Voice of Calvary Ministries
Melvin Anderson, Executive Director
1655 St. Charles St.
Jackson, Miss. 39209
(601) 353-1635

Thirty-five years ago, John Perkins, a visionary leader in Mendenhall, Miss., dreamed of improving the quality of life in this tiny rural village by developing leadership skills among the town's young people. He sought to identify a group of youngsters who'd stick with their education through high school, then find them the financial and moral support needed to send them off to college or trade school, with the understanding that they would come back to Mendenhall and use their new-found skills and talents to rebuild their community, and to do it in a spirit of reconciliation that would find people of all races working together for their common good. Through years of hard work and persistence, this program won significant victories: A food cooperative, a gymnasium, a youth recreation facility, and most of all, a core of skilled community leaders who had become empowered to identify and address their needs.

In 1970, the Perkinses came to Jackson's changing West Park neighborhood, a shady urban community of substantial houses that was then undergoing "white flight" and social change. Following similar premises, they began developing and grooming a new group of young future leaders, and through them evolved a group of empowerment and community-development programs that have already proven themselves as national models. Led today by Melvin Anderson, who was himself one of the young people who grew up under the Perkins's mentorship in Mendenhall, VOCM inspired the Rev. Wayne Gordon to establish a similar program in Chicago's Lawndale neighborhood, and its initiatives have been widely reported, and replicated, through community economic-development networks.

Its youth program continues to serve more than 500 young people every year with activities, mentoring and training, provided in after-school and summer recreation programs. Youngsters who stick with the program through age 13 are offered part-time jobs with VOCM to provide them both pocket money and work experience through high school; those who go on to college are given scholarships ranging from $500 to $1,000 per semester, the amount depending frankly on the organization's ability to pay. In a city where only 71 percent of young people graduate from high school, these incentives don't go unnoticed. Another youth program focuses on developing entrepreneurial skills; a current group is drawing up a market plan and intends to start a small business this summer making souvenir clocks and religious crosses for sale.

VOCM also operates a Family Health Center, staffed by a physician and nurse practitioner, serving about 8,000 patients a year in an inner-city neighborhood. If funding can be found, they hope to add two more medical staffers and increase capacity to 12,000.

This isn't all: Two more extremely exciting national models are found in VOCM's housing and economic-development initiatives.

The group got into housing in a big way shortly after the Perkinses came to Jackson, when they discovered that 6,600 houses in the city were dilapidated but considered suitable for rehabilitation. They began to acquire these houses at very low cost -- sometimes as little as $2,500 -- and renovate them using volunteer labor and "sweat equity" for an average of $18,000 in costs. After repairs, these houses could be sold for $25,000 -- generating a $5,000 return to the ministry for future acquisition or rehab costs. That's still low enough to be affordable to a family earning as little as $8,000 a year, with a $300 down payment and mortgage payments (partially subsidized) around $200 a month for 15 years. The group also negotiated with banks to make mortgage money available to families that wouldn't normally qualify. New homeowners also receive instruction in basic home repairs and other home-ownership skills to help them keep up their properties. Voice of Calvary Ministries (continued)

VOCM's economic-development venture, Thriftco Inc. (now spun off as a separate, non-profit organization) was established in 1980 with two goals: To make decent, low-priced clothing available to residents, and as a legitimate community economic-development venture. Initially housed in a commercial building purchased with donations from churches and a loan from the Southern Cooperative Development Fund, Thriftco seeks donated or low-cost clothing "seconds" from commercial suppliers like K-Mart; its staff of seamstresses and volunteers clean and repair clothing that the commercial firm considered "unusable," then sell it at prices about one-third below competitive retail stores. There's a commitment to quality -- "junk" clothing is discarded, not sold -- and to keeping costs low. Thriftco has now grown to three retail outlets in Jackson and nine independent branches (locally owned and managed) in surrounding rural counties. The three Jackson stores employ seven people and gross between $200,000 and $300,000 per year. Thriftco's surplus from operations (the non-profit equivalent of a commercial business's profit) is distributed creatively: About two-thirds of it comes back to VOCM as operating revenue; the remainder is distributed as grants to other community development agencies that will use it for education projects. A success by any standard, Thriftco's revenues for 1990 totaled almost $320,000, yielding a $39,120 surplus after all expenses were paid.

Operating in a large former residence in West Park, VOCM has a staff of 34. Its annual budget totals about $1.5 million.

In a report praising VOCM's model, the National Congress of Community Economic Development noted that its goal of economic liberation and empowerment for poor people is consistent with the civil right's movement in America and with Malcolm X's emphasis on economic development. An NCCED report observed, "The Voice of Calvary model is important to African-American churches because it demonstrates that 'little becomes much when you place it in the Master's hand' and that community development can occur in a situation where the resources appear to be limited."

All the feature stories on @GRASS-ROOTS.ORG's pages are reported and written by Robin Garr, a prize-winning journalist who has visited more than 500 innovative grassroots programs in all 50 states since 1990.

Browse his book, Reinvesting In America, at Amazon.com.

Send him E-mail.

Back to the @GRASS-ROOTS.ORG Home Page