Mackie’s Place was born out of two women’s lives that had been transformed by the radical love of God. That love compelled this story.

In 2014, Bobbi-Rhea and Favian were sitting together in Favian’s home dreaming of how they could support young people in our city. They chatted about injustice and the tragedies that so many young people are facing in our own backyard. This was the evening after Bobbi-Rhea had watched a 20/20 episode featuring Urban Promise, an organization in Camden, New Jersey which she had interned with as a young woman. Urban Promise is committed to loving and equipping kids, youth, and their families in the inner-city. For many years, Bobbi-Rhea would watch the annual feature on the organization and weep, knowing that one day she wanted to be back on the ground seeking change for the at-risk community. Likewise, Favian had a vision for at-risk youth in our city and had begun drafting a plan. Her vision was a youth hub that would be a platform for an idea that she had long been brewing in her heart.

This idea would bridge families from diverse communities to walk together, encouraging both parties to grow, be challenged, and ultimately transformed. From that day forward, the heart of Mackie’s Place began.

When it came time for choosing a name, they started by considering, “If I was a youth, where would I want to tell people I was headed?” There’s a youth hub in Los Angeles called “My Friend’s Place”; they loved the idea of kids being able to say something casual about where they were headed. They started by throwing around last names and found that Mackie just happened to have a great sound to it. It also just happens to be Bobbi-Rhea’s last name; so, it seemed that it just kind of a fit. Little did they know when they named it, that God was about to really make the Mackie’s home the beginning of it all. Over the next 2 years, God brought a single mom in dire straits and an infant baby girl to the Mackie family. This became the training ground for everyone, as they had the privilege of watching God transform two families as they walked side by side.