UrbanTrekkers 3rd Annual "Pedal for Promise"...139 riders rode fifty miles to help fund the expeditionary learning program at UrbanPromise.

"We can't go on Mr. C..." Richard and Steven were exhausted; they were at mile 42 of the 50-mile Pedal for Promise cycling event. Conditions were tough; there was a good head wind with a bit of a chill. They were on the roughest stretch of road; it had just been scraped for an upcoming resurfacing, leaving it uneven and loose with gravel. It was nearly 2:15 in the afternoon, and the Trekkers had been pedaling since 8 o'clock in the morning.

"Can't we put our bikes on the truck?" They were so close - only about seven miles from the bridge into Ocean City, our final destination. I so wanted them to finish. Most of all, I wanted them to have that feeling of success after a major accomplishment. I told them at this point everyone felt like they did - tired, spent and salivating at the thought of juicy burgers and hot dogs grilling at the landing for them. Couldn't they just hold on? I knew they had already biked much further than they thought they could, yet I knew it would be sweeter if they could endure just a little longer.

I am happy to report that Richard & Steven did in fact persevere! They eventually rode through the finish, completely exhausted. Their faces were covered in sweat and dust; and as they dismounted their bikes, you could tell their legs felt like jello. But nonetheless, this was the moment I was waiting for...to see their faces light up with beaming, radiant smiles and to feel their new-found energy. It was infectious. I know what these victories mean to my Trekkers...it's the reason we ride!

Thanks to all our riders and supporters,

Mr. C

Thank you to those who supported our spring break trips!

As the kids returned from their spring break trips, the stories began. Kids were smiling, and joking, reliving, in detail, each moment of their travels outside of Camden. The other kids were intently listening and laughing at their friend’s exploits. Stories that will be told for years and years, bringing a thirst for exploration to everyone that hears.

I’m amazed at the impact and vision it gives a kid, as they experience a world outside of Camden. There eyes are open to a new way of life. Similar, I guess, to the way my eyes were open when I first came to Camden. I had never experienced such amazing children, living in such a harsh environment. Parks covered with broken beer bottles and drug needles. Streets where sewage leaks out of the gutter after a heavy rain. Houses where roaches infest the walls and some children sleep without beds. The reality of living in poverty can be overwhelming. It is hard to see as a kid loses hope of a brighter future.

That’s why I’m always struck with emotion as I hear kids tell of the tails that happened on their Spring Break Trip. Because even though I know their environment is the same, I know their world has changed.

Thank you to everyone that sponsored our trips, I can’t think of a better investment than the dreams of children.

Joshua Brady
Co-Director of Children’s Ministry

UrbanPromise thanks Suburban Promise!

After 7 years in Urban Ministry, I have seen some amazing success stories but also my share of heartache. I have seen too many kid’s lives gone before it feels like they had a chance to get started. Sometimes what feels the worst is the number of kids you know you could help, if only you had more time and resources? The need for kids to be invested in is so great, especially in Camden where 50% of the population is under 21 years old. The question is, how do we get more people involved?

That question was answered in a dramatic fashion as a few ladies in Haddonfield had watched the 20/20 show and decided they wanted to do something. These enthusiastic ladies decided they were going to call themselves Suburban Promise and connect people and resources to our ministry and it turns out they really meant it.

In the past year, we have had numerous volunteers connected to Suburban Promise come in to help out with everything from the Extreme Homemaker show to tutoring programs for the kids. They have provided hundreds of Christmas presents for kids, hundreds of candy bags for the Harvest Carnival, and food for Thanksgiving Dinners that fed around 3,000 people. They also helped us fundraise for several of our children’s trips as well as having Urban Promise interns over to their houses for a nice meal.

They have done all these things and have never seen the smiles on the kids faces or heard mothers say bless you (in what feels like a thousand times) as you drop off gifts to their houses. They will probably never hear as the kids regularly talk about the fond and vivid memories they have of the trips they’ve been on with UrbanPromise. For these ladies, it has never been about what they see, or experience, it’s been about what the children see and experience. They are promise builders. For the lives they impacted and the encouragement they have been, I am deeply thankful.

Josh Brady
UrbanPromise Children’s Ministry

Anyone Can Fly Foundation

Students in the CamdenForward School art classes have been very busy this year creating art based on the work of two prominent African American visual artists from the time of Harlem Renaissance. These studies and artworks have been made possible by a grant from The Anyone Can Fly Foundation, (www.anyonecanfly.org) started by the contemporary artist, Faith Ringgold whose work can be seen in museums and galleries worldwide.

In October the third through sixth grade classes learned about the collage techniques of Romare Bearden and created collages that depict personal and family rituals, as well as the surrounding buildings on the UrbanPromise campus. Some of the resulting collaborations have been permanently displayed in our new student center in a frieze-like border to resemble a work by Bearden depicting an urban block in Harlem, his home neighborhood.

In March these same classes worked on tempera paintings based on the art of Jacob Lawrence. His street scenes including the figures, colors and patterns found in bustling urban neighborhoods inspired our students to create scenes from their personal worlds, of places where people work hard in a variety of ways to build community.

Trish Maunder, a local art educator from Moorestown who is associated with the Anyone Can Fly Foundation, has been co-teaching these specific lessons and brings a wealth of knowledge and experience in relating to our children the amazing gifts these artists have to share.

Look for a special evening in late Spring of 2008 when all these works will be unveiled for viewing. UrbanPromise wishes to thank The Anyone Can Fly Foundation for its investment in these talented students!


Faith Ringgold & Julie Kring-Schreifels, UrbanPromise art director

UPA Art Students attend Camden County Arts 4 Teens Festival

On Wed., March 19, ten students from Urban Promise Academy attended the Camden County sponsored Arts 4 Teens Arts Festival on the Rutgers University Camden campus. Each student was invited to present and display one artwork which they had created in our weekly art classes this year. Artworks were then individually critiqued by festival judges.

The works were exhibited along with art from 12 other area high schools. Judges were extremely complimentary of all the UPA student works, and chose five pieces out of the ten to become a part of the county and state wide traveling exhibits later this year! Congratulations to all our fine art students, Daniela Martinez, Andre White, Carmen Minquela, Samantha Lugardo, Josh Daniels, Richard Gaines, Braheem Williams, Jennifer Rosado, Jessamine Marquez and Ken Rodriquez.

Artworks that were chosen for the County exhibit were done by Josh Daniels and Richard Gaines. Traveling to the state wide exhibit will be artworks by Daniela Martinez, Andre White and Braheem Williams.

An Incredible Journey


In February, UrbanPromise art director, Julie Kring-Schreifels, journeyed with the Monarch Teacher Network to the central highlands of Mexico to experience the completion of the incredible journey of the migratory Monarch butterflies that she and the rest of the CamdenForward School community have been studying.

These photos were taken at the El Rosario Sanctuary just west of Mexico City in the Oyamel Fir forests which provide the temperate climate the Monarchs need from November through March to overwinter before beginning their journey back north. This sanctuary is one of twelve forest locations in the surrounding mountains where millions of Monarchs, virtually all of the ones whose life cycle begins in the United States and Canada east of the Rocky Mountains, will gather for the cold weather months. While on the trip Julie and other teachers from New Jersey visited a small school on a remote island within a lake located near the butterfly sanctuaries to share our their common interests in this miraculous migration of more than 2000 miles. She brought a book to present to the teachers which chronicled in English and Spanish the CamdenForward School students’ study of the life cycle and celebration of the release of the Monarchs that were raised on their way to Mexico last September.

Urban Trekkers director, Jim Cummings, is very interested in continuing this relationship with our friends at Monarch Teacher Network and possibly planning a trip for his high school Urban Trekkers in the future. If you are interested in more details about the trip, Julie has hundreds more photos where these came from! Contact her at jkringschreifels@urbanpromiseusa.org.

UrbanTrekkers traveled to the Florida Everglades during their 2008 Spring Break.

A Double Crested Cormorant surfaced the water right before our eyes and enjoyed a Florida Catfish for it's lunch on the Anhinga Trail.

UrbanTrekkers on their Everglades National Park Eco Tour...It's only after a trip like this, reading student journals, looking at our pictures and videos that I begin to realize how much I've challenged and stretched my students. One week of hiking, swamp walks, canoeing, snorkeling, lectures, early wake-ups and early lights out is an extraordinary adventure...not necessarily a vacation for them or our adult leaders. But I know this...we keep on doing it because something very special is happening. Enjoy our pictures.

Peace for there is joy in the journey,
Mr. C

Sixteen students and five adults trekked to the Everglades national Park for the annual Trekkers Eco Tour. It was my hope to inspire a sense of wonder about the regions natural treasures. By giving my students an up close and tactile experience with this endangered eco-system; so rich in bio-diversity they will hopefully be better able to understand our role as caretakers and what it means Biblically "to have dominion over" all the flora and fauna.

Tag, You're it! For most of us a simple childhood game played in our own backyards as children. The UrbanTrekkers were exuberant as they dashed about the lush subtropical yard/garden at the Florida City Everglades Hostel. With its Gumbo-Limbo trees, palms, and wild orchid plants it looked like a tropical jungle compared to the streets of Camden. They welcomed their free time. Our days were starting early with full schedules of learning and exploration and I had taken them way outside of their comfort zones.

UrbanTrekkers posing under a Strangler Fig during their 2008 Everglades Eco Tour.

Meet our new executive director...



Dear Friend,

I have great news! This past year UrbanPromise has grown exponentially. Media attention has provided opportunities to share our story and success to a broader audience. Involvement of volunteers has increased over ten fold. New programs have been initiated. Amazing…all of it!

This dynamic growth has pushed our existing administrative infra-structure to the limits, challenging me to rethink how to best organize for this next chapter of organizational growth.

After serving as Executive Director for 20 years, the board and I both felt the need for me to relinquish the day-to-day administrative operations to someone more specifically gifted in those areas. As of February 4th, 2008 the board of directors has shifted my role to President of UrbanPromise Ministries.

My time will now be spent providing ministry vision and strategy, speaking publicly, recruiting volunteers, providing staff pastoral care, writing and securing the resources needed to ensure a healthy and prosperous future for our work in Camden. I am excited about being released from some of my management duties and freed to focus on these new areas.

To manage the day-to-day operations I am delighted to welcome Bernetta Millonde. Bernetta comes to UrbanPromise from Farleigh Dickenson University where she has served as Vice President of Enrollment Management. She has also worked in higher education administration at Drexel University and the University of Southern California and has 15 + years of organizational management experience.

One of her former colleagues wrote, “Bernetta is never at a loss to praise her staff for a job well done. She seeks opportunities for staff to learn new skills and encourages all efforts to grow and progress. She is consistent, fair, and even-tempered. Bernetta sees leadership as empowering, not controlling; she gets the job done with grace and humor, and even makes the coffee once in a while!” What a wonderful testimony from a former employee.

Thanks for all your support and encouragement over the years. I can assure you that the addition of Bernetta to our team will only strengthen our outreach to children, teens and families in Camden. I will keep you posted

Blessing,

Bruce Main
President, UrbanPromise Ministries

Mini-Urban Plunge Seminarians Visit Camden
by Russell Carstens

In October, thirty-six Princeton Seminary students from Professor Kenda Dean’s advanced youth ministry course went on a retreat to Camden, New Jersey, with Urban Promise, a non-profit urban ministry group that instills leadership skills in young people. Urban Promise is led by PTS graduate Bruce Main (D.Min. ’03). The students observed Urban Promise “to get a feel for urban ministry,” said Tonya Lawrence, a second year dual-degree student who did her field education in Camden with the group last summer.

Susan Tindall, another student on the retreat, described it as a “mini-urban plunge,” and said it was “applicable to what we’d like to accomplish somewhere in the world.”

According to camconnect.org, Camden has made the list of the most dangerous cities in the United States since 1998, and was ranked as the number one most dangerous city in 2004. As an area that is home to young people who are susceptible to the negative aspects of their surroundings, Camden was an effective place for seminarians to observe urban ministry. Urban Promise began its mission in 1988 to keep Camden youth off the street, and “equip (them) with the skills necessary for academic achievement, life management, spiritual growth, and Christian leadership,” said Main.

Dean explained, “The best learning doesn’t happen in a classroom. The transformative learning theory says that paradigm shifts start with a ‘disorienting dilemma’- something that throws us off our game, pulls us out of our comfort zones, and forces us to scan for new solutions. Many of us experienced our time in Camden as disorienting and powerful. We went there to dismantle ‘white suburban youth group’ assumptions about youth ministry, and to see what meaningful ministry looks like when you are young, urban, and poor.”

The students attended a worship service on Friday evening led by youth groups from several Camden churches and Urban Promise members. It was a unique combination of sermon, worship, and praise, with dance to different forms of music played live that Lawrence described as “quite energetic; they were in their element.”

Tindall added, “It was an incredible worship service and full of life. You could tell that they loved that time of being together.”

Saturday morning, the students spoke with people involved in Camden to gain insight about ministry with people “in a blighted or oppressed situation,” said Lawrence. That afternoon, they spent one-on-one time with Urban Promise teenagers to get their points of view on life in Camden, and their understanding of God. Although they have pride in where they come from, many of these teens grow up feeling stuck because they’re not exposed to the possibilities of life outside their hometown. They spoke passionately about pursuing their college education outside of Camden, then coming back to help fix the brokenness of that community. With little or no opportunity, “they have to somehow find a way both to grow up in their community and to keep themselves away from it,” said Adam Gorman, a first year dual-degree student.

The Seminary class also took part in an Urban Promise alumni/ae discussion panel with people who had grown up in the program, some of whom came back after college to work in Camden. Tindall said the youth spoke openly about how Urban Promise demonstrated grace by helping them with school when they needed it, and not making them leave the group if their grades suffered. The panel pointed out how Camden youth, like all young people, want to be a part of a group, and are easily susceptible to joining a gang. They explained that Urban Promise is a family where they have a lot of fun, and goodness and love holds them together. Many Urban Promise alumni/ae have gone on to work in gratifying jobs that help people, such as in homeless shelters or welfare offices.

The PTS students took a tour of the city that night, which gave them an idea of the changes in Camden, where businesses once thrived but are now gone. Lawrence said she learned that students in the city have high aspirations, but the area schools lack the resources to help them reach their goals. Without a structure of support to help youth succeed, some of the students may drop out, and the positive direction that urban ministry provides is key to keeping them on the right path.

Reflecting on the retreat, Main said, “There is a wonderful Haitian proverb that says, ‘We see from where we stand.’ Spending a weekend in Camden, meeting youth from the city, and listening to other ministry practitioners I hope gave PTS students a unique perspective on ministry in an urban environment. It was dynamic-I sensed a high level of engagement and excitement.”

Although the weekend was short, it was valuable to the students who attended. Gorman said, “Urban Promise is not just a place where kids can be safe and learn about God, but they actually work for God. They build their faith by being the hands and feet of Christ. It’s a place that gives them hope.”

Tindall feels that Urban Promise has “built local leadership through the gospel message, and started a new wave of hope that is so different from anything I’ve seen before.”

Urban Promise helped Lawrence understand that keeping regular contact with those she works with is key to successful urban ministry. “Maybe youth group once a week isn’t enough. I see ministry with teens as being a daily, or frequent interaction,” she said. Overall, she learned that she wants to “help those I work with shape their identity and find their goals and purpose for their future through an effective, goal-oriented education. I know from this weekend that it needs to happen sooner rather than later.”