Thank you to those who supported our spring break trips!

As the kids returned from their spring break trips, the stories began. Kids were smiling, and joking, reliving, in detail, each moment of their travels outside of Camden. The other kids were intently listening and laughing at their friend’s exploits. Stories that will be told for years and years, bringing a thirst for exploration to everyone that hears.

I’m amazed at the impact and vision it gives a kid, as they experience a world outside of Camden. There eyes are open to a new way of life. Similar, I guess, to the way my eyes were open when I first came to Camden. I had never experienced such amazing children, living in such a harsh environment. Parks covered with broken beer bottles and drug needles. Streets where sewage leaks out of the gutter after a heavy rain. Houses where roaches infest the walls and some children sleep without beds. The reality of living in poverty can be overwhelming. It is hard to see as a kid loses hope of a brighter future.

That’s why I’m always struck with emotion as I hear kids tell of the tails that happened on their Spring Break Trip. Because even though I know their environment is the same, I know their world has changed.

Thank you to everyone that sponsored our trips, I can’t think of a better investment than the dreams of children.

Joshua Brady
Co-Director of Children’s Ministry

UrbanPromise thanks Suburban Promise!

After 7 years in Urban Ministry, I have seen some amazing success stories but also my share of heartache. I have seen too many kid’s lives gone before it feels like they had a chance to get started. Sometimes what feels the worst is the number of kids you know you could help, if only you had more time and resources? The need for kids to be invested in is so great, especially in Camden where 50% of the population is under 21 years old. The question is, how do we get more people involved?

That question was answered in a dramatic fashion as a few ladies in Haddonfield had watched the 20/20 show and decided they wanted to do something. These enthusiastic ladies decided they were going to call themselves Suburban Promise and connect people and resources to our ministry and it turns out they really meant it.

In the past year, we have had numerous volunteers connected to Suburban Promise come in to help out with everything from the Extreme Homemaker show to tutoring programs for the kids. They have provided hundreds of Christmas presents for kids, hundreds of candy bags for the Harvest Carnival, and food for Thanksgiving Dinners that fed around 3,000 people. They also helped us fundraise for several of our children’s trips as well as having Urban Promise interns over to their houses for a nice meal.

They have done all these things and have never seen the smiles on the kids faces or heard mothers say bless you (in what feels like a thousand times) as you drop off gifts to their houses. They will probably never hear as the kids regularly talk about the fond and vivid memories they have of the trips they’ve been on with UrbanPromise. For these ladies, it has never been about what they see, or experience, it’s been about what the children see and experience. They are promise builders. For the lives they impacted and the encouragement they have been, I am deeply thankful.

Josh Brady
UrbanPromise Children’s Ministry

Anyone Can Fly Foundation

Students in the CamdenForward School art classes have been very busy this year creating art based on the work of two prominent African American visual artists from the time of Harlem Renaissance. These studies and artworks have been made possible by a grant from The Anyone Can Fly Foundation, (www.anyonecanfly.org) started by the contemporary artist, Faith Ringgold whose work can be seen in museums and galleries worldwide.

In October the third through sixth grade classes learned about the collage techniques of Romare Bearden and created collages that depict personal and family rituals, as well as the surrounding buildings on the UrbanPromise campus. Some of the resulting collaborations have been permanently displayed in our new student center in a frieze-like border to resemble a work by Bearden depicting an urban block in Harlem, his home neighborhood.

In March these same classes worked on tempera paintings based on the art of Jacob Lawrence. His street scenes including the figures, colors and patterns found in bustling urban neighborhoods inspired our students to create scenes from their personal worlds, of places where people work hard in a variety of ways to build community.

Trish Maunder, a local art educator from Moorestown who is associated with the Anyone Can Fly Foundation, has been co-teaching these specific lessons and brings a wealth of knowledge and experience in relating to our children the amazing gifts these artists have to share.

Look for a special evening in late Spring of 2008 when all these works will be unveiled for viewing. UrbanPromise wishes to thank The Anyone Can Fly Foundation for its investment in these talented students!


Faith Ringgold & Julie Kring-Schreifels, UrbanPromise art director

UPA Art Students attend Camden County Arts 4 Teens Festival

On Wed., March 19, ten students from Urban Promise Academy attended the Camden County sponsored Arts 4 Teens Arts Festival on the Rutgers University Camden campus. Each student was invited to present and display one artwork which they had created in our weekly art classes this year. Artworks were then individually critiqued by festival judges.

The works were exhibited along with art from 12 other area high schools. Judges were extremely complimentary of all the UPA student works, and chose five pieces out of the ten to become a part of the county and state wide traveling exhibits later this year! Congratulations to all our fine art students, Daniela Martinez, Andre White, Carmen Minquela, Samantha Lugardo, Josh Daniels, Richard Gaines, Braheem Williams, Jennifer Rosado, Jessamine Marquez and Ken Rodriquez.

Artworks that were chosen for the County exhibit were done by Josh Daniels and Richard Gaines. Traveling to the state wide exhibit will be artworks by Daniela Martinez, Andre White and Braheem Williams.

An Incredible Journey


In February, UrbanPromise art director, Julie Kring-Schreifels, journeyed with the Monarch Teacher Network to the central highlands of Mexico to experience the completion of the incredible journey of the migratory Monarch butterflies that she and the rest of the CamdenForward School community have been studying.

These photos were taken at the El Rosario Sanctuary just west of Mexico City in the Oyamel Fir forests which provide the temperate climate the Monarchs need from November through March to overwinter before beginning their journey back north. This sanctuary is one of twelve forest locations in the surrounding mountains where millions of Monarchs, virtually all of the ones whose life cycle begins in the United States and Canada east of the Rocky Mountains, will gather for the cold weather months. While on the trip Julie and other teachers from New Jersey visited a small school on a remote island within a lake located near the butterfly sanctuaries to share our their common interests in this miraculous migration of more than 2000 miles. She brought a book to present to the teachers which chronicled in English and Spanish the CamdenForward School students’ study of the life cycle and celebration of the release of the Monarchs that were raised on their way to Mexico last September.

Urban Trekkers director, Jim Cummings, is very interested in continuing this relationship with our friends at Monarch Teacher Network and possibly planning a trip for his high school Urban Trekkers in the future. If you are interested in more details about the trip, Julie has hundreds more photos where these came from! Contact her at jkringschreifels@urbanpromiseusa.org.

UrbanTrekkers traveled to the Florida Everglades during their 2008 Spring Break.

A Double Crested Cormorant surfaced the water right before our eyes and enjoyed a Florida Catfish for it's lunch on the Anhinga Trail.

UrbanTrekkers on their Everglades National Park Eco Tour...It's only after a trip like this, reading student journals, looking at our pictures and videos that I begin to realize how much I've challenged and stretched my students. One week of hiking, swamp walks, canoeing, snorkeling, lectures, early wake-ups and early lights out is an extraordinary adventure...not necessarily a vacation for them or our adult leaders. But I know this...we keep on doing it because something very special is happening. Enjoy our pictures.

Peace for there is joy in the journey,
Mr. C

Sixteen students and five adults trekked to the Everglades national Park for the annual Trekkers Eco Tour. It was my hope to inspire a sense of wonder about the regions natural treasures. By giving my students an up close and tactile experience with this endangered eco-system; so rich in bio-diversity they will hopefully be better able to understand our role as caretakers and what it means Biblically "to have dominion over" all the flora and fauna.

Tag, You're it! For most of us a simple childhood game played in our own backyards as children. The UrbanTrekkers were exuberant as they dashed about the lush subtropical yard/garden at the Florida City Everglades Hostel. With its Gumbo-Limbo trees, palms, and wild orchid plants it looked like a tropical jungle compared to the streets of Camden. They welcomed their free time. Our days were starting early with full schedules of learning and exploration and I had taken them way outside of their comfort zones.

UrbanTrekkers posing under a Strangler Fig during their 2008 Everglades Eco Tour.