Posted on Jan 4, 2007

CLEVELAND, Ohio (BP)--It’s amazing what a new coat of paint can do for a house.

“A freshly painted house says, ‘Look at me. Don’t I look good?’” said Louise Jackson, Cleveland Community Development commissioner of Neighborhood Services. “I’m proud to be in this neighborhood.”

Jackson joined Cleveland Mayor Frank G. Jackson at a celebration held in the rotunda of City Hall to recognize “Fresh Coat Cleveland,” a project of Cleveland Hope, a Southern Baptist partnership initiative of the State Convention of Baptists in Ohio, the Greater Cleveland Baptist Association and the North American Mission Board. NAMB has named Cleveland as one of its 11 Strategic Focus Cities.

For Fresh Coat Cleveland, Cleveland Hope formed a partnership with city officials and corporate leaders to mobilize 665 volunteers to paint the homes of 22 senior citizens.

Noting that a senior often cannot afford or physically perform the work of painting his or her home, Mayor Jackson applauded the efforts of Fresh Coat Cleveland, calling it “a good program because it helps that population.”

Lora Smith, Cleveland Hope’s community impact director, began negotiating with Cleveland’s Department of Aging director Jane Fumich months ago on a plan to mobilize local churches and out-of-town volunteers. In the end, the city and vendor Sherwin Williams provided the paint that allowed volunteers to paint the mostly two-story houses.

Bob Mackey, Cleveland Hope’s executive director, called the banquet a “celebration of cooperation” and announced that more than 7,000 volunteer-hours were contributed via Fresh Coat Cleveland. That amounts to an in-kind contribution of $123,000, Mackey said.

Smith said a 2006 visit to a World Changers project in Muncie, Ind., inspired her to pursue similar projects in Cleveland.

In 2007, Cleveland Hope leaders plan to double the number of families served with the assistance of World Changers, a NAMB student mobilization ministry. World Changers could potentially paint 20-25 homes in one week, Mackey said.

Working with volunteers on this level was new to the Cleveland city leaders, Smith said.

“Cleveland is a significant union town. It took a while to build trust,” Smith said. “We kept coming back to them, and met them on their turf.”

Once union leaders understood Fresh Coat Cleveland was assisting residents who could not afford their services, they supported the project and even provided some volunteers. In the end, Fresh Coat Cleveland met and exceeded all existing code standards.

For more information about Fresh Coat Cleveland, visit www.clevelandhope.com or call 216-281-7919, ext. 206.

In addition to Cleveland, the North American Mission Board has recently named Baltimore and San Diego as Strategic Focus Cities. Past cities included Phoenix, Chicago, Las Vegas, Boston, Seattle, Philadelphia, New York City and Miami. For more information about the initiative, visit www.namb.net/sfc.
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