Dear Friends of Beacon House Community Ministry,

We have a choice in our community of responding to the needs of the children or turning our backs and maintaining the status quo. For children who grew up in the Edgewood/Brookland section of Washington D.C. violent death in the street is often the result for many who have no safe haven. For the last seven years Beacon House Community Ministry, with the support of Unitarian Universalist churches, has been that safe haven in the Edgewood/Brookland area. We are very appreciative of the assistance you and your congregation have offered to Beacon House in the past year. We need your help to continue our programs and services.

There are many reasons why your contribution is needed. For example, Tyrone (name changed) age 7 lived in the public housing section of the Edgewood Terrace apartments with his grandmother and four younger siblings as well as some of his younger cousins. His mother was incarcerated and his father is unknown. Tyrone came to Beacon House for after school study hall and various trips. When he was nine, Tyrone's family moved from the complex to a house approximately 25 minutes away by car. Tyrone and his siblings continued to come to Beacon House programs on their own even though it meant a 45 minute walk often in inclement weather. Tyrone is now a 16 year old sophomore at a high school in Northwest Washington. He does well in school despite his family having moved six times, survived a fire, evictions and other social hardships. Tyrone is at Beacon House at least three evenings a week. He walks directly to the community center from school and often stays until closing. He has grown from a youngster attending after school study hall to a teenager assisting younger children.

Tyrone's growth mirrors that of Beacon House. We have grown from a small one room facility to a 1600 square foot facility capable of assisting families and up to 200 children. We are unique because our programs and services are guided by input from the community we serve. We have demonstrated our management capabilities by serving as the fiscal agent for the Edgewood/Brookland Family Support Collaborative. The Edgewood/Brookland Family Support Collaborative is a community based network of organizations and residents working together to foster a supportive environment for the growth and development of our youth, families, and individuals and thus, our communities. Beacon House Community Ministry, Inc. is a tax exempt 501(c) 3 organization that was founded in 1991 by Reverend Donald E. Robinson, a Unitarian Universalist minister, with the support of Edgewood residents and several Universalist Unitarian Churches in the Washington Metropolitan area. Beacon House provides many services to Edgewood and the broader Ward 5 community area including after school youth programs, cultural enrichment, wraparound mentoring, substance abuse prevention activities, seniors programming and informal family support.

Beacon House is led by Cynthia Booker, the Executive Director, who served as one of the original founders and Co-Directors of the Edgewood/Brookland Family Support Collaborative and has worked in inner city neighborhoods for the last ten years. Supplementing the staff are dedicated residents and volunteers.

The stage is set, with over 1600 square feet of new space we need computers, computer furniture, sports equipment, arts and crafts materials and much much more. We are appealing to you to keep the youth of Beacon House in your thoughts and we urge you to think of Beacon House this year not only as a place for donations but a place that you might come to volunteer and brighten your live as well as the life of a child that is less fortunate. As you ponder how your contribution dollar can make a real difference, please urge other members of your congregation to consider our program as part of their opportunity to respond to an urgent need in our community.

According to the National Institute of Justice, homicides committed by young African American Males peaked in the early 90's but remains far above the rates for white males of the same age group. Incarceration rates for African American males also continue to climb. There is a direct correlation between the mentoring programs provided by Beacon House and the level of success achieved by the residents in the community. The impact of such mentoring was clearly measured in a 1995 study by Big Brother and Big Sister Programs, when they found that children with mentors were:

• 46% less likely to begin using illegal drugs;
• 27% less likely to begin using alcohol;
• 53% less likely to skip school;
• 37% less likely to skip a class.
• 33% less likely to hit someone, than children in the research control group.