At the heart of Cleveland’s college campuses, United Protestant Campus Ministries (known as UPCaM) is more than a ministry; it’s a home. Led by Campus Minister and Executive Director Amanda Powell, UPCaM serves students at Case Western Reserve University and across the city, offering a space to be known, supported, and celebrated for who they are.

“For many students, there’s a deep need for a safe, nurturing place,” Powell says. “Queer students, international students, and those navigating intense academic pressures all come seeking a soft landing. And they find it here.”

UPCaM’s work is hands-on and holistic. Students gather weekly for Dinner Church, explore faith in small groups, and care for their neighbors by providing meals and support for those experiencing housing insecurity. International students on full scholarships, who sometimes struggle to cover housing or food during breaks, find welcome and aid. Powell recalls a student from Ivory Coast mentoring new international students, while another student returning from surgery was embraced by the UPCaM community with cheers and love.

Last year, UPCaM received a Strategic Ministry Grant from the ELCA, enabling the ministry to plan long-term and expand its reach. “This grant gives us the resources to move from reactive to proactive ministry,” Powell explains. “We can hire administrative support, offer more programming, and empower students to lead projects and mission work.”

Powell believes campus ministry is not just the future of the church, it’s its present. Through UPCaM, students experience faith lived out inclusively, ecumenically, and vibrantly. “God is everywhere here,” Powell says. “In every meal shared, every prayer offered, every student stepping into leadership…you can see it.”
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Ministries like UPCaM are made possible because congregations and members provide support. Financial gifts sustain ministries that nurture, guide, and care for young adults, places where faith is explored, lived, and shared in real, transformative ways. Your Mission Support allows ministries to dream big, respond to real needs, and ensure that students across Ohio—and beyond—know they have a spiritual home ready to welcome them.
 

“On the sidewalk, at the corner of Commerce and 5th Avenue, in the hot August sun, we sang and prayed. As we prepared to hear a reading from Martin Luther King Jr., a woman, Julie (not her real name), approached us with two little boys in tow. She looked scared and anxious. We invited her to join us, and as we continued, Julie began to share her story.

She was visiting her husband at the Mahoning County Jail, the place where we were gathered. It was visitation day for his pod. He had been arrested during a traffic stop four months earlier and was being held on immigration charges, even though he had a work permit, was married to a U.S. citizen, and was the father of three U.S.-born children. She was distraught, teary and afraid. We gathered her into hugs and concern, and her boys were cherished as our own.

We have walked with her since, through her husband’s deportation to his country of origin, through the heartbreak of her sons missing their father, and through the difficulty of losing the family’s only income. When Julie’s own father, whom she had been caring for, entered a nursing home, the family also lost the Social Security Income he provided. The only option Julie could see was to take the boys to her husband’s country, into uncertainty and poverty, but at least they would be together. They will have to learn a new language, as will Julie. It has been heartbreaking. They remain in our prayers.”

Julie’s story is just one of many shared through the faithful presence of the Youngstown Area Interfaith Prayer Group. Each week, members of this interfaith community gather outside the county jail or the Northeast Ohio Correctional Center to pray for immigrants detained inside. They pray for families, and for the staff and administrators of the facilities. They sing. They lament. They stand together in hope. What began as a small gathering has grown to a dozen or more each Sunday—people of many faiths, and some of no particular faith, united in prayer and grounded in trust in God’s goodness and love.

Across our synod, we are learning more about stories like these through the work of our Synod’s Immigration Ministry Circle. This group is learning together about how we can faithfully support our foreign-born neighbors and respond to the changing realities facing immigrant and refugee families. Julie’s story is one of many that call us to deeper awareness, prayer, and action.

The Immigration Ministry Circle has also compiled an Immigrant, Refugee, and Migrant Ministry Support Resource List, highlighting Northeast Ohio nonprofits serving refugees and immigrants affected by changing laws. The list provides websites and contact information to help individuals and congregations engage in Akron, Cleveland, Lorain, Youngstown, across Ohio, and beyond.

Even if you are not near Youngstown, similar ministries and organizations are at work in communities across our synod and throughout the country. We invite you to reach out to the Immigration Ministry Circle (imc@neos-elca.org) to learn more, connect with partners in your area, and discern how your congregation might walk alongside immigrant neighbors in prayer, advocacy, and tangible support.

Because these are not just policy questions. They are people. They are families. They are children who miss their parents. And they remain in our prayers.