About

Our Mission:
City of Refuge offers both life saving resources and life building tools to individuals and families in Atlanta who are living on the margin. We understand the need for programs that span multiple areas of need – from food, clothing and shelter to job training, placement, housing, healthcare and education. Our goal is to provide access to and information about the best possible opportunities for success to those who are willing to work hard for positive change.

Our Vision:
Using the City of Refuge warehouse as a base, we are committed to deploying people and resources into difficult environments, awakening hope in individuals and families living there. The promise of a better life, along with the tools to build that life, is the passion of City of Refuge.

History:
In 1970, a group calling themselves Mission Possible initiated a street feeding program in downtown Atlanta. The feeding program grew and other outreach efforts were added. After many years of working with the city’s neediest individuals and families, the Mission incorporated its outreach programs in 1997 as a non-profit called CITY OF REFUGE. In 2003 the organization received by donation its present facility, an eight acre tract on Joseph E. Boone Blvd. (formerly Simpson Rd.) in the heart of Atlanta’s most challenging neighborhood. Included were two warehouse buildings with a total of 210,000 square feet of space.

Since relocating to the present location, City of Refuge has focused on refining its programs and providing deep rooted support to those in need. Thus far, approximately 110,000 square feet have been renovated and are fully operational. Included are office space, youth center, children’s ministry center, two basketball courts, fitness center, Compassion Atlanta food distribution warehouse, emergency shelter for women, Resource Center, 180o Kitchen and Dining Hall, and Eden Village transitional housing for women and children.

DID YOU KNOW…?

• According to the February 2005 Homeless Survey, in metro Atlanta an estimated 21,600 individuals experience homelessness during the course of a year.
• The neighborhood surrounding City of Refuge is home to more inmates in Georgia’s prisons than any other in the state.
• 30314 is home to the highest crime rate of any zip code in Georgia.
• 73% of all children in our community live in single parent homes.
• 49% of children in our community will graduate from high school.
• Of 11,298 housing units, the median household income is $19,438.
• 90% of elementary and middle school students qualify for Atlanta Public School’s free lunch program.
• According to law enforcement entities, as many as 200 drug dealers are working the streets of our neighborhood at any given time.

Abstract:
Though the numbers are sometimes overwhelming and the needs often seem greater than the resources, City of Refuge is committed to helping men, women, and children start new lives by providing multi-tiered solutions to very complex problems. We understand the issues are deep-rooted and took years to develop and that time and endurance are keys to long term change.

The City of Refuge is a non-profit organization dedicated to community development efforts that lead to the stability and sustainability of the local community. This is accomplished through programs that seek to provide access, information and opportunity to individuals and families who find themselves in crisis.

Access:
The first step in providing access is through the physical proximity of our facility, located intentionally within the community. This facility is an “open campus” to the community during designated hours each day of the week. Secondly, we take the opportunity each day to go into the community to build relationship with residents. Consistent throughout is our desire to hear from the community their concerns, their needs and their ideas. Neighbors and residents in COR housing are invited and encouraged to be a part of COR programs as volunteers, to suggest new programs or improvements to existing programs, and to create their own initiatives with the support of COR. The third step in this process is connecting people within the local community to people and resources outside the local community and vice-versa.

Information:
Vital to the empowerment of individuals and families within the local community is the availability of information. This is presented by providing communication, education and training through COR programs, partner non-profit organizations, academic and vocational training institutions, medical institutions, private enterprise and government programs. Information focuses on empowering the individual to achieve stability and sustainability in four major areas – healthcare, housing, education and employment. This demands an ongoing process of networking.

Opportunity:
Finally, access and information must lead to realized opportunity. Securing jobs with living wages, adequate health care, permanent housing and completed educational/training programs that lead to stable and sustained living is vital. This wholistic approach offers the best possible foundation for the transformation of at- risk communities into healthy and productive environments. This approach is most effective, and achieved most efficiently, when the whole community is involved in each stage of the process.