Youth Engaged in Service
"Doing it from the inside out." — Desire Street Ministries
Long before Hurricane Katrina devastated New Orleans, life in the Ninth Ward's Desire Street neighborhood was marked with struggle: generational poverty, high unemployment, low student achievement, and a general sense of hopelessness. In 1990, Morgan Leverett and others formed the Desire Street Ministries to try to turn things around. Their goal was to revitalize the Desire community through spiritual and community development and foster civic engagement and spiritual development in teenagers. And, they pledged to do it "from the inside out" by living in the neighborhood.
Through tutoring programs, day camps, a church-sponsored sports league, and grassroots economic development, Desire Street Ministries began to make a mark. With funds from individuals, churches, private foundations, their congregation, and other private donors, they built a new community gym, spearheaded education initiatives, and-most important—built children's skills and self—worth. "Depth over width is one of our guiding philosophies," says Pastor Ben McLeish. "I'd rather assist four kids deeply than help 10 kids on the surface."
Katrina forced major changes but also brought new opportunities for Desire Street Ministries. In the wake of the storm, the Ministries moved its secondary school, Desire Street Academy, to Baton Rouge, where it now serves 110 African American male students. Half the students are from Baton Rouge, while the others are boarding school students who return to New Orleans on the weekend.
Back home in the neighborhood, where only 5 percent of residents have returned, the Ministries has organized 3,000 people over the last 18 months to help with rebuilding. Additionally, Desire Street founded a sister church in the adjoining Eighth Ward called St. Roch Community Church.
St. Roch has launched the Carpenters Club, which targets low-income, unskilled youth to develop skills in carpentry, in a city that desperately needs such expertise. McLeish points out that "it's difficult to get kids involved in volunteering unless it's tied to some sort of reward. Even if that reward is something as simple as food, it's important to teach the next generation there are benefits to working or volunteering. Career development and learning entrepreneurial skills are key; kids want to learn a job skill."
Although New Orleans remains broken more than two years after Katrina, McLeish and Desire Street Ministries have impressed upon their youth that their actions make a difference. That lesson was particularly vivid when staff at Desire Street Academy organized a mission trip to Mexico last summer. The experience allowed students to visit an area with very few resources and see how their volunteer work made an immediate impact.
"This ignited their passion to serve," says McLeish. "The process of raising up leaders can take 10–15 years, but the hope is that the youth will take over the work of the ministry in the future." As Desire Street Ministries' mission states: "Our commitment to indigenous leadership development means that we train today's young neighborhood residents to become tomorrow's spiritual and community leaders."
