Wesley Community Center: People Taking Charge
by Darlene Slack
Glenda Goff's 6-year-old son rubbed her face, marveling at the softness of her cheek and the transformation he sensed in her whole being. Ms. Goff said:
"It's as if he's saying, 'You're really there. Are you going to stay?'"
Until Ms. Goff participated in "People Taking Charge," a program of Wesley Community Center in Dayton, Ohio, set up to respond to the 1996 welfare-law changes, she wasn't there.
"I was messed up on drugs for 20-some years," she said. Welfare provided money for her family's basic physical needs. Beyond that, her seven children often were on their own.
As resources dwindled because of changes in welfare, she turned to Wesley Community Center, where as a child she had found hot meals and dances. As an adult, she found food and a life-changing program. For the first time in her adult life, Ms. Goff, now 46, believes she is "worthy" of love, wholeness and meaningful participation in the world.
Today, she helps her younger children with homework, babysits for her grandchildren, transports senior-citizen friends, works part time and attends school. In her previous life, Ms. Goff said she'd be on her knees each morning, sick from drugs. Now she gets on her knees each morning to thank God.
Shallon Coleman, director and alumna of People Taking Charge, said the program makes it possible for women who are suffering to come in and find a sense of purpose and connection.
The program’s 12-week self-help model offers single women opportunities to gain the skills, self-esteem and spiritual nurturing needed to live and work successfully in their communities. They attend classes led by community employers, receive job training, participate in support groups and Bible study, are mentored by program alumnae and community women, participate in job and health fairs, and learn about job opportunities and personal contacts at local businesses. They gain skills in job interviewing, GED preparation, money management, conflict management and resolution, healthy eating, and how to identify and pool resources.
Each session has 10 to 12 participants, single women typically ranging in age from 25 to 40. By graduation time, 90 percent of the participants are either attending school or working in such positions as city employees, paralegal secretaries, church-program assistants, school-bus drivers, domestic workers and Wesley Community Center staff.
The center, a project of the Miami Valley United Methodist Mission Society, initiated People Taking Charge in 1990 in anticipation of welfare changes. Lacking adequate funds to maintain the program's quality, administrators put the program on hold from 1994 to 1996 when they secured broader-based community support from the ecumenical faith community, and business and political sectors.
A grant from the Women's Division helped sustain People Taking Charge from 1998 through 2000. More funds are needed now to maintain the program and to expand the center, adding space needed for counseling; classrooms; a computer lab; and chapel that would be open, like the center, 12 to 14 hours a day.
Two United Theological Seminary professors –- Harriett Miller and Marsha Foster Boyd -- helped develop and revise the program. Ms. Miller led the steering committee in brainstorming ways to address the holistic needs of clients, while Ms. Boyd's study of self-help principles provided a model for helping clients move to self-sufficiency.
The holistic approach of addressing material, emotional and spiritual needs has been effective in ending the cycle of troubled lives, said Robert Walker, center director and United Methodist home missionary.
"There is an imbalance of resources in our world," Mr. Walker said. "But the real issues that all people struggle with are spiritual: 'Who has God created me to be? What is my purpose and how do I live that out with my family, my work, my community?'"
When clients walk in the door, they're treated as individuals of worth, not beggars, said Diane Sanders, People Taking Charge graduate.
"You don't have to lose your integrity or dignity," she said.
Most clients come from the African-American neighborhood where Wesley Community Center is located. The program tries to help them address the racism they face.
"We try to equip people to define themselves," Mr. Walker said. "We ask them, 'Whose definition do you want to live out of?'"
Ms. Coleman and other center staff help the women overcome barriers:
Center staff assist the women in finding homes, getting out of abusive relationships and managing outstanding bills.
Ms. Coleman, age 52, is both role model and encourager. After struggling through a 37-year alcohol-drug addiction, welfare dependency, time in jails and institutions, she came to the program feeling angry at God because she had been sober for awhile but life wasn't much better. The program enabled her to identify underlying issues like low self-esteem, guilt, depression and fear.
"It gave me the umph I needed to continue my journey," Ms. Coleman said.
Tojanda Dillard, age 25 and a new client, said Ms. Coleman helped her set goals and hold herself accountable. She's studying for her GED. When her children are old enough to understand, Ms. Dillard said, "I want them to know that I tried." As she helps her daughters with homework, they know she expects them to do well and graduate.
Wesley Community Center helped People Taking Charge graduate Willie Shaver find a job that allowed her to be home during those unsupervised after-school hours when her children were getting into trouble. Later she returned to volunteer in the center's clothing room to give other women emotional support. Now Ms. Shaver, 40, helps people identify and address needs as the center's human-resource assistant.
"Our greatest gift is to help people appreciate their gifts," Mr. Walker said. "In biblical terms we are equipping people to witness out of their own lived experience to the work of God in their lives. We tell women this only a model. Use your own creativity to address the unique needs in your community."
People Taking Charge graduate Vickie Elder created the Healing Touch Ministry to give a voice to children of poor, single women. The weekly program provides a safe place for the children to talk about their struggles and concerns, such as life in a housing project or the embarrassment of being on welfare.
In January, Ms. Coleman helped launch a second People Taking Charge program in Dayton at Fairview United Methodist Church as part of the congregation's mission outreach. The church sees People Taking Charge's holistic approach as an effective way to serve people in its community. Because of its location, the Fairview United Methodist Church program can draw together people from a variety of racial backgrounds.
Long after graduation, program alumnae call Ms. Coleman.
"They keep calling to say: 'I'm doing okay,'" she said. "They understand that sharing personal stories -- of lives shattered and being pieced together again -- is an important part of their journeys."
Darlene Slack is a freelance writer and mission interpreter in West Ohio Conference.