Melvin Miller is a devoted pastor of seven years at Progressive Baptist Church in St.Paul.
“I started out as a as a school teacher, and went to seminary, out of college but always had my roots in a desire to really impact the community. I never really had an aspire to be a pastor per se, but I wanted to be engaged in ministry. I was at Dunwoody Academy, which was housed in North High School in Minneapolis. And, I had a revelation one day that many of the things that I was doing in terms of teaching math, I was a math teacher, I could actually do in the church setting.”
From an educator to a minister, Pastor Miller maintained a deep desire to create community impact.
“I found out in just being in the community that a number of rec centers had been closed. Kids were getting in a lot of trouble a number of years ago. There's been a lot of car thefts and that kind of thing. But there were a lot of other things that were going on. There were more shootings and what have you. And part of the challenges, we kind of thought about it together as a community, was there was not a whole lot of outlets for kids. So then we started the STEM camp.”
The church’s Progressive STEM camp is an enriching education program designed to serve inner city children.
“We built go karts. And we did connect it with an organization that does a lot of STEM stuff. And we begin to build Lego robotics and compete in Lego robotics competitions and fly drones and those kinds of things. We had a hip hop/stepping component as well. And that was the first iteration of the STEM camp that we currently have now, that has now received some grant funding.”
Pastor Miller says eliminating educational disparities for people of color, particularly Black folks, is not just about changing what happens in the classroom, but also about holistically improving the lives of students.
“I just had a vision one day that we needed a youth complex, we needed a place where young people come and feel safe. And we could do enrichment programming. We could provide, we address the problem of food insecurity for the kids and their families. And we could help them to get medical care.”
Miller is now working to raise the funds for a youth complex that will enrich the lives of children within the urban community by providing families access to numerous support programs.
“All the data seems to suggest that if you really want to impact health disparities in the black community in particular, you really need to connect with the church, which was something that really has not been done. And so out of that came this innovative idea between us and the university, Minnesota that hey, why don't we connect with the church and put a clinic in the youth complex. And so when we complete the building of youth complex, they will have a clinic in a local gym, have all these amazing resources for youth and families. And it'll have a clinic and a food shelf and some other things. So I’m really excited about it because it's going to be a one stop shop that enables us to really, really impact youth and families on the east side of St. Paul.”
Pastor Miller says he hopes the youth center will be the stepping stool to rebuilding a healthy community. He is looking forward to connecting with future partners, to help develop a center that provides both holistic resources and employment opportunities.
“One of the things that is very important is employment. So we really have connected with organizations, agencies that help people no matter if they're having families, or if they have a clean slate, or whatever it may be. We have connected with organizations that can employ people. We are connected with legal aid organizations and are able to provide expungement for individuals who have had records for some time. All of this, all of these pieces are intertwined, connected, and part of a very complex puzzle that we're trying to put together.”
Pastor Miller says the construction of the 8-and-a-half million dollar youth complex is set to begin in the Spring of 2025. The church has received a 5 million dollar grant, but there is still more money to be raised.
“You know, we can invest in a lot of things in life. You can invest in a nice car, and you need a car to get around. You can invest in clothes, and these kinds of things, you need those things as well. But I really encourage people to think about giving to something that's going to impact lives for generations to come.”
Ultimately Pastor Miller hopes that Progressive Baptist church’s legacy is a vibrant and flourishing East side community.
(This story was reported as part of the Center for Broadcast Journalism's Summer Journalism Intensive, a training program for young aspiring reporters from diverse communities.)
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