A few months ago I was hopeless, sitting in my cell, thinking how I’d wasted the last 33 years. Now every time I turn around there are these men telling me Jesus loves me, and He’s got a plan for my life…” —Name withheld There’s no guarantee that a prison or jail sentence will produce a…Continue reading Quote of the Month: March 2021
Quote of the Month: February 2021
I’ll do whatever you need.” —Doug Evans To all those working in the mission field, a statement like Doug’s is a dream come true. An unqualified sentence like that is so rarely heard, when he said it, it stopped me in my tracks. For a split second I had to pause as I considered the…Continue reading Quote of the Month: February 2021
Quote of the Month: January 2021
I believe that unarmed truth and unconditional love will have the final word in reality. This is why right, temporarily defeated, is stronger than evil triumphant.” —Martin Luther King, Jr. Martin Luther King Jr. was not merely eloquent, but with words that emanated from his deep belief in the promises of God, he issued forth…Continue reading Quote of the Month: January 2021
Poverty
At the same time that city leaders and proud citizens of Indianapolis boast about our economic development successes, a deadly cancer is spreading throughout the body of our city—poverty. Between 2000 and 2015 the rate of those living below the poverty level in Indianapolis more than doubled to exceed 20 percent of our city’s population,…Continue reading Poverty
Unemployment
Unemployment and underemployment are root causes of poverty. Although prior to the COVID pandemic our nation’s unemployment rate was at its lowest point in years, less than 4 percent, in some neighborhoods in Marion County the unemployment rate was more than 20 percent. That meant that one out of every five individuals in the labor…Continue reading Unemployment
Violent Crime
According to U.S. News and World Report, Indianapolis has earned the designation of being the “12th Most Dangerous Place in the U.S. in 2020-21”. We talk about how dangerous cities like Chicago and New York are, but based on a comparison of murders and property crime rates per 100,000 people, the Windy City and the…Continue reading Violent Crime
Homelessness
According to Indiana University Public Policy Institute’s report, Homelessness in Indianapolis 2020 Marion County Point-In-Time Count, 1,588 people were counted as experiencing homelessness in Marion County on January 22, 2020. More than 80 percent were unemployed. With the increase in unemployment as a result of COVID pandemic layoffs, there has probably been a considerable increase…Continue reading Homelessness
Substance Abuse
According to Richard M. Fairbanks School of Public Health at Indiana University’s “Report of the Toll of Opioid Use in Indiana and Marion County”, in 2014, Marion County had the highest number of deaths due to drug overdose, 243, up 20% from 203 in 2013. Between 2010 and 2016 Indiana deaths caused by opioids have…Continue reading Substance Abuse
Mental Illness
EMS reports that 14% of all runs for mental illness occur within 8 square miles, where poverty is concentrated throughout Indianapolis. More than 32% of Marion County’s homeless in 2015 were determined to be severely mentally ill. Mental illness also increases the chance that an individual will commit a crime if that illness remains untreated….Continue reading Mental Illness
Hunger
Based on their family income, more than 75% of the 30,000 students in Indianapolis Public Schools qualified for free meals. According to the National Foundation to End Senior Hunger, the health of more than 15% of Americans over the age of 60 is jeopardized by the lack access to safe, affordable food at all times….Continue reading Hunger