What is it?
The Grand Rapids United Methodist Community House is a major provider of family services, educational programs and basic needs for the residents of inner city Grand Rapids.
The Community House has an accredited Child Development Center for infants through pre-kindergarten children, they offer a wide range of parenting services and programs and the Shalom Senior Center offers senior citizens help with transportation, meals, advocacy, healthcare and more.
A lot of the programming the non-profit provides focuses around literacy within entire family units, to provide an essential skill needed in social settings and the workforce.
In 2009, the house served almost 3,000 participants, according to Director of Development Bev Crandall-Rice.
She said “more than 60 percent of the people in the inner city are living in poverty” and 90 percent of their clients fit that description.
How did it start?
In September 1902, a group of women from the Methodist Churches of the Grand Rapids District organized a club to do settlement work and initially the program included classes for kindergarten and early elementary girls.
Eventually classes were offered for boys as well, covering a breadth of different topics.
In the 1950s, summer camps became the norm and by the early 1980s the Community House was focused heavily on advocacy of child development issues and concerns, to the point they received a United Way Humanitarian Award.
In 1989 the project was given a jolt with a $2.6 million capital campaign that helped it become what it is today.
Crandall-Rice said UMW founded it on the principles of helping a diverse set of people in staying true to the specific needs of the community, something that hasn’t changed in 108 years.
“We’ve had tremendous success with those who have been a part of our services. We see children from our Child Development Center ready to succeed, ready for pre-school or ready for kindergarten. We see the literacy skills that come out of our program because all of our programs are literacy based and that’s just a foundation for success and so valuable and important.”
What type of progress has been made?
Progress has occurred time and again with the Community House — through economic depression, through changes in leadership, and by adapting to the needs of those they serve.
In 2010 the challenge of progress is no less daunting.
Crandall-Rice said the Community House has an annual operating budget of roughly $2.2 million, but recent state budget cuts have had a major impact on them.
“It’s challenging, especially when we did get about a $300,000 cut from the state of Michigan when we had secured contracts and grants for up to three years,” she said. “After the first year, because of state budget cuts, some programs were let go. So for us that amounted to about $300,000.”
Reductions included some specialty summer programming, as well as primary parenting classes that were aimed at fathers and recent parolees.
Nonetheless, the Community House continues to provide top-notch before and after-school programs, ESL classes are in place to assist the large Hispanic population and the organization continues to provide daily support and guidance to people of all ages.
What can churches/people do to help?
When looking to fill the gaps following $300,000 a year cuts from the state, donors are essential.
People can donate directly, on the house’s website, www.umchousegr.org, or they can provide assistance through the Six Lanes of the Advance.
The organization is also looking for long-term corporate or business sponsorships and/or available grants to help with future sustainability.
Crandall-Rice said volunteers truly fuel the Community House’s fire though.
“Volunteers just allow for us to do some capacity building within our services and programs,” she said.
Volunteers are required to have criminal background checks processed and tuberculosis tests done annually if they work directly with people.
Crandall-Rice can be reached at bcrandall@umchousegr.org.
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