From the earliest days of Cleveland, when the entire city was not much bigger than what we now know as Public Square, First Church has been in the forefront of ministering to the needs of the community. In 1853, parishioners of First Church established the Ragged School, within which members of the church's Ladies Home Missionary Society provided classroom instruction, clothing, food and shelter for the "children of the street," and the minister preached to the "malnourished, abused, or 'idle' children from an overturned flour barrel." (From William Coats' History of Cuyahoga County and Cleveland, 1924, p. 385).
In the turbulent decade of the 1960's, First Church provided a summer program every weekday for neighborhood children from the Cedar-Central urban renewal projects, Longwood homes, and the Waring School area.
Then, from 1992 to 2000, First Church opened its ground-floor area as an overnight shelter for homeless women and children, 365 nights a year.
Today, First Church continues to be in outreach to the community around it. Programs such as Home Base Cleveland, Upward Bound, Willow School, Cleveland Boy Choir and others use our building and/or are supported by our volunteers. Click on Outreach Ministries for more details.
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| Educational programs |
| Meditative Experiences |
| Music programs |
| Community service |
| Children programs |
| Social programs |
