GAP MINISTRIES

GAP has been an advocate for children and at-risk populations since 1999, serving in 3 core areas:
CHILDREN: GAP cares for over 400 foster children and teens annually in 10 family-model group homes in Tucson. Siblings are able to stay together while in care due to the larger size of our homes and children are given love and support through the stability afforded through a family model. Teens and young adults are given additional support to successfully “age out" of foster care through mentoring, job skills training and independent living programs.
FAMILY: GAP certifies foster parents in order to provide a safe environment for children removed from their homes due to abuse or neglect. We also supervise court-mandated visitations between children and their families, with the desire that children and parents reestablish a healthy relationship while working toward family reunification when possible.
COMMUNITY: GAP's Community Impact Warehouse partners with Good 360, local organizations and over 35 non-profits in order to redistribute fresh food and basic needs items to over 4,000 families weekly. Over 759,000 pounds of produce and perishable items are distributed annually throughout the community by GAP's partner nonprofits and churches. Southern Arizona nonprofits that serve the marginalized annually receive over $836,000 worth of hygiene items, paper goods, cleaning supplies etc. from GAP's warehouse. GAP Culinary Training Program provides on the job training to young adults; students increase their marketability while giving back to the community by preparing meals for thousands of low-income, at-risk children and families throughout Pima County.

Our long-term goal is to see an overall reduction in DCS contact within these key demographics.
If we can strengthen the family, we protect our greatest asset, our children. A strong family equals safe and healthy children which equals children who never experience the trauma of abuse or neglect which equals less children entering foster care.

In the past 20 years of service to this community we have discovered that, in order to effectively serve those who are hurting it is imperative that we continually evolve in these areas to Stand in the GAP for the children and families we serve, with the strong hope and sincere desire that generational cycles of poverty, addiction, and a growing foster care system can be healed ONE LIFE at a time. Breaking these cycles through the power of God can lead to HEALTHIER FAMILIES and this creates TRANSFORMED COMMUNITIES.
In each of our core focus areas there has been a notable shift over the years in providing sustainable services that empower struggling individuals to move from a position of surviving to thriving.
Children- SPLASH revealed a heartbreaking reality for children who age out of care. GAP now offers transitional housing and life-skills programs to help these young adults navigate independent adulthood.
Family- In an effort to connect on a deeper level with parents who have lost custody of their children, GAP began supervising Visitation between children and their biological parents. Our hope is to see these families restored whenever possible and to offer continual support to break this cycle of neglect and abuse.
Community- GAP Kitchen was borne out of a practical need to reclaim 759,000 pounds of quality, highly-perishable food donated to us through a strategic partnership with local and corporate vendors.
When we first began bringing food into our warehouse, we were frustrated at the amount of produce we knew would go to waste, even after redistributing several thousand pounds to the community on a weekly basis. GAP Kitchen has become an incredible program that allows us to serve the community both through distribution (over 1,200 at-risk elementary-aged children served every week) and job skills training and placement for those in need of a second chance.
In late 2020, we launched a capital campaign to re-home GAP Corporate offices to a location that would allow us to build out a Family Engagement Center. Our Trauma Informed approach will feature school programs that not only assist in meeting educational and nutritional needs but teaching children how to self-regulate and effectively deal with and respond to the traumatic issues they have experienced.
This will be the most targeted preventative care we have ever offered, designed to offer tools and support to parents who were raised in a culture of abuse and neglect so that they will learn how to break that cycle and care for their children. In our new facility we will offer free, evidence-based parenting courses, substance abuse education, grief recovery, GED completion and much more so families will be strengthened with skills to overcome the cycles that have devastated them for years.

We are a contracted agency for the State of Arizona and currently hold 4 contracts for services. Residential Care, Supervision/Parent Aid Services, Home Recruitment and Supervision, and Foster Care Training.

With well trained, experienced and highly educated staff we offer services that are unique and in demand within the foster care community/system.

On any given night we are capable of caring for 100 abused and neglected children in 14 large, discreet residential homes.

Our warehouse and distribution center recently expanded (2016) to 40,000 square feet in order to provide more high-quality products for community-serving nonprofits.

GAP expanded our offices to include an Impact Center with a recreational sport court, 8 private visitation rooms, and 4 semi-private play areas. This area is a very special place for children and biological parents who are in the process of reunification.

Our large commercial kitchen serves thousands of children and families every week and has an adjoining teaching kitchen designed to provide high-quality training to students in our program.

In our short history, we have grown to one of the largest Foster Care Organizations in Southern Arizona. We believe that the health of our foster care system is vital to the health of our community. We still want to expand our influence and services provided to the foster care system through behavior health/counseling and more in-depth prevention services.

10 Years of IMPACT:
450+ Men and Women who were former addicts have graduated from the 18-month Miracle Center transitional program.
$20.3 Million worth of products and food have been distributed to struggling families through our Community Impact Warehouse.
2,486 Abused and neglected children and teens have been cared for through our SPLASH program.
10,787 Supervised visits between parents and their children in order to facilitate healthy reunification of families have taken place in our visitation center.
84 Foster families have been trained and licensed to provide loving homes for children in foster care.
546,000 meals have been prepared and served to low-income school children, the homeless, and at-risk elderly



We are proud of what God has done and the people that have come together to make GAP Ministries what it is today. Serving Children and Families in Foster Care, serving Children and Families in our local schools and serving the Community through our distribution center and events is just the beginning of what needs to be accomplished.

We believe Tucson can be one of the best cities in the United States to live and we are working everyday towards that goal. Seeing our city transform would be the greatest reward we could have. It will take a community working together for this to be a reality! GAP Ministries is here for the long haul, serving wherever and whenever needed.