NOW AVAILABLE!
Online Donations, Events and Event Registration, SCM News
Safer Communities Ministry, after months of preparation, is proud to offer to our supporters and partners several new features to its website. Online donations, event notification and online registration, SCM News page for quick press releases, fund raising campaigns, and user account logins are just some of the new capabilities. Please note the Donate and SCM Events and News options in our main menu on the left and the 'My Account' link at the top of each page. Likewise, in our Fundraising section below, there are links to our different fund raising campaigns which can be used for designated donations. Several pages have 'Donate Now' text and/or buttons which allow for immediate Credit Card on Bank Draft online donations. These donations may be configured as 'recurring' to aid those who make regular scheduled donations. Therefore, we encourage you to visit these pages and our main donation page for more information. Online transactions are fully protected from theft, fraud and identity theft by use of the industry's latest encryption and data transmission techniques ensuring that your personal information is secure.
To get you started, we encourage you to
A New Name; An Expanded Vision
In August 2008, the Board of Directors of Covenant Prison Ministries (CPM) unanimously decided that to effectively reflect its expanded vision, the ministry would take on a new name.
After 24 years of ministry, Covenant Prison Ministries has now changed its name to Safer Communities Ministry (SCM). And while the proven strategies of CPM in combating recidivism will remain unchanged, a shift has taken place in the ministry that will enable it to take its model into counties beyond Union and Mecklenburg. Safer Communities seeks to be more intentional in its efforts to engage whole communities in the effort to bring life-change to ex-offenders. The goal is to mobilize a county to address the life issues of the total person. To accomplish this, SCM offers solutions on four levels: countywide, individual partner sites, individual cases, and individual character issues: faith-based options. SCM sees the name change as a starting place for building understanding and cooperation around these efforts.
“The change in name is a statement of what this ministry has been about for over two decades,” comments CPM Founder and Executive Director Al Lewis, Jr. “And it is a statement of what every citizen desires: a safer community.”
One Ex-Offender’s Story
Through the years, Safer Communities Ministry (formerly Covenant Prison Ministries) has collected scores of testimonies of ex-offenders who have found new, productive lives beyond their mistakes. The challenge of life-long change is neither quick nor easy. But -- as one prisoner named Scott found -- personal motivation to change, together with step-by-step guidance and support, transforms people. He knows because his own life has been transformed. Here’s how the Safer Communities Ministry (SCM) team tells Scott’s story.
Tommy Belk, Lee Little, Clara Summerford,
Al Lewis and Terry Merrit
Building Your Own Safer Community
Change is coming. And our hearts can be encouraged that this change is good. It will affect hundreds of thousands of individual lives; as a result, it has the power to forever alter our culture.
Earlier this year in Washington, DC a significant piece of legislation was signed by President Bush, called the Second Chance Act. In the September 2008 SCM newsletter, Lewis relayed the importance of this piece of legislation...