Mercy Street Ministries

Mercy Street sports: our sports leagues provide a positive outlet for youth in west and south dallas during their critical out-of-school time, as well as offer the accessibility and benefits of sports to those who would not otherwise have access to organized sports. Our sports leagues foster character development, strategy, teamwork, resilience, grit, determination, a competitive spirit, and accountability. Mercy Street served 1,780 young athletes this reporting period through soccer, baseball, flag-football, and basketball.

Mercy Street leadership: through the Mercy Street leadership institute, 34 students this reporting period were provided with paid internship opportunities focused on preparing them for life after graduation. Each summer, students were equipped with workforce development training, theology classes, college and career readiness training, job shadowing, mental health training, financial literacy classes, business exposure trips, college and university tours, and paid work experience. We equip the next generation of leaders who are able to break cycles of poverty, experience economic mobility, and who are empowered to transform their communities from within. Through our community-centered approach, Mercy Street is able to connect with youth both in and out of school hours. Mercy Street students have higher graduation (cont. On sch. O)rates, higher grade level advancement rates, lower teen pregnancy rates, and lower teen incarceration rates than their peers. Mercy Street is proud to have been celebrating graduating classes since 2011.

Mercy Street mentoring: Mercy Street provides long-term, one-on-one mentors to every child in our target schools who desires to have one. The cultivation of these mutually transforming relationships has contributed to a 99% graduation rate in recent years. Our mentoring program served 119 youth through one-on-one mentoring and 63 youth through group mentoring this reporting period. Current south dallas partners include 3 schools, 2 dallas housing authority residential properties, and 2 community partners. Our most notable program partnerships include: bridge builders, bonton farms, and dallas independent school district. Our closest school partners at this time are h.s. Thompson elementary school, lincoln high school, and madison high school. While south dallas is 3x as large as (cont. On sch. O) west dallas, we are focusing our efforts on the bonton and ideal neighborhoods, and will expand our reach consistently as we continue to deepen our efforts in south dallas. As we have begun serving youth at charles rice learning center and h.s. Thompson elementary school, we will expand our reach to two new neighborhoods (queen city and ideal neighborhoods). We are strategically laying the groundwork for working at dade middle school, the only middle school in south dallas.