Urban Promise

Our Beginning

UrbanPromise Vancouver (UPV) began in 1997 with the merging of two separate visions. First, God prepared a Board consisting of local business people, clergy and others with connections to the work already happening with UrbanPromise in Camden, NJ. Their initial goal was to raise funds and support, as well as to recruit and train Interns to serve in Camden.

Around the same time, three Canadians working with UrbanPromise in Camden, NJ began to envision bringing a UP–style program back to Vancouver. Jo Friesen, a UP Camden Site Director, and Jeff & Nadia VanderKuip, Interns serving a one-year internship, felt God was calling them to move “home” and minister to the children of East Vancouver.

God brought these two groups together in early 1997, and the newly formed Board agreed to take on the task of overseeing a program development as well. Jo, Jeff & Nadia moved back to Vancouver in September 1997.

After nine months of community surveys, prayer and planning, UPV launched its first program. Camp Peace started in July 1998, running out of the First Christian Reformed Church. That first summer we also welcomed two StreetLeaders from Camden and a local college student to serve as our first Interns.

Camp Peace continued on into the fall with an AfterSchool Program three days a week. A second site, Camp Grace, started up in February 1999. Both programs eventually developed into five-day-a-week programs. A third site, this one in the Whalley area of Surrey, began with a Summer Day Camp in 2002. A fourth site, Camp Joy, operated downtown from 2005-2009.

As the children’s programs grew, so did the other programs that intertwine with them. In September 1999 we hosted our first Academic Year Interns. We have continued to host Interns from around the globe (Canada, US, Germany, UK, Australia, New Zealand) for both year-round and summer internships. Along the way, we also started welcoming WorkGroups for short-term mission opportunities and bringing on local adults as regular volunteers.

The StreetLeader Program began in the summer of 1999 when we hired six local youth to help out in our programs. It has since grown into a well-rounded year-round program that works with 50-60 teens annually. In 2002, we began a separate program, called Jr. StreetLeaders, for 8th graders transitioning from “camper” to “leader”. From 2005-2009, we also ran a Jr. High program called GAP – which focused on providing additional activities and leadership for our Grade 5-7 age group.

Timeline