Site Mission:

To provide an environment that allows homeless families with newborns and young children to grow and develop in a nurturing and healthy surrounding. Genesis enables homeless families to remain together and creates a participatory community in which parents have the opportunity to live with their children in privacy and with dignity. Genesis empowers families to achieve greater self sufficiency. Genesis recognizes individual family needs and develops family plans designed to address the unique needs of each family.

About the Site:

Founded in 1994, as a collaborative effort of The Buckhead Coalition of churches, Genesis A New Life operates twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week, 365 days a year. The staff works with each family to find out what brought them to the shelter and to determine a plan to help them live independently. Services included services case management to develop a plan for education,employment, child care and affordable housing. Families receive counseling, life skills training, and vocational empowerment. Genesis maintains a fully licensed Child Development Center for infants through five year old children.

Candler students will be invited to be involved in all aspects of the Genesis Program. Each student will be given a family to follow.

Ministry students are an integral part of our community. Opportunities for direct service can include participation in house activities, co-leadership and creation of a weekly community group, working with a particular family on their life plan for moving from homelessness to stability, assistance with educational and job search experiences, networking and community churches, mentoring children, and working with staff to develop a supportive community that reduces marginalization and empowers connection with the larger community. Students have the opportunity to learn about non-profit work and social advocacy. We are a 24/7 facility. Some flexibility with hours is possible but the hours when most residents are present and available are between 4:00 p.m. and 8:00 p.m., Monday through Friday. When a minister works with a particular family hours can be scheduled based on the particular project and/or needs of the family.

A Student's Perspective:

Diana says:

"At Genesis, I learned to develop meaningful relationships and offer spiritual assistance to those in crisis. I met incredible women who shared their stories with me. Often their families were thrust into homelessness after a job was lost or a major family catastrophe happened to cause them to fall behind on payments for their homes. Once at Genesis, each family is assigned an individual residence. Each residence bears a positive and inspirational name such as 'loyalty,' 'peace,' and 'power.'

The greatest challenge I faced was trying not to become overwhelmed by the enormity of the situations I encountered. Although I wanted to fix the problems immediately, I did not need to occupy myself with finding jobs or homes for the residents because Genesis has an impressive record of accomplishment in helping their families in those areas.

My work, rather, was to be a listening and praying companion with the residents. When I read the names of each of the doors and thought of the families housed within, I asked for God’s blessings for each family. I used the the residence names like peace, power, loyalty, etc., as a starting point for discussion. Through these conversations, I saw mothers begin to move from disorientation to the anticipation of a brand new start.

My experiences at Genesis prompted me to ponder how the faith community can best respond in matters of family homelessness and how we should answer the call to help. Those of us who have acknowledged our commission to serve humanity can see the crisis of homelessness as a wake up call for action. After the praying, reflecting and discussions conducted in Con Ed at Genesis, I am now committed to working towards eradicating homelessness as a permanent part of my ministry assignment wherever I serve!"