The Urban Partnership
The Urban Partnership is a coalition of seven Episcopal congregations aligned in collaborative partnership to venture into, support, and strengthen new and ongoing ministry within the urban neighborhoods of Louisville, Kentucky.
The Urban Partnership started as a consortium of four downtown Louisville Episcopal churches: Christ Church Cathedral, Calvary, St. George's, and Our Merciful Savior. These four churches are bound together by a shared mission of bringing Christ to and meeting the evolving needs of the urban city center.
Formed in 2014 as a working group in the Diocese of Kentucky, to assist the realization of untapped resources and assets of the four churches in the urban core of Louisville, the Urban Partnership is now a fully functioning organization. Other sub-urban churches have joined as associate members and include Church of the Advent (Highlands), St. Clement's House Church, St. Thomas (Westport Road) and St. Paul's (Taylorsville Rd.)
In 2017, members of the Urban Partnership joined together for prayer, workshops and the visitation of historic landmarks to discuss how the Church will work toward dismantling racial prejudice still present in our society. Expressions of the Urban Partnership are in Vacation Bible School, Lessons & Carols, Coffee Hour Receptions, Shrove Tuesday, and Laundry Love.
Programs Supported by The Urban Partnership
Downtown Episcopal Outreach (D.E.O)
Collecting and distributing financial resources to provide daily assistance to the needs of Louisville's "West End."
Recycled Faith
The collection and distribution of formation and devotional materials.
D.E.O Community Garden
The cultivation and sharing of fresh produce.
Laundry Love
Free evenings of laundry assistance at a neighborhood
laundromat. Only blocks from Calvary, Aunt Bee's Launderette is the first site of Laundry Love and in the Fall of 2017, a second location was added at the Parkland Laundromat at 28th and Dumesnil Streets, near St. George's Church.
St. George's Community Center
Adjoining St. George's Church, the Urban Partnership provides support for ongoing ministries and programs.
Urban Partnership Members gathered in Fall 2017 to celebrate the success of the Partnership at the Garden of Goodness, a neighborhood urban garden.