Project Hope for the Homeless is pleased to be awarded a $17,466 grant from the Ridgecliff Foundation to help pay for staff salary for the organization’s Aftercare Program.
Aftercare Coordinator Tonya Abney celebrates more than a decade of experience and education in this position. She works with guests, who are often at the lowest point in their lives as they prepare to leave the leave the shelter, conducts apartment inspections, and helps them secure any available entitlements.
Once guests have left Project Hope for the Homeless, she offers a multi-pronged approach to help them maintain their successful transition. Educational workshops, social events, care packages and regular supportive advocacy and communication are part of that approach.
Through the Aftercare Program, hundreds of individuals and families who had found themselves homeless have found their own house or apartment, a more comprehensive treatment facility, and a new lease of life.
“I have seen the results of the Ridgecliff Foundation supporting this program – persons who are active participants are less lonely, much less stressed, and remained housed longer,” Abney said.
Project Hope for the Homeless Executive Director Judy Burr said these grant funds reach the most vulnerable people in our area.
“Those who have suffered with mental health, chemical dependency and/or very difficult upbringings are getting the on-going support necessary to be successful in life”, Burr said.
Eighty-three (83) percent of all guests who stayed at the shelter in 2018 transitioned into a better life and our rate of recidivism is less than 10%. Former guests have returned to Project Hope for the Homeless to serve as volunteers, employees, members of the Board of Trustees or financial donors.
We enjoy relationships with many different organizations to help us achieve our goals to restore hope and renew lives and to provide ongoing care for guests of Project Hope for the Homeless.
The Ridgecliff Foundation provides grants to nonprofit organizations that have a mental health or chemical dependency component. It funds programs that promote client services, prevention, education and research in the field of mental health and chemical dependency in a 10-county area within Northeast Ohio.