It began with a literal dream.

Jason “Smiley” Abrams, an area ministry director for InterVarsity Christian Fellowship, dreamed he was walking through a spacious, modern home where college students not only lived, but also grew in their faith.

“I had seen a lot of gaps in student housing at JSU [Jackson State University],” Abrams says. “Students were calling me saying, ‘Smiley, I want to come finish my degree, but I don’t have a place to stay.’ I was looking for opportunities to create that place.”

Days after his vivid dream, Abrams found a large, dilapidated house near the campus of Jackson State University for sale at a bargain basement price. The house was choked by vines and poison ivy, its interior filled with trash and spotted with mold. Frayed wiring dangled from holes in the walls and ceilings.

But the walls were standing and the bones were good. Convinced it was the home he’d dreamed of, Abrams purchased the house through the Andy Abrams Foundation, a nonprofit he founded in honor of his father, the late Rev. Andrew Abrams, a minister who helped low-income people become homeowners by rehabbing old homes.

With the deed to the house in hand and cash raised through donations, Abrams poured himself into the hard work of transforming the property into what he called The Discipleship House.

But Abrams’ dream quickly began to look more like a nightmare. The renovations needed to make the home livable were far more extensive than Abrams had anticipated. The project stalled. The cash ran out. The vision dimmed. Abrams applied for construction financing at two banks, but traditional lenders saw only another eyesore, another collapsing property in a neighborhood marked by blight.

Hope Credit Union, however, looked at that same dilapidated structure and saw a dream worth investing in. The project dovetailed with HOPE’s recognition that HBCUs serve as critical anchors of development for their surrounding neighborhoods. Strengthening housing for JSU students would strengthen the university and the surrounding community.

With that greater goal in mind, HOPE loaned the Andy Abrams Foundation $350,000 to complete the floor-to-ceiling renovations needed to transform the derelict structure into The Discipleship House.

“To have a financial institution like Hope Credit Union backing what I’ve done means the world to me,” Abrams says. “And I believe it gives inspiration and creates opportunities for other visionaries like me who need a partner
like HOPE.”

The Discipleship House will welcome its first student residents in 2026. Abrams’ long-term vision is to use The Discipleship House to create a model for student living that can be replicated around JSU and near HBCU campuses nationwide.

“There are so many abandoned houses in West Jackson so close to campus. I have a vision of seeing this entire neighborhood open for student housing. It would feel more like a college town,” Abrams says. “So much life could be brought to this neighborhood. I hope The Discipleship House encourages people to buy property in the area and reinvest in this community, to be a light in the darkness.”

While spurring community investment and addressing the critical need for student housing matter, for Abrams, The Discipleship House has been about much more than real estate.