What is it like to be an inmate and a high school student at the same time? What’s going on with affordable housing in NYC? How can Christians work toward criminal justice reform? You’ll find articles that speak to these questions and more in this month’s Mercy & Justice Round-Up.
Raul Rivera grew up in the South Bronx in the 60s and 70s. From a young age, he got into the vices the neighborhood had to offer—drugs, violence, crime. He spent years of his life in and out of jail—until he got connected with our affiliate Graffiti at the age of 50.
Roosevelt Island—dubbed “Welfare Island” in 1921—–once housed a prison, a lunatic asylum, a charity hospital, a smallpox hospital, and a workhouse. It was renamed in 1971 with a vision to make it a flourishing space with a special focus on accessibility for people with disabilities.
What happens once we decide a child is a criminal? How are people living with disabilities able to serve the church? Is eviction a cause of poverty—or a condition of it? You’ll find articles that speak to these questions and more in this month’s Mercy & Justice Round-Up.
Detra is a preacher’s daughter who moved from Arkansas to NYC to escape an abusive husband and then became homeless. She shares the story of how God used the New York City Rescue Mission to show her she can be real with her pain and walk in the freedom of who God created her to be.