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RTW began out of the need to
stabilize the housing in the impoverished Reagan Park Neighborhood. Chris and
Mary Provence had been doing Bible studies in the neighborhood for a number of years
and saw a great turnover in kids who would come through Bible study. As God
laid it on their heart to disciple the young people, they were finding it almost
impossible because the children kept moving due to poor living conditions, unfair rent, or
absentee landlords. As they prayed and sought the Lords vision for meeting this
need, God was faithful and shared with them the vision for RTW.
Objective
1: To stabilize housing within the Reagan Park Community of Indianapolis
Objective 2: To bring suburban Christians together in relationship with urban low
income families across racial and socioeconomic lines
Objective 3: To provide community resident’s living wage jobs through skill set
training and career development
Objective 4: To stabilize families long term economic future and self sufficiency
through asset building and management
RTW's boundaries are 22nd
Street to the south, 30th Street to the north, College to the west, and Dr. Andrew J.
Brown to the East. See Map
The family must
have one or more barriers to homeownership as evidenced by the following:
Being very low income: at or below 100% of the federal poverty line
Being low income: Between 101-150% of the federal poverty line
Being moderate income (between
151%-225% of the federal poverty line) and have a troubled credit report (rating of C or
below) and/or a previous foreclosure. No more
than 25% of our total future homeowners may be in this category
In addition, the following related
financial and historical information will be additional factors in considering need:
Unstable housing history as evidenced
by multiple moves (3 or more in the past 5 years) and/or periods of homelessness
Periods of having one or more utilities
turned off due to non-payment
There are three levels of
partnership with the family:
Level 1: To pray for the
family on a consistent basis and/or give a monthly monetary contribution to RTW for the
rehab of the home
Level 2: To commit to
paying for and helping to rehab a specific job within the families property. (I.E.
purchasing and installing plumbing, HVAC, windows, drywall...)
Level 3: To covenant with
the family monetarily and/or relationally over the whole period of the home sale
process. (Covenant agreement required) You may join an existing group or start
a new group.
Organizations
cannot be Christian, only individuals. RtW's Board of directors is
made up of Christians as are many of our volunteers. We seek to
uphold the truths set forth in the Word, yet we place no religious
stipulations on those we seek to serve.
No, we are not associated with
a specific church or denomination and believe that the church is made up of individuals
who claim Jesus as the Christ and their Savior.
RTW is governed by a board of
Directors, Please see our Board of Directors page to meet the governing body
RTW is unique in that we wish
to attack oppression and social injustice through relationships. We do not believe
anyone can make it through life without support. First from the Lord, then from the
community of believers called the church. In addition we focus on one
community at a time with an emphasis on building the neighborhood as a whole. We
believe in working with the strengths that people already possess and building on those
through sound faith and relational teaching.
RTW finds properties in a lot
of ways. We watch for "For Sale" signs in the neighborhood, ask local
realtors to alert us if any in our area come up for sale. We also send letters to
absentee home owners and continue to ask if they are willing to sell or donate their
properties to us.
Properties are rehabilitated by
groups of volunteers as well as volunteer contractors, who donate their time skills and
resources to complete each home.
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Rebuilding
The Wall's vision for the future is to help stabilize the housing in the Reagan Park
community. We hope to rehab every vacant home
within our boundaries in 10-12 years. As the
number of homeowners increase, we expect to see a drop in drug dealing, prostitution and
violent crimes. Through our long-term relationships with families and their children
and the local church, we hope to raise up indigenous leaders within the neighborhood to
carry the vision and community into the next generation.
Donations can be made to RTW by
sending a check or money order to:
Rebuilding The Wall, Inc.
2401 N. Guilford Ave, Indianapolis, IN 46205
Yes, Donations are tax
deductible under the federal tax code 501(c) (3)
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