24 Jun Metro Lutheran Ministry (MLM) Receives $50,000 Grant from the Ronald D. Deffenbaugh Sr. Foundation

Metro Lutheran Ministry (MLM) was recently awarded a $50,000 grant from the Ronald D. Deffenbaugh, Sr. Foundation to support enhancement of MLM’s Midtown Impact Network program through adoption of the evidence-based Financial Opportunity Center (FOC) 3 model (Local Initiative Support Corporation, 2017). FOC’s are career and personal finance service centers designed to help low- to moderate-income people focus on their financial bottom line through financial coaching, employment services, and access to income supports.

Grant funds from the Deffenbaugh Foundation will support the cost of program staff (90% of request) and administrative costs (10% of request). MLM staff will provide 18 months of intensive, wrap-around support, coaching, and guidance through the FOC model, and an additional 5 years of follow-up as families learn to incorporate the new skills they have acquired into their everyday lives. Families will improve their housing security, food security, employment, and income resources.

Families in Kansas City often need the help of organizations like MLM to ensure their children have a safe and stable home, food to eat, access to education and health care, and hope for their future. Poverty is at the root of many struggles people in Kansas City face each day and can be brought on by issues like unemployment or underemployment, low educational attainment, and health or mental health crises. Many families experience a generational cycle of poverty that is difficult to break without ongoing wrap around support.

Metro Lutheran Ministry (MLM) was founded in 1971 as a response to poverty and homelessness for people of all races, religions, and nationalities in the greater Kansas City area. MLM began operating with one paid staff person and a part time food pantry. The agency has grown to 25 paid staff persons, over 1,700 volunteers, and five locations serving over 20,000 people annually. For 45 years, MLM has served the poor, homeless, elderly, and disabled of Kansas City’s urban core. Our holistic approach to services and programs address the immediate need for food, clothing, shelter, utilities, and transportation. MLM’s mission: “With abiding faith in the intrinsic value of all God’s children, Metro Lutheran Ministry connects those in need with food, housing, health care, education, employment services, and other resources in order to nurture greater hope, health, opportunity, and peace.”