Urban Connection Austin

Urban Connection Austin

By Tiffany Young Friday, 19 December 2008

When long-time pastor Dean Smith got tired of talking, he knew it was time to put his words into action. In fall 2007, Smith met with parent organization Central Dallas Ministries, a nonprofit that assists the homeless, to propose adding a branch of Urban Connection in Austin.

After looking around Austin for homeless ministries, Smith realized south Austin had plenty of groups already supporting the homeless. The problem was already being eliminated in east Austin. He decided to focus on eliminating homelessness and poverty instead of being another organization that supports it.

“The area not being addressed is north Austin. Rundberg through IH 35 are the most poor, crime-ridden neighborhoods in the city right now,” Smith said. “Wouldn’t it be great to build those people up so that it won’t just turn into gentrification throwing those people [in need] out?”

The nonprofit’s focus is on the 78758 ZIP code. Smith plans on bringing people who have an abundance of resources and want to give back to their communities together with those who lack resources.

“Our mission is to connect compassionate, generous people with people who need both. Our belief is when we do that, both sides are empowered and it creates a community that wasn’t there before,” he said.

So far, Smith has had support from local churches Iglesia El Shaddai, University Avenue Church of Christ, Austin Stone Community Church and Journey Imperfect Faith Community.

While most churches have programs to support the poor, Smith has found that many of them do not work together on projects, which is one area he thinks Urban Connection could improve.

“One of the frustrations is churches want to do their own [programs] instead of partnering with others,” Smith said. “I think it’s best to cooperate.”

He is also working with neighborhood associations such as the North Austin Civic Association and St. Johns Neighborhood Association.

NACA President Anthony Williams will not run for president of his neighborhood in the January election because he wants to spend more time working with Urban Connection to establish and build a community office.

What sets Urban Connection apart from some of the other nonprofits that focus on helping the needy is that it does not plan on giving any handouts or creating a dependency upon its services. Instead, the organization wants to rally together leaders and people in the community who want change to create a plan that includes citizen input and utilizes resources already within the community.

“It doesn’t matter long term how many resources and opportunities you bring in if you don’t organize the neighborhood,” Smith said. “Part of our strategy is to come alongside people where they can make the biggest difference.”

For instance, Smith is trying to see if the community would be interested in creating a food cooperative. While there are many food pantries in the area, Smith believes people often become dependent on getting food from the pantry and do not find new ways to solve the problem. With a food cooperative, neighbors could come together to get food at a cheaper price and those who could not afford to pay the membership fees could work at the cooperative to pay for membership.

“My ultimate goal long term is that we’re not needed, but the shorter term goal is that the community runs this nonprofit,” Smith said.

Organization needs:

• financial support
• individuals who feel compassion toward others
• partner organizations

Urban Connection, 11900 Metric Blvd., Ste. J - 157, 659-5972, http://ucaustin.blogspot.com, This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it