Our Mission
What is Third Place?
Third Place was created with a very simple concept in mind: the young people who walk these urban neighborhood streets have a home, a school and/or job, but they need a third place to belong. Third Place is a "home away from home", one where they know they can be safe, encouraged, known, welcomed, and loved.
Third Place will offer what other free community resources do not, which is the opportunity to build healthy relationships with people who are invested in the success of their whole person: physically/practically (Safe), relationally (Known), and spiritually (Free). Third Place will offer local youth a place to connect with both mentors and peers, have fun, learn new skills, translate dreams into goals, and most importantly, experience the love of Jesus in the context of community.
Learn to do right; seek justice.
Defend the oppressed.
Take up the cause of the fatherless;
plead the case of the widow.
Isaiah 1:17
why do urban youth need a "Third Place"?
Because, often through no fault of their own, people in the city do not have the same access to healthy emotional, physical, relational, and spiritual support systems as other demographics. Without a proper support system and life skills, we are all destined to repeat the destructive cycles of the generations before us.
At its core, Third Place exists to stand in the gap for youth that would otherwise fall through the cracks of broken system and become life-long victims of injustice and oppression.
Our Core Values:
We believe that the love of Jesus offers safety and true freedom through authentic, healthy relationships in the context of community.
We believe that all people matter, have value, and should be rightly named.
We believe that we all have a past full of junk but that all people are redeemable by God’s grace.