Indianapolis / Indiana / United States
Shepherd Community is a faith-based, inner-city ministry that has operated on the near Eastside of Indianapolis since 1985. It was officially organized as Central Nazarene Mission, and was renamed Shepherd Community Center in 1988. Shepherd Community Center works with neighborhood youth and their families to break the cycle of poverty by cultivating healthier children, stronger families, and safer neighborhoods through supportive relationships that meet the physical, emotional, academic and spiritual needs of area residents. A core set of programs make up a Continuum of Care, which is available to participants from birth through adulthood. The comprehensive services include emergency/basic services, preschool, after-school and summer programming, college access programming, family relationship programming, and job training and placement assistance. There are more than 1, 800 individuals served annually. Shepherd has been serving these neighborhoods where hunger is common, education is lacking, and hope is in short supply for more than twenty years. Shepherds Continuum of Care has proven successful. In an area were only 33 percent of students are graduating high school, 100 percent of Shepherds seniors graduated and go on to either higher education programs, job training, or the military. Many students are first-generation high-school graduates. There is also success among parents who are now leading small mentoring groups to change the lives of their neighbors and peers. The yearly successes at Shepherd include 15, 000 meals served and higher GPAs among all of the students. Shepherd instills positive behaviors in growing children because they will one day lead Indys eastside neighborhood to brighter beginnings. It is Shepherds practice to hold children to higher standards, to respect them and their families, to offer support, and to help them succeed in life. It is Shepherds goal to change this neighborhood by educating and empowering the second generation so that each child in it can change his or her life and the lives of their families. 2010 Shepherd Community Center 4107 E. Washington St., IN 46201 Indianapolis 317.375.0203
