The Dream Center, Los Angeles, California
Five years back when my Concordia University Irvine writing student presented her oral research project on the Dream Center Los Angeles, I was taken aback to hear this expansive facility for several hundred underserved people even existed. As she excitedly described it then, co-founder Matthew Barnett was clearly half-crazy to envision a shelter multiple stories high located off the 110 freeway– the former Queen of Angels Hospital complex, purchased in 1997. I was surprised because my husband Clark was born there years ago. Apparently, it’s still not only surviving but sustainable. In the student’s report of her interview with Barnett, she bubbled over with enthusiasm for helping homeless, addicts, street workers, and other community members without resources.
Matthew Barnett, also Pastor of Angelus Temple in Los Angeles, came to Orange County this week to tell a group of business people that Dream Center now has 150 locations across the nation. A large percentage of the Dream Center populace are families avoiding separation and veterans struggling to put their lives back together. Victims of sex trafficking and abuse, as well as gang members seeking to change their lives, find refuge there. Free of charge to residents, the Dream Center Los Angeles allows from 1 – 3 years for individuals to resolve their traumas.
During warm dinners around the table, homeless families receive a chance to reset, refocus and rebuild. In addition, the Discipleship Program offers training in Christian precepts for serious residents and those penitents sent to do community service. Many graduates of the Discipleship Program return to volunteer at one of the many sites.
To help those who are burdened and lost to dream again is Dream Center’s calling. Dream Center leaders quote Christ’s call to help needy people in Matthew 25:31-40 as inspiration. “One changed life can shift direction to influence generations and give hope to an entire community,” says Barnett. One Small Step is Matthew Barnett’s 2020 released account of the Dream Center ministry’s reach and growth.
For more information see www.dreamcenter.org.
Moore Place, Charlotte, North Carolina
The Hundred Story Home, a memoir about finding faith in ourselves and something bigger by Kathy Izard, published in 2018 is the story of a contemporary urban structure for homeless in Charlotte, North Carolina. A project of Urban Ministry Center, Moore Place finds independent living for the displaced in North Carolina and offers a range of holistic services. Formerly homeless and bestselling coauthor Denver Moore challenged Izard to move from serving meals at the Urban Ministry Center (UMC) soup kitchen to providing beds at a yet-to-be dreamed of location. Izard also names brothers Johnny and Larry (“Chilly Willy”) Major as project inspirations. Johnny Major couldn’t keep his brother off the streets until homeless “Chilly Willy” Major was chosen as one of the final tenants.
Land at a former junkyard was purchased for the Moore Place building site in 2009. A three-story building with courtyard was move-in ready in 2012 and soon expanded to 120 apartments with almost 300 people in the program. “God was in it,” Izard gives as the ingredient for success.
urbanministrycenter.org for further facts.
