The Los Angeles United Methodist Urban Foundation provides money and hands-on help to support people in faith-based organizations working to transform urban communities throughout the Los Angeles region.

Over the past two-and-a-half decades, we have provided close to four million dollars in grants to Claremont Theological Seminary and also to social service agencies, community-based organizations, and grassroots urban projects across Los Angeles County. In 1998, the Urban Foundation’s board decided to expand our role to also function as a capacity-building organization that helps emerging faith-based projects develop their managerial and financial infrastructure to increase their long-term sustainability.

In 2002, when the Urban Foundation was headed by Rev. DarEll Weist, the Hudson Institute Faith in Communities Initiative published an in-depth profile of the Urban Foundation’s technical assistance work with faith-based organizations titled “The Coach.” To learn more about the Urban Foundation’s technical assistance work, click here to read this profile by Dr. Amy L. Sherman.

OUR PROGRAMS

Seeds of Hope is our small grants program that funds grassroots social service, community health, and advocacy projects, with a primary focus on children and youth. For more information about Seeds of Hope, click here.

Partnership Grants is our multi-year grants program that offers funding along with more intensive coaching and technical assistance. For more information about Partnership Grants, click here.

Mildred M. Hutchinson Chair represents our investment in urban ministries education and training through the Claremont School of Theology.

Mildred M. Hutchinson was a founding member of the Urban Foundation who had a strong commitment to urban ministries and also to programs for children and youth. Her dedication to the Urban Foundation’s growth and development was memorialized through the naming of the Mildred M. Hutchinson Professor of Urban Ministries at the Claremont School of Theology. The Urban Ministries Program provides hands-on experience for seminary students to help them understand the unique challenges and benefits of ministering in urban areas. This program plays an important role in encouraging the church to embrace, rather than retreat from, the needs of the city.

Hutchinson Professors have trained ministers and seminarians on asset-based community development, financial management, grant-writing and other practical skills needed to effectively run faith-based community-building programs in the urban core.

Dr. Helene Slessarev-Jamir is the current Mildred M. Hutchinson Professor of Urban Ministries at Claremont School of Theology. Her published work includes reports on national promising practices in community-based ministry among Asian and Hispanic immigrant religious communities. She has also written articles on congregational based community organizing and the role of public theology in an age of empire. She is currently focused on contemporary progressive prophetic activism in the United States. Kid City South Park is our youth development and youth leadership program. Kid City is co-sponsored by the Urban Foundation and First United Methodist Church of Los Angeles (First UMC). It has received special funding from First United Methodist Church of Los Angeles, the United Methodist Women of First UMC, The Office of Urban Ministries in the California-Pacific Annual Conference of the United Methodist Church, and the California Wellness Foundation.

The visionary members of First UMC who founded the Urban Foundation over 25 years ago wanted to support faith-based programs throughout Los Angeles County, but they also thought First UMC should make a special effort to improve the lives of its neighbors in downtown Los Angeles. Through Kid City South Park, First UMC and the Urban Foundation are providing a transformative community ministry for young people in the South Park neighborhood in downtown Los Angeles. Kid City builds community and develops young people into leaders for a changing Los Angeles.

Kid City South Park is our youth development and youth leadership program. Kid City is co-sponsored by the Urban Foundation and First United Methodist Church of Los Angeles (First UMC). It has received special funding from First United Methodist Church of Los Angeles, the United Methodist Women of First UMC, The Office of Urban Ministries in the California-Pacific Annual Conference of the United Methodist Church, and the California Wellness Foundation.

The visionary members of First UMC who founded the Urban Foundation over 25 years ago wanted to support faith-based programs throughout Los Angeles County, but they also thought First UMC should make a special effort to improve the lives of its neighbors in downtown Los Angeles. Through Kid City South Park, First UMC and the Urban Foundation are providing a transformative community ministry for young people in the South Park neighborhood in downtown Los Angeles. Kid City builds community and develops young people into leaders for a changing Los Angeles.

Kid City South Park first launched in the fall of 2008 as an afterschool program for children and youth between six and 17-years-old. It has evolved into a year-round program that offers academic development activities several days a week after school and also provides leadership development activities throughout the school year, summer and during school breaks. Additional enrichment activities include music lessons, art, and judo classes. Program participants come from multiple ethnic groups and income levels. Kid City South Park was started by United Methodists but is a nonsectarian program. Kid City South Park first launched in the fall of 2008 as an afterschool program for children and youth between six and 17-years-old. It has evolved into a year-round program that offers academic development activities several days a week after school and also provides leadership development activities throughout the school year, summer and during school breaks. Additional enrichment activities include music lessons, art, and judo classes. Program participants come from multiple ethnic groups and income levels. Kid City South Park was started by United Methodists but is a nonsectarian program.

Our definition of leadership is that “Leadership is taking responsibility for the things you care about.” This means that leadership is something everyone can provide. Through project-based learning, the young people who participate in Kid City South Park develop important collaborative decision-making and problem-solving skills. They are being trained to use those skills to discover solutions to community problems and are also learning about the channels that exist in our city to implement those solutions.

For example, the curriculum for the eight-week Kid City South Park 2009 summer program was designed to foster a sense of identity within the city and world the youth live in. The young people spent the first two weeks of the program on the campus of the University of Southern California at Peace Camp, offered through the Peace Center of United University Church. After two weeks of learning about peace leaders and non-violent conflict resolution approaches, the kids delved into autobiographical projects that encouraged them to look deeper into themselves, explore the larger world, consider the natural world, and learn more about their rights and responsibilities as budding community leaders.

Weekly topics include: "Getting to Know Each Other and Ourselves," "Our Families," "Exploring the Neighborhood and City," "Finding Resources for Kids," and "Hospitality: Sharing our Space with Others." The staff provided program content that was centered around each week's topic, and all physical activity, writing workshops, small and large group discussions, art projects, field trips, and other projects were tied together by the overarching program theme: Leadership is taking responsibility for things you care about.

Every day started with a group meeting, consisting of collaborative group games, journal writing, and discussions. Journal writing and discussions were prompted by inspirational readings or videos or the "question of the day.” Throughout the summer, the young people received guidance from staff and volunteer adult mentors, however the kids themselves were central players in formulating program activities. In 2010 Kid City South Park plans to offer multi-week courses specifically geared toward teenagers on teen identity issues, fundraising and community assessment.

During the school year, Kid City South Park places a stronger emphasis on academic development activities including homework assistance, learning games and help with study skills. Kid City staff members take the young people on tours of public and private college campuses throughout Los Angeles, which illustrate an array of higher education options. These tours also reinforce our expectation that we expect the young people in Kid City South Park to continue their education beyond high school.

For additional information on Kid City South Park, call 213-308-6755 or contact Jessie Moore, Kid City Staff Counselor or Ben Ede, Kid City Staff Counselor.