Helping Children Affected By Poverty – Supporting NC Public Schools
About Us
Congregations For Children (C4C) is a statewide initiative of The United Methodist Church focused on reflecting the love of Christ to our neighbors by helping children in public schools who are living in poverty.
Congregations For Children is an effective way for churches to increase their outreach to their community mission field. The C4C model is based on best practices and is designed to set up churches for success and help them to avoid common missteps. Even if your church is already involved in public school ministry in some manner, C4C can help you to expand and strengthen what you are already doing. Today, over 80% of the 800+ United Methodist churches in the NC Conference are participating in school-church partnerships. We believe that by adopting the C4C model, churches can increase their effectiveness and success in those ministries.
Our Mission
K-3 Literacy
- Volunteer tutors
- Collecting/donating books
- After-school tutoring programs
- Summer reading camps
Basic Needs
- Food
- Clothing
- School supplies
Positive Adult Role Models
- Lunch buddies
- Morning greeters
Advocacy
UMAPS is a statewide initiative of The United Methodist Church, formed to advocate for public education throughout North Carolina.
Success Stories
Watch a short video about Harbor United Methodist Church in Wilmington and their C4C Partnership with Mary C. Williams Elementary.
Latest Posts
Summer Learning Loss
The following brief video segment about summer learning loss inspires and motivates our churches to create ways to supplement learning opportunities for our lower-income public school children during the summer months when they are not involved in daily, planned, organized instruction. Sending children home for the summer with donated new and gently used age-appropriate books…
Spring Book Drives
May is upon us, when many of our local churches throughout the conference hold book drives to collect age-appropriate books for elementary school students to take home in an effort to reduce learning loss over the summer months. Local church C4C volunteers coordinate with their partner elementary school teachers, media specialists, counselors, or other staff…
Faith into Action: Advocating for Children in NC Event
Congregations 4 Children in the Western NC Conference of The UMC, Western NC CAN (Child Advocacy Network), and NC Child is hosting a virtual event, “Faith into Action: Advocating for Children in NC,” on May 6 from 1 – 2 pm. The event will include: an overview and explanation of legislative process in NC;current status…
Continue Reading Faith into Action: Advocating for Children in NC Event
2020 North Carolina Education Primer
The Public School Forum of North Carolina has provided the 2020 North Carolina Education Primer as a fact-based introduction to educational policy in NC. It serves as a primary resource for elected and appointed officials as they tackle education policy issues in the General Assembly, in their local communities, or in their schools. The Primer…
2021 NC Child Health Report Card
On February 16th, NC Child and the NC Institute of Medicine released the 2021 Child Health Report Card. Among key findings that relate directly to our NCCUMC Congregations for Children (C4C) initiative are the facts that 44% of NC children live in poor or low-income households and 67% of NC schools have turned to distance learning. Quoting…
Introducing the C4C and UMAPS Website
You are invited to the unveiling of the merger of NCCUMC’s two laity-led and clergy-supported ministries focused on supporting our public schools – Congregations for Children (C4C) and United Methodist Advocates for Public Schools (UMAPS). To emphasize their natural relationship with each other, they are now housed together within the updated C4C website. In addition to…
C4C is a proud partner of FAST NC. Florence Aid to Students and Teachers of North Carolina (FAST NC) is an effort led by a bipartisan group of current and former North Carolina education leaders to help the state’s public schools as students and educators struggle to return to normal following Hurricane Florence and its impact.
C4C is supported by The Duke Endowment.