MHM’s Big Future, With Focus
We cannot do everything, and there is a sense of liberation in realizing that.
This enables us to do something, and to do it very well.
—The Prayer of Óscar Romero
Dear friend,
Clara Brown Commons construction is underway, we haven’t stopped dreaming. Can I give you a peek at what we envision?
We’ve undertaken a great variety of initiatives over the decades—with great freedom to venture, fail, innovate, and experiment widely with cutting edge approaches. Some programs flourished for a specific critical need and season. Others showed continued success and staying power, and we’ve been delighted to launch them as independent organizations.
Now it’s time to focus.
Our city faces an Inflection point with housing. With the high cost of housing destabilizing families and neighborhoods, driving some people to the brink of homelessness. Across society, more and more people are socially isolated—leaving them lonely, anxious, and vulnerable. Some observers refer to this as a “kairos moment” in which the actions we all take (or fail to take) today will have an outsized impact on the future of our shared human life.
So, in coming years: we’ll focus on developing housing—as a platform for our primary, central work of building people and communities.
As we consider our work over the next decade or so, here’s what we hope to accomplish:
- Help 150 families (around 500 people) transition from homelessness to healthy, interdependent living—through transformational programming at Joshua Station.
- Provide permanent, affordable housing for 84 households (300 people) each year at Clara Brown Commons—with robust supportive services and neighborhood engagement.
- Provide supportive affordable housing for up to 150 additional households (approximately 450 individuals) in three new housing communities.
Help local faith congregations leverage their underutilized land to provide affordable and supportive housing for families in their communities. This initiative brings us full circle back to our Unleashing the Church roots—participating in a new, growing nationwide movement of stewardship.
Joyfully,
Jeff Johnsen
Executive Director
