Agency - Back Bay Mission

Mission statement: Back Bay Mission, a community ministry of the United Church of Christ, serves the Mississippi Gulf Coast and the wider church community by faithful witness for social justice and compassionate service to the poor and marginalized.

Description:
Back Bay Mission is an 89-year-old social services agency that serves the three Coast counties: Hancock, Harrison and Jackson. It offers emergency assistance (utility, prescription medications); housing restoration/rebuilding; outreach to the homeless.

History:
Back Bay Mission was founded in 1922 and was originally located on Biloxi's Back Bay where the IP Casino Resort & Spa now stands. It began its service to the community by reaching out to poor shrimpers who lived in squalid conditions in tenements along the Bay. The ministry grew to include emergency assistance to the needy; assistance with rehabilitation of low-income individuals'/families' homes; involvement in the civil rights movement in the 1960s and a number of other programs. It has spun off numerous Coast nonprofits such as the Women's Center for Non-Violence, Interfaith Hospitality Network, Loaves & Fishes soup kitchen and the South Mississippi AIDS Task Force. It welcomes more than 1,000 out-of-state volunteers annually who come to the Coast from the United Church of Christ in various locations across the nation to participate primarily in the housing recovery program which has, since 2005, been restoring or rebuilding homes destroyed by Hurricane Katrina for qualifying individuals and families.

Contact person: Kenney Washington, Director, Client Services, (phone), (email)

Address:

1012 Division Street Biloxi, MS 39530 (See a map)