More than 40 monotonous dark-brick buildings, each a mirror reflection of the next, stand row upon row on grounds reminiscent of a military barracks. Filled with mostly African-American residents, this is one of the poorest zip codes in the nation.

Yet in the heart of it all, crowned by a cross, is the Emmanuel Episcopal Center, a community outpost and oasis of hope in a neighborhood where hope is hard to come by.
“People have been here for four or five generations,” said the Rev. Colenzo Hubbard, the center’s director. “They’re victims of a vicious cycle of poverty, and most can’t get out.”

For 15 years, Hubbard and his wife Debra, have developed academic, athletic and vocational programming here. Today, 33 Emmanuel Center staff and 50 volunteers help provide children a bridge to a brighter world. “Before five years ago, hardly anyone in this community graduated from high school,” said Debra Hubbard, academic coordinator. “Today, high school graduation in the Emmanuel community has become routine.”

And thanks to donors supporting Emmanuel Scholars, 40 students in five years have gone to college – in a neighborhood with a 49 percent high school drop-out rate. Louis Holmes, center sports director, is one of eight coaches that mentor 200 youth through basketball, soccer and baseball leagues each year.

“Many of our kids grow up with adults who take the easy way out,” he said. “They need opportunities to develop character, to learn to sweat for something, to know the discipline that it takes to succeed.”

Personalized vocational guidance

Others need help exploring their vocational interests. “Shaniqua, for example, said she wanted to be an astronomer,” said Holmes. “But I wasn’t sure she knew what that was. So our family invited her for a night of stargazing. Looking through our telescope, I said, ‘Do you know what that is? It’s Saturn!’ It was a whole new experience for her.”

One day another youngster said, “‘I want to work at a bank.’ But I pressed him,” said Holmes. “‘OK, but do you want to be a teller, a mortgage lender or a branch manager?’ We needed to show this kid what he had to do to pursue his dream.”

Emmanuel’s youth-run, silk-screen T-shirt business trains teens in production, business management, accounting, telemarketing and graphic design. “They have a first-class product,” said Mark Whalen, a local business owner who helped the kids develop a strategic business plan. “We plan to train three shifts of four kids this year.”

Thanks to a donated four- and six-color press and conveyor-belt drying oven, kids produce 2,000 shirts a month during peak seasons and gross $60,000 to $100,000 a year, said Production Manager Antonio Shells.

Reflecting on his childhood, Shells admitted that he was tempted by opportunities for quick drug money in the projects before Emmanuel provided a better option. Antonio’s sister, Ericka, also chose the better alternative she found at the center. She found the love and structure there that she needed to develop personally and vocationally, climbing the ladder from group assistant to group leader to coach of an undefeated sports team, she said.

Ericka Shells still remembers the power of that first paycheck. “I said, ‘Is that all it takes for me to not live on the street and to do something positive?’”  This stands in stark contrast to many of her friends who became teen mothers, “looking for the love they didn’t receive at home,” she said.

Today, as a group leader for Emmanuel’s after-school program, Shells said she showers young children with the love they need, estimating that as many as 120 children look to her as a role model.

Community turnaround?

It is far too early to call these the signs of a turnaround in Claeborn Homes, said Colenzo Hubbard. He pointed to one of the greatest barriers to progress: “This is a community that has suffered the almost total absence of the male role model in the life of a kid.”

A study released when the Hubbards moved to Claeborn Homes showed that, of the 1,500 African-American households in Memphis’ two largest housing projects, fewer than 50 were led by married couples, according to Colenzo Hubbard.

“Father Hubbard stepped up to be the father that a lot of us kids never had,” said Erica Shells, who grew up in a single-parent household. “Some call him ‘Reverend.’ We call him ‘Father,’ because that’s what he is to us. You’d be amazed at how many kids, when they’re in trouble, will come and say, ‘Father Hubbard, I need some help.’”