Youth mission group helping to revitalize Cradock

Sunday, 235 teenagers from five states converged on Cradock Middle School.

They live there through the a week and work on 11 houses in the historic neighborhood.

The youngsters are part of World Changers, a youth mission group affiliated with Southern Baptists and other evangelical churches. Each one is paying $265 for the privilege of coming to work as a volunteer.

Sunday, they formed work crews, meet owners of the homes and see what needs to be done.

At 7 a.m. Monday they receuved a vigorous send-off in front of the school and began their work.

In addition to the 11 houses in Cradock, one crew will build a handicap-access ramp at Emily Green Shores, a Baptist home for the elderly, and another group will make repairs to the PARC shelter in Lincoln Park.

"It's a hands-on partnership between the faith community and local government," said the Rev. Rob Edwards, pastor of Cradock Baptist Church.

Materials for the repairs will be paid for by $25,000 from the city's Community Development Block Grant fund. The Portsmouth Baptist Association is picking up costs for feeding and housing the volunteers. And many church members are volunteering, too. Edwards said a dozen churches have agreed to take lunch to the job sites

World Changers has repaired homes in Norfolk, Virginia Beach and Chesapeake but never in Portsmouth. Edwards is the mover of this project in Portsmouth. He was familiar with the program because it was in Norfolk's Ocean View, where he also has worked.

After a 2006 planning session in Cradock with consultant Ray Gindroz, the young minister decided to talk to the city about World Changers.

"They'd never heard of it," he said.

But that didn't stop him from moving through the Cradock Housing Advisory Group, or CRAG, to get Portsmouth on the World Changers radar. CRAG includes representatives from the neighborhood, the city and Portsmouth Redevelopment and Housing Authority. The group had its first meeting in November 2006 at Cradock Baptist with Edwards leading the charge to work toward changes in the community.

And change has begun.

PRHA has acquired some blighted homes to rehab them and turn them into affordable housing. New construction will be "Cradock style" to fit the historic district.

"It's an exciting thing," Edwards said.

What's really exciting is that leaders like Edwards have stepped up. Over the past 20-plus years, there's been a lot of talking about Cradock in the neighborhood and city government but little has really happened.

The project that began Sunday in Cradock is just that - a beginning. Edwards said the city already has been approved for a World Changers mission in July 2009 and that he hopes Truxtun will be added next year.

The volunteers who will be here all week will have evening worship at Cradock Middle School with speakers and time to share the events of their day.

"The public is invited to attend," Edwards said. "But remember it's youth-oriented and it will be loud."

Somehow, I don't think the neighbors in Cradock will be bothered by the noise. Getting on with revitalization projects there is something to shout about.

Ida Kay Jordan, 399-3845