common ground montgomery news and updates

board names justin hampton as new executive director

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Common Ground Montgomery (CGM), a youth and community development ministry in Montgomery, Alabama, today announced that Justin Hampton was selected as the executive director by the board of directors, effective July 10, 2017. Hampton succeeds CGM founder Bryan Kelly as executive director. Kelly remains on staff, teaching and mentoring, as well as continuing to develop networking and donor relations for CGM's Montgomery efforts and beyond.

Of his new role, Hampton said: "I can think of no greater pursuit than leading the Washington Park focused efforts of CGM. It’s where I played my youth football. It’s where I graduated from high school (St. Jude). It’s where I attended church services as a child. It’s where my mother and her eight siblings were raised. Its love is deeply rooted in my heart and its success in this season is my calling."

"We believe God is shaping our organization towards expanded and deeper impact where we are in the Washington Park community, but also towards growth into other Montgomery areas and beyond," said Kelly. "By expanding our leadership team, we will be able to pivot our organization and grow our impact towards replication and training other leaders to do transformative works in other areas of poverty."

Hampton, a graduate of Tuskegee University, worked with CGM for five years before leaving to get his Master's Degree in Public Administration from the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University. Prior to returning back to Montgomery, Hampton lived in Washington, D.C., and worked as a management consultant with Booz Allen Hamilton.

CGM is a youth and community development ministry, whose programs include an after school program, summer camp, college internship program, and student mentoring. It was started in 2006 to serve the Washington Park and Gibbs Village community of west Montgomery.

a new breeze and a new direction

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BY JUSTIN HAMPTON

There is a very long story that is summed up in two words. Here’s the short and sweet of it: I QUIT! 

Okay, okay, hold up before you flood your hearts with judgment and criticisms of how I’m running away from social responsibility or abandoning the kids that look up to me so much. Give me a chance to explain why. 

Last July the brother of a Tuskegee classmate of mine accompanied a volunteer group down to CGM for a few days to assist in their service project on our campus. It was my first time meeting him face to face, but the Facebook chats and profile pictures I’d seen of him clued me in on one thing about him; he worked at Harvard.

As you can imagine, a position at a university of that magnitude raised all sorts of questions on my end. Many of which were addressed in our conversation. He told me about his position and the potential for people to apply to that position. He shared how it affords him and his family the chance to live on campus and avoid the hefty rent prices of the local Boston area, all while serving as administration and pursuing a graduate degree.

My response to him was, “I’d love to do something like that.”

To which said, “Really? Because Harvard needs people just like you!”

Later I found out that he said that to many other people besides me, but in my naivety I just believed him. His small statement led to what became a yearlong pursuit of admittance into a school that has a 95% rejection rate. His little paradigm shattering statement that made me believe I was more valuable to them than they were to me, initiated months of GRE prep, essay writing, resume polishing, personal visits, phone calls, test taking, emailing, and prayer, that each would log in an entire book chapter should I divulge the details of God’s hand throughout. Suffice it to say, I applied in December 2014 with a GRE score that was comparable to Harvard grad students so I was at least hopeful. 

Now I had to figure out how it was going to get paid for. I began researching ways to fund an education that would tally an excess of $50,0000 per year and came across a fellowship provided by the former owner of BET. America’s first black female billionaire, Ms. Sheila C. Johnson had, just one year prior to my application, established a scholarship that was designed for “under-represented groups that are seeking to close disparities in under-served communities.” It was like she was looking at my CGM profile and made a scholarship just for me. One that could potentially cover tuition and my health insurance for the duration of my Masters in Public Administration program. 

The fellowship had its own criteria. Essays, personal CV, face to face interview, recommendations, and a process that shaved down their applicant pool from over 400 to only an eventual four chosen fellows for the 2015-2016 school year. Again, because I felt like my background and current work fit their expectations so perfectly, it seemed as if it was meant to be. So… I applied for that, too. 

The limbo between both application deadlines and being accepted or rejected was a little nerve racking. With the admission application due in December and the fellowship application due in February, I didn’t have much downtime between the latter and the early March release of the school’s decision. I waited in eager anticipation, prayer, fasting, and an unusual calm more akin to a kid who knows Christmas is in the morning and that something good is under the tree. 

I was at work on March 11, when my email from the Harvard Kennedy School of Government admissions committee came with the headline, “update to your admission status.” I knew exactly what the link in that email was going to direct me to: a day of exuberant celebration, or one of disappointment and re-strategizing my family’s future. I called my wife and said, “Baby, I think this is it, it's yes or no.”

With her on the phone I clicked the link that sent me to a video where the headline and the first words of the video were the same: CONGRATULATIONS!! I erupted in the office with shouts like my team had just won the Super Bowl. I high-fived my coworkers, accidentally hung up on my wife, and within seconds was back in my chair streaming tears of pure joy and gratitude toward my heavenly Father. I put my head down on my desk for a few minutes and just wept. It was an emotion unlike any other. One that brought together both the climax of the hard work I’d put into the application process and the personal development I’d undergone at CGM through no compulsion of my own. I realized in that moment that my qualifications were intellectual, professional, and academic. However, my application was approved not so much by a large committee assessing my life and character, but by a committee of one. I know I’m not Jesus but in that moment it felt like God was saying, “This is my son in whom I am well pleased.” It was a deep affirmation knowing that ultimately God opened this door and it was He who really thought me worthy of the opportunity.

The trials, losses, failures, triumphs, relationships, programs, and personalities that have poured into me intentionally and unintentionally over the course of the last four and half years had qualified me. Every death or imprisonment of a student, every victory, every graduation, every day was a classroom, training ground, and an experience that was unlike anything else Harvard had seen. That’s no credit to me. I didn’t create the circumstances. I just tried to learn from them. 

A few weeks after getting this life changing news another email arrived. It was news that I was a finalist for the fellowship. They flew me, along with 13 other applicants, up for personal interviews with a panel that grilled us with questions in the quickest interview I’d ever been in. During which time another interesting revelation occurred to me. I hadn't been on a competitive interview since college because I’d always worked in places no one else wanted to go. Strangely this revelation gave me the freedom to just “do me.” I could be myself knowing that truly this wasn’t a competition per se. It was just them, getting to know me. And when they asked me about a time my program didn’t work, and the ensuing explanation of the loss of one of my kids brought tears to my eyes and to the eyes of one of the panelists, the facade of professionalism was broken for the remainder of my 20 minutes. I was a bit embarrassed having cried in my interview. I emailed them a thank you for the opportunity and an apology if I was too unprofessional. But, in spite of my emotional response they must have liked me, because when financial aid decisions came out, they awarded me the fellowship. 

So basically The LORD has given me admittance to arguably one of the most prestigious schools on the planet, and paid every scholarly expense and then some. IT’S CRAZY!! All that to say, my time at CGM is quickly coming to a close. My family and I are slated to move in June with classes beginning in July. By this time next year I, the middle school bible study guy, will be finishing up a Mid-Career Masters in Public Administration degree alongside classmates that are current international diplomats, government officials, former special forces, and future prime ministers and presidents. What specifically the Lord has in store for me is anyone’s guess. All I know is that at this point it is pointless to doubt the possibilities. 

Please celebrate with my family and I, but most of all pray for our transition and for the transition of CGM and the youth that my heart is so attached to. God has amazing things in store both for me and for all of them. But for now I must humbly, and with mixed emotion, submit my letter of resignation to an organization that has indelibly shaped my life and destiny.

Thank you Common Ground Montgomery, you and the people that comprise your heartbeat will never be forgotten. 

 

when you can't change anyone

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BY JUSTIN HAMPTON

It may sound simple, but one of the toughest lessons to learn as an agent of change is that you literally can’t change anyone. As we've had the privilege to watch many of the youth in our program grow up from lovable elementary school students, to high school students being enticed by every temptation imaginable, a funny thing begins to set in. Some of them, if not most of them “get it.”

Many of the boys that were once knuckle heads, weed smoking, gang-sign throwing, rabble-rousers are now leading the charge for a life devoted to Christ. We have some high school young men that are literally traveling around the southeast United States performing their recorded gospel rap music before audiences of seeking youth. These young men that were once on generational paths of destruction are now snatching others out of those same patterns and leading hearts to commit to the Lord Jesus! 

Seeing them gives me hope. Hope that the ten or so middle school boys currently in my program will “get it” too. That the current batch of young men, hardened by life circumstances and unfathomable conditions, will be receptive to the gospel as well. It's a long road however.

My boys are just entering adolescence and are experiencing the same negative draw that the previous generations of youth have experienced. They are relating to girls differently, visualizing their futures differently, and believing different things about themselves. The innocence of wanting to be a fireman, policeman, cartoonist, or astronaut has long subsided and is now replaced by mixed aspirations .

Often I’ve felt that its my responsibility to revive their dreams; to rekindle that innocent heart that lives behind the tough facade used to mask their hurts. But, as the temporary nature of both my assignment at Common Ground Montgomery, and in fact on this Earth, are made more evident with each passing year, I’ve begun to understand that the responsibility to change lives rests not with me or my efforts, but with the power of God.

Sometimes it's two steps forward and three steps back. One of our most troubled young men got elected as the middle school class president, helped bring order to a disruptive classroom through his leadership, and then got suspended the following week for his own participation in a fight. The silver lining in the clouds is always a source of encouragement, but if we are not careful that same source of hope can serve to drag our morale down if it goes unrecognized, uncelebrated, or is simply non-existent.

We work hard, and sometimes the fruit of our labor shows and sometimes it doesn’t. If we seek to gain our satisfaction and sense of accomplishment from the visible strides made in character, or morality, of one of our youth, we stand on unstable ground. No matter how many trips they take, classes they attend, talks they receive, or bible studies they endure, there is no guarantee of transformation. I’ve learned that my responsibility is to simply stand in prayerful hope that our efforts will plant seeds of change and water existing ones. My measure of success is not in the number of souls saved, students graduated, or families moved into new housing. It can only be in my willingness to yield to the empowering grace of God.

until you step back

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BY JUSTIN HAMPTON

In the type of work that we do at Common Ground Montgomery, we can often get caught up in the belief that the fruit of our efforts won't be seen, or even felt, for generations. The idea that we shouldn’t expect to see the fruits of righteousness in the children we serve can be a perpetuated thought that is given its legs in an attempt to insulate ourselves from disappointment.

We work long hours.

We tearfully pray for the life and destiny-threatening obstacles our kids face.

We watch as all too often they make poor choices and apparently disregard all the advice and so-called wisdom that we offer.

That is what we see in the moment. That is what we see when we correct a kid. That can be the daily unrewarding experience if we let it be. That is urban ministry --- until you step back; until you see the larger landscape of what God is doing here. 

Over the years we have developed ministries out of necessity. As children got older new programs had to be created that would not only create a safe place for them to be, but to inspire and introduce these aging students to change their lives and attitudes. At each phase the obstacles they face change just as their environments change.

Elementary students grow from being corrected in their respect for authority, to having to be educated about physical changes they experience and relational advances from the opposite sex. And as the program evolves for them it can appear as if the student enrolled is the same stubborn kid, destined to be like so many of their peers and on the road to continuing the cycles of poverty and pain that characterize their community --- until you step back.

Addressing new issues met with the same resistance as old ones can be frustrating until you realize that you aren’t addressing old issues because you really don’t need to anymore. The things you used to stress with this same kid don’t need to be stressed anymore because they are more mature, they have grown, they have learned. It sounds simple, but over the course of the last four or five years I’ve had the privilege to watch an amazing phenomenon: maturity.

Its growth is slow and its fruit is only seen by the most keen eye in the short term, but it is here. We now have high school youth in our urban entrepreneur program that were once 5th graders getting homework help and being told to respect their elders and given hugs for having achievement stickers on their school papers. These same students are now considering their post high school options; and good options, too. Some are preparing for college, others for joining the military, but all for a productive life, and most with the Lord leading it.

Our high school kids are what we have been looking for. They are what we have been praying for. They are the change we long to see as they continue to grow and produce two-parent families that honor the Lord, that care about their neighbors and communities, that know their worth, and see that they will not only change this neighborhood, but change the world.

Although it gets tough we have been watching the Lord bring the increase. As we plant and water he makes it grow, and the pace of growth can be painfully slow --- until you step back.