The presbytery’s Self-Development of People Ministry awards grants annually to organizations that work on issues of poverty, injustice, and oppression. For 2019, the ministry chose RVA League for Safer Streets, a crime-intervention program for men living in poverty in the City of Richmond.

The league attracts participants through basketball, an accessible sport that is culturally relevant to the population it serves.

“But the game is just the hook,” said Paul Taylor, one of the league’s co-founders. “The real reason we are here is to restore humanity to people.”

Educational workshops precede games, serving as the ticket of entry to participation. The workshops cover topics relevant and meaningful to players, like parenting, critical thinking, and conflict resolution.

League leaders build relationships with players, serving as mentors, advisors, big brothers, and sometimes even father figures. These relationships are then nurtured through partnerships with other community organizations to connect participants to resources and supports outside of the league.

As many as 200 men participated each quarter before COVID-19 restricted group activities. Since then, the league has developed new ways for players to be involved in improving themselves and their communities.

Food insecurity is a daily challenge for people who live in poverty. Residents of housing projects, where many league players grew up and still live, lack easy access to groceries. They also don’t have green space to grow food.

When schools closed, the league volunteered with the Richmond school division to distribute meals to students. League leadership also created vegetable gardens on land loaned to them by a supporter.

Players learn how to tend the plants and why fresh foods, such as immune-boosting garlic, are important to one’s health. If a food is unfamiliar to a player, he is encouraged to try it. The gardens’ crops are also shared with senior citizens in the community.

Taylor, while amazed at how much the gardens are producing, sees this as one more reason for him and others to invest in this program: “God provides.”