About Clarkston

Clarkston is a 1.1 square mile city that has resettled over 40,000 refugees, making it the most densely populated city in Georgia, and the most diverse square mile in America.

Once the birthplace of the Ku Klux Klan, the community is now over 50% foreign born, with people coming from 60+ countries, speaking 110+ languages.  There are over 90 unreached people groups represented here.

Many refugees have personally experienced genocide and civil war in their home countries and escaped by fleeing to designated UN refugee camps where they waited several years before finally being resettled in America.  They often come with no financial resources or formal education, and therefore can only work in local warehouses or meat processing factories at wages well below the poverty line.

​

Apartment complexes here are rife with gang activity, cockroaches and rats, and total disrepair.  Domestic abuse is common.  PTSD and trauma are prevalent. The local high school has a 20% reading proficiency rate, and a drop out rate of 40%.  

To combat these overwhelming obstacles, Friday Night Light works with local partners to provide access to tutoring, vocational apprenticeships, college preparatory counseling, family counseling, financial scholarships, and benevolence support.  As a result, 75% of our Discipleship Program graduates have gone on to higher education and many more have experienced freedom from bondage and depression.