Shepura Men’s Center
The Shepura Mens’ Center is named after Brother Leo Shepura who led the Mission for thirty-six years alongside Jimmie Hale’s surviving spouse, Jessie Hale Downs. The Mission relocated the Shepura Men’s Center in 2007 from the corner of 24th Street North in downtown Birmingham to the current campus just a few blocks to the east of the city center.
The serene campus sits on the grounds of the Old Thomas School and allows the Mission to serve over 80 clients. It includes a chapel, classrooms, a learning center, counseling rooms, recreation areas, and the Mission’s administration building.
Men ages 19 years and older come to the Shepura Men’s Center with nothing but hope for another chance at a stable, purposeful life. In return for placing their trust in Jimmie Hale Mission, they receive holistic Christ-centered, clinically-structured programing designed to enable them to address the brokenness that brought them to spiral to the depths of bare existence. Individualized counseling and case management ensures that each client is treated as a valued individual capable of reaching their God-given potential.
All clients receive much needed medical, dental, and mental health care, legal assistance, spiritual care, education remediation including GED and literacy classes, life skills education including parenting and anger management, and work readiness training. As clients approach graduation from our initial 16-week Back to Life Program, they work with our career coordinator to enter suitable employment.
Clients are encouraged to remain living on campus after graduation in our Continuum of Care or “CoC” Program. In CoC, clients work full time or enroll in college and work part time while they continue to receive weekly counseling, financial management coaching, and spiritual support. Our housing coordinator works with clients to find affordable housing when they are ready to move off campus. Timelines are not absolute as individuals progress along different paths; however, most clients are ready to be contributing members of the community in nine to twelve months. Through the generosity of our community, all of our services at the Shepura Men’s Center are provided free of charge! After 16 years of housing hundreds of clients per year, with the support of our Capital Campaign supporters, the Shepura Men’s Center dormitory will begin a major renovation in October 2023.
