1st Just Newsletter - Dec 18, 2016

My neighborhood on 22nd Ave

By Julie Wood | Executive Director, Just Initiative (written December 2016)

When I moved to 22^nd Avenue in Ybor in January of 2011, it was like moving into a different country.  I have been learning new customs, coming to understand different paradigms of the world, learning the very complicated systems that poor people have to navigate and it literally feels like I have been learning a new language.  Even though I am about 20 minutes from the gated neighborhood in Brandon where I lived for about 10 years, it truly feels like I am a world away.   I moved here with three main intentions – to simplify, to live in community with other Christians, and to be a good neighbor by being available and walking alongside our neighbors that have been disadvantaged and living in poverty. 

I am in a neighborhood where I’m the minority when it comes to my race, a neighborhood where the large majority of my neighbors do not have a high school education or GED and owning a vehicle is a luxury that many do not have.  In my neighborhood, gun violence is frequent enough that when I’m anywhere in public and I hear a loud abrupt noise my first assumption is gunfire.    Our neighborhood has a high population of homeless, many sleeping on the streets and many sleeping from friend to friend’s house or literally walking the streets and not sleeping at all.  Then there are the neighbors that are homeless with their children and that takes things to a whole new level, which is both much more devastating and once you are there it is much more difficult to escape and still have your children in your custody.   Our neighborhood elementary school is “F” rated – meaning the majority of children are failing the standardized tests.   The children are not learning there.  These are bright and beautiful children that are caught in some type of perfect storm at a time that is most critical for them to master the fundamentals of education.  When children go through elementary and do not learn the fundamentals, they are immediately set up for the continued cycle of poverty and a higher potential for crime, drug use, drug dealing, violence, etc.  

So, we moved here, and we quickly were befriended by the children in the neighborhood.  Over the last six years, we have experienced many beautiful things.  We have had many homeless people stay a short period with us and we have invited some to live with us for long periods of time.  At one point for about a year, our home consisted of our immediate family of four, our 14 year old Godson whom we were fostering, our wonderful friend who is a partner in ministry and a restaurant manager, a 45 year old man who was previously homeless for years and struggles with schizophrenia and a developmental disability, a single mom and her five children – a total of 13 people who were different races, and extremely diverse in background and culture.  It was a mess at times! And it was beautiful.  It felt like chaos, but also felt like the kingdom the God with such diversity and yet unity.  

One a day to day basis, I have been frequently helping a neighbor with their resume and looking for work; or assisting them in completing complicated government paperwork for unemployment, disability, etc.  Often neighbors are asking for prayer or need someone to sit with them and help figure out a difficult situation that seems hopeless, like living without electricity, facing eviction, transportation to a job interview, or childcare when offered a job that starts the following day.  The children in the neighborhood are frequently over for help with homework or help in figuring out what is the best school for them with all the options available in Hillsborough county. 

In the fall of 2015, this all grew into more of a formal ministry with a team of people and we named it the JUST INITIATIVE.  We started a homework club where we had up to eleven children coming each day for help with their homework and with learning the basics of reading, writing and math.  At this time, we also opened a house for women and children facing homelessness (Petra House).  In addition to providing a place of refuge, at Petra House we offered job coaching support, enrichment classes and intentional discipleship to assist the women and children in their identity, financial management, and healthy relationships.  We have team of 7 women dedicated on different levels to serve in Just Initiative.  Currently our team is 100% volunteer, freely giving our time and resources as we feel called by Jesus to walk alongside our sisters and brothers and bring the light of God into places of darkness and pain.

It is difficult to quantify the work we do on a daily basis as we meet with many people and work with individuals providing resources and connecting them to resources as they are facing a gamut of challenges along the lines of Education, Housing and Income while integrating the spiritual with the physical in all of our efforts. Over the first 18 months of the Just Initiative, here are some highlights of what was accomplished:

• Baptized eight people and dedicated two babies to the Lord

• Organized a Stop the Violence candlelight prayer walk on 22^nd Avenue

• Opened Petra House and developed Enrichment Classes and began discipleship

• Provided as safe place of refuge and love and support to 48 women and children at Petra House

• Assisted moms in applying for countless jobs and obtaining interview/work clothes and transportation to interviews.

• Developed our initial Board of Directors to include Casey Moseley, Jacque Daniels and me, Julie Wood.

In 2017, here are some of the main objectives:

• Start a micro-business to offer employment to some of the people whom we are in relationship with and are having various challenges with finding work elsewhere

• Secure new housing for Petra House and have a smooth transition from the current location

• Establish the ability to offer emergency housing for 1 week periods to women and children in critical situations

• Refine our Enrichment Class curriculum and our Basic Discipleship program

• Begin a Bible study for the children in Petra House

• Expand and develop our team