Sharing God’s Goodness 2023 Grant Nominees

Covenant Keypers

Founders: Gary and Rosalyn Hickman

About our ministry:

We believe that Biblical Marriage is God’s means of the Gospel to the World: Christ and the Church. Covenant Keypers works alongside pastors to provide marital services and to help decrease the divorce rate in the church and beyond. Our staple service is to provide complimentary marriage and pre-marital counseling for those who would otherwise not be able to afford effective, long-term, Biblically based counseling. Other services provided to pastors, couples, and families include one-on-one mentoring, coaching, and ongoing educational empowerment assistance within local church assemblies. Currently, our partner churches consist of 25 African American Churches and 1 Caucasian congregation with 3 campuses. With the participation of churches on Marriage Recognition Sunday alone, we can estimate that over 2000 African American homes are exposed to biblical marriage education.  Through our “Taking the Biblical Message of Marriage to the Next Generation Initiative,” we keep the biblical message of marriage integrated in all media platforms throughout Hamilton County to ensure that we build “God-Healthy Marriages” beyond government programs on marriage.

Our Request:

This grant will help us broaden and increase our promotions and maximize the number of times audiences experience our promotions in real time. The goal: to reach our parents, teens, and younger age-children in a natural and exciting way as they go about their daily routine, specifically through Carta Bus Shuttle Ads. It will also be used to monitor and track our overall ministry goal: To grow God healthy marriages and ultimately significantly decrease the number of divorces in the local church and surrounding communities. The grant will allow us to research, design, and develop the tools to track such data in the churches we have already helped to establish ongoing in-house marriage enrichment programs as opposed to those who have not implemented a program.  The budget will be used to:

• Expand our Carta Bus Shuttle Ads: Rental of the space on the back of each bus and “Education on Wheels” through December 2023
• Provide a Tracking System: Includes food, gas, handouts, and other needs through December 2023. 

Family Impact

Founders/Directors: Jonathan and Jamie Johnson

About our ministry 

Family Impact provides opportunities for families to have a better life. Our mission is to develop cross-cultural relationships that cultivate a community of resources which meets the needs of marginalized communities. Noticing a growing trend of people not attending or seeing the importance of church, we encourage the family unit to prioritize by attending Church. We believe that a strong church can only be made from strong families, and strong families can only be made from a relationship with the Lord.

In addition, we provide programming such as food boxes, mentoring, elderly assistance, housing and other initiatives that create opportunities for families in the inner city to have a chance at a better life. Our target community is the Wheeler Holmes Community, which is 95% African American. 

Our request:

Funds will go toward supplementing our housing program that provides shelter for homeless families. Through this housing ministry, we partner with different churches around the Chattanooga area to create community for the families we are serving. Our initiative will be accomplished through a six to twelve-month restoration plan, where families will receive Christian-based financial literacy courses, training, and participate in group bible studies.

• Family Essential Kits
• Program maintenance
• Transportation (gas)
• Bus Passes
• Clothes Closet

Resurrected Baptist Church – Fellowship of Churches

Leader: Pastor Eddie Jacks 

About our ministry

Purpose: Providing Christ-centered preaching that encourages Christ-Centered living, the Fellowship of Churches trains and equips local Christian leaders through an annual conference each August. Each conference features powerful teachers of Word from across the region/country who inspire and renew pastors, preachers, and lay people in the local black community. Those who attend our conference are often leaders without formal training in preaching and teaching. The conference provides intensive training in preaching and teaching. By implementing Biblical exegesis, we provide the true explanation of the text of Scripture to local pastors each summer. 

Our request:

• Airfare for speakers
• Hotel
• Gas
• Lunch
• Dinner and snacks 

For the Culture by J

Director, Janaria Mcintoch (Ms. J)

About our ministry:

For The Culture by J is located in the heart of the community.  We serve 90% African American boys and girls. With in the last few years, we have been able to help kids build self-esteem and give them confidence to have a great day at school or to simply feel good about themselves. You LOOK GOOD. You FEEL GOOD is our motto. We are changing kids’ lives one haircut or hairstyle at a time.  Every 1st and 3^rd Saturday of each month, we feed the kids a great meal and snacks before we start our services. After the meal, the volunteer barbers and stylists begin to cut and style.  In minutes, the kids have a fresh new look. While they wait, we provide coloring books, games, nail painting for entertainment. With permission from parents, the kids may have their photos taken to give their families. Our hope is that every kid will meet a positive role model who is giving love and care to them throughout the day. We believe in the potential of very kid we serve! Showing kids love and consistent support is the key to showing the love of Christ. Through our services, we can help them realize their greatness within ─ the greatness at is in each of God’s children.

Our request:

• Swivel stools and supplies for barbers and stylists (clippers, sheers, stools)
• Games and activities for kids while they wait for their services
• Website design, marketing, and subscriptions
• Charitable goods for kids (clothes and accessories)
• Transportation and assistance for families in need (gas cards)
• Food supplies for the year

Hope Unlimited

Executive Director, Dr. Rita Carr

About our Ministry

Hope Unlimited Ministry began in 1996 with the mission of reaching single parent families with the glorious Gospel of Jesus Christ. We pray that they will receive salvation (John 3:16) and surrender their lives to Jesus Christ (Galatians 2:20). Many single parents find themselves on a life path that is the result of negative choices they have made. Once they find their way to Hope Unlimited, they are seeking to change their behavior and become productive adults in society. By sharing the Gospel of Jesus Christ with them and encouraging each family to live a godly lifestyle, our ministry helps our clients change personally, as well as influence the next generation in their care. In our work, we find that most single mothers struggle to move forward because of shame and pain in their life. Through Christ-centered counseling coupled with life-skills training and setting goals and objectives, they are able to unfold their pain within the “God-shaped vacuum” of love and support that Hope Unlimited provides.

Our request:

We have recently received a grant for a van and will need additional funds to support it:

• To pay for gas
• To provide insurance

We provide Christian educational supplies to the women and families we serve and are asking for fund to cover the cost of 50 copies of each book in “My Journey Home Series”:

Hope Beyond Pain (Book and Study Guide (Adolescent series)

Lord I Surrender ((Devotional

Jesus Christ, My Hope in Grief: My Gentle Giant – Victor Carr (Study Guide)

My Journey Home: Jesus Christ, the Rescuer of Wounded Emotions (Study Guide)

My Journey Home: There is Hope for Single-Parent Families and Hurting Women

Vision of Mercy

Directors: Markill and Diane Moore

About our ministry

Vision of Mercy provides services to the homeless community in the Chattanooga area. Our mission is to restore hope and dignity to those who are altered by conflict and disaster and to help them survive. Our vision is to assist and improve the lives of people who are experiencing homelessness. An estimated 4,000 individuals are reported homeless each year, and almost 1,000 are children.  On any given night in our city, over 750 people reside in shelters, transitional housing, or public spaces.

We serve individuals who are displaced from their families, homes, and society while assisting them with every day essential needs. We provide non-perishable food boxes, essential needs such as tents, emergency shelter, blankets, raincoats, medication. Our focus is marginalized communities, and our greatest impact is on African Americans in the homeless communities.

 Our request

With this grant we plan to provide:

• 125 boxes of supplies to the homeless area near the community kitchen, now CHATT Foundation.
• Services to other tent communities: additional 100 boxes
• Monthly hot meals and food distribution to tent community near Calvin Donaldson Elementary.
• Additional supplies for food distribution

Dress for Success                                                         

Executive Director – Juanita Ingraham                              

Locally launched – April 2020

About our ministry:

Dress for Success Chattanooga is a Black-founded and Black-led organization in Chattanooga that is an affiliate of Dress for Success Worldwide. We partner with Stanley United Methodist Church in supporting our community. Our global mission is to empower women to achieve economic independence by providing a network of support, professional attire, and the development tools to thrive in work and in life. We help women find meaningful employment and provide a network of support to help them sustain employment. Supporting a woman changes the trajectory of her journey and enables her to be a positive role model for her children, have a positive impact on our community, invest socially and economically in her surrounding area, and be less likely to rely on welfare, resulting in savings for the local economy. We improve the financial acumen and stability of women, providing workforce development to women in the Hamilton County and surrounding areas. Our four key services are as follows:

• Career Coaching & Readiness: We support women as they navigate through the initial steps of the employment process, e.g. job search support, resume review, and mock interviews.
• Upskilling and Reskilling: We help women advance in their careers through critical thinking, skill building, and technology upskilling.
• Networks & Community: We provide group learning experiences and networking opportunities that allow women to learn from experts in diverse industries and expand their professional network.
• Styling & Professional Attire: We provide the clothing and accessories women require to look and feel their best as they interview or start a new job.

Our Request:

It is increasingly difficult to obtain donated undergarments that are new with tags on them. As one can imagine, for hygiene purposes, supplying women with used undergarments is not only unhealthy but also undignified. We have a robust inventory of donated apparel, but we struggle to source the foundational garments that are critical to a woman looking and feeling confident in her interview. 2023 is a critical year for us as we set a goal to serve a minimum of 40 women.

Budget Items:

• New undergarments for the women who come through our doors
• Providing services for 40 women through our programs

Reach One Teach One                                                  

Reginald Yearby – Director

Established in 2018

About our ministry

Reach One Teach One UCA is an early intervention resource for disenfranchised youth.  Serving predominantly African Americans, we provide educational programming, leadership training, and service to empower and inspire at risk youth to become leaders. Our two leadership programs, Girls in Leadership (GIL) and Boys in Leaderships (BIL) instill skills such as problem solving, communication, creativity, team building, and good sportsmanship. These programs teach accountability through peer- to-peer coaching and mentorship.  There are opportunities to participate in sports, tutoring, mental health resources, and community service. Events such as food and clothing drives, back to school bashes, leadership banquets, and feeding the homeless involve both the young people and their parents in activities.  We partner with Southern Adventist College for daily devotions and our youth financial literacy program.  We also partner with pastors, counselor, and therapists at local churches and organizations including Mt. Canaan, Calvary of Nazarene, Brainerd Baptist, and Access Point, integrating Christian principles into discussions on values/ethics, meditation and prayer sessions, and teachings on resilience, compassion, and gratitude.

Our request:

Expansion of our mentorship banquet to include a Creative Art Showcase. To support this Art Showcase, we will host a weekly classes to build vocabulary, encourage creative storytelling, and critical thinking. The goal is to build and master a skill each week adding to their portfolio.

Budget Items for 60 youth:

• Leadership Academic After School Program- curriculum/materials
• Art Supplies
• Interactive Journals
• Awards for youth and mentors

Second Missionary Services’ Project Success                 

Pastor Ernest Reid and Deborah Maddox

Established in 2005

About our ministry

Project Success is a comprehensive educational outreach serving primarily inner-city youth. We nurture youth through seminars, hands-on training, and field trips that develop their potential and teach them to set personal life goals. Grown out of the hearts and minds of members of Second Missionary Baptist Church, the program uses Christian principles to teach young people to see themselves as Christ sees them – worth saving. Mentors and local role models help each participant recognize, understand, and overcome personal and social barriers and, most importantly, believe in themselves. Our program, which is immersed in Christian principles, has a wide range of offerings including: abstinence education, gang prevention, behavior control, financial management, college prep, field trips to colleges and historical sites, scholarship opportunities, teen dating/relationship building, the Beatitudes, choices, job preparedness, community service, and cultural identity. We open each session, each day, each program in prayer.

Our request:

Young Ladies of Power, Inc.                                                      

CEO-Joyce Smyer Watson

Established in 2012

About our ministry:

Young Ladies of Power empowers and strengthens girls between the ages of 4 and 18 to know their self-worth and confidence. Recruited by community contact, word of mouth, and media, the young ladies experience mentoring, enrichment opportunities, art programs, and group discussions. Our main goal is to create and uplift our girls by broadening their horizons and outlooks on life. We are here to guide and educate the girls on self-improvement, encouraging them to:

• Value the opinion of others.
• Never stop loving yourself or educating yourself.
• Respect yourself so that others can and will respect you.
• Focus on unity – there is power together.

We are a Christian based organization using biblical review and prayer sessions to introduce our young ladies to the body of Christ. Our Fall Retreat, which takes place at Booker T. Washington State Park, provides the opportunity to learn from spiritual mentors and volunteers from Southern Oaks Senior Living facility. Experiences include outdoor activities to discuss the planet’s alignment during an eclipse or to view the big dipper on a beautiful clear night, to earn Bibles through participation, and to paint about their experiences – resulting in treasured memories for the girls.

Our request:

Facility and supplies for our Fall retreat:

Budget Items:

• Retreat Space at Booker T. Washington
• 25 Bibles
• Art supplies with Easels
• Telescope
• Transportation and gas
• Gift bags for mentors
• Food allowance for 4 days and 4 nights
• Games and activities