“We’ve become an anchor in the Twin Towers community,” he said.
When the church was founded in 2008, the opioid crisis hadn’t yet hit. Now it hosts seven meetings each week for Alcoholics Anonymous, Narcotics Anonymous and Christian recovery, serving 300 people weekly.
Cartwright believes that everyone can be bigger than the circumstances that surround them, said Tony Miltenberger, an associate pastor at Centerville Grace church who regularly meets with his friend.
“It’s his steadfast ability to love the people on the margin of our community,” Miltenberger said of the reason he nominated Cartwright as a Dayton Daily News Community Gem.
While others may label a person a pimp, prostitute or drug dealer, the only label Cartwright uses is a person’s name, Miltenberger said.
Credit: Jim Noelker
Credit: Jim Noelker
“He never holds the sins of someone’s past to the prospect of their future,” he said.
Cartwright in 1994 arrived in Dayton from Oklahoma as a missionary through the United Methodist Church to work in an inner city youth and children’s ministry. After attending seminary and then heading a teen center through East End Community Services, that same church was later transformed into New Hope.
Recovery has been a component of the church since its beginning, although Cartwright didn’t know then that it would become what it is today. Everyone is in recovery from something, whether that is alcohol, drugs or sin, said Cartwright, 53.
While most members of the congregation are in recovery, others have joined because a family member has been affected by addiction, he said. Still others have been involved in the church from its start.
“Literally everybody is welcome at New Hope,” he said.
Today’s Twin Towers neighborhood is more ethnically and racially diverse than the one where he arrived 30 years ago, Cartwright said. But he said it isn’t more economically diverse and is still one of Dayton and Montgomery County’s poorest neighborhoods.
The New Hope Project aims to address that. What began as the church’s fundraising arm morphed into a way to encourage economic and workforce development opportunities in the neighborhood, Cartwright said.
The organization, which has its own executive director and board, has purchased a city block on Xenia Avenue, with plans to renovate the former Federation Theatre, as well as to attract businesses, services and food options.
Cartwright and his family also live in the community, purchasing a house a block away from the church.
“We want to be part of the transformation in a real way,” he said.
Miltenberger said that Jesus is the foundation of what Cartwright does for the community, but the top is open. His efforts have evolved with the community, and he is committed to walking with the people he serves.
“He is fostering hope on Xenia Avenue one person at a time,” he said, “and he won’t quit.”
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