Hartford City Mission
Hartford City Mission (HCM) operates after-school and summer character based programs for children and youth throughout North Hartford. HCM affirms the inherent value of each person, and empowers young men and women to become transformational leaders, taking an active role in creating social, economic, and spiritual renewal. HCM promotes the strength of North Hartford's neighborhoods and encourages people to actively join the process to build a vibrant community.
Mission
Partnering with churches, the body of Christ, to TRANSFORM our community in North Hartford through SHARING the Good News of Christ and His Kingdom, DEVELOPING disciples who are fully devoted followers of Christ and CONNECTING Christians from a variety of geographic, economic, or racial backgrounds.
Vision
Hartford City Mission (HCM) desires for people throughout the Greater Hartford region to unite, reconciling relationships with God, self, and community, while affirming the inherent value of each person. HCM seeks to empower young men and women to become strong transformational leaders, choosing to stay in the community and take an active role in creating social, economic, and spiritual renewal. HCM affirms and recognizes the strength of North Hartford and draws people to connect, actively joining the process to build a strong vibrant community. In turn, the city becomes a place known for goodness, justice, service, joy, and peace.
Core Values
HCM embraces the 8 Key Components of the Christian Community Development Association:
- Reconciliation: We believe that all forms of poverty (economic, spiritual, and social) reveal broken relationships with God, self, others and the rest of creation. In order to transform our community these broken relationships mush be reconciled.
- Relocation: We value incarnational, relational ministry. All HCM Directors and Site Managers live within 1.5 miles of our Ministry House on Vine St.
- Redistribution: We understand that when God's people of all races commit to living in under-served communities, redistribution can occur. Christians seek to be examples of Christ, working for justice for the entire community, and utilizing their skills and resources to address community problems alongside their neighbors.
- Indigenous Leadership Development: We intend to change the narrative that success is associated with moving out of the neighborhood. We choose to stay and be an active part of solutions while demonstrating goodness, justice, service, joy, and peace.
- Listening to the Community: We are driven to identify and recognize existing positive characteristics in the neighborhood that can be used to develop or enhance the community as a whole. This approach, reflecting the human dignity and values inherent in any neighborhood, is often referred to as “Asset Based Community Development”.
- Church-based: We value the local church. All programs are run out of and in partnership with local churches. Volunteers develop mentoring relationships with youth, which leads to their getting connected to church. HCM is an on-ramp into the local church.
- Holistic: We are Christ centered believing Christ can reconcile us back to God. This in turn drives us to love our neighbors, seeking their social, economic, and spiritual wholeness. We act in line with the prayer Christ taught His disciples to pray, saying, “Your Kingdom come on earth as it is in Heaven”
- Empowerment: We strive to help our community increase private ownership of community resources. In short, our approach is intended to be more of a “hand-up,” than a “hand-out.”
