Today we’d like to introduce you to Howard Beckham.
Hi Howard, we’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
Through my role as pastor of New Jerusalem Baptist Church, I founded Integrity Transformations Community Development Corporation. Integrity CDC began back in 1995 out of my church’s desire to expand our ministry into the English Avenue and Vine City communities. I assessed the needs and created the New Jerusalem Community Ministries. Homelessness was a major issue, so the ministry began to feed the homeless and working poor and established a community resource center that provided residents with referrals and vouchers to a multiplicity of service providers.
As the community changed, so did the needs, and workforce development began to emerge as a critical need for residents. In 2010 we changed our ministry’s name to Integrity Transformations CDC and workforce development became our primary focus.
Six years ago, the Arthur M. Blank Family Foundation also saw a need and built upon the 19-year recruitment and job placement success of Integrity CDC and created Westside Works, a long-term neighborhood program focused on creating employment opportunities and job training for residents of the historic Westside community.
After completing our assignment at Westside Works, we established the Community Job Connection which is a program that through our mobile units carries our services through the community. The CJC program was extremely helpful during the pandemic as our facility was closed and helped to address the impediments that many of our participants had as it relates to transportation. Our mobile units would take our services to the communities and residents in various apartment complexes and other community events as we collaborate with other partners. We also included in that job connection a vast network of workforce development agencies and social services providers. Through the Community Job Connection, we have had a major impact upon the unemployed and underemployed residents of the westside communities of Atlanta and the City of Atlanta in general.
We established a re-entry program called (The Westside Bridge) program which offers services, support, and opportunities to individuals who are justice-involved, returning citizens returning from incarceration who need that support to get back on track and acclimated to society. We also have our Professional Development program called the (NET) which offers soft skills and job readiness training to individuals who are seeking employment. It helps them to deal with the attitudinal barriers they have that have hindered them from moving forward in the workplace and in life in general. We have also established our new Forklift Training program which is a two-week program that offers forklift certification and job placement to individuals who would like to enter the field of Logistics. Integrity has become a major major player as it relates to economic empowerment, economic inclusion on the Westside of Atlanta. We also have been a major major support to individuals as they are now recovering from the pandemic. We are at a place now where we are looking forward to a very bright future as we have served thousands of Atlanta residents and Westside residents as well. We look forward to continuing to help people who are recovering from the downfall they have experienced due to the pandemic.
We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
It has been a winding road due to the challenges of people we serve, the economic realities on the Westside of Atlanta and the devastation brought by the Covid pandemic. Integrity Transformations was created as a vehicle to transform the residents and neighborhoods of English Avenue, Vine City and other contiguous 30314 and 30318 communities through mechanisms of economic empowerment, affordable housing options and motivational case management. We began as a Community Development Corporation that provided resources for employment and training that enhances job readiness for over 6000 Westside job seekers and entrepreneurs. We also assist in housing acquisition, renovation and construction while providing resources for financial literacy and homeownership to area residents. We constantly take the pulse of community members and recently learned that neighborhood residents mainly want jobs and entrepreneurial support in order to promote self-sufficiency. As a result, we retooled our focus and became an employment engine via our Community Job Connection. So the name “Transformations” has not only meant transforming our community, but our organization has had to transform as well to effectively respond to the needs of our constituents.
Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your work?
I’m a native Atlantan who was raised in and still lives in the Westside of Atlanta. I’ve been a minister since my training at Dixie Hills First Baptist Church of Atlanta and received my ordination in 1991. I recognize that one of the basic responsibilities of my calling is to minister to my flock, which includes more than those sitting in the church pews, but the local community as well. So, I have been able to fulfill two life missions during my tenure at New Jerusalem: my calling to reach the lost and edify the saved through clear, biblical preaching and teaching, and my passion for uplifting the disadvantaged and the economically challenged by extending mechanisms of economic empowerment and self-sufficiency. Immediately upon my appointment to New Jerusalem, the church executed an assessment of the needs of the community and established New Jerusalem Community Ministries as its outreach arm. The outreach mission was to develop and implement ministries to serve the residents of the community. A food ministry was established in 1995 that fed over 500 of the homeless and working poor of the community for 12 years. In 2003 the ministry initiated the English Avenue Community Resource Center, a service which offered referrals and vouchers to Westside residents to connect them to social service providers and employment. Grace Period Transitional Home for Women in Recovery was also established in 2003 and assisted over 100 women in overcoming addictions and alcoholism.
In 2010 the ministry changed its name to Integrity Transformations Community Development Corporation and began to focus more on economic empowerment and opportunities. This new focus gave birth to the English Avenue/Vine City Employment Resource Center and Project Work Ready, which morphed into Westside Works. Integrity also operates the NET Professional Development 101 program and The Bridge, a program that is offered to render support and services to returning citizens and individuals with criminal background-related issues. Through its workforce development efforts, the ministry has placed over 2000 Westside residents into full-time jobs.
Do you have any advice for those looking to network or find a mentor?
Each of us must have goals in life and we often require direction and focus in order to attain those goals. Through our case management, we encourage all clients to seek mentors who are in the professions that they desire or those who have achieved goals that clients aspire to. Attending events and joining professional organizations are two of the best forms of networking. What has worked well with me has been associating with like-minded individuals who strive for similar purposes. I have a long history of civic, social and community activism as a result of my ministerial calling so I have mentored and been mentored by politicians, community and business leaders, along with church members. Joining various community collaboratives have held that dual role as well. My current and past affiliations include Former President of English Avenue/Vine City Ministerial Alliance; Past President of English Avenue Neighborhood Association; Steering Committee Member of the Atlanta Mayor’s Office of Weed and Seed; Member of the Westside Community Benefits Plan Committee; Member of the Association of Fundraising Professionals; and Member of the Atlanta Baptist Ministers Union. In 2018, I was the recipient of the “Community Trailblazer Award” by the 100 Black Men of Atlanta.
Contact Info:
- Email: jmcdaniel@integritycdc.org
- Website: integritycdc.org
