J.E.S. Community Development Corporation
.Spencer Total Fitness located inside of James E. Smith Resource Center
We recognize that far to many of our Veterans and their families who lived in our community was losing suffering from homelessness or about to become homeless. That is why we launched our efforts to help provide them a safe and afforable place to live. Veterans Community Housing at Manssas Gardens is the first phase of helping our Veterans to get back on their feet. We are excited about the second phase that will become a national model.
With the long history of our Executive Director Ruth Davis and our COO, Pastor Charlie Caswell, is what we accredit a lot of our early successes to. They have built a number of collabrations that have lead to Frayser now having a Fitness Center, they have helped to bring businesses back to Frayser, as well as after school programs that is helping to reach a number of our youth. They are working on a number of other projects that will no doubt help make life better for residents in the Frayser and surrounding communities.
​Mission Statement
To support Veterans and help with the revitalization of communities by helping them to build capacity, so that they can experience a better quality of life.
Building Neighborhood Capacity
Our focus as an organization is to continue to build collaborations between Parents, Pastors, Principals, Police, Politicians, Propiertors, and Partners in the community. That is something our COO, Pastor Charlie Caswell is well know for and trained to do. He have helped to build a number of collabrations thatis working to better the quality of life of residents in the Frayser community.
Helping our Veterans and their families
Background on J.E.S. Community Development Corporation
The James E. Smith Community Development Corporation (JES-CDC) was established in honor of Rev. James E. Smith, who was the Pastor Union Grove Baptist Church and Director of the American Federation of State, County, and Municipal Employees (AFSCME). With his work at AFSCME, he was the voice for sanitation workers during the Civil Rights era, advocating for better jobs, better working conditions, and a change in the community. He marched with Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
With his inspiration along with the passionate move of other community leaders within the Frayser community, we established the James E. Smith Community Development Corporation in July of 2015.
The JES- CDC has successfully secured a long-term lease agreement with Union Grove Baptist Church, which owns a 66,000 sq. ft. building, located on a main bus line, in the center of the Frayser community. We have begun collaborative relationships with Girls Inc., a nationally recognized organization that offers after school programs to young ladies from ages 8-18; and Frayser Graphics and Tees, who provides entrepreneurial training to our youth. We also have collaborated with The Media Center AVGP (Audio, Video, Graphics & Print : Becoming the medium for media). Another collaborative partner is Spencer Total Fitness Center, which provides Frayser with its first full-service fitness gym and is providing youth, seniors, and families in the Frayser community, training that will help them nutrition, health, and wellness, thus making healthier life choices.
We have collabrated with CDL Management to provide a place to live for our homeless Veterans. And we will be opening Frayser Copy and Print Center in January of 2016.