to feed the people at the dump. These people walk or ride a bus for miles just to go and dig through the trash of Tegucigalpa for recyclables that they can sell for money to feed their family. Many of them would eat the scraps they found in the dump. So when we showed up with food in the back of a little Toyota pick up truck, they came running, because this was one of the only hot meals they might have had in months.

After the meal at the dump we drove over to a local congregation and did a clothing give-away and played with the local children.

Throughout the week of the trip, we would wake up and leave by 8 and work until 6 pm. It was a hard day’s work but so worth the opportunity to bless so many lives, including our own.

Jason Roark

Agape is seeking a licensed (or immediately licensable) Christian social worker desiring to impact children’s and families’ lives through a Christ-driven faith-based ministry. While the office is based in Enterprise, travel, in-home services and community-networking throughout the Wiregrass region are significant components to the position. Comparable salary and benefits.

Job description:

-diverse child-welfare caseload including services to foster children, their birth parents, & foster parents
-pro-life, non-directive and supportive counseling services to pregnant women
-preparation, placement, follow-up, and referral services to adoptive families

For more information, please contact Jimmy Dobbs at jdobbsagape@gmail.com.

All proceeds from the event will go towards helping prevent unplanned pregnancy in teenagers and assisting women facing a crisis pregnancy. What a great way to celebrate Mother’ s Day weekend and Birthmother’s Day!

So, who are you running for? Is it the woman you call “mom” or is it another special lady you’ve always adored? Whoever it is, make sure to wear or carry something while you run to serve as a reminder of her.

REGISTER TODAY: www.runforamom.org

Contact Emily for more details, including how you can sponsor this wonderful event! info@agapeforchildren.org 334-272-9466

Jim Powell will be transitioning into the position of Director of Development.

We are now also offering church and community- based workshops designed to strengthen parents and improve families. Child and family focused outpatient Christian counseling services will be available in the second half of 2010. Partnering with local churches, these services will be provided in various Oklahoma communities to surrounding community members seeking help for their children and families. Like the children’s home, all services are designed to be financially accessible to all who need the help.

Hope Harbor’s target is to serve 2,000 individuals every year by 2015. One child at a time. One life. One future.

Hope