Orphan Care / Human Trafficking Hub Vision: On October 22, 2021, the Fresno Bee ran a story on the top of the front page announcing to the world the Fresno Mission’s next project called City Center, a transformational 10-acre campus bringing together more than 15 different non-profits, schools and ministries to help people facing a time of crisis. On the bottom of that same front page was story about how foster children with no place else to go were being left to sleep in government offices. A prophetic sign from God, perhaps. An unacceptable condition, definitely. Fresno County has over 5,900 children in foster care and 1,150 people experiencing some form of human trafficking. Those organizations who work in the fields of orphan care/foster and human trafficking understand all too well how heartbreakingly intertwined those issues have become. Whether because of exposure to trafficking, a foster care system that isn’t working for them or simply a life that is too complicated for a kid without a family, on any given night Fresno has hundreds of youth experiencing various levels of vulnerability. Through a collaboration between City Without Orphans, Breaking the Chains, the Justice Coalition and Safe Families with the Fresno Mission, City Center will create a hub for these vulnerable youth. This (currently unnamed) hub focusing on homeless, foster or trafficked youth will seek to provide a safe place to go so that when life turns into a crisis, becomes to overwhelming or that simply a relationship is needed they have a place to go. In the spirit of City Center, this hub will be supported with a variety of services for different providers including counseling, healthcare, housing, food, education and most importantly friendship.
w w w . f r e s n o m i s s i o n . o r g / m o r e t h a n
Fresno Mission 263 G Street Fresno, CA 93706 (559) 268–0839 www.fresnomission.org/morethan