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Church finds new life by ministering to community needs

Aug. 18, 2005	 News media contact:   Tim  Tanton * (615) 7425470*
Nashville {458}

NOTE: NOTE: Photographs and a sidebar, UMNS story #459, are available at
http://umns.umc.org <http://umns.umc.org/> .

By Allison Scahill*

LITTLE ROCK, Ark. (UMNS) - In the 1970s, Theressa Hoover United
Methodist Church was on its way to permanently fading out.

Then the Rev. William "Paw Paw" Robinson Jr. stepped in.

"I was not convinced that the regular, traditional United Methodist
membership would take off and grow fast enough to support and sustain a
ministry in this building," he said. "I just saw an opportunity for this
building to fill a void."

Robinson has been a key part in creating a series of programs through a
United Methodist ministry called Black Community Developers to serve the
community of Little Rock.

The programs include Paw Paw's Day Care, after-school and summer youth
programs, gang intervention, a faith-based substance abuse program,
housing for formerly incarcerated men, Jobs Partnership, affordable
housing and a partnership with the Minority AIDS Network.

Deborah Bell, director of community development for Black Community
Developers and daughter to Robinson, said the Black Community Developers
started about 25 years ago, when midtown Little Rock was a depressed
area with gang violence and significant drug use.

"There was a lot of transition as far as people moving out of the
community, and Rev. Robinson has a real passion for people who are
underserved," she said. "So the first thing he did was really reach out
to the community to find out where a need was. Our programs have been
need-driven based on what the community feels are services that are
absent from the community."

The day care was the first program, and it was there that Robinson
received the nickname "Paw Paw."

"I have several grandkids, a whole gob of them, and they started calling
me Paw Paw. Then the other kids just picked up the name," he said. "So
we just decided that we would name the day care center Paw Paw's Day
Care Center. That's how that whole thing started back in 1981."

Karen Robinson, director of Paw Paw's Day Care and Robinson's youngest
daughter, said she has worked at the day care since the beginning.

"There wasn't a day care around, and 25 years ago we felt like we needed
one," she said.

The day care is not just a place for kids to play but to learn as well,
she said. She teaches children from 18 months to 5 years old dramatic
play, writing and computer skills.

"A lot of things (the kids) are doing is learning, but they don't know
they're learning. They're having fun," she said. "I feel like I'm
helping them a whole lot. Some of them come in and can't get along with
others emotionally. It's all about reaching (out) to the kids and
finding out where they're at and working with them physically and
emotionally."

A home for men

Will's House is a house for formerly incarcerated men to live who want
to turn their lives around. Sandra Mitchell, the housing coordinator,
said she manages the property and housing for the 16 residents there.

In most cases, residents who live there hear about it through the Hoover
Center, the treatment center of Black Community Developers, she said.
When a man completes 30 days of substance abuse treatment and is
eligible, he is referred to the facility.

"Will's House is different, and what makes it unique is that it's an
ongoing, permanent housing facility, so there's no length of time that
the person is required to stay," Mitchell said. "A person can reside at
this facility as long as they need the supports and the structure to get
them to where they need to be."

Residents are required to participate in support groups, attend house
meetings and maintain the quality of the house.

"One of the success stories that we have is one of the residents that
completed the program was featured in one of the local hospital
newspapers because of his recruitment of other employees," Mitchell
said. "He is a success story because he has his own apartment, has his
own car and he was promoted. He attributes that to job partnership."

Will's House, named after Robinson's late son Willie Ray Robinson,
celebrated its first year April 9.

Job training

Jobs Partnership is a job training and life skills development program.
Frankye Stanley coordinates the sessions, which begin in April and
September each year.

"We instruct those individuals who are unemployed or underemployed in
gaining the skills and techniques that they need to be able to obtain
employment and stay employed," she said.

Participants attend two two-hour classes a week for 10 weeks at no
charge and are given a graduation ceremony upon completing the program.

"To me, the program is extremely important because there are a lot of
people who are unemployed or underemployed, and they come to us
literally suffering from low self-esteem, helplessness and feelings of
insignificance," Stanley said. "And for us to be able to sit down with
them for 40 hours and help them to realize there are concepts, skills
and techniques that they can apply to their life that will enable them
to gain the employment that they need, the self-confidence that they
need, then it's a win-win situation for all of us."

Since classes started in 2001, 164 students have graduated, and 87
percent remain employed, Stanley said.

"We have one individual who came to Jobs Partnership, had been
unemployed for several years, didn't have any idea how she was going to
continue," she said. "She was homeless and had a very negative attitude
toward life as a whole. When she came through Jobs Partnership, she
began to see that it wasn't hopeless, that there was a life for her. She
went through the classes, she graduated, started working with one of the
businesses who partners with us to hire our graduates, and has been
promoted on that job three times."

The youth program includes middle and high school students, Bell said. A
female counselor and two male counselors provide after-school services
that include tutoring, mentoring, cultural awareness and gang
intervention.

"The staff serves as a surrogate - they go to court with them, they're
in school with them and (are) just really involved in their day-to-day
life to ensure that they don't stay on the streets, that they realize
there is a home and somebody cares about them outside their immediate
family," she said.

Housing help

The Black Community Developers Affordable Housing program provides new
homes for lower-income residents in Little Rock. Charles Vann, housing
coordinator, said the program assists potential homebuyers with credit
reports and application assistance, and offers counseling and education
on buying a home.

Raven Gregory has lived in her new home for eight months. The future law
student said the neighborhood was rough before new families moved in,
drawn by the houses.

"Before the homes were here, drug activity was pretty high, and gangs
and things of that nature (were in the neighborhood)," she said. "Since
I've been here, you don't hear about many break-ins, definitely no drug
homes. The crime rate has definitely gone down. I feel good and secure
in my home. I'm very comfortable here."

Caroline Williams, wife, mother of four and hospital worker, said she
contacted Black Community Developers after her home burned down.

"It has helped me and my family tremendously. Before we moved here, we
were living in a rented home, and we lost that house in a fire," she
said. "We had to live with some relatives for about a year and a half,
so when we finally got the house, it brought peace with the family and
it put us together. It really did help our family a lot."

The Black Community Developers received the Power Surge Award from Power
Play magazine, which recognizes an organization that has made an
extraordinary professional move that could significantly affect a
community or industry in Arkansas.

Deborah Bell said her position is more than just a job; it's a ministry
and a large part of her life and faith journey.

"A job is something that when you leave it, you leave it. But when
you're in ministry, it's always with you. It's always a part of your
heart. It's with you when you go home," she said. "It's not all about
dollars. God always provided, and he still does. I'm so fortunate. It's
just been a blessing all around. This is where God placed me, and this
is where I need to be."

Robinson said even though he is retired, he still has goals for the
community developers that he will keep in mind when searching for
someone to take his position.

"One (goal) is that we continue to be in ministry to the community. We
love Sunday morning service, we love the other pieces, but we also love
being in outreach ministry to the community," he said. "I want the
person to follow here to continue to uplift this community and to
restore it."

*Scahill is a mass communications major at United Methodist-related
Baker University in Baldwin City, Kan. She worked as an intern this
summer at United Methodist Communications in Nashville, Tenn.

News media contact: Tim Tanton, Nashville, Tenn., (615) 742-5470 or
newsdesk@umcom.org.
********************

United Methodist News Service
Photos and stories also available at:
http://umns.umc.org <http://umns.umc.org/>

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