Churches, Organizations, Police & Others working together in Lake Highlands

DALLAS - June 24, 2015 - PRLog -- This summer several churches and organizations are banding together to engage low-income youth in Lake Highlands. Two years ago, the Police Department was introduced to Unite and so they could help bring together some people to build relationships with youth in certain apartment complexes.

"We work with children in grades K-8, however there are many other students who need help and support in the apartment communities we serve," says Diana Baker, Executive Director of Kids-U. "My first thought was to turn to Unite to find help for the other children in the community."

While the process has been slow, that dream is now coming to fruition. “The churches needed to get to know each other first and get a better understanding of what everyone is already doing in the community,” says Rebecca Walls, Executive Director of Unite.

Unite is an organization that has been working for 6 years to help the Church make the biggest impact possible on our communities. They offer a high-level view of the critical needs and abundant resources of Greater Dallas. “Part of our job is to look for ways churches and organizations are working together to address complex problems,” says Walls. “We’ve identified collaboration around several critical issues and in a dozen or so communities across Greater Dallas.”

Unite’s model is to support what they call "Champions": leaders who keep collaborative efforts moving forward. Unite has found themselves in that role in Lake Highlands for the past two years - - continually encouraging the churches to build relationships and to identify some worthwhile things to do together. “About 6 months ago, we decided on two objectives for our Lake Highlands group: (1) to work in the identified apartment complexes over the summer and (2) to build new partnerships in our schools,” says Pastor Jennifer Chapman of Nexus Community Church of the Nazarene. “These fit right in with Unite’s Hope for Every Child initiative aimed at getting more churches and volunteers engaged with low-income schools.”

"Lake Highlands is a dichotomy of low-income and middle to upper-income families," says Kathy Stewart, Executive Director of the Lake Highlands Public Improvement District. “It is a great place to raise a family regardless of your income, and our community recognizes our responsibility to ensure that all children thrive."

The centerpiece of the Lake Highlands summer work is Food on The Move by CitySquare which is making sure low-income children have healthy food while they’re home for the summer.

Find the Lake Highlands service opportunities and hundreds of others on the SERVE page at http://www.unitethechurch.org. If you or your church or organization wants to engage with a school, go to the EVERY CHILD page on the Unite site to find information about low-income schools and ideas about how to help.