There is a growing movement of Christians transforming lives of the poor that involves thousands of rescue missions, Salvation Army sites, CCDA sites, and other ministries. These individuals have sacrificially given their lives for God and the poor, but are too often undertrained and overworked. They need training to serve more effectively, but can’t afford the high tuition of many Christian colleges.
Also, many Christian colleges don’t teach the practical skills they most need to serve the poor. These colleges are strong in academic rigor, but often are not close to the communities where people seek to serve.
City Vision multiplies the effectiveness of Christians serving the poor by giving them practical education at less than half the cost of most Christian schools. We’ve brought together a world-class team of faculty and leaders that have hundreds of years of combined experience in transforming the lives of the poor. Our students don’t just learn theory, they put it into practice in the organizations where they work.
St. Matthew’s House is an incredibly innovative $33 million dollar rescue mission serving the poor, homeless and addicted in Naples, FL. Each year, they provide over 513,000 meals and housing to over 1,600 individuals. Of those, 120 are placed in jobs, and 385 are placed in housing. The leadership of St. Matthew’s realized a key strategy to remain effective and innovative is to invest heavily in the education and training of their staff. In the past 5 years, St. Matthew’s has had over 53 of their staff and others enroll in City Vision and one of their staff has become faculty.
As a strategic partner, City Vision provides a $250/course scholarship so tuition is only $550/course. Also, many of their staff have outstanding senior management experience, enabling them to accelerate their degree by getting prior learning credit for their past experience. As our partner, St. Matthew’s can better fulfill their vision of transforming thousands of lives and becoming a national model of best practices for other organizations to replicate.
Springs Rescue Mission is a rapidly growing innovative $16.7 million dollar rescue mission serving the poor, homeless and addicted in Colorado Springs. In 2021, they provided over 186,651 meals and housing to 2,596 individuals. Of those, 30% are in addiction recovery programs and 51% are enrolled in job training programs.
Jeff Cook, Chief Programs Officer at Springs Rescue Mission, completed his Bachelor’s in Nonprofit Management as well as his MBA with City Vision. From this experience, he saw the need to develop two staff training tracks in partnership with City Vision.
How it works & benefits
Currently, 11 Springs Rescue Mission staff take one of the above courses each term as a cohort in sequence. A part of their work schedule involves having discussion groups on the course material (similar to a book club). Students work collaboratively on projects together, but still have to submit their own work. As a strategic partner, City Vision provides a 33% discount so tuition is only $5,000/year. For staff that have outstanding senior management experience, City Vision enables them to accelerate their degree by getting prior learning credit for their past experience. As our partner, Springs Rescue Mission can better fulfill their vision of transforming thousands of lives and becoming a national model of innovation for other organizations to replicate.
To provide expanded access to our education, through the generous support of donors, City Vision has been able to provide free access to some of our best courses to Christians serving the poor. In addition to these free courses, we also provide other free training resources for Christians serving the poor at library.cityvision.edu, including has thousands of training pages, audio and video recordings.
See more at: CityVisionInstitute.org
