23 Jan AmeriCorps Awards $68,650 Grant to Metro Lutheran Ministries (MLM)

Metro Lutheran Ministries (MLM) was recently awarded a $68,650 grant from Corporation for National Service and Community, AmeriCorps to support five AmeriCorps members who will provide financial literacy service, employment services, housing repair, housing repair education, nutrition education, community gardening, and food delivery services in Kansas City, Missouri and Kansas City, Kansas.

The mission of Metro Lutheran Ministry (MLM) is to affirm the right of all people to food, clothing and shelter, while promoting self-sufficiency and hope through direct services and advocacy.  AmeriCorps members (Members) will address the root cause of poverty, the root causes of sustained employed poverty, and one of the most basic symptoms of poverty. Members (A, B, and C) will provide financial literacy and employment services. Members (C and D) will provide nutrition education, weekend food for children, and community garden support. One Member (E) will provide household repair and maintenance education.

Families living below the federal poverty level struggle to pay their rent and utilities and feed their families. A single unexpected event can cause them to spiral into homelessness. Their car breaks down and their job isn’t on the bus line so they can’t go to work. Because they can’t make it to their job they can’t earn money to get the car repaired.  Eventually they lose their job because of absences and without money for rent they are at risk for homelessness. What these families really need is intensive case management; stabilizing them first and then teaching a multitude of skills to prevent the domino effect when these trigger events happen.  Families need to learn how to maintain their health through nutrition and exercise, maintain their own transportation and home repairs, handle their finances, and further their education so they can continue to get better jobs in the future. For those who may have been chronically homeless, services which help them adjust to life off the streets, learn how to take care of themselves and find meaning in life. These keys to self-sufficiency are commonly missing in families who endure the generational cycle of poverty.

The mission of Metro Lutheran Ministry is to affirm the right of all people to food, clothing and shelter, while promoting self-sufficiency and hope through direct services and advocacy. MLM proposes using five AmeriCorps Members to support its programs to improve the opportunity of economically disadvantaged people in Kansas City. These programs include: Learning to Earning; Family Empowerment, Food Pantry; Orchard and Community Gardens, Christmas Store; Saturday Breakfast Ministry, Minor Home Repair, Back Snack, and Housing Stabilization.