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On January 21st, Neila Baumilienė, Gintė Genender and Aistė Furajevaitė from KFF visited Mercy Center in the South Bronx where they've met with Stephen Stritch (Executive Director), Paula Sarro (Associate Executive Director), Mary Quinlan (Director of Development) and Cheryl Slavin (Development Manager/Grant Writer). Kazickas Family Foundation has partnered up with Mercy Center to help fund center's programs.
KFF representatives chatted with center's workers, checked out classrooms full of participants, and visited brand new center's second location that opened its doors just past fall. Center's representatives were happy to share its 25 years of experience that KFF could apply in order to strengthen its sponsored programs in Lithuania.
Mercy Center is a community center in Mott Haven offering programs and services that enpower women and their families to reach their full potential and to become agents of change for healthy family living and economic independence. Center promotes an improved quality of life by addressing the needs of the whole person in a community of respect, hospitality and non-violence.
Mercy Center is home to one of the poorest Congressional Districts (16th) in the United States.
Through programs and a full complement of support services, Mercy Center addresses four critical problems facing people who live in the Mott Haven section of the South Bronx:
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unemployment and economic poverty
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violent and oppressive behaviors in families and the community
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overburdened and underperforming schools
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the powerlessness and estrangement that accompanies the isolation of the immigrant experience
At Mercy Center participants experience the community, skill building and transformation that empowers them to take charge of their future and pursue their goals for an improved quality of life.
Photo: KFF Archives