Nearly 40% of children in America live in low-income families at or below the poverty line. These children are more likely to lack their basic needs of food, clothing, stable housing and health care and more likely to have sex before 16, join a gang, get into fights, steal, and run away. These statistics are daunting, but I believe there is a way out. My dream is to create a space of opportunity for at-risk kids. I grew up with the privilege of not only having all of my needs met, I also had access to extracurriculars that benefitted me tenfold. Even then, I was constantly frustrated by the elitist nature of adventure. My first passion of horseback riding felt like running an impossible race. I could work for my lessons, but competing was out of the question until I was old enough to get a job to pay for it. Rock climbing was wildly inaccessible in my flat state of Oklahoma. Either you pay for a costly gym membership, or you must travel to climb outside, and that is only if you have the experience to do so. Outdoor recreation has been an activity for the rich since World War II. Urban families concerned with work, crime, and housing couldn't afford to escape into the Great Outdoors. Even now, approximately 70 percent of Americans ages 6 to 24 who engage in outdoor recreational activities are white, according to the Outdoor Foundation. I want to make adventure more accessible, because I know that it will benefit the sports, the environment, and especially the individual kids themselves. Someday I will start a non-profit that impacts urban at-risk youth by providing educational and nutritional programs, but I won't stop there. Picture a facility operating year round to provide trauma informed care to children in poverty, in foster care, and beyond, with an emphasis on getting kids outside. Equine therapy is proven to help children make strides for their emotional and physical health, and even give them the boost they need to thrive academically. Rock climbing, backpacking, kayaking, and mountain biking are inaccessible to low income families but are exceptional at shaping self esteem, teamwork, and a sense of accomplishment. So why not make it available to them? I also see growing produce on the property, in order to provide food security in the community and end child hunger, but also create jobs for teens aging out of foster care, and possibly other unemployable people. For the littlest in need, a Montessori preschool would operate on the property, mostly outside. In order to accomplish these goals, I am completing my degree online while working at a non-profit for inner-city youth. I lead the middle school program and staff the after-school program and preschool. I volunteer my time to lead children's church for the elementary students. I live and work in the heart of the city and the people I serve are my friends and neighbors. When I finish my ministry degree I intend to get a master's in either social policy or non-profit management and after that, attend seminary with an emphasis on community development. Meanwhile, I enjoy planning camping trips with my youth and taking them to the climbing gym as often as possible. This summer I am taking over the middle school program at Jubilee and I am so excited for my first endeavor as program director. I have big plans to get my kids serving their community and exploring the outdoors! I hope to see a change in the accessibility of adventure, and I am willing to fight for it.

Hi! I’m Mattie. I arrived home just before the pandemic hit after spending time overseas volunteering. When it was made clear that my plans to return were not going to work out due to COVID and border closures, I searched for service opportunities within my own community. Jubilee Partners fell in my lap. It is a ministry for at-risk youth here in OKC that is dedicated to providing food security, creating educational opportunities, building relationships with the whole family and teaching kids important life skills. I had volunteered with Jubilee in the past, off and on since middle school, but this was my first time joining as staff. I worked there over the weird first COVID summer and it became clear that my mission is here, in Oklahoma City. My church granted me my local minister’s license so that I could continue work at Jubilee Partners as the Children’s Pastor and maybe even pursue ordination eventually. Working at Jubilee has been such a gift. I even met my husband working here! I’m getting to see the light spots in the darkness every day. I’ve been invited into the home of a mother who met me with tears, just because I brought a backpack full of school supplies for her 6th grader on my way home from work. A few months ago, we had a child who would throw chairs and told one of our staff he wanted to light her face on fire. He now is one of the most helpful, well-behaved kids in our program, and the most creative person I’ve ever met in my life. I asked him what his favorite thing about Jubilee is and he said, “Well, it’s safe here!” He’s eight years old. In the future I would like to start my own non-profit for at-risk youth. I would love to create space for inner-city kids to experience rock climbing, horseback riding, backpacking, horticulture, etc, and at the same time discover who they are all that they are capable of! I want to do ministry that is trauma informed and provides opportunities for all children to succeed. In order to get there, I am currently in school at Nazarene Bible College for Pastoral Ministries. I am actually thinking of changing my major to education. After my four year degree, I want to get a master's in social policy or non-profit management, and could also see seminary on the horizon as well. There are specialized programs for community development or multicultural ministry rather than a traditional MDiv, and I could absolutely see myself taking one of those paths. All I know is that I want to keep doing this good, hard work for the rest of my life.

Growing up, my parents defied the norm. I had a stay-at-home dad, while my mom worked in an office. Even though she worked full-time and had a very busy schedule as a person in leadership at the company, she always showed up for my sister and me. She would use her time off to chaperone school field trips, church camp, and youth group retreats. Every piano recital, gymnastics meet, and horse show, she was there, behind the scenes and in the crowd. My mom always made time to be intentional in her relationship with me, and she still does even now that I'm an adult. One of the things my mother emphasized with my sister and I over the years was how important it is to give back to the community. My parents always served at church on various teams and we went right along with them from a very early age. We went on a mission trip as a family to Chihuahua, Mexico when I was about nine, and I remember playing with the children there, language barrier and all, while my dad helped rebuild a church, and my mom worked dutifully in the kitchen with local ladies. To prepare us for the trip, she educated my sister and I on the poverty faced by the people we would meet, and made sure we understood that we needed to help serve in the ways that the locals said there was need, instead of showing up and doing things the way we think they should be done. She required us to practice simple phrases in Spanish in the weeks leading up to the trip, so that we wouldn't need to rely entirely on the translator. My mom served with grace and joy, and we watched as she led by example, always in prayer. In my teenage years, we started volunteering at a non-profit for at-risk youth in our hometown of Oklahoma City. She dutifully brought my sister and I along every Wednesday afternoon to do activities, crafts, homework help, and cooking with the kids in the program. When she gave herself to doing the work of the Kingdom, she gave her whole self. She didn't just show up to do foam crafts with kids. She bought and donated good art supplies, she sat and prayed with families in crisis, she took families from the program with us on our family excursions, and she even invited a young child into our home for a couple of months while his parents worked out some things so that they could be reunified. My mom cared for people, and her servant leadership taught me how to care for people too. After graduation, I spent a couple of years serving as a missionary in the Pacific and Southeast Asia. I was able to do that because my mother gave me missions experience as a child and teenager, both internationally and in our own community. She prayed with me and helped me discern what was the best next step for my life, and she helped me fundraise! I came home just before the pandemic hit and God worked out the details for me to become a staff member at the same non-profit we had volunteered at for years. I met my husband there, and we have ambitions to start our own non-profit one day. I have to credit my mom for continually helping me in the discernment process as I explore my own call to vocational ministry. She is the most influential person in my life and I am proud to be her daughter.