Melbourne City Mission is the city's oldest charity, having been founded in 1854. In 1850, there were only around 25,000 people in Melbourne, but this number grew rapidly to nearly 500,000, mostly men, by 1891. The rapid increase was due to the
discovery of gold in the
colony of Victoria, and camps and wooden shacks sprung up across Melbourne. Many people fell into poverty and succumbed to disease, and charities, which had
Christian evangelism at their core, could not cope.
David Nasmith had started the
City Mission movement in
Glasgow, Scotland, in 1826, and by the time of his death in 1839, there were 45 such missions in
Great Britain, and 36 in
North America. Melbourne City Mission was the first of these, founded in 1854, and similar missions followed in
Hobart,
Sydney,
Adelaide,
Brisbane, and various regional cities. While each mission was run independently, several, including Melbourne and Sydney, adopted
London City Mission as their parent body.), a medical doctor, and
Hester Hornbrook, Their vision was "a mission embracing all denominations and unsectarian in its character" to ameliorate the hardship caused in the wake of the
gold rushes. • Home for Aged Women, in Collingwood (in the former Home for Fallen and Friendless Women set up by Singleton) • Pilgrim's Rest, in
Fairfield In 1926, the mission moved into a new building at 280 Exhibition Street, a former hotel. It included dormitory accommodation for up to 30 "friendless girls". The hostel was known by various names, including the Haven of Hope and Sister Grace's Home for Friendless Girls.
21st century From the 1990s, the mission focused on a response to youth homelessness. In the early 2000s the spelling of the name changed from Melbourne City Mission to Melbourne Citymission, MCM introduced the Step Ahead Program for people aged 16–25, whereby they could receive stable housing in fully furnished homes for up to three years, with ongoing support after they left the accommodation. This model proved so successful that the government took over funding it, with the program now known as Youth Foyers. It also ran a program for people with an
acquired brain injury called Compass, which provided a place to learn or re-learn skills and readjust to life, make friends and prepare for a return to work. However, despite its success the program was closed in 2020. ==Description and services==