MIAMI BEACH — The Miami Beach people see in glitzy videos or on the silver screen is quite different from the day-to-day reality most of its residents live.

Far away from the nightspots where the rich and famous play and multimillion dollar homes sprawling against the coastline is a city existing with a dual persona. Amid the population of excess are working-class families struggling to keep their heads above water and youth aimlessly wandering the streets.

The city of Miami Beach realized this and approached several religious groups for their support in developing programming for youth, but only one answered the call—St. John’s United Methodist Church here.

The Rev. Carol Hoffman-Guzman, director of Arts at St. John’s, designed a program that incorporated the city of Miami, local social service agencies and the church. The result is Above Ground, and it has become a haven for teenagers and a place they can call their own.

Above Ground began last summer with a series of concerts in the fellowship hall of the church. Now the concerts are held several times throughout the year.

“At first we had about 75 kids show up,” Hoffman-Guzman said. “Now it averages 100 to 120 kids per concert. The concerts are non-religious, and some of the bands are so new they don’t even have a name. We used the music and the arts as sort of the carrot to get them in the door.”

Alexandra Bermudez, an employee of the city of Miami Beach and coordinator of Above Ground, said it’s unfortunate other religious groups did not respond when the city asked for help. She said the partnership between the city and church continues to flourish.

“A lot of people see Miami Beach as a capitalistic community, but there is also a thriving family community,” Bermudez said. “There are all levels of income. We wanted a place where, at first, only at-risk kids could hang out, and then we just opened it up to everyone. Since the clubs are for people 21 and older, the young people need an outlet, a place they can go for live music and just have an outlet.”

Initially, Above Ground was supposed to be an alternative to having young people hanging out on the streets or abandoned buildings, but it has grown to much more, thanks to grants from a number of organizations.

Above Ground received $8,550 from the General Board of Church and Society’s Shared Mission Focus on Young People Initiative, $6,000 from the Dade Community Foundation and $4,533 from the Miami-Dade County Cultural Affairs Council.

Once the teenagers were in the door, Hoffman-Guzman used the grant money to begin developing programming relevant to the teens, including workshops on entrepreneurship, leadership and even an in-depth look at the hip-hop culture within prisons.

What originally began as a safe place for teenagers to congregate has morphed into its own ministry.

Above Ground was also instrumental in helping the city land one of the 10 “All-American City” titles awarded in June. A large part of the accolade was the result of the city’s collaboration with non-profits, businesses and religious institutions to help solve such community problems as truancy and homelessness and make neighborhood improvements.

The National Civic League, a non-profit, non-partisan organization based in Denver, Colo., sponsors the All-American City program. Since 1949 nearly 500 communities of more than 4,000 entrants have been recognized as All-American cities.

Hoffman-Guzman attended the ceremony in Washington, D.C., and said she views the program as a partnership between the city and the church to fill a need in the community.