The Barnabas Project
The Barnabas project, Inc
2300 Dumbarton Road
Richmond, VA. 23228
Africanchristianchurch.org
Africanchristianchurch.org
Email: africanchurch@netzero.net
Background
The motive of the Barnabas Project is to “Help someone in order to make our world a better place.” The project is a nonprofit organization founded by the African Christian Community Church (ACCC). Its offices are located in the west wing of Hatcher Memorial Baptist Church, 2300 Dumbarton Road, Richmond, VA. 23228. Through the gracious giving of the Hatcher Memorial family, the Barnabas Project opened its “Family Support and Learning Center” in the fall of 2007.
Mission and Goals of the Barnabas Project:
The Barnabas Project has the following purposes and powers, it being expressly provided that enumeration of its specific powers shall not be constituted to limit or restrict in any way its general powers:
(a) To function as a non-profit organization whose general purpose is to assist war ravaged and needy immigrants from Africa residing in Richmond and elsewhere in the State of Virginia, including the elderly, youth, disabled persons, women, minorities, and other at-risk African populations;
(b) Though the project’s primary objectives target the needs of Africans and African immigrants in the United States, it also pledges its commitment to humanitarian service for all people if and whenever it is both needed and expedient for the project to engage therein;
(c) To promote and support collaboration among service organizations, businesses, the faith community, and others for the purpose of forming alliances that will help to eliminate duplication of services and broaden service networks in order to meet the needs of more people through more effective program and service delivery;
(d) To serve as an advocate for the suffering people of Africa and African immigrants who reside in the United States by engaging in the identification of unmet needs and the development of programs designed to meet them;
(e) To administer various programs that will address their basis emotional and physical needs;
(f) To provide programs and services that contributes to the success of immigrants and needy families;
(g) To provide programs that will help these persons maintain the highest level of self-sufficiency whenever possible and to otherwise help them maintain their dignity and self-respect while having their basic needs met; and
(h) To provide programs that will provide one or more of the following: emergency assistance, educational counseling, English proficiency, tutoring, mentoring, special services for persons with emotional and learning disabilities, statewide comprehensive family support, international program initiatives that connect American communities to families in African countries and assistance for those seeking to immigrate to the United States of America.
The After School Program
The Barnabas Project
Background, Goals, and Objectives.
To foster its vision of Educational Counseling and Mentoring, the Barnabas Project opened its Family Support and Learning Center in the fall of 2007 with a beginning enrollment of 13 Elementary, Middle, and High Schools students in the After School Tutoring and Mentoring Program. These students hail from countries where English is not the original language, including Liberia, Ghana, Sierra Leone, and Zambia. Based upon the much needed services the center provides, enrollment at the Center has since double. Our goal is to have about fifty students enrolled at the Center by the fall of 2008.
Although the Center is opened to any individual or family who meets the need-based eligibility requirements, its clients generally reflect immigrant families that were davasted by civil wars in Africa and elsewhere. Most of the school age boys and girls enrolled in our program were either born in refugee camps or in crisis situations that did not afford them the environment for quality learning and skills development.;
The after school program is designed to target the demographic of school aged boys and girls in the City of Richmond and surrounding public schools. It serves as the microcosm of the Barnabas Project, and focuses on academics, mentoring, fostering values, helping children including youth and young adults achieve the highest level of performance in both academic and basic life skill expectations.
The Barnabas Family Support and Learning Center is located in the west wing of Hatcher Memorial Baptist Church. The center seeks to provide an alternative against potential negatives for which most of these kids are labeled as “at risk children.”
The vision of the after school tutoring and mentoring program was birthed out of the need to assist African immigrants and their families fully assimilate into the American society and give them reason to “think big”. The program core values are:
- Homework assistance in the areas of Math, English, Science, Social studies, etc;
- Reading proficiency for kids and youths for whom English is not the primary language;
- Cultural orientation and renovation (to include music, cooking, craft, games, field trips, sports/gymnasium, etc.);
- Assistance with SOL preparation;
- Pal/mentor friendship (at school or in the home); and
- Guiding children and youths in the process of building a lifetime relationship with Jesus Christ.
The Center is opened throughout the week. The After school tutoring and mentoring program run from 2:00 to 6:00 P. M on week days.
Your financial support or in-kind donation will help execute this vital ministry. Donations can be made directly to:
- “The Barnabas project,
- Hatcher Memorial Baptist Church, attn: Barnabas project, or
- African Christian Community Church, attn: Barnabas Project.
Volunteers are highly needed as well. I will be glad to talk with you should you have any questions of concerns.
I remain with high sentiments,
Yours in the Master’s Cause,
Rev. Calvin A. Birch
Executive Director.
Ps. Resume enclosed.
