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THE REES-JONES FOUNDATION NEWSLETTER

By Terese Stevenson, Vice President of Grants

Faith groups play a significant role in providing health care around the world. The motivation is concern for the healing and wholeness of every human being. But why create a hospital on a ship? Mercy Ships says that fortunately, more than 44% of the world’s population lives within 100 miles of a coast — which is why they developed a modern hospital ship model to bring world-class care directly to the places it is needed most. The model is nimble and allows for the increase of healthcare system capacity to numerous countries all over the globe.

Most African countries lack the infrastructure and facilities necessary to provide and deliver adequate levels of health services and products for their populations. Africa also faces a severe shortage of trained medical personnel, with just three percent of the world’s health workers deployed in Sub-Saharan Africa. New approaches have been required that include collaboration between public and private entities, along with strategies that are tailored to local realities in order to provide better and expanded access. Working to strengthen national healthcare systems in addition to delivering “mercy care” is critical to success.

The Rees-Jones Foundation team has a heart and an intentionality in our grantmaking and relationship building to ensure that as many children and families have access to care and compassion ministry work, as we winsomely witness to the power of the true Healer. In 2006, we were introduced to the work of Mercy Ships and were convicted by their true Gospel approach of bringing faith, hope, and love to so many who needed that affirmation; besides being in situations of desperation regarding physical concerns that needed medical intervention.

By Trey Hill, Senior Program Officer

The Rees-Jones Foundation cares about vulnerable children. Full stop. When people ask what are the Foundation’s priorities, I always say the through line is we care about children who have been dealt a tough hand. Core to The Foundation’s mission is to serve vulnerable children and help address the inequities and obstacles that keep them from reaching their full potential both domestically and internationally.

That is one of the reasons we have begun to pursue a targeted place-based investment strategy in South Dallas.

There is a growing body of research that points to the critical role that place plays in shaping the opportunities and outcomes of children. The research indicates that children growing up in low-income neighborhoods face a myriad of challenges that can hinder their long-term success. These challenges include limited access to quality education and enrichment activities, limited access to healthcare, few safe recreational spaces, and little exposure to opportunities outside of their neighborhood. Too often these neighborhoods also have a higher prevalence of  criminal activity and violence. All this adds up to a bad recipe that experts call “toxic stress.”

I observed this while living in West Dallas. West Dallas was an area of concentrated poverty and home to a large public housing complex. Many families had lived there for multiple generations. One night, not long after we moved into the community, my wife and I were driving around praying for and observing our new neighborhood. We both noted there was a “heaviness” to the atmosphere, So many of the things we took for granted in our old neighborhood­ like quiet nights, mature trees and green spaces, good grocery stores, and graffiti-free buildings, simply did not exist there. We both concluded if we had grown up there as children our future outlook and outcomes might have been pretty dim.

The net result of all these limiting factors: We have given poverty an address.

The Foundation awarded $16.3 million through 45 grants during Q2 (April, May, June)

By Ona Foster, CEO of Family Compass

[In honor of Child Abuse Prevention Month, we invited Family Compass CEO Ona Foster to write Part Two of our series focusing on the importance of prevention work across North Texas. The Rees-Jones Foundation remains committed to the wellbeing of children across the world and is grateful to partner with child welfare organizations like Family Compass, who are moving upstream to prevent child abuse and neglect from occurring].

Understanding the Nuances

Child abuse and neglect are preventable. This may surprise you. We know the root causes that lead to these societal issues: stress in the home, a lack of parenting skills, and conditions in the community. When these factors are effectively addressed, rates of child abuse and neglect plummet. The simple fact is that when parents are given knowledge and hands-on-tools around healthy parenting, they start to improve their competency as parents, their confidence grows, their stress levels drop, the home environment becomes more stable and they begin to engage and interact differently with their children. This ultimately benefits children in homes who will experience healthy parenting so they can, in turn, pass it down to all their future generations.

How do we get there? One of the most effective ways is to go into their home and work directly with parents while the kids are there. Who wouldn’t want a trusted and well-trained parenting educator to come right to your home to model and teach parenting and life skills in your living room? This is called Home Mentoring, and it works. Each family is unique, so the approach and type of evidence-based curriculum to be used in each situation can be tailored, and services are long-term because change doesn’t happen overnight. However, with consistent support over time, a permanent paradigm shift in how a family interacts occurs and generations of children grow up in stable, safe, supportive homes.

Increasingly, on the heels of the pandemic, and with rising inflation, many families in our community are in crisis, struggling to make ends meet, some even choosing between food and rent. At Family Compass we find ourselves now spending 30% more time with each family and have experienced requests for more frequent home mentoring sessions. Whether parents are referred to our voluntary services through school, clinics, other agencies, or increasingly, word-of-mouth, they all have one thing in common: they want to learn to do things differently than they experienced in their own childhood. This brings hope and serves as a light for families in our community.