The Collective
FCS (Focused Community Strategies) is a collective of visionaries and social entrepreneurs, transforming distressed urban neighborhoods through Christian community development. We are vision-driven by the collective executive leadership of our called, front-line visionaries. Self-preservation is not a goal of FCS. We are committed to remain nimble as a learning organization to respond to the vision at hand. As a collective, we currently have multiple organizations that work together to transform communities.
A collective is the musicians and the dancers… those who create in sync and feed off of each other’s energy.
A collective is a kitchen full of cooks… those who provide for each other and nourish each other’s souls.
A collective is a room full of dreamers… and the people who make those dreams reality.
Partners of FCS Urban Ministries
Charis Community Housing
Charis Community Housing is a faith-based community development ministry providing affordable housing options for mixed-income communities. Charis’ core practices are neighborhood focused, homeownership, re-neighboring and strategic partnering.
FCS Community Economic Development
Equipping individuals and families to strengthen themselves economically, CED impacts the lives of low-income families by increasing their purchasing capacity and placing economic power back into the hands of the community. CED currently runs four business in the South Atlanta neighborhood: The South Atlanta Marketplace, Community Grounds Cafe, Refugee Beads, and the South Atlanta Bike Shop.
Georgia Avenue Community Ministry
The mission of Georgia Avenue Community Ministry is to provide food for those in need in a way that affirms dignity and builds community. GACM uses the need for food to edify its members, especially through its unique nationally recognized Georgia Avenue Food Cooperative program, which empowers, creates relationships and provides food security, as well as fighting homelessness.
GlenCastle
GlenCastle is a safe, affordable apartment community that provides an entry point back into stable neighborhood living for those priced out of the market for basic necessities. A drug-free environment with supportive chaplaincy services, GlenCastle is a stepping stone for 67 families and individuals who are working diligently toward a better life.
Mission Year
Mission Year is a year long urban ministry program focused on Christian service and discipleship. Mission Year takes teams of young adults, places them in an area of need, and helps them to serve people and create community. Mission Year is committed to the command of Jesus to “love God and love people,” by placing the needs of neighbors first and developing committed disciples of Christ with a heart for the poor
Moving in the Spirit
Moving in the Spirit is a nationally recognized youth development program that uses dance as a vehicle to positively transform the lives of children and teens in Atlanta, Georgia. Moving in the Spirit educates, inspires and unites young people through dance, in order to help them become successful, compassionate leaders.
Divisions of FCS Urban Ministries
Beltline Bike Shop
We help neighborhoods build community with at-risk youth through the Beltline Bike Shop. We try to identify young leaders capable of creating better futures for themselves and their future children and families. We mostly do so on a one-on-one basis. We are building what we call a web that will help support a healthy community. We think that by identifying motivated youth we help them to develop healthy relationships as well as work and life skills we will help lead struggling youth into productive lives, motivating them to dream of a bright future.
CF Youth Development Group
The vision for CFYDG is to see Godly generations of whole, compassionate, urban leaders who are able to create and sustain healthy families and communities within the cities of our nation.
CFYDC exists to educate, equip, empower and encourage urban children, youth and youth program directors for the purpose of developing healthy families and community-minded leaders. For more info, click here.
Common Focus
Common Focus is committed to the building of community by creating dialogue that leads to action. Our commitment is to create common focus, common action and common good.
Community Chaplaincy
FCS Community Chaplaincy works with all the ministries of FCS to enlist train and deploy community chaplains in our focus neighborhoods. The Chaplain offers the ministry of Christian presence, modeling compassionate service and helping to call together spiritually gifted and committed neighbors toward the purpose of community renewal. Find more information HERE.
EIRO
EIRO (i.row) is a collective of strategic, imaginative partnerships joined together for the sake of God’s shalom in our shared city. Led by chaplains Shawn and Holly Duncan, EIRO utilizes assets by linking churches, businesses, schools, and civic groups so that all aspects of the community can flourish. Offering spiritual formation, Christian community development initiatives, and immersion experiences, EIRO strives to bring God’s peace to our piece of earth.
Green My Hood
Our mission is to see restoration in every community that has been wounded by the practice of environmental injustice. Green My Hood seeks to be a channel that helps environmentally exploited communities thrive by offering creative solutions to their environmental challenges.
Every community has a garden for people to grow their own food.
Every community sponsors clean-ups.
Every community works to lower its carbon footprint.
Every community has artistic expression that lifts the souls of people.
Every community has at least one business that people can walk to for quality goods.
Every community has safe comfortable places for people to use public transportation.
Metro Merge
The mission of Metro Merge is to join God’s restorative work in the city by co-investing with local residents through sustainable entrepreneurship. Our passion is to connect local residents and vocational neighbors (partners) into authentic relationships, resulting in sustainable business start-ups by partnering with entrepreneurs in historic South Atlanta.
Pathways
Pathways:“relating to engage the disconnected youth for physical, emotional, and spiritual transformation.”
We exist to come along side students in pain by relating to engage them and the 3 support sytems (School, Family, Church).
Prevention We build relationships with schools to engage through education to help students navigate pertinent life issues.
Recovery We establish our Pathways support groups to provide students a safe place to process pain, equip them with life long tools for living, and build supportive relationships to come alongside them on their journey.
Intervention All of our programs provide platforms for establishing relationships to assist youth and families in crisis.
Discipleship We equip, train, and empower church leaders to come alongside students in discovering identity, belonging, and purpose.
Refugee Beads
Introducing our newest economic development partner, Refugee Beads. Refugee Beads exists to inject hope, a sense of community, and financial support into the lives of refugees living in the Atlanta area.
Twice a week, Ruth Ann North gathers with a group of refugee women who are married to pastors. Together, they create jewelry, swap stories, and encourage one another. The jewelry they create is then marketed across America in stores, craft fairs, and online to provide these families with desperately needed income.
In this way, Refugee Beads empowers and encourages ethnic leaders to reach their own people groups and connect with a new culture.
South Atlanta Bike Shop
South Atlanta Bike Shop is a youth development program of FCS Community Economic Development. Youth from our community, ages 11-18, can earn “shop bucks” by working in the bike shop and spend these to purchase bicycles, bicycle accessories, replacement parts and pay for bike trip registration fees.
The bike shop repairs donated bicycles and places them for sale at affordable prices in the South Atlanta Marketplace.
Southwest Atlanta Neighboring
The vision of SWAN is to break the cycles of exploitation in SW Atlanta by building collaborative leadership skills from childhood to adulthood, block by block, championing the human dignity of the many races, cultures and classes represented in our historic communities. We aim to create a future distinct from SW Atlanta’s past by weaving a social fabric out of which leadership can emerge. In such a community, children of SW Atlanta can grow into adult leaders and find a compelling sense of ownership in this community’s future.
SWAN’s programs currently include Block-by-Block Community Projects, After school GOAL girls, Vision and Dreaming, and Spoken Word programs, as well as community mentorships for youth. For more information contact Troy Bronsink or visit our site, www.swan-atl.org
Youth Universe
Youth Universe is a spiritual, professional and personal development program for emerging young urban leaders. Youth Universe produces educational curriculum, media programming, community interfaith dialogues and community development projects that leverage interfaith relationships with the mission of building and strengthening local urban economies through social entrepreneurship. Youth and Young Adults, ages 14-24, learn to demonstrate interpersonal, leadership and entrepreneurial skills through creating media and community development projects with the goal of reducing poverty and unemployment rates in urban neighborhoods.