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BLOC Ministries

Who We Are: Dr. Dwight and Stephanie Young began BLOC Ministries in 1998 after working as youth pastors for more than a decade in Cincinnati, Ohio, and in Knoxville, Tennessee. As community pastors, they’d seen youth and adults whose lives and neighborhoods were breaking or shattered. The Youngs realized that many students slipped between the cracks: not involved in school, church, social clubs, or any productive pursuits. Yet these were the ones who were usually at the highest risk for dropping out, drugs, teen pregnancy, crime, sex trafficking, and other risks of urban streets.

BLOC was created to build connections and safe spaces for students, families, and adults to thrive and succeed in spite of difficult circumstances. We’re a faith-based non-profit that focuses on healthy, personal relationships and activities that help to build hope, purpose, and vital life skills.

What We Do: We serve our community through a diverse array of programs ranging from afterschool programs to homes for women exiting the sex trade. Regardless of the program, each follows the same process. We begin by meeting our neighbors right where they are, ministering to their immediate needs. We encounter children in desperate need of stable relationships, women chained by addiction forced into prostitution, men stuck in the never-ending cycle of incarceration, and other difficult life situations. By ministering to physical needs, doors open, relationships are built, and our neighbors begin to hope again. We minister one-to-one seeking to create generational change.

Why We’re Important: Price Hill is our home. Every BLOC staff member not only works in Price Hill, but lives here as well. We love our community, but we are the first to admit that it is broken. Violent crime, drug abuse, and prostitution plague our streets. Lives are being destroyed, and families are becoming doomed to the curse of generational poverty. By entering into the Price Hill community, we have a chance to live life with our neighbors. We build relationships and share hope in brokenness. By sharing hope, we equip our neighbors to break the cycles that would have otherwise consumed them.

How We Serve the Community: Our programming consists of five pillars: community ministry, student ministry, men's ministry, women’s ministry, and job training. Our programs are as diverse as our community including, but not limited to, children’s afterschool programs, a fitness center for young athletes, a residential recovery home for women exiting the sex trade, jail ministry, a food pantry, community meals, and a coffee shop that serves as a community gathering space as well as a job training platform for our neighbors. Because all of our programs are within Price Hill, they are interconnected, allowing our neighbors to utilize multiple programs or services across different stages of their lives. Programs seamlessly integrate allowing us to be available in a myriad of ways.

How You Can Help: In Spring 2021, BLOC Ministries is breaking ground on a first-of-its-kind program called Horses on the Hill (HOTH). HOTH will serve at-risk urban children, teens and adults living in the heart of urban Cincinnati through horses and equine-assisted therapy. At no cost to the participants, an estimated 300 students and 50 adults every week will grow life skills, build stronger character, and help some of our area’s most wounded and at-risk individuals to overcome obstacles and heal. Will you join in supporting this unique, life-giving project by making a financial contribution today? You can mail your check to BLOC Ministries, 911 W. 8th Street, Cincinnati, OH 45203. To find out more, contact Katie Metz at 513.546.4830 or Katie.Metz@onebloc.org.

BLOC Ministries 911 W 8th St, Cincinnati, OH 45203 (513) 546-4830 onebloc.org facebook.com/blocministries Instagram: bloc_ministries

Executive Director: Dwight Young Email: dwight@onebloc.org

Development Director: Katie Metz Email: katie.metz@onebloc.org

Board Chair: Jerry Maas

Board Members: Johnnie Carroll, Daniel Rajaiah, Gina Dubell-Smith, Fritz Geer, Kelvin Boatner, Joan Morgan, Larry Blundred

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