EBENEZER COMMUNITY OUTREACH

Serving the Community

The Ebenezer Community Outreach Center (ECOC) is a 501(C)(3) faith-based organization whose mission is to provide services to meet the social, as well as economic, needs of the community. We were established in 1999. Over the last 15 years, the Ebenezer Community Outreach Center, in collaboration with Mt. Ebenezer Baptist Church, has worked incessantly to provide quality programs and services for the residents of East Garfield Park, West Garfield Park, Humboldt Park, North Lawndale, South Lawndale, and Austin communities (known as our service area). According to the 2010 Census, greater than 30% of the households within our service area are single parent homes that are living at or below the poverty level, which makes the programs and services that ECOC provides critically important.

While carrying out these programs, we have seen that the greatest need is for our youth. For many of the children within our service area the only exposure they have to social and cultural activities is either through Chicago Public Schools or community based organizations. Because of the ensuing crisis of school closures and gun violence, our communities have been at the forefront of heated debates. This has caused a tremendous concern for the families in our service area. It has also sparked a community wide dialogue on how to provide some alternative solutions, which will provide a strengthened educational network and a safe-haven for our youth.