Social Justice: The Significance of Jubilee Restoration

The name Jubilee Restoration refers to an ancient Hebrew celebration to restore social justice to the community. Every fiftieth year, at the time of Jubilee, disadvantaged people who had forfeited their personal liberty or property through poverty or other adverse circumstances, would have their debts forgiven, and be restored to their families and inheritance.

The name Jubilee Restoration means "the day of the blowing of the horn."
The blowing of the horn announced a time of release from social inequities
and the restoration of quality of life to the community. In this spirit, our
agency, Jubilee Restoration, is announcing to the communities that it serves
that we are committed to social justice and the restoration of
those persons who, through poverty or otherwise, have become destitute.

The aim of the Jubilee Restoration is to preserve the essential
character of our community and provide answers to suffering persons by
working to restore those who are held captive by addictive substances,
oppressed by social barriers, disheartened by the lack of affordable housing
and those weary in search of mental and physical health services.

Organization History

Our Executive Director, Reverend Gordon Choyce Sr. has a passion for leadership and service in Berkeley. He was raised in this city and spent his childhood in our schools, including Berkeley High School, where he graduated and was the first African-American Student Body President. After completing graduate school and working as an executive in the private sector, Rev. Choyce Sr. returned to his roots to pursue a calling to the ministry and community service. He became the Senior Pastor of The Missionary Church of God In Christ in West Berkeley, a church that has been a pillar of support for over forty years, providing a wide scope of services to the community.

Through the Missionary Church, Rev. Choyce Sr. established the Missionary Recovery Center (MRC) in 1992 to provide residential substance abuse services, support and transitional housing for men who wanted to transform their lives. When government cut-backs in public subsidies adversely affected low-income housing and assistance to single parent households back in the early nineties, residents in the West Berkeley area looked to the Missionary Church to fill this void. The Pastor recognized that his church couldn’t continue to address the ever-growing needs of the community on it’s own. He founded Jubilee Restoration (Jubilee) as a response to the West Berkeley community's cry for a comprehensive community service organization.

As Executive Director of Jubilee Restoration, Rev. Choyce Sr. is committed to a vision of Berkeley and Oakland where community roots are nurtured, neighborhoods are safe, vibrant centers of activity and families can thrive. To date, Jubilee has worked to tackle a number of community issues by creating transitional housing opportunities for men, women and youth, helping over one hundred families to become first-time homeowners and providing services such as job and computer training, nutrition and counseling to the public.

Everyone who works at Jubilee shares Rev. Choyce’s vision and that vision is clear ­ we aim to restore lives, homes and communities. Jubilee works toward accomplishing this vision with a mission to provide programs that promote human and community development.

The Jubilee Restoration Mission

Jubilee Restoration seeks to restore social justice and build communities with programs that create affordable housing and promote good health, employment and life-skills through educational opportunities and comprehensive family programs.