2023 Grant Recipient
Uniting Partners for Women and Children (UP)
AWARD: $100,000
FOCUS AREA: HEALTH & WELLNESS
PROJECT: Expanding Services for Women and Children Experiencing Houselessness
PROJECT IMPACT: Increasing drop-in service hours by 30%, increasing operations space, and targeting services for seniors.
Organization Statement: Our mission is to provide day shelter, resources, emotional support, and community connections to women, children, and marginalized genders experiencing homelessness to address the barriers to housing, so they can leave homelessness for good.
Major Recent Successes:
- Served 1,250 unique women and children visitors, an increase of 75% over the previous year
- Formed more than 50 partnerships to expand our community impact - from legal aid to vaccinations to support groups.
How this funding will impact this organization:
Since opening our doors in 2018, houselessness has increased 41% in our community. Our name – Uniting Partners for Women and Children – is the foundation for our work. We believe that collaboration is the key to meeting the urgent and long-term needs of our community.
It is time for UP for Women and Children to grow more fully into our mission by increasing the services we provide in three key areas – day shelter hours of operation, our space for increased collaborative efforts, and targeted services for senior women.
Our recent three-year strategic planning resulted in a commitment to seek resources with the goal to expand our drop-in service hours by 30% beginning in 2024, moving from 12 hours per week to 16 hours every week.
We would also like to increase operations space, so we can accommodate increasing numbers of women and community partners to meet their growing needs, including adding space for on-site service providers. We seek to expand the life skills classes and support women need to attain housing and be equipped to maintain that housing. More partners and more connections require more space.
The grant will go towards training staff and developing on-site resources specifically for seniors. Houselessness among older women has increased. In 2022, 36% of our adult guests were over 45 years old. Seniors have a greater need for specialized, on-going services than we can currently offer, including extended case management, increased need for housing to meet mobility needs, and connections to specialized community resources.
Wish List:
- Postage stamping machine donation to support the large number of vital documents we request for our guests each year
- New women’s sports bras and underwear- all sizes
- Welcome home baskets (a great group project!)