Mission Areas

The Church Audit references “Mission areas” which reflect neighborhood needs and challenges. Respondents are asked to rank the following nine areas most commonly mentioned.

1. Housing: Rising housing costs stem from an increasing demand for affordable workforce housing amidst a limited supply. This takes the form of rental units and home ownership.
2. Childcare: The availability of affordable childcare is a growing concern for society, particularly in light of stagnant family income. This often results in dependance on family members who are retired, e.g., grandparents, aunties & uncles, or forces parents to choose between exiting the workforce to raise their children too young to enter the public school system or work extra jobs to pay for childcare.
3. Food Security: Many households struggle to put food on the table leading to nutritional deficiencies, hunger, and health concerns. Household choices often prioritize cheap and high volume over healthy and nutritious due to wide cost disparity.
4. Healthcare: Accessibility to health care providers creates substantial challenges to households, including notable differences in wellness and life expectancy. High medical costs can create financial shocks to a household straddled with an illness-induced medical or prescription expense that spans multiple years.
5. Transportation: High cost of housing push every day workers farther from their jobs and thus increase commute times. In addition, the cost and personal time associated with mass transportation can negatively impact free time.
6. Technology: Reliable access to a smart phone has become increasingly important in our digital world. Job postings and applications, tele-health access, and educational platforms now require Internet access. Having a smart phone with an Internet data plan has become a necessary household utility as electricity or water.
7. Employment / Business Ownership: While many workers find good union jobs in government or corporations the wages paid are often capped below the living wage of their community. The vast majority of jobs are created by local small businesses and a source of generational wealth creation is ownership in small business. This Mission area aims to increase access to business ownership and expand the definition of employment beyond the “dead end job.”
8. Marriage: The bedrock of any family is the marriage. From healthy marriages stem stable and fulfilled children who go on to become productive members of society. And into the “empty nester” life stage healthy marriages enter into a season of mutual support and fulfillment.
9. Family: Sharing in the common values of a community-mindedness through mutual support and accountability, a healthy family is the bedrock of a healthy neighborhood and community. The family is the nucleus by which a society thrives.