Changes Coming To Yakima Union Gospel Mission

The new Executive Director of the Yakima Union Gospel Mission says they're now working on a plan for the next 20 years.  Mike Johnson says the focus will be on reaching out and helping the homeless, both individuals and families. "We're trying to double our capacity we have for homeless families and use our Madison House youth program to support those kids in those homeless families more. "
Madison House is the place where the Mission youth programs are operated.
Johnson says another big change in the future will be outreach. He says for a variety of reasons many people who used to visit the mission are no longer doing that. "We look outside our own property and we see folks in the North First area that we have to win over and get them to come in. That means we need to be pro-active and get off our campus and in downtown too."
Johnson says it's his goal to make the mission a place where people want to visit to help change their lives. And he says they'll do that with a lot more outreach in the future.