Clifton Sanctuary Ministries

Clifton Sanctuary Ministries chaplin and caseworker Prince Davies-Venn is often quoted as saying, “Homelessness is not helplessness”.  And that is exactly the case when it comes to the resident’s of Joe’s Place when,  after being awarded a grant of $6,400.00 by The Presbytery of Atlanta’s Self-Development of People last February they developed their own program called Joe’s Ladder.

 The program focuses on individual educational goals. The men require one another to sign 2 contracts. The first is their Program Goal contract which details what they want to learn and accomplish. The second is their Mentoring Goal contract which outlines what they promise to commit to giving back. The concept for the program was born out of the knowledge and understanding that every blessing that has come to each member of the group came to them from giving… not taking.

So far the  members of Joe’s Ladder have accomplished this:

• Two are attending classes in adult literacy at The Literacy Volunteers of Atlanta.
• One member has earned his GED and is now studying for his college SAT.
• Another has completed a course in digital photography and is signing up for an advanced class.
• One gentleman is studying for his Georgia Assessment for the Certification of Educators to get his teaching license through reciprocity as well as volunteering as a tutor at the Literacy Volunteers of Atlanta as a tutor.
• A member has completed his national and state mortgage broker certification training and is studying for his national and state exams.
• The group decided to purchase a computer and printer for all the residents to share to work on their goals and luckily one of residents who is studying for his Microsoft I & II certifications has worked in the IT field for some years and is mentoring many of the residents on computer literacy. 

Joe’s Ladder recently recieved the National Presbytery’s SDOP grant  for $7,800.00 and the residents at Joe’s Place  hope to add their own fundraising efforts to the project to build and operate a small business of their own to keep the Joe’s Ladder a success and avilable to all who enter the Joe’s Place program for years to come.