Letter to Freedom For Youth

My dear friends at Freedom for Youth Ministries,I served as an intern at your Hickman campus from the fall of 2018 to the fall of 2019. Your staff showed me incredible kindness and throughout my year serving the people of Freedom for youth I learned many lessons big and small. During this year I saw nearly the entire staff overturn, and through these transitions I learned quite a bit about your organization. Although these transitions were painful for all who were involved, I was and still am thankful for all that I learned and was able to observe through them. Now that I am several years removed from this internship I feel as though I have appropriately gathered some recommendations as your ministries move forward.I believe your goal of creating a sustainable chain is commendable, which is what drew me to your ministry in the first place. That being said I quickly learned that your presence in the neighborhood wasn’t really creating or enabling the sort of change you were desiring which got me thinking what is wrong here. It started to make a little more sense to me when I started to ask people on the staff where they lived. A few staff members mentioned that they lived in a town almost twenty minutes from our site. This to me is a major red flag. How does one expect to understand the needs of a neighborhood in which they do not live? This is something I had to examine in my own life as someone who commuted nearly 15 minutes each time I came to serve. I felt out of place and I had much to learn about the neighborhood and it’s needs, which not only put me at a disadvantage, but also the people I was serving. I would recommend as you move forward in your ministry that you make it mandatory that your staff lives in the area, and encourage those who are on staff to build their life among the people they plan to serve. This will truly start and sustain change from the inside out that will last from generation to generation.Second, as I mentioned there was quite a bit of turnover within the staff just in the short year that I was interning. I understand that there are many factors that play into this, like finances, family expansion, new job opportunities, etc… But I was greatly discouraged and I can imagine the community was as well. The turnover was yet another inconsistency for the children of this community and the families that interact with the staff everyday. The Church should be in this for the long haul and as a believer led organization it was disheartening to see people leave after a few years. Moving forward I would stress the priority of longevity and consistency in the staff. This will build trust and grant the staff a more clear understanding of the needs within the neighborhood.Third, the program structure has a beautiful design, but I believe it could be benefited by an increase in discipline and set liturgy. The program is designed to tutor kids in their homework for the first portion and then teach them life skills for the second. From the outside looking in it is a great plan, but the execution seemed to fall short. The tutoring sessions were half as long as they should have been to truly help the students achieve academic success. Many children were from refugee families and struggled with subjects like english and science. I observed that many of the kids needed one on one attention, but were not able to attain it while at Freedom for youth. I would suggest possibly starting a tutoring center that has people who are well trained in speech therapy and academic help. This would prove that you care for the holistic health and success of the people you serve rather than saying you do tutoring to get people in the door and making a half hearted effort.Lastly, I would recommend that you offer classes to the community. Classes on finances, insurance, and practical skills. I believe this would go a step farther than just passing out meals and hosting community activities. As I have learned more about the neighborhood I have become increasingly aware of the amount of refugee and immigrant families that live in the area who are struggling with learning and adapting. I believe adding classes on weekends and going into the neighborhood to offer help would go a long way, and it would set up the families for independence and success.While I have many thoughts and recommendations, I mean no offense. I am no expert, these are just some practical changes that I believe would benefit your organization. I firmly believe that it is one’s action that speaks louder than their words. This makes organizations like yours so important, it is your excellence in walking in Jesus’ footsteps that will truly create equality and flourishing in the neighborhood you are in. Along with this, listening to local voices will help aid your efficiency. As far as I know not many people on the board or staff live in the neighborhood, which like I stated before raises some major flags. Approaching other organizations in the area and or locals who have lived there a long time would be beneficial to you and your organization.Thank you for taking the time to read this letter, I will say again I am so thankful for my year at Freedom for Youth Ministries and I look forward to seeing all that the Lord does through you in the future. Sending you love and blessings.Your Friend,Mack Fry