The History of UC
In early 1998, Pat Holley, a nurse living in Akron, Ohio had people from church come to her house in the evenings where they taught neighborhood kids Bible study. She called this ministry “Morning Glory Ministries,” named after a flower with vivid petals that could grow anywhere, even in cracked sidewalks and ugly fences, and always faces the sun. Her vision was that Morning Glory houses would “pop up” every few blocks to have outreach and Bible studies for their own neighbors.
While driving through a Columbus neighborhood, she happened upon Stoddart Avenue, where she saw broken houses and felt God’s leading to do something. She went to a group of pastors she had connections with and asked them to consider starting a ministry on Stoddart Avenue. The pastors heeded this call, with Pastor Burt Manchester, especially, sensing God’s heart for the poor, the hurting, the oppressed, and the neglected. Pat purchased an abandoned house, and Pastor Burt gave a summer intern, Doug Hartman, a new job – start doing something for Morning Glory on Stoddart. Doug, whose heart for the poor had begun earlier in college, began meeting families and children. He coordinated volunteers to come to Stoddart to teach Bible songs, put on puppet shows, sit on blankets, bring snacks, make repairs to the house and meet whoever would come to hear about Jesus.
The house that Pat bought on Stoddart wasn’t structurally sound and had to be torn down, so in June of 1999, the leadership purchased a house behind it on Fairwood for $30,000 and began remodeling. The Fairwood house and the Stoddart lot, including the grass play area, basketball court, and picnic tables, still make up the properties of Urban Connections.
When Doug finished college in 1999, he moved into the Fairwood house, became Executive Director, and devoted his life to ministry and the community. He hosted weekly kids’ Bible clubs, game nights, teen nights, meals, and field trips, with the help of volunteers from Columbus-area churches. Family-style meals became a central part of evenings spent with kids, allowing everyone to open up in casual ways and build deeper relationships. Meals together continue to be a favorite part of our programs for kids and volunteers.
Beginning in 2001, Doug led the Columbus ministry through a process of becoming more independent from the Akron ministry. The official name for the Columbus ministry became Urban Connections (“UC”), representing the desire to connect people with Christ and one another across socio-economic and racial divides, and the hope to not only help neighbors in poverty, but also help well-resourced people to gain greater understanding, compassion and connection with people they might not otherwise meet. Along with the name change, UC obtained a separate tax exemption while still incorporated with Morning Glory. By the end of 2002, Urban Connections took ownership of both Columbus properties. In December of 2007, the Akron chapter of Morning Glory was dissolved, due to a hospital buying properties in the neighborhood, displacing more families, including Pat Holley, who moved to Dayton. In 2008, UC changed the name of the incorporation as well.
Doug Hartman remained the Executive Director until 2018, leading UC into church partnerships, neighborhood collaborations, welcoming interns and volunteers, sharing greater vision and love for both UC and the surrounding community, and creating a more stable organizational structure. Cathy Alexander began as a volunteer in 1999, helping with the ongoing remodeling of the house, teen nights, and field trips like hiking. Cathy came on staff after graduating from college in 2000, and became Executive Director in 2018. Pastor Burt Manchester got very involved with the kids’ Bible studies and served on the board from the beginning, and eventually came on staff in 2008 to lead the children’s ministries until his retirement in 2016. He remained on the UC Board until 2021. For 5 years, community member and former Board Member, Michelle Orellana, became the Youth Director, building relationships with a group of teens, seeing them through the transition from junior high to graduation.
Although Urban Connections did not continue the vision of many Morning Glory houses around the neighborhood, it did embrace a commitment to a “living presence” in the community. Doug lived first in the UC house and then moved with his wife Jill to another house in the community, where they are raising their kids. Cathy and her husband moved into the neighborhood in 2003 to raise their family as well. Other volunteers have chosen to live in the neighborhood and be involved in UC and ministry to families as well. Various staff, interns, and volunteers have lived in the UC House itself, growing both their spiritual formation and also their heart of service and love in the community.
Over the years Urban Connections has served the community with a holistic mindset, believing that physical, emotional, and spiritual needs go hand in hand. Healthy, family-style meals continue to be central to UC. We value teaching kids healthy ways of eating, along with fun activities like hiking, and even hosting a bike club for several years. During the COVID pandemic shutdown, UC provided over 3,000 lunches to kids and families in the community.
Educationally, UC first had a tutoring program after school at the Fairwood house beginning in 2000, started a mentoring program called LEAP in 2006, and in 2008 shifted to tutoring and character classes in neighborhood schools – Fairwood Alternative Elementary and Ohio Avenue Elementary. Those school partnerships continue today. UC also began a scholarship program for anyone in the neighborhood – student or adult – who would want to further their skills.
Camping trips with UC began in 2000, taking kids on adventures like white water rafting, boating, and more. Around 2008, we shifted from camping to hosting summer day camps, providing a full day of fun with learning, biblical teaching, and adventurous field trips. These summer camps allowed UC to host youth groups for the whole week, who served as volunteers and also spent their evenings learning about poverty, gentrification, and faith. These lessons for the youth groups eventually grew into UC’s “poverty simulation,” which is geared toward helping teens understand the complexities of a life in poverty, and is now taught several times each year at various churches.
Despite individual programs or activities changing over the years, Urban Connections remains committed to connecting people to one another and to Christ. We aim to adapt with our surrounding neighborhood, change as needs change, and keep loving our neighbors well.