Broadway United Methodist Church Executive Minister Jason Brown (left) and Housing Authority of Bowling Green Assistant Project Manager Joyce Johnson check out new equipment being used in the “Prints of Peace” screen printing business on Housing Authority property.

Joyce Johnson says the partnership between the Housing Authority of Bowling Green and Broadway United Methodist Church is “like peanut butter and jelly – we work together well.”

Johnson, the Housing Authority’s assistant project manager, was referring to a new venture called “Prints of Peace” that she believes can be as nourishing for west Bowling Green residents as the best PB&J.

That fledgling screen printing business, which was unveiled Wednesday during a Bowling Green Area Chamber of Commerce ribbon-cutting, is located in the heart of the low-income neighborhood that the Housing Authority serves and is aimed at bringing jobs and job skills to young people in that area.

“Kids need some place to go to learn to work,” Housing Authority Executive Director Abraham Williams said. “Why can’t we help our youngsters get employed? All ends of town need someone to help out.”

That’s where Broadway UMC came in. With the help of church member and former Bowling Green Mayor Sandy Jones-Boussard, Broadway Executive Minister Jason Brown leveraged the church’s resources and expertise to help create the business that is already churning out T-shirts and providing jobs out of a refurbished residence at 480 Beauty Court.

“We were approached by Broadway,” Johnson said. “We had these properties and hadn’t decided what to do with them.”

With a goal of improving employment opportunities in the area near the Delafield community, Brown and Broadway members helped renovate the house and purchase the screen printing equipment.

“I went to Sandy with the idea for a screen printing shop and a new way of doing ministry,” Brown said. “We’re meeting people where they are and bringing opportunities to them.”

Brown said he utilized church funds and the screen printing expertise of some church members to create “Prints of Peace.”

“They have job training programs but not a lot of job placement opportunities,” Brown said of the Housing Authority. “We hope that’s what this becomes.”

It’s well on its way, according to Johnson. She pointed out Wednesday that the T-shirt business is already employing two young women – Alexis Bellamy and Nicole Atkins – through the Reach Higher program that is funded by a Kentucky Works grant. A recent Warren Central High School graduate, Ravesha Stokes, is working part time at the shop this summer.

“We’ve been going since April,” Johnson said. “We’re new at this, so we’re learning every day. We hope to train people, and we hope to spark an interest in some people who might want to go into screen printing design as a career.”

Calling it “an economic development project,” Jones-Boussard believes the screen printing shop meets a number of needs in the Delafield community.

“The problem for teens in this neighborhood is that they often don’t have transportation to get to a job,” she said. “This brings the jobs to them. It can teach them what payroll is and what taxes are. They can learn how to come to work and work as part of a team.”

Johnson, who was handing out some freshly printed T-shirts to those at the chamber of commerce ribbon-cutting, is now looking to grow the business.

“We hope to get to where we can hire some full-time employees,” she said.