Growing Together Preschool

Growing Together Preschool is an early childhood education program for children living in the Walnut Terrace Public Housing community in downtown Raleigh, NC. The preschool meets Tuesday through Friday, 10:15 to 1:15. Our goal is to prepare three and four year olds for success in kindergarten. The children are introduced to literature, math and science concepts, music, and art, and are fed a nutritionally balanced meal each day. The preschool also offers support and educational resources for preschool families in order to assist them in raising healthy, happy, and well-prepared children.

Growing Together Preschool is a 501 (c)(3) nonprofit with funding provided by local churches, foundations, corporations, civic groups, and individuals. Scholarships are needed each year for our preschoolers. Please contact Kathy Boos, Director/Teacher of Growing Together Preschool, for more information on how you can help support the educational success and future of a child in our Raleigh community. There are also a couple of pictures on the Growing Together Make a Difference page.

Raleigh Mennonite Church Economic Community Development Ministry

“If you are coming to help me, you are wasting your time. But if you have come because your liberation is bound up in mine, then let us work together.” -an Australian Aboriginal woman quoted by Jim Wallis in The Soul of Politics

Our Economic Community Development Ministry is a small, low-overhead effort that focuses on teaching low-wealth households how to manage their money and become successful home owners.

We offer long term Home Buyer Classes to educate and encourage first-time homebuyers and promote successful, long-term homeownership. The groups provide more than education; because major steps like homeownership are nearly impossible in social isolation, mutual support is a parallel component of the classes. We also offer Home Buyer Education via other organizations. For example, we currently provide the Home Buyer Education component for StepUp Ministries.

Through advocacy partnerships with organizations such as Self-Help Credit Union and Congregations for Social Justice, we also try to influence the dominant culture (the society around us) to be more just and less oppressive for the poor. Thus we apply our knowledge, experience, and voices on behalf of many whose lives have been compromised and whose voices have been muted.

For more information contact Al Reberg, Community Development Minister

Urban Ministries of Wake County

Urban Ministries of Wake County is a non-profit organization that provides essential basic services to 20,000 families and individuals in Wake County every year. These services include emergency and transitional housing, medical care, prescription medications, financial assistance, food assistance, and other support services to promote self-sufficiency and a stable home environment for those in need.

Urban Ministries strives to:

• Provide basic necessities to those in need.
• Build awareness of the issues surrounding poverty within the larger community.
• Remain aware of and leverage area resources to maximize our impact within the community.
• Provide a challenging, rewarding, and supportive environment for staff and volunteers.

For more information, go to http://www.urbanmin.org/

Peace Booth

For over fifty years, the Peace Booth at the North Carolina State Fair has been a consistent voice of Peace, speaking to thousands of fair goers every fall. The mission of the Peace Booth is to let fairgoers know that there are viable alternatives to the militarism and violence that are so pervasive in the world

For more information, go to http://www.ncpeacebooth.org/