City Vision College

A friend of mine wrote this article promoting City Vision College to the National Assocition of Street Schools. We are currently looking for students to enroll in this program, formerly known as Rescue College. I had the priviledge of serving on the advisory council with some of the most amazing Christian educators in the United States! (Can you say, "Out of your league?")

As an aside, I'm actually the first person to graduate with a bachelor's degree in this program! Scroll to the bottom of the article and read the section in bold to learn how Souls Harbour RESCUE Mission has creatively used this program in a good old fashioned barter system!


Urban Ministry Training Opportunities for You and Your Staff
Barbara Clemenson, CPA, CFRE

It is my profound joy to introduce you to City Vision College, an online accredited Christ-centered urban ministry training opportunity for you and your staff.

We know that it is difficult to keep up with certification requirements, let alone find the time to pursue education in areas we are responsible for but for which we have never been trained. And few of us, probably, planned to work in a street school. We may not have a good understanding of many of the issues our kids are facing; and we probably never dreamed of having responsibility for board development, human resources, fundraising, finances, facility management, or food service. Yet God has called us to this ministry and wants us to perform it with excellence.

The History and Vision of the College

God has called us to serve “the least” – the at-risk kids that society has neglected or cast off as hopeless. However, although the world assesses our students with distain, in God’s eyes each one is incredibly precious and we are called to serve them with the quality we would render to the King of Kings and Lord of Lords – because that is who we are serving. The same is true with Rescue Missions. Our clients are priceless, even though outwardly they have been rejected. How can we serve them in a way worthy of God’s died-for creations?

We need knowledge and training. Very few of those serving in Rescue Missions planned to work there, although we’ve been around long enough to have second- (and third- and fourth- ) generation “Mission brats” in the ministry. [Just think: The same will likely happen with Street Schools as your children and grandchildren see your life’s ministry!] In fact, many of those attracted to minister in Missions first came through the front doors as clients and, as their lives were transformed by the power of Jesus, wanted to give back and share their insights with others caught in the hopelessness of addiction, homelessness and shame.

So the Association of Gospel Rescue Missions (AGRM) a group of approximately 300 missions throughout the United States and Canada (there is probably one in your area!), first addressed this training need by developing correspondence courses focused on the various areas of responsibility involved in administering an urban ministry, partnering with Grace College of the Bible in Omaha, Nebraska which supervised the courses and provided accreditation and graduation upon completion with a Bachelor of Science in Bible.

Then, about ten years ago, the AGRM determined to harness the power of the emerging internet to address this training need in an even more effective way through online courses, calling this offering “Rescue College” in honor of our Rescue Mission identity. These changes provided both participants and instructors the advantages of more structured course time-frames, with five 10-week semesters each year, which helped keep students on-track while still providing them with the weekly flexibility to study around their own schedules. Even more importantly, this format enabled immediate interaction between instructors and students through online grading and feedback, class forums and chat rooms.

To insure both the quality of the courses and to provide recognized achievement for our students, we hired an eminently qualified academic dean, Dr. Fletcher Tink, Executive Director of the Bresee Institute for Metro Ministries and Adjunct Professor of Urban/Compassionate Ministries at Nazarene Theological Seminary in Kansas City, Missouri. Fletcher provides oversight and direction for the college and developed and teaches the keystone course, History of Urban Ministries. We also developed an Advisory Council, composed of experts from the academic, ministry, and alumni worlds, to partner with college leadership as we are ever seeking to expand our offerings and make sure the college is meeting our students’ needs.

We also engaged in accreditation with the Distance Education and Training Council (DETC) which examines every course before it is offered. This accreditation insures course quality and provides college recognition for our students’ work. Since many of you have, or are, proceeding through school accreditation yourself, you know this is not an inconsequential process!

Finally, our courses are taught by highly qualified instructors with real-world, as well as academic, experience. In addition, each course includes a very strong practical application component in which students are required to “do” or “assess” what they are learning within an organization. Most use the nonprofit in which they are already serving, providing the students with greater insight into their ministries and their organizations with expert, guided help in evaluating and improving their own operations.

From Rescue College to City Vision College

Within the past few years, though, we came to realize that although we had developed a training treasure, we were only serving a faction of the individuals needing this service because of our close affiliation with the Rescue Missions. At the same time, it became clear that developing a college was outside the core mission of the Association of Gospel Rescue Missions.

So in January 2008 the AGRM transferred Rescue College to TechMission , an urban ministry focused on “Transforming Communities through Innovation,” who broadened its name to City Vision College. TechMission provides the College with the technical expertise necessary to maintain an online program, while also expanding the college’s ministry to all of its major urban ministries partners, still including Rescue Missions but also incorporating Christian Community Development Corporations, Urban Youth Workers Institute, Kingdomworks/ Compassionworks Conference, Community Technology Centers Network, the Salvation Army, World Vision, and others.

This transfer is a win-win for everyone, fulfilling the hopes of the visionaries within the Association of Gospel Rescue Missions who developed and supported this ministry during its infancy, and expanding it to equip even more individuals for excellence in urban ministries.

Advantages of City Vision College Training

Many of the advantages of engaging in this training have already been mentioned:

Ø Structured [to keep you on-track], comprehensive [to provide a complete overview] and critical [with hands-on application] training in multiple areas of nonprofit ministry and operations, providing you with expertise and experience in areas in which you may have had little or no formal training.
Ø The flexibility to manage your studies within your schedule, combined with the broad structure to insure completion.
Ø Interaction with qualified instructors and colleagues also involved in ministry.
Ø Recognized accreditation.

Other advantages are:

Ø Many of our courses also qualify for other certifications’ continuing education requirements, including the Certified Fundraising Executive (CFRE) and Christian Stewardship Professional.
Ø The costs are reasonable: only $150/credit hour with a $50 media fee, for a $500 total per 3 credit hour class.
Ø And City Vision College is not standing still. We are examining other courses in Addiction Recovery and Fundraising. Other courses, I’m sure, will be part of the College’s future advancement.

Creative Ways to Employ this Opportunity in Your School and with Your Staff

Few of our organizations are flushed with funds and can afford high compensation and superb fringe benefits for our staff. We also struggle bringing in enough workers to provide the small student-teacher ratio that is critical to our students’ success. City Vision College can help you address both of these issues.

Training: A Fantastic and Effective Fringe Benefit

Our people are working in our schools because of their passion for the kids. They want to serve with excellence. We want to equip them to serve in even greater capacities. City Vision College meets both desires at a reasonable cost.

Ø Consider paying for successful completion of City Vision College courses. Each course requires approximately 15 hours a week of study – not an inconsequential commitment. I have noticed that some people who sign up for the classes must surmise that, because the classes are online, they will be “easy” and they do not discipline themselves to accomplish the requirements. The courses are not easy. They are college level classes requiring time and commitment. Therefore, I would suggest that you reimburse for successful completion rather than simply paying up-front for registration. Those who are truly committed will take advantage of these opportunities.

Ø Consider encouraging staff study-groups. If several people at your school take the same courses at the same time, they can encourage each other.

Ø Showcase continuing education completion. We’re minister to students who will be blessed by our examples of continuous learning. They need to realize that successful “education” is not finished with a high school, or even college diploma, but is a life-long process.

Training: A Fantastic and Effective Staff Recruitment Benefit

Although the courses of City Vision College are appropriate for anyone involved in urban ministry, the courses as they are specifically designed at this time are geared towards providing students with college completion. That is, a student can enter City Vision College with 72 transferred college hours, complete a course of study through the College, and graduate with a degree from the College.

Michelle Porter, Executive Director of Souls Harbor Rescue Mission in Regina, Saskatchewan, Canada, and herself a Rescue College graduate, is the “queen” of effectively using the College as a recruiting and training opportunity for staff. Michelle goes to Christian and Bible Colleges and offers students hands-on ministry experience, a small salary, and completion of their last two years of education for coming to work at the Rescue Mission. As a result, she develops her staff and ministry at the same time with young people who are eager to serve.

I currently have one of Michelle’s staff in the Basic Fundraising Course. The student wrote this statement in a recent homework assignment, which included taking a development audit of their organization:

Much of the base Mission staff is made up of individuals who have come through Rescue College (now City Vision College). This has made a significant effect on how the Mission is run and the collective understanding of how to run an operation like we do. I believe this has also strongly impacted the ways in which the office works and, in particular, the fundraising or resource development aspect of the ministry. I think this may be one of the reasons that the Mission scored so well or could answer “yes” or “working on it” to nearly all the questions. The staff is very aware of what an ideal situation would look like and are working toward that consistently.

Of course, you could also extend this training opportunity to volunteers and even Board members. What would it be like to have all participants in your ministry “very aware of what an ideal situation would look like” and to be “working toward that consistently”? Well worth the investment!

Conclusion

As someone with a double-passion – Rescue Missions and Street Schools – and who is at essence a teacher, only God knows my joy to see an equipping vision started by one group developed and expanded to the degree that it can benefit both – and beyond.

Consider using this incredible resource for the further development of your schools and staff so that we might all learn from each other, work more effectively and efficiently, and therefore be able to rescue more at-risk kids. My personal goal is that we (street schools) so powerfully reach out to at-risk kids that we put us (rescue missions) out of business!!!


Barbara is a NASS Board Member, an AGRM Board Member, and a City Vision College Professor and Member of its Advisory Council.