BLUEPRINT FOR A PROMISE NEIGHBORHOOD

Sep 15

What do we look for when we're considering building a New Promise Neighborhood?

In July we shared some background on how the opportunity to establish a new Promise Neighborhood in Maryvale opened up and our progress to that date. This month, we want to take a deeper dive into the conditions and characteristics that make an area a good candidate to become a Promise Neighborhood, and how God works to bring it all together.

You might expect that some of the criteria used to determine Promise Neighborhood potential would include high rates of crime and poverty, and underperforming schools, and you would be correct. But there's so much more to the equation than that.

We also look for neighborhood identity - a clear sense of cohesion and connection to the neighborhood is a vitally important piece of the puzzle. When the people living in the neighborhood know each other and share a sense of belonging to their community, God can open the doors to three elements that are crucial to the success of a new Promise Neighborhood.

One of these criteria is for the neighborhood to have an Anchor Church, a fellowship of believers who have the heart to reach the community for Christ. Anchor Churches like Valley Presbyterian Church (Paiute) and Scottsdale Bible Church (Palomino) provide tremendous resources that address the material needs of the people living in the Promise Neighborhoods and create a sense of community connection through outreach events and other acts of compassion and generosity.

Another criterion is that the neighborhood must have an Anchor School that is supportive of the mission of MentorKids and willing to work cooperatively for the good of their students. Anchor Schools provide access to students and families who can benefit from the services we offer, even going as far as arranging bus schedules so they can drop students off at our afterschool programs.

The third criterion that we look for is a bit more ambiguous and might best be described as Neighborhood Buy-In. Neighborhood Buy-In is indicated when families are spreading the word about MentorKids, when kids are enjoying the programs and bringing their friends, and when churches, businesses, and community partners are joining forces to create and strengthen connections between MentorKids and the neighborhood.

After evaluating demographic data to determine the level of need in a given community, we assess these three important criteria by launching a short-term pilot program designed to introduce MentorKids to the neighborhood. The level of collaboration necessary to launch a pilot program allows us to determine the compatibility of our potential partners and the reaction of the neighborhood families to our programming. But that isn't where the evaluation stops.

The most important work happens in the quiet places of prayer as our leadership and Board seek God's will for this ministry and rely on His Holy Spirit to lead us where He wants us to go next. And when we see His leading in such clear ways as we did in Maryvale this year, we can move forward in the confidence that He is leading and the vision we see is His.

What has happened this summer in Maryvale is a good example of how this process works. Quite unexpectedly, God provided an Anchor Church in Maryvale (Unidos en una Visión Church), an Anchor School (Heatherbrae Elementary, next door to Unidos Church), and a tremendous outpouring of support from the neighborhood.