Where are they now?

This is the 10th year of WORLD’s awards programs for Christian groups that practice effective compassion, the kind that helps people rise out of poverty and not just stay in it. We wanted to see whether winners of our first year’s competition, in 2006, had overcome obstacles and persevered in their mission.

The overall winner that first year was the Christian Women’s Job Corps’ (CWJC) Nashville site. It offered and still offers women the opportunity to earn their GED diplomas, take literacy and computer classes, or learn English as a second language. CWJC requires one class, Bible study, and that means it does not receive any government funds: Instead, it survives on donations, fundraising, and the help of volunteers.

CWJC serves women such as Teresa, who had kept her illiteracy a secret all her life but wanted to read the Bible to her grandchildren. She joined a CWJC reading class and a year later read through the book of Ruth. Christian mentors meet one-to-one with students to encourage their emotional, spiritual, and academic success. CWJC executive director Becky Sumrall said the biggest obstacle since 2006 has been finding enough volunteers and mentors, since some “Christians don’t want to take the time. … That means we can’t serve as many students.”

Still, Nashville CWJC has been able to expand over the past decade. It’s added three locations and is planning two more. In 2009 it advertised classes in a community church: Even though CWJC is for women, 75 percent of the respondents were men who wanted to earn their GED diplomas, so the organization opened the Madison Men’s center.

Rachel’s House (RH) in Columbus, Ohio, was a 2006 finalist: We were impressed with its Bible studies for female prisoners and its invitation to regular attendees to live at RH after their release. There, mentors helped residents to become financially and emotionally stable, recover from addictions, cultivate job skills, and eventually graduate from the program.

Last year the housing project welcomed its 120th resident, and graduates of the program now make up 45 percent of the full-time staff. An assessment tool that measures participants’ progress now shows about 12 percent returning to prison—that’s much lower than the national average. The organization has added trauma training for staff and volunteers, and next month plans to have an RH graduate head up its first “social enterprise,” the Mane Thing hair salon.

Lower Lights Ministries, RH’s parent organization, allows RH graduates to transition with their families to the Light the Way Home program, which provides nine homes and helps them find affordable housing. The program, which includes mentoring, case management, and peer support, can last up to three years.

Urban Promise Ministries (UP) in crime-laden Camden, N.J., was another 2006 finalist. Last year the organization renovated its major after-school building, which now includes a dining hall, full-sized kitchen, gym, and IT lab. UP also runs a Street2Leader initiative directed at young people who have been in trouble, and a food co-op used by 180 families.

One of UP’s staffers, Alex Vega, attended UP’s Camp Joy with his twin brother when they were five. They took part in the after-school program, enjoying the art classes and weekly trips, and returned each year, getting help with their school work and eventually serving as “street leaders” who assisted younger campers. In 2006 Vega, then a college senior, helped with the camp. Now he has two children, works with UP, and helped restart the camp he attended as a child.

—The authors are World Journalism Institute interns