In spring 2023, Dexter Harris started Flourish Church in Gary. While he started the church, he and other community members had the idea to help provide services throughout the city.
“We started to get into the community and to have conversations, and we met with people like the (Department of Child Services), Crown Counseling and other nonprofits within the city of Gary,” Harris said. “We just recognized that there were a ton of people doing a lot of good work already, but some of them were working in silos.”
On Saturday, Flourish Church will launch its community services hub, which will help connect Gary residents to nonprofits and other resources throughout the community.
More than 15 nonprofits will participate in the hub and will help provide youth mentorship, mental health services, child care and other basic necessities.
It’s been exciting for Harris to watch Gary resources rally around the community service hub.
“I feel like I always knew that within Gary and the surrounding communities that we always had everything that we’ve needed,” Harris said. “The greatest gift that we have is one another, and when we pull our creativity and resources together, transformation cannot just happen but explode.”
Raydia Martin, one of Flourish Church’s leaders, said Harris had the idea for the church to reach outside its four walls, and the community services hub is an extension of that.
The church will serve as a centralized location for community members to receive services in Gary, Martin said.
“In Gary, transportation is a huge issue,” she added. “The premise behind the hub is that it’s a one-stop shop for holistic services, and we’ve separated those services into four buckets — youth mentorship, mental health services, basic resources and child care.”
Gary is in need of revitalization, Martin said, and that includes uplifting residents and giving them the opportunity to create their own economic self-sustainability.
Martin believes it’s important for Gary to have resources available throughout the community, including at the Tolleston Opportunity Campus, which is set to have its groundbreaking later this month.
The campus will house resources from the Crossroads YMCA, the Boys and Girls Clubs of Greater Northwest Indiana and Methodist Hospital.
Having a variety of services throughout the community will help more residents, Martin said.
“While there is the opportunity campus coming, we think that (the community services hub) will be super beneficial because it’s local to our neighborhood,” she added. “The ease of access will be great, and we can replicate services in multiple places.”
mwilkins@chicagotribune.com
