Why Urban Hope?

The Heart

It seems charity organizations are a dime a dozen. There are so many needs. At Urban Hope our mission involves addressing generational poverty in a systemic way—a way that aims to reduce it over time.

Feeding the poor is certainly necessary and quite noble. Yet, it doesn’t solve the issue of generational poverty. Giving a man a fish doesn’t teach him how to fish. Organizations across the globe will continue addressing the symptoms of poverty by feeding the hungry and providing temporary shelter to the homeless. We applaud them! Yet, we understand that something more is needed.

To solve the core problem, it takes people with big hearts to go to the “heart” of the matter. Solving generational poverty involves changing the trajectory of a life. It takes people willing to become directly involved. It takes the power of relationship, caring people coming alongside. Each one, teach one. It takes people like you.

The Mind

At Urban Hope, our minds are united in understanding the current condition. Currently one in three Indianapolis children are growing up in poverty. The Annie E. Casey Foundation recently reported that Indianapolis is among the nation’s top five cities in increasing rates of child poverty. The Brookings Institute recently found that Indianapolis is one of three U.S. cities experiencing the highest levels of concentrated poverty. On a national level, the National Center for Health Statistics recently reported that 77.3% of non-immigrant African American births in the U.S. were born out of wedlock. Communities with high levels of poverty generally endure the highest levels of crime, drug use and teen pregnancy while experiencing the lowest levels of education.

In our home zip code (46201), only 34% of youth entering high school will graduate, half live in poverty, half grow up in fatherless homes. Registered sex offenders are 5 times higher than the city average, and the murder rate is 200% higher than the city average.