Our Mission
Charlottesville Abundant Life Ministries (CALM) is a partnership among the residents of the Prospect Avenue neighborhood (including Blue Ridge Commons Apartments, Prospect & Orangedale Avenues, and Bailey Road), local churches, and Trinity Presbyterian (our founding church partner). This partnership between residents and church volunteers began in 1995. Together, we desire to address spiritual, educational, and economic needs by offering Christ-centered programs and by sharing our lives together.
Our Community
Prospect is a neighborhood of nearly 400 primarily single-parent, African-American families as well as several Hispanic families who have recently moved to the area. Community assets include a Residents’ Council, a small neighborhood Resident Center, the presence of several Christian families, nearby Forest Hills Park, the recently renovated Blue Ridge Commons Apartments (HUD funded), Buford Middle School, proximity to the University of Virginia and its hospital, the Computers 4 Kids/Connected Community center, and the Abundant Life Center. The Prospect/Orangedale community, though, is one of five federally-defined low income neighborhoods in the city of Charlottesville. Nearly half of the adult residents have not completed high school; unemployment and underemployment are common. About 70% percent of the residents are among the "working poor;" 30% are fully reliant on public assistance. Sometimes drug trafficking is observable in the community with violence occasionally erupting; at other times, seasons of relative calm prevail.
Our Approach
CALM believes in whole-family, holistic ministry, with incentive-based programming. Parents of children enrolled in tutoring, for example, complete two hours of parent service. Children learn about the predictable consequences of their behavior by earning "blue bucks" which are redeemed at our monthly "store" and for special field trips.
Our programming spans grades 1 through 12; our desire is to develop long-term, lasting friendships with parents and children in order to share the love of Christ and encourage the positive development of our community.
Prayer undergirds our activities and we teach Biblical principles in many of our adult and youth programs. It is our aim to depend upon God, to seek to glorify Him in all we do, and to live out the Gospel in our actions as well as our words so that more people will be drawn to Christ.
Our Long-term Strategic Plan
Five goals guide our program development:
q Home-grown Leadership Development
q Parental Involvement
q A Community of Faith
q Adult & Family Economic Development
q Ministry Sustainability
Our Director
Rydell Payne has been our Executive Director since September 1999 when he brought an abundance of new ideas and energy to Abundant Life. Rydell and his wife, Hope, have three small boys and are members of Christ Community Church. Rydell has a passion for seeing the Body of Christ "unleashed" in ministry in the local community and has a heart for the poor and needy. Prior to working for Abundant Life, Rydell served at-risk youth at the City’s Community Attention program for twelve years. He is a former board member of Love, INC and a graduate of JMU (and of Fluvanna County High School).
Amy Sherman, Abundant Life’s founding director, still lives nearby but now writes and speaks about community development issues nationwide.