For to us a child is born, to us a son is given. The government will rest on his
shoulders. And he will be called: Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Father Forever,
Prince of Peace. And there will be no end to his rule and to his peace.
- Isaiah 9 : 6 - 7
Northend Nativity
Hartford City Mission is a community of folks who are trying to learn what it means to
follow Jesus and live like Him in the context of Hartford’s northend neighborhood. We do
this, in part, through some regular gatherings of smaller tribes within the ministry, some
which take place in our Vine Street ministry house (‘the Vine’), and others in nearby
schools and church buildings.
In 2012, these gatherings included Noah After School, Camp Noah, Hartford YoungLife,
Hartford WyldLife, the Vine Street Blockwatch, and the Community of the Vine. HCM also
sponsors a summer internship program for young adults and a youth employment and
leadership development initiative - the StreetLeader program.
You can reach us at the Vine - 280 Vine Street, Hartford, CT 06112. Our phone number is
860.246.0132. Our mailing address is PO Box 320397, Hartford, CT 06132. Give us a call or
check out our website for more information about how you can get involved:
hartfordcitymission.org. HCM is a not-for-profit ministry that relies on the gifts and
donations of our friends. Thanks for your prayers and support.
On the Cover: Northend Nativity, by Brian Kavanagh. Brian is our neighbor and dear friend from the Hartford
Catholic Worker community (Brian also designed our Vine logo above!). You can see more of Brian’s artwork at
hartfordcatholicworker.org. Thanks also to Christy Richenburg of Dovetail Design for her help with the banner.
relieved
de’andre reid
No more stress built up in my chest
I can finally sit down,
and take a rest.
I don't have to run
or hide anymore
I don't have to suffer
or fight to endure.
It's a sensational feeling that has come over me
It's a warm-to-hot feeling
like a hot cup of tea
No more aches and pains hurting me so
No more stress and anger lingering
wherever I go.
I have found it in my heart
to forgive and forget
The pain people caused me
from the day that we met
I don't know what it is that is easing my pain
But I can see clearly, without stressing my brain.
My eyes have opened up and so has my soul
This sensational feeling has swallowed me whole
No more feeling left out, angered, or deceived,
It took a long time,
but I'm finally
relieved.
P AGE 2
De’Andre Reid (rear, above) began attending HCM’s Noah’s Sidewalk
Sunday School program when he was 9 years old. Now 19, De’Andre
is a leader in HCM’s new middle school ministry, and one of HCM’s
poet laureates.
H ARTFORD C ITY M ISSION
Community of the Vine
The new jim crow
kate foran
During the summer of 2012, the Community of the Vine at
HCM’s ministry house hosted a study and discussion on
how our faith responds to the mass incarceration of people
of color from our community. The study was based in part
on a book by Michelle Alexander titled ‘The New Jim
Crow’. Kate Foran led the study.
A few years ago I had the opportunity to
spend a considerable amount of time with kids
from Hartford’s northend. I remember that often I
felt like I could see into the future - that even
at age 7 or 8, a particular child was more than
likely headed to jail. It seemed inevitable for
many - so many family members and friends
were in and out of prison. Later I learned
there’s shorthand for this phenomenon: “the Cradle to
Prison Pipeline.” According to the Bureau of Justice
Statistics, 1 in 3 black males born after 2001 can expect to be imprisoned at some point in their lifetime.
Our nation imprisons more of
its black population than
South Africa did at the
height of Apartheid, and we
have the highest rate of
incarceration in the world,
surpassing even repressive
regimes such as Russia, China, and Iran.
When I thought about why criminal records are so
often the fate of Hartford’s youth, I always assumed
that the unfortunate legacy of oppression and poverty
made them more likely to use and deal drugs, which
was why drug busts were more common in neighborhoods like the North End. I assumed that mass incarceration was a response to increasing crime rates in
these communities. Michelle Alexander’s The New Jim
that drug use among African Americans is more
severe or dangerous is belied by the data. White
youth, for example, have about three times the
number of drug-related visits to the emergency
room as their African American counterparts.”
(from article entitled “Drug War Nightmare: How
we Created a Massive Racial Caste System in
America” by Michelle Alexander)
Furthermore, rates of incarceration are not correlated to rising crime in neighborhoods of color.
Imprisonment has consistently increased even while
crime rates have fluctuated over the last few decades (even dropping over the past year in the
northend). In fact, crime rates are currently at historical lows, but incarceration rates continue to soar,
mostly because of the way the War on Drugs has
defined criminal offenses.
The Drug War has explicitly targeted crack
cocaine, which is widely
documented to be used by a
higher percentage of people
of color. All other drugs,
including powder cocaine,
heroin, LSD, and marijuana
are used by more whites
than blacks and Latinos combined. But while possession of 5 grams of crack cocaine can result in a
mandatory 5-year prison sentence, it takes 500
grams of powder cocaine to warrant the same sentence, despite the fact that powder cocaine is no
less harmful or addicting than crack cocaine.
Alexander shows how mass incarceration is
the result of unjust policies at virtually every step
of the judicial process, from investigations to arrests,
convictions to sentencing and finally to conditions of
probation and parole. There are complex political,
sociological, and economic reasons for the way the
War on Drugs targets poor communities of color.
Regardless, the net result of mass incarceration
is effectively a new caste system along the lines of
the Jim Crow system of segregation we supposedly
left behind decades ago. Those with criminal records can be denied the right to vote, automatically
One in three black males born after
2001 can expect to be imprisoned at
some point in their lifetime.
Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness
dismantled my assumptions one by one. Despite what
I assumed, illegal drug possession and sales are not
more common in neighborhoods like Hartford’s northend.
Alexander writes,
“Studies consistently show that people of all colors
use and sell illegal drugs at remarkably similar
rates. In fact, some studies indicate that white
youth are significantly more likely to engage in
illegal drug dealing than black youth. Any notion
H ARTFORD C ITY M ISSION
(continued on page 6)
P AGE 3
Noah After School
No record of wrongs
amy jarvis
Amy (Mentzer) Jarvis is the Director of HCM’s Childrens
Ministry. During the summer months she oversees Camp Noah
and HCM’s Summer Internship. Amy gets lots of support from
Cheryl Maida, HCM’s Assistant Childrens Ministry Director,
who oversees Noah After School-Antioch, HCM’s second site
for its after-school program, operated in partnership with
neighboring Antioch Baptist Church.
I met Mya and her twin brother, MJ, two
summers ago. Along with the HCM summer interns, I was going house to house in the northend
telling families about Camp Noah, our seven week
summer day camp. Mya and MJ were outside
their home and their mom quickly signed them up.
The interns and I had a fantastic time with both of
them that summer, so I was excited when they joined
the Noah After School program in the fall of 2011, the
start of their 3rd grade year. It was wonderful to
see Mya learn who God is and to see her intentionally
choosing to live God’s way. Before her involvement in
Camp Noah or Noah After School (NAS), Mya hadn’t
seemed to know much about God at all.
Later that school year the NAS kids were learning about what God’s love looks like and how we can
respond to each other in love. A Bible memory verse
included a portion of 1 Corinthians 13. MJ and other
boys even made up a rap of the verses to help us
memorize the passage:
Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy,
it does not boast, it is not proud. It is not rude,
it is not self-seeking. It is not easily angered,
it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not
delight in evil but rejoices with the truth.
As had been the case with about every
weekly Bible verse, Mya memorized this one
perfectly.
Several months later, Mya and MJ
signed up for their second summer of Camp
Noah. Mya and another girl at camp had
been having trouble getting along. One day
after camp was dismissed and Mya was walking home, the other girl, along with her
friends, jumped Mya. They pulled her braids
out, hit her, and threw dirt in her face. Mya,
understandably upset, ran to the Vine (HCM’s
ministry house) to tell me what had happened.
P AGE 4
After processing the incident, I said, “Now Mya, I
know that you want to live God’s way. God wants
us to forgive the people who hurt us. Do you think
that you might be able to choose to forgive the girl
who hurt you?” Mya replied immediately, “Oh, I’ve
already decided to forgive her Miss Amy. Love keeps
no record of wrongs, remember?”
I nearly cried when I heard Mya’s words.
It had been months since we’d had our lessons on love
or even reviewed that memory verse and she was already figuring out how to apply the Bible to her life and her neighborhood - in a powerful way.
One of the reasons I love my job with the kids
here in the northend is because I get to see how God
is at work! I can imagine the day when other girls
from our neighborhood, like Mya, will choose to love
and forgive their enemies, rejecting the norm of violence and revenge that is common among so many
children and adults. I can imagine the transformation
in Hartford that could take place if that happens.
God’s kingdom is at work in the lives of children and
He uses children to do His work.
A child named Mya is a great kingdom
worker.
If you’d like to learn how you can volunteer with Noah After School and
get to know great kids like Mya, contact Amy at 860. 246. 0132..
Noah After School students - & twins - Matthew (MJ) and Mya Forbes
H ARTFORD C ITY M ISSION
Hartford YoungLife
Just keep swimming
Marcel Hodge is HCM’s Youth Ministry Director. Early in
2012 , HCM supporters made it possible for Marcel to move
from part-time to full-time. Marcel oversees Hartford YoungLife and now Hartford Wyldlife., HCM’s ministry with Hartford middle school students.
We all truly understand that nothing happens based upon our own timing, and that the
Lord is the one that is in control of all. While
this theology is something that we'd all agree
with, the other fact we'd agree with is that it's
not “practical” theology that is easy to live in.
Being faithful and staying encouraged aren’t always easy in urban youth ministry. Especially
when you have been preaching, teaching, loving, praying, counseling, crying, and everything else in between
for leaders and teens alike. “God is in
control” is the message that you must
keep telling yourself - like Dori in
“Finding Nemo”, when she sings “Just
keep swimming.” So swim we must.
Recently three of our teens embraced Jesus as their Lord and Savior
after years of hearing God's message,
going to camp, attending retreats, hangouts, etc. We had been praying for
them constantly and had watched each
of their lives moving down a bad path.
At every turn of conviction and tugging on them to
believe upon the Lord for salvation they would do
things to show that they were still very much in the
world.
All of us as leaders were frustrated and not sure
if things would turn, but I kept reminding them and
myself to just keep swimming. The summer is where
God made His eternal move to truly soften hardened
hearts and win them to Himself. Three factors were in
play for each of these teens during the summer: Young
Life Summer Camp, Camp Noah (where each of the
three assisted as Street Leaders), and Young Life Club
(Friday night gatherings). Each of these things ebbed
in and out of each other in a way that created a
beautiful tapestry of the gospel in their lives.
Every day in Camp Noah scriptures were being
driven into their hearts. Weekly meetings built upon
what they learned giving the ability to see how scrip-
H ARTFORD C ITY M ISSION
marcel hodge
ture looked in “real time”. Young Life camp became
the culmination of God's power as they spent a week
in the midst of God's love and Spirit.
This gave us the hope and courage to believe God
for His promises and to Keep Swimming.
The school year is now upon us and in full
swing. Each of these teens at different times came
forward in front of everyone and confessed how much
they needed God. They openly spoke of their resisting
Him but always being aware of His love. It was the
love and embrace of Christ that helped them not just
cross the threshold of belief but to enter the Kingdom
of Heaven. Currently, they each help serve at Young
Life and volunteer for Noah After School each week.
They have even begun to speak to other teens encouraging them to not give up and to
seriously think about living for God
and not wasting any more time.
Eternity has come to them in a
way that I will never be able to describe in words. The everlasting
Father and Prince of Peace has transformed their hearts into a place where
He reigns and the Holy Spirit lives.
The Kingdom of Heaven is now in
them because the rightful King rules
their hearts and lives!!! This gives
me confidence to fully embrace theology that the Lord
God Almighty, Maker of Heaven and Earth, is in full
control. It's not about my own ‘swimming’ but about
His power to transform lives in His perfect timing. So,
instead of me joining in the “Finding Nemo” chorus, I
will join Nehemiah and say...
You alone are the LORD. You made the heavens,
even the highest heavens, and all their starry host,
the earth and all that is on it, the seas and all
that is in them. You give life to everything, and
the multitudes of heaven worship you
- Nehemiah 9:6
May the Lord alone be glorified and honored as
King so that we no longer just keep swimming,
but so that we praise God for His sovereignty.
P AGE 5
reconcile
Michele Viksnes volunteers with Hartford YoungLife and serves on the
YL Local Advisory Committee. She also serves as HCM’s volunteer webmaster.
In September I had the privilege of attending the
annual Christian Community Development Association
(CCDA) conference, held this year in Minneapolis, joining HCM staff members and others from Hartford involved in urban ministry. The past few years I’d
heard great stories of conference experiences from HCM
-connected friends who had attended, and I wanted to
have the opportunity to experience for myself what the
conference was about (if you’re wondering what CCDA
itself is about, it could probably be captured at least
in part by the ‘3 Rs’ coined by its African-American
founder/pastor and civil rights leader, John Perkins:
Relocation, Reconciliation, and Redistribution, all in
pursuit of the “beloved community”).
The theme for this year’s conference was
Reconcile, as described in the conference guide:
“God has initiated salvation and reconciliation for the
whole beloved community of creation. Through Jesus,
we have been welcomed back into Shalom - right
relationship with God, with our true selves and others.
But we, as Christian Community Developers, know
that a lot of work still needs to be done! Our world
is still separated by walls of “us” vs. “them” and by
wars waged at every level - from our families to our
blocks, to our nations, to all of creation. The Bible
teaches us that we have been given the “ministry of
reconciliation” to
(continued on page 7)
The new jim crow ( from page 3)
excluded from juries, and legally discriminated against
in employment, housing, access to education, and public
benefits.
The effect of mass incarceration on communities
of color like Hartford’s northend is devastating. Due in
large part to the imprisonment of black fathers, a
black child born today is less likely to be raised by
both parents than a black child born during the era
of slavery. Moreover, the presence of tanks and
SWAT teams such as those witnessed in the
northend this past year creates the atmosphere of a
community under siege (for more on how such stress
affects children, read How Children Succeed by Paul
Tough).
P AGE 6
michele viksnes
Eight Key Components
of
Christian Community Development
1. Relocation: Like Jesus, living among the
people we are called to love, even if it means
crossing borders or boundaries.
2. Reconciliation: Being brought into right
relationship with God and His creation.
3. Redistribution: A just distribution of whatever resources God has placed in our midst.
4. Leadership Development: Developing
Christ- like leaders from within the community
who will remain in the community to live, love,
and lead.
5. Listening to the Community: Newcomers
must refuse to assume to know what’s best,
but first and foremost listen. Truly listen.
6. Church-Based: No lone rangers. We submit to the Body of Christ.
7. Wholistic Approach: Jesus cared about the
whole person, so we are to do no less.
8. Empowerment: Charity can too often rob a
person of dignity & create dependency rather
than discipleship.
courtesy of Christian Community Development Association
That this devastation and injustice can happen in
the era of Oprah and Obama makes it all the more
insidious. But as Alexander points out, if 100% of those
arrested and convicted of drug offenses were black, we
would be outraged. Still, the reality is that in some
states the proportion is as high as 90%. This nominal
diversity allows us to cling to the belief that our justice system is fair and unbiased.
But we who would seek the Shalom of the city
must first be willing to see the injustice behind our
“colorblindness.” Then we must go about the work of
both dismantling the Pipeline and building the
Kingdom.
H ARTFORD C ITY M ISSION
PUTTING DIGNITY UNDER THE CHRISTMAS TREE
In 14 years of ministry in the northend, there have been lots
So on Friday night, December 14th, the first ever Noah
of times we wished we could ask for a ‘do-over’. Some of those
Christmas Store opened. Stocked with more than 800 toys, balls,
times have involved our actions around holidays, like Thanksgiving
games, and clothes provided by the many great friends of HCM,
and Christmas.
parents or guardians of 50 children involved in Noah After School
A ministry like HCM, based in one of the state’s poorest
shopped til they dropped - buying great gifts at incredible discounts.
neighborhoods, can easily assume a role as a conduit for
Gifts they now can have the dignity of giving to their children themresources that flow from those who have more to those who have
selves. In turn, all the donations/proceeds from the store (over
less. Sometimes in special circumstances this is both necessary
$1,000) will go to help defray a portion of the costs for parents to
and of great value (see the story known as the ‘Good Samaritan’ in
send their kids with HCM to Lakeside Christian Camp next summer.
the gospel of Luke).
Thanks to everyone who donated gifts to the Christmas store
But sometimes, in the words of longtime Christian
or who volunteered and helped organize, wrap, or bag gifts, allowing
community development practitioner Bob Lupton, “Giving to those
Hartford City Mission to put a little dignity under the Christmas trees
in need what they could be gaining from their own initiative may
of our northend neighbors this year.
well be the kindest way to destroy people.”
- HCM Board of Directors
Sometimes, charity can actually be toxic.
Noah After School moms buying gifts for their kids at the Noah Christmas Store.
As we’ve come to wrestle with and
embrace more of the components of Christian Community Development (see page 6), we’ve started to
question some of our old ways of doing things. So
this year, when our Childrens Ministry Director,
Amy Jarvis, suggested that HCM consider a
new approach to its Christmas
practices, we
were all ears.
This Christmas, rather than flood the kids in
our ministry with presents purchased by caring,
compassionate volunteers and ministry supporters,
why not help our parents provide great gifts for
their kids themselves?
reconcile (from page 6)
live out the work God completed through Jesus. We
need to first reflect the reality of God’s Shalom, and
learn how to bring the people of our world along.”
The conference opened with an official welcome
from a Native American and Minnesota resident who is
a Lakota tribal descendant of Little Crow. She welcomed us, as guests, to the land of the Lakota people.
It was both humbling and moving to receive her beautiful welcome, but it would be one of many moments
that would pull at my core and turn my face to Jesus
to seek wisdom in how to process and respond to all
that I was hearing and seeing at the conference.
Workshop sessions encouraged attendees to dig
deeper into topics related to reconciliation and community
development. In one session, titled “Forgive Us: A
Christian Call to Repentance”, the authors of a soon-tobe-released book on the topic put forward the argument
that there are a variety of sins of oppression which
(continued on page 8)
H ARTFORD C ITY M ISSION
Hartford City Mission’s
is coming in June and we’re looking for a few collegeage and/or post-college men and women who want to
learn about life in the inner city, while helping to lead
HCM’s summer ministry activities.
You’ll experience life in community, living in the Vine,
HCM’s ministry house on Vine Street in Hartford’s
northend, where you’ll learn about urban issues like
poverty, racism, and injustice. Our hope is that you
would think, live, & love a lot more like Jesus after your
summer with us!
More details and our intern application are available
on our website (www.hartfordcitymission.org)
You can also contact Amy Jarvis (860.246.0132)
or e-mail [email protected]
if you’ve got questions.
P AGE 7
Place mailing label here
Hartford City Mission
PO Box 320397
Hartford, CT 06132
reconcile (from page 7)
have been committed in the name of Christ against
numerous people groups in the US - sins which the
Church should confess and for which it should repent.
In one such instance discussed at the conference,
the US government may actually be setting an example for the church in owning up to the sins of its
past. Mark Charles, a Navajo and CCDA board
member, spoke about a formal and public apology from
the US government to Native peoples, but revealed to
virtually no one. The apology, for “violence, maltreatment, and neglect inflicted on Native peoples by citizens of the United States”, was buried in a recent
multi-billion-dollar Department of Defense appropriations
bill (HR 3326). Congress passed the bill and President
Obama signed it into law with little media attention
on December 19, 2009.
an apology was wise without first having a conversation with the Native leaders; about the irony of
inserting an apology of this kind in a defense appropriations bill; and the seeming double-talk in the
language of the apology that neither allows for nor
blocks any future reparations.
It was challenging and frustrating as a white
female of European immigrant heritage to be reminded
again just how much of my own advantage has
been at the expense of other people groups.
The CCDA conference was an opportunity to
put all my beliefs on the table and ask the Lord to
reveal to me what needs to be thrown away, reworked, refined, or confessed. I’m grateful for opportunities to continue to process my experiences and reactions with the group of attendees from Hartford.
On December 19th of this year Mr. Charles and
others travelled to Washington DC to publicly read
the bill in its entirety, including the apology, on the
steps of the US Capitol. In a workshop I attended led
by Mr. Charles, a small group of us had an open
dialog about our reactions to the bill - about whether
To get a closer glimpse of the 2012 CCDA conference, check out a
recommended video clip from a panel discussion on the topic of
Reconciliation - go to YouTube.com and search for
‘CCDA Jin Kim’. For more on the US Government’s apology to
Native peoples, visit Mark Charles’ website at wirelesshogan.com.