Freeway Ministries building West Central community hub

Freeway Ministries Inc. is at work on a facility to offer skills training and mentorship for at-risk children and teens.

The organization is renovating the former Broadway Bible Church, a 7,600-square-foot building at 501 S. Broadway Ave. in the city’s West Central neighborhood, into The Legacy Center.

Architect Nathan Burkholder of Burkholder Architecture LLC has designed the renovated facility.

“The mission is to provide at-risk children and families with love, mentorship and a safe place to grow spiritually and practically,” Burkholder said via email.

A website for the project describes The Legacy Center as a community hub offering youth mentoring and discipleship, trade and life skills programs and a faith-based rewards system.

Key to its programming is practical instruction in construction, cooking, home maintenance, gardening and technology with biblical integration, the website states. Children and teens can earn points for participation and character and redeem them at an on-site store for food, clothing, books and hygiene items, the website states.

Also planned are weekly Bible studies and family support programs, including counseling, parenting support and community workshops.

John Stroup, executive director of Freeway Ministries, said that canvassing the neighborhood was important to determine what the facility’s offerings would be.

“We did a canvass and asked people what they thought the neighborhood needed, and one of the biggest things was food,” he said.

Volunteers also learned that children in the neighborhood lack a safe place to play, Stroup said, and parents are afraid to let their kids go outside.

Freeway Ministries officials describe the neighborhood as one of Springfield’s most vulnerable. They state that a quarter of the children live in poverty, with high rates of homelessness, family instability and crime and addiction.

A fundraising campaign to sustain the center’s programming is underway, and one-time or repeating donations are sought, Stroup said.

The center will be operated by urban missionaries Angel and Rachel Morales, the project’s Facebook page states. The two are leading the demolition and renovation work, building a ministry team and cultivating relationships in the neighborhood, an introductory post states.

Stroup said Angel Morales is serving as the general contractor for the project. He added that Morales comes from poverty in his home country of Honduras, and Stroup himself came from poverty and homelessness.

“We both have the heart to see at-risk families come out of poverty,” he said.

Stroup added that urban mission work succeeds because it recognizes the subculture and speaks the language of the community it serves.

He said Freeway Ministries has been operational for 14 years with weekly programming, but he knew that it would not be possible to make an impact on a weekly basis.

“The church is good at doing events, but it’s not as good at doing life,” he said.

The building for The Legacy Center was donated, he said, and a fundraising campaign raised $800,000 for the renovation.

Stroup said partners are on board, including mechanics who will teach auto repair. The facility will also have a hair salon where young people can gain some work experience and a haircut for school. Multiple other programs are in the works as well, he said.

“We’re going to be a lighthouse in that neighborhood,” he said.

Freeway Ministries volunteers provided 2,500 bags of groceries to 516 households in the neighborhood in a 90-minute period before Thanksgiving, Stroup said.