Youth Works Spotlight: by Alex Streeter, CLDI Intern Youth Works spends a large portion of their time mentoring students in the school system on the South Side. We offer before-and after-school programs and work closely in the school system as coaches, substitute...
Youth Works Spotlight: by Jackie Patten, Youth Works Director One of my favorite Youth Works icebreakers is “When did you feel most connected to God this week?” There are several defining moments of my walk with the Lord that set me on a trajectory of following Him,...
Youth Works Feature Walking alongside students in their day-to-day lives makes an eternal difference. Our gospel-centered, holistic approach to transforming the South Side community begins with building relationships. For youth, this includes meeting them where...
The roots of a person's struggles are often deep, intertwined and complex. No one singular "program" can address all of a person's challenges. Many of the people that CLDI serve have come from families and generations before them that have found themselves in patterns...
Words by Jackie Patten In light of Valentine's Day, our office has a “heart attack” game going around where we have to essentially bomb each other's work desks with goodies, candy and words of affirmation. The individual who chose me wrote words of encouragement that...
“That’s YOUR house?!” a young student yelled to me as I opened the gate that separates our backyard from Orchard Elementary’s play area. “Why yes, it is!” I yelled back. Later that week, we crossed paths on a neighborhood walk and was greeted with, “Hey you’re that...
A Series on the Eight Principles of Christian Community Development By Eric Basye In the fall of 2020, I began working on my Doctor of Leadership through George Fox University. I toyed with the idea for years, having completed one year of doctoral work through Fuller...
Where we choose to live has an impact on who we are in relationship with. Though we can, without a doubt, maintain strong friendships with those we are separated from geographically, the frequency with which we interact with them will likely look different than if we...
Reality for a Child on the South Side of Billings Last week I was reunited with my mom after being in foster care for a year. While I was with my foster family I did really great in school and didn’t worry about being hungry which was nice but they weren’t my family....
As we continue our blog series called “Kingdom Vision,” it is our hope to live and orient our lives according to His ways and not merely our own. Hope Ranch and the DeSarro family have been a blessing to both CLDI, and my family personally. This piece was written by...
