The RESURRECTION BAPTIST CHURCH serves as a Haven of Hope for youth living within extreme poverty stricken areas, characteristically called slum areas, who wants a chance and deserves a chance to recover, learn and grow within a safe environment.

Parents of these youth, living within these areas of intervention, struggle daily to merely survive. They have limited possibilities to afford the costs of basic needs, such as food, shelter, education and healthcare. Their family incomes are basically oriented to first needs, and in most cases, they cannot afford the costs of school expenses for their children. The extreme consequence of this is that the children that are in need of a scholarship to continue their studies are the ones without possibilities to obtain it. The opposite is true that it is the well- off children, who after attending very good schools, perform better and are eligible for free higher education at college and university levels.

The only options for many of these children are to become entrepreneurs and engage in vocational skills training that could be considered as a middle solution between work and school, but are still beyond the means of many poor families living in these slum areas.

Illiteracy often has negative consequences on the whole family for the reason that if a parent hasn’t received an education, is not able to get a good job and is unable to pay for school expenses for the children, it creates a vicious circle of poor families transmitted from generation to generation.

Through increasing quality and access to affordable education and skills training for poor youth, this program aims to give a concrete possibility of social and economic empowerment to the adults of tomorrow and to all their families.

In addition to establishing an educational fund to enhance educational endeavors of our youth, Resurrection Baptist Church, along with selected faith-based partners, community business leaders , the president of Amachi, Inc, Metro United Methodist Urban Ministries and the U.S. Department of Justice (OJJDP), have entered into an agreement to promote mentoring of our youth by offering evidence-based and innovative opportunities that make a difference through the “I Choose Me" Mentoring Program.

The program directors and mentors provide the inspiration, influence and encouragement that are geared towards transforming their lives into productive, healthy and compassionate members of society.

Many of our youth today are troubled “at-risk” youth, seriously vulnerable for behavioral problems because they have come from multi-trauma backgrounds of abuse including emotional, physical, and sexual as well as neglect. They have faced major adversity in their lives and are seeking hope and empowerment. They are experiencing difficulties at home, falling behind in school and are struggling with interpersonal relationships.

The “I Choose Me” Mentoring Program aims to change the lives of these troubled youth through education, faith and caring. Our goal is to provide life changing experiences by teaching and instilling in them to let go of rough emotions, not to be afraid of failure, to develop life skills and good habits, that there is always time for improvement and that they need to work hard to get where they want to get in life.

In order for our educational fund and youth programs to continue to be successful and survive, we rely solely on support from grants, individual charitable donations, donations from private foundations and local businesses. Every donation that we receive works to nurture each youth to create positive outcomes through:

• Academic Support: ensuring that our youth get the attention they need to make real, measurable progress to achieve long-term goals and successes.
  
  
• Spiritual Guidance and Counseling: provides many opportunities for our youth to develop faith through appropriate and meaningful experiences.
  
  
• Personal Well-being: helping our youth to experience self-worth and self-confidence, often for the first time through recreational, health and educational programs.

Perhaps the most important benefit of your support goes beyond the tangible results – it is that special feeling of satisfaction that comes from knowing you’re playing a personal role in giving deserving youth a better chance to turn their lives around and an increased knowledge base.

Your 100% tax-deductible gift, in any amount, will be put to work immediately to help us continue with our efforts. Please click on the donation button below with your generous support. We thank you in advance for your kind generosity.

Reverend Robert J. McFadden, Pastor
Resurrection Baptist Church