THE NEHEMIAH PROJECT

Organizational Overview

The Nehemiah Project grew out from a small benevolence church ministry called Shepherd’s Watch; the ministry started over twelve years ago. Our plan back then was a simple one, we would help everybody in need that we could, Christians and non-Christians alike. Still today, we’re comprised of many of the people we were back then, “seasoned” men and women from all walks of life with a vast array of specialized skills. We’re contractors and educators, clergy and attorneys, we’re CPA’s and tradesman, doctors, lawyers and nurses, artisans, carpenters and painters. We’re everyday people committed to doing the work God has called all of us to do in love for one another.

We recently created The Shepherd’s Watch Foundation, a 501(C-3) entity, to be the funding instrument for The Nehemiah Project. The creation of this non-profit foundation makes it possible for us to try and raise the funds needed to purchase and completely renovate a former City of Atlanta elementary school located in Lakewood Heights, a low-income neighborhood in Southeast Atlanta. The boarded up school has been an eye sore in the community for years and is now home to homeless vagrants and a host of others caught in the grips of addiction. Our plan is to turn the old decaying school into a state of the art job training facility dedicated to enriching the lives of every homeless and low-income family in the area.

Most of the training programs that we plan to offer will be completed in a year or less, with the only exception being the advanced Nursing course, which will be a two-year accredited program. Additionally, we plan to offer courses in Facility Maintenance, Medical Coding, Theatrical Production, Welding, Culinary Arts, Automotive Mechanics and Automotive Paint and Body. We will also offer apprenticeship programs for residential construction, plumbing and electrical trades.

A Need for Change

The Nation’s problem with chronic poverty and homelessness is one that has festered for far too many years and it is our hope that this plan will go a long way towards eliminating perhaps the number one social economic problem of our time. The Nehemiah Project is aimed solely at providing a substantial and long lasting impact in the lives of those in our society too long overlooked as though the problem were insurmountable and the lives lost inevitable. This is not as God would have it and not as we can allow it to continue.

Our approach to addressing the problems associated with chronic poverty and the hopelessness that is so pervasive in our inner-city neighborhoods is two fold. We envision a facility that will train the individuals enrolled with not only a new set of skills for better employment opportunities, but will also offer them an opportunity to witness the benefits of Christian discipleship. In fact, it’s the spiritual aspect of their training that we feel, will far outweigh the benefits of the job training in helping to better the lives of those enrolled in the program over the long term.

We understand that in order for there to be sustainable progression in the lives of the people we’re reaching out to, there must be a fundamental change in their hearts as well as their minds. In addition to the training programs that we offer, there will be classes offered in Christian Discipleship, ongoing Bible Studies and Departmental Prayer groups. Additionally, we will offer Christian based addiction recovery programs like Celebrate Recovery for those that struggle with any type of addiction issue and for those that suffer with chronic addiction, they will be referred to off-site facilities for in-house treatment. All these life-enriching programs will be an integral part of our total curriculum.

So Help Me God

Substance Abuse, Religion, and Spirituality:

A study conducted by the National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse at Columbia University

The CASA report, which includes unprecedented surveys of clergy and heads of schools of theology, documents the enormous power
of God, religion, and spirituality in preventing and treating substance abuse.

Adults who do not consider religious beliefs important are more than one-and-a-half times more likely to smoke, more than three times likelier to binge-drink, almost four times likelier to use an illicit drug other than marijuana and more than six times likelier to smoke pot than adults who believe that religion is important.

Adults who never attend religious services are three times more likely to smoke, more than five times likelier to use an illicit drug other than marijuana, almost seven times likelier to binge-drink and almost eight times likelier to smoke pot than those who attend religious services at least weekly.

Teens who do not consider religious beliefs important are almost three times more likely to drink, binge-drink and smoke, almost four times likelier to use marijuana and seven times likelier to use illicit drugs than teens who believe that religion is important.

Teens who never attend religious services are twice as likely to drink, more than twice as likely to smoke, more than three times likelier to use marijuana and binge-drink and almost four times likelier to use illicit drugs than teens who attend religious services at least weekly.

79%

of Americans believe that spiritual faith can help people recover from disease

63%

think that physicians should talk to patients about spiritual faith

99%

of family physicians are convinced that religious beliefs can heal

75%

believe that prayers of others can promote a patient’s recovery

Opportunity for Social Impact

Considerable research has bore out the legitimacy of the claim that the Christian faith can help people overcome systemic addiction. Our belief is that it also holds the very best promise of helping underprivileged people crawl out of their despair and hopelessness. Job training will no doubt help make their future more promising but we believe that changing the moral fabric of the community is what is going to make a lasting, more profound change.

The model we are putting forth can easily be adapted by virtually every large urban city in the Country. Most major U.S. cities share with us the problem of urban poverty and social injustice. Our proposal is as promising as it is because it addressing a number of issues common to most major cities. Large abandoned public buildings in lower income areas are prevalent as tax revenues are depleted in those areas. The City of Atlanta has several buildings in various stages of decay throughout the city. The same is true for other low-income areas in virtually every major city across the Country.

Our project is unique in that the scale of it promises to make as large an impact in the immediate community as anything ever attempted. In addition to offering better job opportunities for program participants, the related services provided by the center will improve the overall standard of living for all the other residents in the community as well.

Financials

Our initial funding goal is approximately six million dollars to pay for the complete renovation of the facility as well as furnishing it with the latest state of the art equipment. We have a projected estimate of the cost of the renovation to be between three point seven five and four point two five million dollars, we’ve allotted another half million dollars to allow for any cost overruns. Once the construction phase is complete it is our plan to cover our annual operating expenses with pledges and commitments from local area Churches, businesses and individuals. Our projected monthly operating estimate is $150,000.00, which includes salaries, utilities, supplies and building maintenance.

Programs Goals and Evaluations

Our goal is to recruit and maintain an enrollment of at least 250 individuals a year. The size and scope of the project will allow many local area Churches to volunteer in assisting not only with various classroom activities, but also mentoring programs, as well as other after school activities. The possibility for enhancing the living conditions of the residents in the Lakewood Heights Neighborhood is endless.

Ongoing corporate participation in the project will only enhance the participant’s chances for permanent job placement once their courses are complete. The Nehemiah Project has all the makings of community; it is the best possible solution to a problem that has festered for far too long. There are countless different efforts currently being made to address the enormous problems that plague the inner city, but ultimately, it will take an enormous effort to overcome them. That’s what the scale of this project promises to be, a prototype that can be duplicated all over the Country. With God’s blessing and our efforts we’ll begin to beat back the hopelessness and despair that overwhelm our inner-cities once and for all and make life forever better for those that have never been given a real chance to dream. That’s what we pray for, that’s what we work towards, in the end, that’s all we do.

We’re the Shepherd’s Watch Foundation and we’re…“ providing hope.”

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