Program: Trinity Cleveland Urban Service Corps
Location: Cleveland, OH
Director: The Rev. Sahra Harding, Curate
Web Site: trinitycleveland.org/urban-service-corps
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The Trinity Cleveland Urban Service Corps is an experiential urban immersion service program for young adults that lasts eleven months. The program is designed to provide participants with time, space, and resources to discern their futures and grow spiritually and as leaders while living in sustainable Christian community and working in Cleveland’s social service agencies.
As service interns, you are part of something much larger and stronger than you could ever be on your own and that is an incredible thing to witness. It is a year to listen. As you live into your new life, you learn about you, how you determine what is true, how you respond to the world you perceive, as you recognize your own reflection in the mirrors this work holds up for you.
Why is this program in Cleveland?
It is a rare time in Cleveland as the city is on the edge of a new identity. Just before the turn of the nineteenth century this was a top of the line place to be. It was a time of booming industry and dozens of millionaires living on Millionaire Row. Then it peaked with the steel industry and lost its place in the race. Now it is becoming a mecca for postindustrial lifestyle: urban farming, innovative public education planning, green economies, and community development centers. It also has quality arts and culture experiences at an affordable price. The Greater Cleveland area has it all: downtown city nightlife, Amish country, acres of protected woodland, quiet suburbs, a bustling urban scene, beaches, and rural farms.
A lot is being done and getting done here. You can come to Cleveland and get involved immediately and make a visible positive impact in people’s lives. The people drawn to this area are motivated by the fact that this is a hard city with big challenges and tremendous diversity. It’s sort of like, if you want to go five blocks, this is not the place, but if you want to go all out and train for a marathon with a lot of other movers and shakers, then you belong here.
Participants of our program live together in community in one house sharing meals, prayer, reflection, fellowship, and exploring the city together. During the year they participate in retreats, trainings, and worship that explore the connections among their faith, their service, and their life in community. Four days a week, each participant works at a different social service site placement in the City of Cleveland. The other three days are spent in community check in, Sabbath time, continuing education, reflection, Cathedral events, and group service projects.
Here is a sample of our partner work sites:
Cleveland Leadership Center
Greater Cleveland Congregations
Detroit Shoreway Development Center
Slavic Village Community Development Center
Famicos Foundation
Young Audiences
Why is Trinity Cathedral our hosting parish?
For more than a quarter-century, the people of Trinity Cathedral have worked actively to build relationships and opportunities for outreach in our downtown Cleveland neighborhood, including our community garden, a Sunday lunch program for the hungry and homeless, programming for Cleveland State University students, and an ongoing partnership with a local elementary school. We are a center for outreach and service through our Trinity Commons space, but also a leading faith institution in Cleveland and a primary voice in our city’s struggle to reinvent itself. You can find out more about us at www.trinitycleveland.org
Click here for our summary video!
Read this reflection from a current intern printed in our local downtown newspaper, The Campus District Observer, and be sure to check out our city video. Listen to this podcast of the Very Rev. Tracey Lind interviewing the 2012-13 interns.
Come join us for a year in a city with both great need and great opportunity!
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