ORGANIZATIONS SERVE COMMUNITIES AND PROVIDE OPPORTUNITIES
Wyence Handcrafted Leather Design & Apparel partners with Sunshine Enterprises, a program to help entrepreneurs on the South and West sides that was founded in 2013 as part of Sunshine Gospel Ministries. Photo provided by Sunshine Enterprises
Joel Hamernick, president of Sunshine Gospel Ministries and executive director of Sunshine Enterprises, said it is holistic, faith-rooted organizational work that focuses on youth outreach and violence prevention.
Sunshine Enterprises grew out of Sunshine Gospel Ministries in 2013 and grew so rapidly that it became its own entity. It serves entrepreneurs from the South and West sides. Hamernick said the organization’s core mission was really motivated by Dr. King’s vision of the Beloved Community, and another pastor from the South, John Perkins, who argued that the most effective work toward the Beloved Community, would be done in the community.
Hamernick and his family moved into the Woodlawn community and developed work with youth, as a neighbor – after school programs, academic support, spiritual growth, mentoring. He said the work with Sunshine Enterprises became a tangible, tactical response to the question, how could more work opportunities come to the community, driven by the existing residents and leadership, and not by outside employees.
“So, there are loads of people in our community, who have this little thing they’re doing, often it’s out of their house or out of their porch or baking in their kitchen on the weekends and selling things, and generally, it’s wonderful work. But, it’s typically disconnected from mainstream economy efficiencies, capital, credit, reasonable lending, marketplaces,” he said. “So, Sunshine Enterprises serves these entrepreneurs in our South and West side community by really fostering that opportunity around business acumen and opportunity, but also creating community.”
Hamernick said it is helpful for entrepreneurs to be in community with one another, who have similar things they are struggling with. Sunshine Gospel Ministries has after school programs, focused on academics, for elementary and high school students, as well as arts and sports. Hamernick said those programs while wonderful, are not that unique.
“It’s just typical high-quality engagement with young people, it’s a safe place to play, it’s a safe place to learn, it’s a community with loving adults, good role models and the staff has really served our youth and families well,” he said.
There is also a cohort-based program called Raising Highly Capable Kids, which has small groups of parents who learn the potential of their kids and how to unlock that potential.
Hamernick said there is a new division of Sunshine Enterprises called the Flourishing Community Initiative. It is designed to identify best practices to see violence reduced in the community. He said in places around the world where there has been increased violence, the decrease in violence is due to improvement in the quality of policing and the relationship between the community and law enforcement. Sunshine Enterprises has been working to create strategies to see those improvements happen.
Each week, Sunshine Enterprises meets with law enforcement and there is a sharing of information. The organization also helps the community understand things about law enforcement, like the consent decree and the Fraternal Order of Police contract negotiations.
“We take the position, we’re not pro-police, we’re not anti-police, we’re pro[-]good policing,” he said. “We find that people rally around it, including law enforcement.”
Hamernick added, working on the relationship with law enforcement and community, on the district level and at a systems level, open up opportunities to see some transformation.
During COVID-19, Hamernick said Sunshine Gospel Ministries hosted food and household supply giveaways once a week. It also set up a call number for people to make requests. He said it was a much more generalized outreach to the community.
Sunshine Gospel Ministries is located at 501 E. 61st St. For more information, visit sunshinegospel.org or sunshineenterprises.com.
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