But Let Justice flow down like waters and righteousness like an ever-flowing stream.
Amos 5:24
GRACE After School derives its values, goals, structure and curriculum from the truths of God's Kingdom and the needs of the neighborhood.
The students who live in the Potomac Ave neighborhood have a unique mixture of rich life experiences combined with a challenging array of disadvantages and injustices. Many of them are children of refugees from Africa and Asia who have lived in Buffalo for a few years. Others are 2nd generation Puerto Rican and have become a unique third culture. All of them have a distinct advantage over suburban and rural students: they speak multiple languages, they have direct experience with other cultures, and most of them have lived in other countries and traveled overseas. They know more than most people that planet Earth has become globalized, that cultures are different but all valuable, and that life is about much more than job stability and financial success.
These same students live and go to school in neighborhoods that are steeped in poverty. This is the type of poverty that is far beyond a lack of financial resources. It has more to do with a lack of social capital. There is a lack of vision for any better lifestyle, environment or vocation. There is a lack of sensitivity to the injustices and deficits that confront these children and their families every day. There is a lack of motivation to work for success and excellence in anything. All these lacks do indeed translate into financial poverty, but at this point it has very nearly become a symptom of the real problem.
By the grace of God there is always hope for our brokenness. God can use the situations of these students--because they have both strengths and weaknesses--to bring about something good and beautiful. Our after school program operates from the conviction that there are absolute standards what is true, what is good and what is beautiful. We strive to instill these values in our students, to teach them how to rely on their strengths, and to support them where they are weak.
This is how GRACE After School is bringing justice and righteousness to the Potomac Avenue neighborhood.
The students who live in the Potomac Ave neighborhood have a unique mixture of rich life experiences combined with a challenging array of disadvantages and injustices. Many of them are children of refugees from Africa and Asia who have lived in Buffalo for a few years. Others are 2nd generation Puerto Rican and have become a unique third culture. All of them have a distinct advantage over suburban and rural students: they speak multiple languages, they have direct experience with other cultures, and most of them have lived in other countries and traveled overseas. They know more than most people that planet Earth has become globalized, that cultures are different but all valuable, and that life is about much more than job stability and financial success.
These same students live and go to school in neighborhoods that are steeped in poverty. This is the type of poverty that is far beyond a lack of financial resources. It has more to do with a lack of social capital. There is a lack of vision for any better lifestyle, environment or vocation. There is a lack of sensitivity to the injustices and deficits that confront these children and their families every day. There is a lack of motivation to work for success and excellence in anything. All these lacks do indeed translate into financial poverty, but at this point it has very nearly become a symptom of the real problem.
By the grace of God there is always hope for our brokenness. God can use the situations of these students--because they have both strengths and weaknesses--to bring about something good and beautiful. Our after school program operates from the conviction that there are absolute standards what is true, what is good and what is beautiful. We strive to instill these values in our students, to teach them how to rely on their strengths, and to support them where they are weak.
This is how GRACE After School is bringing justice and righteousness to the Potomac Avenue neighborhood.