What is B.R.E.A.D.?

• An organization of 32 religious congregations of various faith traditions: Baptist, Pentecostal, Jewish, Catholic, Episcopal, Lutheran, Presbyterian, Unitarian, UCC among others.
• Formed in September of 1996 at the Covenant Assembly, a gathering of 523 people from 21 congregations.
• A tool for members to put their faith and values into action and to work on issues of justice and equality in Columbus.
• A tax exempt, non-profit 501 (c)(3). Financial investments in the work of B.R.E.A.D. are tax deductible.

Our Accomplishments...

• Implementation of 38,000 new hours of bus service by COTA to help people from center city neighborhoods to outerbelt jobs in 1998.
• Full funding of one transit center and committed to work of funding for two other transit centers
• Incorporation of several B.R.E.A.D. recommendations for transit centers, expanded routes, circulator buses and marketing of jobs into the Franklin County Welfare-to-Work plan.
• By joining with several grassroots organizations in a national effort, B.R.E.A.D. helped to win the inclusion of several key amendments to the federal transportation bill, TEA-21, including $150 million a year for five years to create the Access to Jobs program and increased reporting to how federal transportation money is spent by zip code. In May, 1999, COTA received a grant of $684,000 from the U.S. Department of Transportation to strengthen its work to increase Access to Jobs
• Agreement by City of Columbus and Franklin County to implement a "first source agreement" which will give center city residents the first shot at jobs created through tax abatements
• B.R.E.A.D. along with COTA & MORPC, ODOT, and the Greater Columbus Chamber of Commerce convened "The Central Ohio Transit Summit in November, 1998 for over 200 community leaders.
• Planned and hosted South Side Job Fair at Corpus Christi Church, attended by over 225 people
• Focused attention on poor reading skills in the Columbus Public Schools and won the inclusion of "Direct Instruction" as a reading program of choice for Columbus elementary schools. Ten schools have chosen Direct Instruction for implementation in the fall of 1999.
• 2 notorious crack houses, boarded up and shut down in Main Street safe zone
• Allocation of $300,000 to demolish dangerous abandoned housing
• Nine dangerous properties razed in Main Street & Woodland Park safe zones
• Developing plans to build affordable in-fill housing and green space where housing was razed
• Walking beat and bicycle cops in Main Street & Woodland Park safe zones
• Increased police presence resulting in reduction of juvenile crime due to curfew violations in Hudson-Weber area safe zone
• Pushed for issuance of 59 sanitation code violations in the Weber Hudson area safe zone
• 500,000 in funding allocated for two mobile police "crack-busting" units
• ACE funding secured undercover sting operations in Corpus Christi safe zone resulting in a reduction of violent crime perpetrated upon Senior Citizens.
• Organized campaign to vote neighborhood dry in Woodland Park precinct 6b
• Clean-up of rat-infested and abandoned state-owned properties
• Massive neighborhood clean-up day in Main St. safe zone
• Won the implementation of Project Clean Sweep in June-July 1999 to focus crime reduction efforts of Columbus Police, Code Enforcement, Refuse and Health Department officers in Precincts 12 and 6 on the Near East Side.