Since our founding in 2002, Cynthia Mickens Ministries (CMM) has:
• Acquired almost four acres of land in the City of Hutchins with existing buildings and ample room to expand programs.
• Recruited an eight-member active Board of Directors and Advisory Board representing ethnic/cultural diversity and breadth of relevant expertise.
• Built solid and supportive relationships with community leaders, business owners, and interested citizens who are committed to seeing the program vision of PWP fulfilled.
• Generated significant numbers of volunteers helping with the programs.
• Developed and copyrighted the Path-Way to Purpose® Course and demonstrated its effectiveness in empowering women, men, and children for economic self-sufficiency.
• Developed a collaborative out-of-school program for 6-12-year-old children.
• Engaged partners who provide services to enhance the healthy lifestyles of clients.
• Obtained pro-bono architectural designs and cost estimates for a future phased construction of a 50 to 100 unit housing complex.
• Created an organizational development and staffing plan.
• The founder of CMM, Cynthia Mickens Ross, Ph.D., has provided the leadership for developing the concept for the program and community support with minimal financial resources. The organization is now ready to move to a new stage of development and build its capacity. Dr. Mickens Ross oversees operations as the Chief Executive Officer. CMM hired a consulting firm to
assist the CEO and board in developing a strategic business plan, fund development strategy, and program development within high-quality standards, policies, procedures, and resource development. • Community Needs Addressing: A local study commissioned by the Communities Foundation of Texas found that 39% and 36% of households in the City of Dallas and Dallas County, respectively, were in "asset poverty" (insufficient net worth to support itself at the federal poverty level for three months in the absence of income). Sixty-one percent of these families are single-parent households. A conservative estimate is that 60% of these women with small children and living in poverty (3,420) do not have developmental, substance use, and mental disorders that would preclude them from becoming economically self-sufficient if provided services specifically designed to achieve this outcome. These women and their children could benefit from CMM's services.