We had am amazing morning listening to all of the hard work that our four finalists are up to! CLICK HERE TO SEE ALL OF THE PHOTOS FROM THE EVENT!
Here is a closer look at our finalists and their grants requests:
Cornerstone:
Mission: To develop relationships with families in undeserved neighborhoods by building and fostering biblical communities.
Vision: To engage Churches to encourage the community through developing programs, local leadership, and strategic partnerships for the purpose of sharing the Gospel and restoration of the community.
Goals: Share the gospel though word and action. Support local church bodies by way of program support and consultation. Connect families with local congregations where they can gain community and accountability. Provide training that will set families and individuals on paths that will result in financial freedom and family stability. Provide support and assistance to families in need through our various church and non-profit networks through Houston.
Request: $100,000
Support from OHSH would allow us to institutionalize a successful pilot program, Luminary, thus providing transformational opportunities for our youth participants and for Cornerstone Family Ministries itself. The grant money would go to purchasing higher quality and more equipment to allow the program to grow.
Gracewood:
Mission Statement: Gracewood rescues and restores single mothers and their children by
providing home, hope and healing.
Vision Statement: Empowering families through Christian ministry designed to provide housing, mentoring, teaching, financial planning, counseling, and access to community resources. Gracewood’s goal is to ensure long-term, transformational change for single mother families at risk of homelessness. This is accomplished through client-focused programming which customizes care for each family, including housing, counseling, mentoring, educational support, finan-cial planning, and access to community resources. Gracewood defines success for its families as the ability to maintain independent housing and stable employment, while providing a safe home for children in the family.
Request: $100,000
Gracewood’s proposed capital expansion will allow us to double the number of families served
through the residential program while simultaneously significantly increasing the number of
community and after-care clients we reach. At this time, we have raised $7,444,051 (88%) of
our total $8.45 million goal; a gift of $100,000 from One Hundred Shares Houston would bring
us significantly closer to raising the last remaining amount needed to complete this vitally
needed capital project.
Spring Spirit:
Mission - Established to ensure holistic, Christian upbringing for underserved kids, SpringSpirit’s mission is to provide safe opportunities for
youth to realize life opportunities through sports, education and mentoring programs based on Christian principles.
Vision – SpringSpirit’s vision is to change the lives of children in a challenged community in Spring Branch, Texas, teaching them of God’s love and hope for their lives, and creating opportunities for successes that will arrest and reverse the cycle of poverty and low expectations that plagues many in this dynamic community.
Goals – SpringSpirit holistically ministers to the area’s children and families, strengthening them in body, mind and soul, and equipping them for life opportunities they would not otherwise have.$$Our goal is that each child in our program be paired with a Christian mentor who walks with them through this season of life, and that through that relationship and our programming (which includes faith formation, summer camps, academic tutoring, study hall, visits to workplaces and college campuses, and the life lessons and healthy habits taught from playing on a team), he/she will overcome the odds into which he/she was born, and discover and achieve his/her God given purpose in life.
Request: $50,000
This grant will provide a Christian pastoral presence to share the Gospel with the SpringSpirit community of almost 2,000 children and their families who do not
otherwise have religious and spiritual guidance and support. This will allow SpringSpirit to use spiritual and life crisis opportunities to introduce people to
the Christian faith and help them see how the Holy Spirit is working in their lives, while simultaneously freeing our other staff resources to dedicate the bulk of
their attention to the rest of our body, mind, soul, mission.
7 More:
What: To empower churches, organizations and individuals in Houston to engage in the needs of disenfranchised people within their community.
How: Through experiential-based international and local volunteer opportunities.
Why: Because we believe people transformed by Jesus, can transform cities.
Vision: To see people know the love of God their heavenly father and live out their God given identities, as they actively engage in helping break the cycles of poverty and hopelessness in the city of Houston.
Goals: To see the cycle of a fatherless generation in Houston and beyond, broken.
Request: $100,000
The specific project for this grant money is the Greyhound Ex-offender Outreach. This grant will expand our ministry exponentially, as it will give us the opportunity to hire a project manager and purchase supplies, which allow us to minister to every individual released from prison in Houston.
