Below is a list of local agencies and mission projects that are supported by First Presbyterian Church.
 

Assistance to People in Need is offered to people who either walk into the church for assistance or phone with their requests for help.  Occasionally, our own church members encounter times of financial difficulty.  FPC-Nashville does not take these pleas for help lightly and budgets funds annually to assist with food, utilities and rent/mortgage.  Pastors also provide counseling and prayer.

Barefoot Republic Camp seeks to celebrate diversity and build unity through a diverse platform of artistic, athletic and action adventure programs. Being barefoot is a sign of vulnerability and our humanity, as well as a sign of our brokenness. When we admit that we are barefoot, we are able to comprehend our need and receive God's provision. The mission of the camp is to facilitate the development of Christ-centered relationships between individuals who represent diverse racial, cultural and socioeconomic backgrounds. www.barefootrepublic.org

Bibles for Oak Hill School Sixth Graders is an annual outreach of First Presbyterian Church to the students of The Oak Hill School.  Founded in 1961 by the Church to serve the community, the school enjoys a rich tradition of educating children with a strong spiritual foundation.  Every year at graduation, and before moving to another school, each student is presented with a bible by FPC, helping to ensure that students will be persons of integrity grounded in Christian morals and values.  www.oakhillschool.org

The Bridge Program, a partner organization of the YMCA of Middle Tennessee and Metro Nashville Public Schools, has as its goals: (1) to inspire middle and high school public school students from East Nashville to value learning, graduate high school and successfully enroll in college; and (2) to grow the next generation of leaders and teachers. The Bridge Program makes a six year commitment to each student and family to walk together from 7th grade until college matriculation. The Bridge invests in long term relationships and outcomes and accomplishes this by hiring college students each summer to teach academic classes, lead enrichments and build relationships with the middle school students that inspire them to take hold of college as their own personal goal. www.ymcamidtn.org

Christian Leadership Concepts is dedicated to equipping men to provide leadership, based on a growing relationship with Jesus Christ and sound biblical principles applied to every area of their lives. A two-year program challenges men to grow in their faith and experience the journey of standing together with other men as they learn to lead in their homes, churches, communities and businesses. www.christianleadershipconcepts.org

Christian Women's Job Corps seeks to equip women with basic life skills necessary for self-sufficiency within their environment. These include seeking, obtaining and maintaining employment, learning financial management, and accessing adequate housing, transportation, childcare and medical care. This is done through mentoring, goal planning, life and job skills classes, GED classes, computer skills training, job development, and coaching character and spiritual development. www.cwjcmiddletn.org

Cumberland Heights provides the highest quality care possible in a cost-effective manner for persons and families who are at risk for, or who are suffering from, the disease of chemical dependency. Treatment encompasses the physical, mental, emotional and spiritual dimensions of recovery by offering a safe, loving and healing environment, combining professional excellence and the principles of the Twelve Steps. www.cumberlandheights.org

The Downtown Presbyterian Church was founded in 1955 with 310 members of First Church who voted not to leave the site of Fifth and Church Streets when other members voted to relocate the congregation to its current location in Oak Hill.  The relationship between our churches has changed throughout these intervening years, including a yoked relationship in the 1980s, when our pastor served as the Moderator of their Session through 1994.  In recent years, however, there have been a number of ways in which we have been connected to the Downtown Church.  Both Stuart Gordon and Sandra Randleman have taught at the Downtown Church, our Confirmation Class has made an annual trip there one Sunday during their preparation year, and we have supported the work of their weekly lunch for the homeless of Nashville by providing volunteers and one meal a month.  www.dpchurch.com

Faith Family Medical Clinic provides primary medical care for uninsured, working individuals. Patients are charged on a sliding fee scale per visit, based on income, for basic x-ray fees and lab tests. When patients require care that is beyond the scope of the clinic's services, visits to medical specialists are arranged for the same fees the clinic charges. Expenses are kept to a minimum by using volunteer nurses, nurse practitioners, physicians and lay people to support seven staff. www.faithmedical.org

Fellowship of Christian Athletes has been challenging coaches and athletes since 1954 on the professional, college, high school, middle school and youth levels to use the powerful medium of athletics to impact the world for Jesus Christ. FCA is the largest inter-denominational, school-based, Christian sports ministry in America. This program helps students understand the basic truth about making the choice not to use drugs and sets up a "positive peer pressure" structure to support them in their choice. The three components of FCA are faith, commitment and accountability. www.fca.org

First Steps provides early intervention and educational services for special needs children, birth to five years old, who are also mentally fragile. For nearly fifty years, children who are often turned away from other programs due to the severity of their health issues, medical needs and/or limited resources have been served by this agency. A team of loving professionals provides quality early childhood education to young children of all abilities and celebrates each child's unique potential. www.firststepsnashville.org

Hope and Life Ministry was founded by Wayne and Mary Bratcher, a husband and wife team, following God's call to evangelize, counsel, provide assistance, and demonstrate the Christian life to people mostly in the East Nashville community and in local prisons. This is accomplished mostly on a one-on-one basis with extensive time set aside for a sharing of God's truth.

Hospital Hospitality House (HHH) provides overnight lodging, meals, laundry facilities, parking, counseling and emotional support to family members of patients and outpatients from outside Davidson County who are accessing medical services in local hospitals. Day services provide the opportunity for guests to take a shower, wash clothes and eat a light meal – all at no cost to them. HHH adopts waiting rooms in local hospitals and furnishes baskets stocked with snacks, toiletries, notepads, pens and magazines. They also donate "activity bags" for children and "overnight bags" for those sleeping in waiting rooms. Since opening in 1974, HHH has provided over 300,000 nights of lodging, serving guests from all 95 counties in Tennessee, all 50 states in the U.S. and 38 foreign countries. www.hospitalhospitalityhouse.org

Interfaith Dental Clinic provides affordable dental care for low-income, working families who do not have dental insurance. Thanks to donations from generous individuals, churches, companies and foundations, every patient pays on a sliding fee scale according to his or her income and family size. Patients receive quality, comprehensive dental care and are discharged from the program with improved health, self-esteem and employability. www.interfaithdentalclinic.com

InterVarsity Graduate and Faculty Ministries - Vanderbilt University serves the graduate student body and faculty of Vanderbilt University through monthly forums on faith and scholarship, weekly discussions with various speakers, community-building events, retreats, conferences and developing individual relationships. Their goal is to touch the lives of tomorrow's leaders who will influence the world for the sake of the Kingdom of God. The Rev. Rich Ziegler serves as a campus minister and representative of FPC at Vanderbilt. www.gfmse.org

Martha O'Bryan Center, located in the James A. Cayce Homes in East Nashville, focuses on breaking cycles of generational poverty by empowering families to achieve greater self-reliance through education and employment. They provide emergency services, increase the number of adults who move from government support to self-sufficiency, and increase the number of children and youth who succeed academically, stay in school and become productive citizens. www.marthaobryan.org

The Mary Parrish Center For Victims of Domestic and Sexual Violence (MPC) provides streamlined access to services that promote the safety, self-sufficiency, and well being of domestic and sexual violence survivors and their children by fostering a structured collaborative community response in one central location.  Its open door policy and holistic approach allows the center to serve all victims in need, including those who have been unable to find assistance anywhere else in the community.  MPC recently undertook responsibility for a transitional housing program previously operated under the name of S.A.V.E. (Survivors Against Violent Environments). www.maryparrish.org

Matthew 25 provides transitional housing and supportive services for 50 homeless men who are employed or employable and are willing to do the work necessary to establish self-sufficiency. The eight month program that provides life skills classes and counseling is designed to: help participants achieve work stability; learn money management skills; develop effective ways to think and deal with life's problems; and experience the joy of "little" successes. The Progressive Housing Program provides permanent, supportive apartments to men who graduate from the basic program. www.matthew25help.org

Men of Valor, in partnership with prison ministers in Nashville's Middle Tennessee Correctional Complex, offers training and discipling to men to become givers to society rather than takers. Through discipleship, one-on-one mentoring, Bible study, small groups and counseling, men are given hope and skills to live in the free world. Aftercare for men exiting the system includes help with jobs, housing, skills training, church homes and family reconciliation. Men of Valor helped launch the very successful Jericho Project, a Faith-Based Pre-Release and Aftercare Program in partnership with Corrections Corporation of America that selects inmates for a highly structured program providing housing separate from the rest of the prison population along with an intense personal development program. www.men-of-valor.org

Miriam's Promise extends the promise of hope and healing to birthparents, pregnancy clients, adoptive families, children and families as they struggle with the issues of grief, loss and despair. The heart of the mission is to ensure the well-being of children: before, during and after birth. Dedicated to healing and emotional health, the agency provides pregnancy counseling, mentoring, child counseling and family counseling along with adoption services for domestic infant, international and special needs children. Miriam's Promise also provides a new counseling and support program for pregnant inmates. www.miriamspromise.org

Mobile Meals delivers 50 - 60 nutritious meals to homebound residents each day, five days a week, 52 weeks a year. FPC currently has 30 volunteers driving and delivering meals. Mobile Meals receives no federal funds and is supported solely through churches and individuals.

Monroe Harding offers residential programs for at-risk youth ages 16-21 who have been removed from their homes due to abuse, neglect or minor behavioral problems. The youth are required to participate in education, vocational and life skills training. Non-residential programs promote education by matching at-risk elementary students with adult mentors and provide resources for youth and their families to help prevent state custody, or to ease the transition into the community after aging out of foster care. Monroe Harding maintains a covenant with the Presbytery and cherishes a strong affiliation with the Presbyterian Church. www.monroeharding.org

Nashville Area Habitat for Humanity, originally organized in 1985by FPC member Tom Brooks , seeks to solve the problem of homelessness in a way that offers dignity and a hand up to people with whom they partner.  Every family selected by Habitat promises to give four hundred hours of "sweat equity" toward the home they receive, and then they begin to pay for the home, without interest, recycling their money for the building of more homes for more families of our community.  First Presbyterian Church began to provide the financial resources and labor for a home each year in 2003.  Habitat is a ministry that provides a Bible to every family upon the dedication of their home, and it seeks to treat all of its family with the dignity and respect Christ calls us to offer to all God's children.  www.habitatnashville.org

Nashville Rescue Mission seeks to help the hurting of Middle Tennessee by offering food, clothing, shelter, and recovery programs to those enslaved in life degrading problems. The Mission's goal is to help people know the saving grace of Jesus, and through Him, gain wisdom for living, find fulfillment in life and become a positive part of the community. Their program is comprised of eight inter-related ministries: Men's Homeless Shelter, Barnabas House, Anchor Home, Lodging Place, Adult Education, Family Life Center, Hope Center and Travelers Aid. www.nashvillerescuemission.org

Nations Ministry Center joyfully serves Nashville's refugees and immigrants through a West Nashville Refugee Center located in the Richland Hills Apartments. Their offerings include a Kindergarten Readiness Program, an after-school youth tutoring program, English Language Learner (ELL) summer school attendance assistance, and adult ELL classes. Nations Ministry Center also offers training programs to area groups seeking to provide ELL classes to Nashville immigrants. www.nationsministrycenter.org

The Next Door provides residential support services for women coming from crisis situations. The agency maintains two locations, both of which are staffed by professionals trained to help residents address issues in mental health, addiction, workforce development and family reunification. In its downtown location on Eighth Avenue South, the agency provides a transitional housing facility for up to 52 women who enter upon their release from incarceration. At Freedom Recovery Community, the second location at 2100 Clifton Avenue, women and children reside in permanent housing apartment units.  www.thenextdoor.org

Oak Hill Day Camp Program Grant helps to provide funds to hire additional camp counselors each summer to enable special needs children to be included in the summer camp experience; cover programming costs for a week-long camp serving children from financially-disadvantaged neighborhoods or from group living homes; and enable all children in need of financial assistance to participate in summer camp or after-school recreation activities. www.fpcnashville.org/recreation.htm

Oasis Center provides proactive, strength-based programs that seek to transform the conditions that create barriers to positive youth and community development. They offer three programs dedicated to providing youth with safety (crisis and residential services), hope and healing (counseling and primary prevention services), and opportunities for growth (youth leadership development and community service). www.oasiscenter.org

Pastoral Counseling Centers has served the community since 1985 by providing clinical psychotherapy and counseling for individuals, couples and families; life enrichment education for organizations; clinical training; staff consultation; assessment; and crisis intervention. Their ministry offers hope and healing to individuals, couples and families struggling with life's difficulties, including marital issues, family dysfunction, depression, anger, stress, alcoholism and substance abuse. www.pcctinc.org

Presbyterian Campus Ministry at Vanderbilt University, known as Presbyterian Student Fellowship (PSF) on campus, shares the good news of Jesus Christ with the students at Vanderbilt University. An active part of the school for over 80 years, PSF continues to engage students in a thoughtful examination of their faith through Bible study, worship, service, counseling and fellowship. PSF is also active in the Nashville community, working with local agencies putting their faith in action. www.psfnashville.org

Presbyterian Student Fellowship at MTSU (PSF) is a campus ministry seeking to connect faith in Jesus Christ to the lives of college students and faculty of Middle Tennessee State University. Students gather throughout the week for Bible study, prayer, fellowship and a Thursday night meal and worship service. Small group Bible studies meet at various times during the week. In addition, PSF offers students opportunities to connect with local churches, to develop leadership skills, to serve others via short term mission trips and to go on retreats and other outings for fellowship and spiritual growth. www.mtsu.edu/~psf

The Presbytery of Middle Tennessee governs over ninety congregations, including First Presbyterian Church, Nashville.  Besides helping congregations carry out their ministries, out support enables Presbytery to operate NaCoMe, a camp facility near Centerville, Tennessee; to carry on campus ministry at both Vanderbilt and Middle Tennessee State University; to start new churches and to re-develop existing congregations; to carry on ministry to immigrant populations within the bounds of our Presbytery; and to plan for the future of the church in our area.  Phil Leftwich is our Presbytery Executive, and Theresa Howell serves as the Stated Clerk of the Presbytery.  www.presbyterymidtn.org

Preston Taylor Ministries provides help to children with such obstacles as poor school performance, poverty, juvenile delinquency, drug use and teenage pregnancy. It provides an after school program that focuses on reading development, a lunch-mate mentoring program, a marketplace mentoring program, summer enrichment, field trips and Vacation Bible School. www.ptmweb.ik.org

Radio Ministry is offered as a service to our members and the greater Nashville community through the broadcast of the 11 o'clock Sunday worship service on WAMB 1200 AM radio at 4:00 p.m. each Sunday afternoon.

Reconciliation Ministries, founded in 1984, provides services for families and children of Tennessee prisoners. The agency offers support group meetings for adults, children and teens; counseling services; free weekend lodging at their guest house for families visiting their incarcerated relative; positive youth development activities including a week long summer camping trip at NaCoMe and holiday programming for children. Advocacy services and referrals are also provided.  www.reconciliation84.org

Renewal House provides Middle Tennessee's first, largest and most comprehensive residential recovery program that makes it possible for low-income, substance-addicted mothers and their children to begin new lives together in recovery. In a drug-free environment, mothers remain sober while developing recovery skills, learning parenting skills, and obtaining and maintaining employment. Children at Renewal House receive services to recover from past trauma and to reach their full potential physically, socially and academically. The Renewal House intensive outpatient program provides licensed, gender-specific drug and alcohol addiction treatment for low-income women. Since its beginning, Renewal House has made a drug-free new beginning possible for more than 500 women and children. www.renewalhouse.org

Rocketown of Middle Tennessee is a faith-based relational outreach focused on youth ages 12 to 20 who are not traditionally served by other programs. Located downtown, this youth ministry provides a positive environment of arts, music and non-traditional sports to impact youth culture by directing teens away from potentially destructive elements and channeling their energy into activities that develop skills, build positive relationships and use their time constructively. www.rocketown.com

Rooftop assists many working, low-income families and individuals in Metropolitan Nashville who at times find themselves unable to pay their rent or mortgage. Needing one-time assistance to remain in their homes, many turn to faith-based organizations for help. Organized in March 2006, Rooftop provides an opportunity for congregations to pool their resources and help people in an orderly manner, partnering with Metro Social Services. www.rooftopnashville.org

Room in the Inn provides a range of programs and services for the homeless, as well as a chance for volunteers to respond directly to the broken and disenfranchised among us. Their mission is to provide programs that emphasize human development and recovery through education, self-help and work, and is centered in community and long-term support to those who call the streets of Nashville home. Other programs and services include case management, education, creative expression, respite care, Odyssey (the journey home for the chronically homeless) and Congregational Help Line (a service for congregations to use as a screening process for benevolent requests).  A cornerstone of the agency is the offering of food and shelter for up to 225 people each night in over 150 area congregations from November 1 to March 31.  FPC-Nashville helps to provide this gift of hospitality to 14 homeless men every Wednesday night during these months.  www.roomintheinn.org

Safe Haven Family Shelter is the only shelter program in Middle Tennessee that houses homeless families as an entire unit. It can serve fifteen families at a time, between two shelter campuses and six transitional homes. Its mission is to empower homeless families through spiritual, financial and social guidance. Through the Mended Hearts program, families can receive the tools needed to make a permanent and positive return to mainstream living. Residents must be employed or in pursuit of a job and 75% of their earned income is put into savings in preparation for independent living. The residents receive food, clothing, housing, life skills counseling, budgeting courses, tutoring for children, funding for transportation, assistance with obtaining employment and weekly goal monitoring. The average stay for a family is 35-50 days. www.safehaven.org

Second Harvest Food Bank's mission is "To feed the hungry in Middle Tennessee while reducing food waste through an efficient system of collection and distribution." Kid's Café feeds 2,600 children in low-income neighborhoods; Community Food Partners supplies 500 nonprofit agencies in 46 Tennessee counties; Emergency Food Box provides groceries to anyone who asks; Project Preserve cans and freezes perishable food for distribution to food banks nationwide; The Mobile Pantry delivers large quantities of food to rural communities for distribution from a central location on a designated day; and Nashville's Table collects excess perishable food from restaurants and bakeries for feeding programs. Last year, Second Harvest distributed more than 12 million pounds of food to hungry men, women and children in the Middle Tennessee area.  Each summer FPC-Nashville collects food items for Second Harvest at a time when donations are traditionally low.  www.secondharvestnashville.org

Siloam Family Health Center is a faith-based, volunteer supported primary and specialty care clinic that provides affordable, high-quality health care to the uninsured, underserved and those unable to access benefits because of time, money or language barriers. Care includes treating acutely and chronically ill patients, as well as providing disease prevention, health promotion and education. Patients include the unemployed, working poor and the homeless. More than 80% are refugees or immigrants coming from 100 different homelands and speaking almost as many languages. www.siloamhealth.org

Y-CAP, the YMCA's Community Action Project, is a Christ-centered intervention ministry for at-risk children and families. Their services are built upon a foundation of respect for individuals and the unique struggles in their lives. This is done by implementing an action plan designed to give both families and individuals the means to create a legacy of hope for their youth and the generation that follows. www.ymcamidtn.org

Young Life Nashville works in local high schools and middle schools to provide strong, positive influences in the lives of young people. Caring adult volunteers establish lasting friendships built on trust and shared life experiences. The program consists of weekly "club" meetings for each local school, two annual week-end camping experiences at one of Young Life's national properties, one week-long summer outreach camping trip and weekly discipleship groups at each club. www.younglife.org