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750 Glenwood Ave SE P.O. Box 17628 Atlanta, GA 30316 Phone: 404-627-4304 Fax: 404-624-5299 Email: info@fcsministries.org |
Family Consultation Service (FCS) was established in 1976 as a nonprofit counseling agency for low-income clients. Originally serving children and families referred by Atlanta area juvenile courts, it eventually broadened its mission to pursue lasting solutions to some of the underlying causes of poverty.
Today, FCS Urban Ministries (as it is now known) is a community development organization. It focuses its work almost exclusively in four adjacent urban Atlanta neighborhoods: Summerhill, Grant Park, East Lake and South Atlanta. With a staff of sixty, most of whom live in these neighborhoods, FCS constructs housing, operates businesses and education programs for at-risk children, and provides other human services. It works closely with churches to mobilize people and resources that bring hope and creative new options to the city. Attracting middle-income people of faith to relocate in urban communities has been one of the ministry's most significant efforts. It has developed four mixed-income subdivisions and is currently implementing this reneighboring strategy throughout the entire South Atlanta community. Its goal is to create in the midst of urban blight wholesome places for families to flourish. Word from Bob Lupton  The call that I first felt while serving in the armed forces in Vietnam eventually caused me to leave a budding business career and pursue a ministry with delinquent urban youth. It did not take long to figure out that if this work was to have lasting effect on troubled young lives, we would have to become involved with their families. Family Consultation Service (FCS) was formed for that purpose. In time, however, it became apparent that our effectiveness would be limited unless we could find ways to change the environment that impacted so negatively upon them every time they stepped out of their door. Thus, FCS Urban Ministries emerged into a Christian community development organization. Our mission statement has become: creating healthy places in the city where families flourish and God's shalom is present.FCS has blossomed over the years into a rather holistic ministry with a broad range of services including an array of youth programs, support for families and seniors, housing, economic development, church planting and educational programs. None of these is particularly unique in itself; however, when focused on a single neighborhood with the aim of community transformation, the effects can be dramatic. When invited to partner with a neglected neighborhood, FCS takes the lead in developing a comprehensive revitalization plan, mobilizes needed expertise and resources to implement the plan, and recruits "strategic neighbors" to help re-neighbor the community with strong, committed new neighbor-leaders. The goal is to re-create a stable, mixed-income community that is safe, socially and spiritually healthy, and economically viable. Bob Lupton, President |
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