Project Connect Nashville's 2020 Annual Report

PROJECT CONNECT NASHVILLE

Annual Report

RELATIONSHIP • EDUCATION • RESOURCES

Project Connect Nashville exists to break the poverty cycle through relationship, resources, & education in partnership with the local church.

In The Rearview Mirror PROJECT CONNECT NASHVILLE 2020

N

one of us could have foreseen the challenges of 2020 in Middle Tennessee!

It was unprecedented in the number and duration of events that changed the landscape of Nashville. But I believe that history will judge in glowing terms how we as a community came together to serve our brothers and sisters as we all faced unspeakable tragedy and loss from the tornado, the pandemic, the bombing and the everyday traumas of living in a broken world. You, our volunteers and financial donors, walked beside us as Project Connect Nashville worked to rebuild, heal, and bring hope as a testament to God’s love for all His children.

and partner organizations served over 65,000 hot meals from our North Nashville campus.

At our Woodbine and Madison campuses, PCN worked with church and community disaster relief funding to help those with housing needs due to the disasters find a place to call home. During all this unexpected opportunity, our staff and volunteers continued the everyday work of connection management, workforce developent, addiction recovery, trauma healing, and all the educational aspects of overcoming poverty that are the core of Project Connect Nashville.

To say it was a challenging year for all is an understatement, but the rewards were great.

provision through the church, individuals and community funding, we have added much needed resources in both our staffing and our programming.

We thank you for helping us achieve all we have in 2020. We prayerfully ask you to help sustain this vital work through your financial gifts and your hours of volunteer service.

Our staff, volunteers and Board of Directors have been such a blessing as they stepped up to the challenge of Matthew 22:39, “to love our neighbors as ourselves.”

After the tornado and during the pandemic, our staff, volunteers

We could not have possibly accomplished the work of 2020 had it not been for the ability to add additional staff. At the beginning of last year, PCN had six full time employees. Today, we have sixteen! Because of God’s

God bless you for being on this journey with us. We could not do it without you.

2020 is in the rearview mirror.

2021 is known only to God. We trust Him to provide for our future as he has provided for our past.

Now, let’s take a look at this past year in the following pages. We think you will be astounded by all that God has done through PCN in this difficult year!

Blessings,

Alan Murdock Executive Director

Where We Work + NUMBER OF PEOPLE SERVED

MADISON

195

NORTH NASHVILLE

800

WOODBINE

75

DAVIDSON COUNTY | TENNESSEE

Relationship

Project Connect Nashville sees healthy relationships as being the key that begins to break the cycle of poverty. Not only did God create us to walk in relationship with Him, but He also wants us to know our own selves—our strengths and the areas of our lives that we need to be seeking growth in, and He wants us to have healthy relationships with people that will hold us accountable to that growth. Our staff and volunteers strive to walk humbly with those that we serve by being transparent and honest about our own lives and connect participants to the Gospel and ongoing community with the church.

39

132

270

ALLIES WALKING ALONGSIDE STUDENTS IN CLASS

COMMUNITY MEALS

INDIVIDUALS THAT MET ONE-ON-ONE WITH A CONNECTION MANAGER

Education

Education is at the heart of the services that Project Connect Nashville offers. We offer a core curriculum of four courses that empower each participant to climb the ladder out of a life of generational poverty. Those courses include: Work Life, Faith and Finances, The Story of God, and Trauma Healing. All PCN classes are built on providing a biblical understanding of how we honor God with our work, our finances and our lives, and how God’s love is present and restores dignity to all His children.

618

97%

88%

HOURS OF EDUCATION OFFERED

PEOPLE IN PCN THAT REMAINED IN OR IMPROVED HOUSING

WORK LIFE GRADUATES THAT MAINTAINED OR IMPROVED THEIR INCOME

Resources

We take a holistic approach to walking alongside individuals stuck in the cycle of poverty. While we do our best to connect our participants to educational and relationship resources, we also must touch their lives exactly where they are when they walk through our doors. For many, this means they are hungry, in need of clothing, housing, or a bus pass to get to their place of employment every day.

$6,855

$5,206

TRANSPORTATION

FOOD ASSISTANCE

$73,400

$26,742

$120,265

EMERGENCY HOUSING

OTHER EMERGENCY NEEDS

RENTAL ASSISTANCE

WHERE DOES YOUR STORY & GOD’S STORY...

Person Seeking Help Attends a class (primarily for the food) but catches a glimpse of hope

START

Comes from a hard place…

Comes across a person who talks about the education classes that PCN offers where food will be provided

Still lacks self-awareness and confidence but continues to show up

Realizes the staff and volunteers won’t give up on them and wants to be a support to family and friends

Children begin to receive less angry and hopeless responses

Through PCN’s key programming, starts to realize and unpack trauma

Work Life instructors and allies help them prepare for job interview

Interviews for a few jobs and gets the one that they really wanted

Attends class again, community starts to form

PCN celebrates victories and accomplishments along the journey

Sees the staff and volunteers consistently welcome, encourage and pray for them

Realizes self-worth and goes deeper with PCN’s programming (budgeting, trauma care, Bible study and more) Tries church again, realizing God is trustworthy even if people are flawed

...INTERSECT WITH THEIR STORY?

Person Seeking To Help Brings a meal to students taking classes

START

Discovers ways to plug in through personal passions

Connects with a trauma healing group on Sunday night

Learns how trauma impacts our personal stories

Continues to serve and invite friends and family to participate through serving and giving

Attends a Volunteer Equipping Session

Commits to walking with and encouraging a participant at PCN

Hears about PCN and inquires about getting involved

Realizes that knowing PCN participants and learning about their perspectives brings incredible value into their own life

Personal trauma resurfaces

Realizes the value of ministering to the whole person Awareness of how trauma impacts other areas of a person’s life

Connecting to the Local Church

Project Connect was built on the foundation of serving alongside the local church to address the effects of poverty and its impact on our clients and our community. We provide training directly to the church and offer opportunities for its members to connect with our clients as teachers, allies, and advocates. Without the involvement of the church and its members in the giving of their time, talents and treasure we could not provide the education, programs and services that we offer.

We are committed to bringing the Lord’s love into our community and we thank the local church for partnering with us. As Jesus said in Luke 4 “‘The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor.” We rejoice in partnering with the church to bring the good news of Christ’s love for all.

35+

46

8

LOCAL CHURCHES CONNECTED THROUGH SERVING &/OR GIVING

INDIVIDUALS ATTENDED VOLUNTEER EQUIPPING SESSION

INDIVIDUALS CERTIFIED TO TEACH OUR CORE CLASSES

Tornado Relief & Covid

Relationship, Education and Resources. The three key components of all that PCN is built around were severely challenged in 2020. The year was different, and it was hard and PCN had to pivot several times to provide all that we typically offer to a hurting community. But out of the challenging times came new opportunities to serve, to engage new neighborhoods, and to offer new resources for the present moment. We are so thankful that God used us to help meet needs across Davidson County in a safe and life-giving way. Our relationships may have developed via Zoom, our classes may have been held online, and our volunteers may have been masked and gloved, but we answered the call of spreading God’s message of hope and resilience through it all! And that service continues as we are still on the ground rebuilding houses, serving meals and listening to the stories of our neighbors. Thank you for walking alongside us as we ministered in this most unusual year in Nashville.

65k

$92.2k

HOT MEALS SERVED TO THE NORTH NASHVILLE COMMUNITY

HOUSING ASSISTANCE PROVIDED TO COVID-IMPACTED FAMILIES

Looking Ahead

2020 WAS A HUGE YEAR OF GROWTH FOR US, AND WE ARE EXCITED TO SEE WHAT GOD HAS IN STORE FOR US IN THE YEAR TO COME!

Since 2013, we have existed to bring hope to hurting communities in Nashville. The growth that we have experienced this year in meeting so many new churches, volunteers, and partners brings us much hope that we will be able to serve many more families searching for hope in the coming years.

Sources & Allocations 3% 8%

12%

13%

16% 44%

37% 68%

SOURCES OF

ALLOCATION OF

INCOME Grants*

$ 549,000

EXPENSES Programming

$ 790,462

Individuals/Foundations $ 467,000

Operational Expenses

$ 180,311

Churches

Monthly Contributors

$ 145,300

Fundraising/Marketing

$ 147,163

$ 100,000

Rent/Utilities

$ 38,097

TOTAL

$ 1,261,300

Increase of 64% from 2019

TOTAL

$ 1,156,033

Increase of 62% from 2019

* The Grant allocation includes a large grant from Brentwood Baptist Church for the Woodbine location.

The grant is a 3-year initiative and we just completed the 1st year.

Board

2020 PCN BOARD ROSTER JOEL ANDERSON LAURA BARNES APRIL BLALOCK LEILANI BOULWARE GRANT ELLIS MARK HARMON (PRESIDENT) KERRY HAYMAKER JEREMY KELTON FERNANDO MUNOZ MARCUS ROWE ASHLEY SAIN BARB SMITH ANNIE VAUGHN HOWARD VARNEDOE KIMBERLY YOUNG

Ways to Get Connected

WE HAVE OPPORTUNITIES FOR ALL TYPES OF

VOLUNTEERS THE ENCOURAGER THE FOODIE THE ORGANIZER THE EDUCATOR THE EXPERT THE ADMINISTRATOR THE PRAYER WARRIOR THE AMBASSADOR

STEP 1

STEP 2

SCAN THIS QR CODE & FILL OUT OUR ONLINE VOLUNTEER APPLICATION

ATTEND A VOLUNTEER EQUIPPING SESSION

PROJECTCONNECTNASHVILLE.GALAXYDIGITAL.COM QUESTIONS? EMAIL — VOLUNTEER@PROJECTCONNECTNASHVILLE.ORG

10 YEAR CHALLENGE : NASHVILLE

2010

2020

MINIMUM WAGE

MINIMUM WAGE

$7.25

$7.25

AVERAGE RENT

AVERAGE RENT

$876

$1,399

MADISON

WOODBINE

NORTH NASHVILLE

107 WOODRUFF STREET MADISON, TN 37115

29 WHITSETT ROAD NASHVILLE, TN 37210

1813 KNOWLES STREET NASHVILLE, TN 37208

ProjectConnectNashville.org