history

The vision for Grace Place emerged out of a task force joining the five Naples-area local United Methodist congregations together - Cornerstone UMC, East Naples UMC, First UMC, North Naples UMC, and Wesley UMC, Marco - in seeking to be in ministry with the community of Golden Gate after the Golden Gate United Methodist Church closed. This task force began meeting in January of 2004 to explore the needs of this low-income neighborhood and to discover a new, cooperative way to respond to God's call to serve our neighbors.

The proposal from this task force to establish Grace Place as a neighborhood center, operating out of the former Golden Gate UMC property, was presented to the five local United Methodist congregations for their review and financial support in March and April of 2004. This proposal was affirmed and financial commitments funding the first year budget were made by all five churches by May of 2004. Grace Place was incorporated in June of 2004 with strong leadership provided by a Board of Directors representing each of these five churches along with one member from Vanderbilt Presbyterian Church.

In the first two years of operation, Grace Place developed an array of services for at-risk children and low-income families, meeting their needs for educational assistance, supervision of children after school and during the summer, youth development programs, English language classes and parental education.

Over 300 children, youth and adults are currently (2007) being served through the programs of Grace Place. Committed and talented volunteers log 1000+ hours each month. Additional short-term programs, special events, and projects reach more families and involve more volunteers each year.

As Grace Place programs have grown, a strong foundation of community support has been built. The Grace Place Board of Directors, sponsors, leadership, and volunteers now include ecumenical involvement of more than 20 local churches representing more than seven denominations and the wide participation of 18 community groups, 36 businesses, and over 500 individuals this year.

mission

Grace Place is a faith-based, non-profit neighborhood center providing after-school and summer, early childhood, literacy, and youth development programs for at-risk children and impoverished families in Golden Gate city. Grace Place provides educational programs that teach children and families essential educational and life skills.

purpose

Grace Place provides free high quality, educational programs that foster children's social, emotional, physical, spiritual, and intellectual development. Programs concentrate on academic excellence, social competency, relational mentoring for positive behavior choices, and safe, structured opportunities for enrichment activities. The outcome will be children who grow up to reach their full potential as literate, happy, healthy, and productive members of society.

target population: children in need

Golden Gate city has been recently identified by the NCEF study on Child Well-Being in Collier County as the highest pocket of need in all of Collier County (outside Immokalee). Language barriers, poverty, crime, hunger, and over-crowded living conditions, plague these children's chances for healthy development.

Of the families we serve:

• Over 95% live at or near the federal poverty threshold (just $20,444 for a family of four). These families are the working poor; low-income workers that serve the Naples-area in our hotels, hospitals, restaurants, lower-end retail, lawn care, housekeeping, etc.
• Over 90% speak English as a second language. These families struggle to help their children succeed in school due to limited language and literacy skills, lack of books and basic educational resources, and lack of time due to working multiple low-wage jobs. These children are among the lowest scoring students in Collier County.
• Kindergarten Readiness indicators, FCAT scores, and Grade Retention Rates for these children are alarming. For those children who begin kindergarten at-risk of failure, their future academic success is in great jeopardy. Without early intervention in the birth to age-5 years, remedial intervention in the early elementary years and continuing support in the middle school years, children progressively fall further behind with reading achievement scores steadily deteriorating from 3rd to 10th grade and a high school drop-out rate that is tragic.
• During the after-school hours from 3:00 to 8:00 pm, these children face the risk of becoming victims of crime and are at an increased risk of alcohol and drug abuse, gang activity and early sexual activity. Children, families, and communities benefit from high-quality after-school programs in terms of increased safety, reduced risk-taking, and improved learning for children.