Marshelle Grover knows the meaning of adversity. At 28, she is the single mother of two girls, 12 and 8. For her entire life she's encountered challenges and difficulties. However, her life has turned around after graduating from Church of Brotherly Love's Single Parent in Need (SPIN) program in Deerfield Beach, Florida. Before joining the one-year program she was holding a low-paying job, driving a beat up car, and barely covering the very minimum family needs. Rev. Anthony Davis, a former Pompano Beach Florida police officer, and for the last 15 years the founder and Senior Pastor of Church of Brotherly Love (CBL) is proud of his organization's community outreach and transformational efforts.

"Both, my wife and I, left secured and well-paying jobs to lead an effort to transform Alwood, a drug infected neighborhood in Deerfield Beach," says Pastor Davis. Ms. Margaret Davis used to be the head clerk in the finance department, City of Pompano Beach. CBL founded a homeowners association and led several anti-drug campaigns by confronting the drug dealers and its customers, who came from outside areas. Then CBL outreach efforts evolved and provided other economic empowerment and self-sufficiency services. A mentoring program for at-risk youths�middle and elementary school students�became CBL's flagship program. When the City of Deerfield Beach began getting HUD funds in the year 2000, CBL received CDBG funds for the mentoring program. In March 2004, Pastor Davis attended HUD Miami Field Office's faith-based grant writing workshop where he learned the skills and techniques to become an excellent grant writer.

"Your grant-writing training gave me a sense of encouragement and persuaded me that the federal government was not anti-faith. It was great to learn that we did not have to give up our faith to get federal funds." "Furthermore, when the grant-writer facilitator invited one of the audience members�Pastor Linda Freeman, Trinity Church, North Miami, Florida�to share her experiences in dealing with the federal government, I knew I had found the way to build CBL's capacity, to strengthen our infrastructure." That training gave CBL the impetus to go after several funding sources and the SPIN program was created.

Ms. Grove graduated from the SPIN program a year ago. In the SPIN program she learned about financial literacy, parenting, relationships, self-help, and other life-changing skills. She left the low-paying job, got hired as an office manager, got her credit score improved by 200 points, replaced her old beaten up cash-draining car with a brand new car, and is on her way to becoming a homeowner in the year 2007. "We are working with several partners, led by Marcia Barry-Smith a private banker in Broward County, Florida (see focus story 9/13/06) and hope that Marshelle and her two daughters will be in their new house before Christmas 2007," said Rev. Anthony Davis.