THE MISSION OF MERCY DRIVE MINISTRIES

While many people in the greater Orlando area see Mercy Drive as ?Murder Drive? and Pine Hills as ?Crime Hills? we see a community on the brink of restoration and revitalization. We envision a community where home ownership and financial security are the norm. We also envision a community center that is alive with Christ-centered alternatives to street corner activities. In order to achieve this three areas of concern must be addressed in order to effect positive and long-term change: (1) cultural bondage, (2) racial barriers, and (3) complacency.

Cultural Bondage: One of our greatest challenges will be overcoming negative social expectations and stereotypes of ?typical? inner city behavior. Creating new paradigm will be difficult for many residents in the community, as well as those outside of our community. Years of living a lifestyle that evades our uniqueness as human beings has sentenced many people in the community to cultural bondage. Unless the chains of this bondage are broken, many individuals and families will remain slaves to the self-fulfilling prophecies that leave individuals powerless to change.

Racial Barriers: For an individual to internalize a new way of life, he or she must confront the past in a manner that will not allow it to continue to serve that person as an excuse for failure. Government and social assistance programs that were established as a bridge to self-sufficiency several decades ago have fostered, in many cases, a sense of generational entitlement and have eroded family values. Of approximately 950 households in Mercy Drive, (1) 38 percent of them are single-parent households. Across the country, black mothers in particular are left to raise their children without the presence of a father in the household. Minority males make up the majority of our country?s prison population. Mercy Drive Ministries MDM) purposes to cultivate a sense of self-worth and cultural pride that transcends racial barriers and translates outwardly into productive citizenship and eventually the transformation of a community by its own residents.

Complacency: Human beings have a natural tendency to grow comfortable in our circumstances and have grave difficulty letting go in favor of advancing forward. In times of transition and uncertainty, our natural instinct is to revert to the familiar. Folks for whom daily survival is the norm do not have the luxury of long-term visioning for their lives. The result is complacency. MDM?s challenge is to foster a hunger for change, rooted in our belief that individuals can move beyond the familiarity that is bred of complacency.

Forgoing a new reality

Orlando, the City Beautiful, is poised to move forward into a future of prosperity, with the out growth of the healthcare industry?s training institutions and state-of-the-art facilities, as well as forthcoming cultural and arts venues. As a small, minority-run venture, Mercy Drive Ministries (MDM) is positioning itself to build upon the successes of our city. Employment and educational opportunities will lay the foundation for transforming the Mercy Drive community.