Why Care?
Care Fresno Praxis
At Care Fresno we place a high value on the development of relationships within community. No matter how well financed, organized or strategic our programs may be, if we have not established healthy, consistent adult role-models in the life of youth and residents, we have failed to provide the fabric of what makes the community and a person connected and healthy. "Care is the freely given commitment from the heart of one person to another. It is the most powerful aspect of our relationships. When we put it into words, we say, "I care for my family above all." "I will care for my dad until the day he dies." "I care so much about this community that I will never leave it." These words tell us that care is within us.
In the consumer ecology, the word care has been coopted by systems: business, agencies, and governments. We receive mass-produced letters from insurance agencies telling us it cares about us (whoever we may be). Our charities ask us to give money to pay for the care of people. Our government has a huge bureaucracy designed to pay hospitals and medical professionals for their service, and they call it Medicare.
In each case, they are actually providing a paid service-- not care. This is a key distinction, the difference between care and service. Systems offer services for pay; they offer actuarial, medical and administrative services. We know it is not care, because genuine care cannot be paid for. It is given, free of charge...
The place to look for care is in the dense relationships of local neighbors and their community groups. If they have a competent (healthy) community, it will because they care about each other, and they care about the neighborhood. Together, their care manifests a vision and a culture. And it is this vision, culture, and commitment that have the unique capacity to ensure much of their sense of well-being and happiness."
- John McKnight, "The Abundant Community"
In the consumer ecology, the word care has been coopted by systems: business, agencies, and governments. We receive mass-produced letters from insurance agencies telling us it cares about us (whoever we may be). Our charities ask us to give money to pay for the care of people. Our government has a huge bureaucracy designed to pay hospitals and medical professionals for their service, and they call it Medicare.
In each case, they are actually providing a paid service-- not care. This is a key distinction, the difference between care and service. Systems offer services for pay; they offer actuarial, medical and administrative services. We know it is not care, because genuine care cannot be paid for. It is given, free of charge...
The place to look for care is in the dense relationships of local neighbors and their community groups. If they have a competent (healthy) community, it will because they care about each other, and they care about the neighborhood. Together, their care manifests a vision and a culture. And it is this vision, culture, and commitment that have the unique capacity to ensure much of their sense of well-being and happiness."
- John McKnight, "The Abundant Community"
Care Fresno Praxis
According to the Center of Disease Control’s "Best Practices of Youth Violence Prevention", evidence has shown that mentoring can significantly improve school attendance and performance, reduce violent behavior, decrease the likelihood of drug use, and improve relationships with friends and parents. The Council on Crime in America identified mentoring as one of three interlocking crime-prevention strategies (the other two—monitoring and ministering—also provide adult contact). Care Fresno is especially instrumental in implementing these 3 crime-prevention strategies.
This is how the CDC defines monitoring and ministering: “Monitoring provides community-based adult supervision of young people who have been in trouble with the law. Ministering means mobilizing and empowering caring adults, through churches, to assume responsibility for the well-being of children in their neighborhoods.” This is basis of Care Fresno’s praxis. We mobilize and provide urban training for young adults, church congregations and leaders to focus their time and resources directly within high-risk communities for children who have been, or are at risk of being, in trouble with the law. This community-based approach provides positive, consistent adult relationships through after-school tutoring, sports, mentoring programs and more. Most services are provided during the hours that children are most likely to be left unattended, most likely to become involved in gangs or try drugs for the first time.