Community 4:12 Team
I am Kirsten Strand, Director of Community 4:12, COMMUNITY's compassion and justice ministry. Our mission is to Unite People to Restore Communities. We mobilize Christ-followers to be the hands, feet, and voice of Christ in under-resourced communities. We strengthen, develop, and equip under-resourced communities by responding to immediate needs, empowering people through training and development, and addressing systemic and justice issues, such as education and housing. We have been working in East Aurora for the past eight years and in Joliet for the past four years and just recently started working in Chicago and Romeoville.
A new focus in East Aurora this year will be building an East Aurora Restore Team that will be comprised of 10 ? 15 families committed to living in East Aurora and making a long-term commitment to community restoration in the areas of education, housing, and business development. We currently have 5 families committed, and would love to talk with anyone who might feel God's prompting to live, learn, and serve in this community.
As a result of last year's Celebration Generosity, we:
- Funded the Parent Mentor program in Aurora at 7 schools, involving 40 parents. We also started the program at 1 school in Joliet with 5 parents. This program pays each participating parent an annual stipend of $1,000/year to work as a teacher's assistant at their child's school.
- Sponsored four Christmas Gift Marts in Aurora, Joliet, and Chicago providing 13,000 toys to low-income children, and raising over $18,000 for under-resourced schools and helped 10 - 15 other churches around the area and the country reproduce the Christmas Gift Mart.
- Purchased the first Emmanuel House in East Aurora that will allow us to help families in working class poverty save for a downpayment on their own home, thus helping to break the cycle of poverty.
- Offered mentoring and tutoring programs for over 150 youth in Aurora and Joliet.
With your help, this year we will be able to:
- Pay 50 parents in East Aurora and Joliet to work as teachers assistants at their children's school as part of our Parent Mentor Program.
- Begin Community 4:12 initiatives in Chicago
- Offer mentoring and tutoring programs for over 150 youth in East Aurora and Joliet.
- Support educational and home-ownership programs through partnerships with Emmanuel House, the city of Aurora, and other churches, schools and non-profits in Aurora and Joliet.
