Please share your mission.
A Safe Haven Foundation (ASHF) is a private, not-for-profit, 501(c)3 corporation that provides homeless individuals and families with supportive housing in the Chicagoland area. ASHF was founded on the principle that everyone deserves safe, clean, and affordable housing. Our tagline — “Aspire. Transform. Sustain.” — captures the essence of our mission, from perspectives of both residents and supporters. Residents can aspire to self-sufficiency, participate in our programs for their personal transformation, and leave with the tools to succeed in the long term. Meanwhile, our supporters can aspire to make such change possible, transform others’ lives, and sustain the organization with their support. ASHF serves over 3,800 clients per year, ranging from families with newborn babies to individual youth and adult, to include the elderly. We provide a full continuum of care that help individuals and families to achieve goals of stable housing, sustainable income, and greater independence. Services include housing, individualized case management, substance abuse treatment, work readiness training, adult education, and job placement. Additional services include training in life skills, financial literacy, anger management, parenting skills, mentor development, health and nutritional services, and linkage to myriad support services. Through these programs ASHF works to break the cycle of homelessness in Chicago.
Describe how your organization lives/realizes its mission.
ASHF trauma-informed continuum of care intervention and treatment model helps individuals to become receptive to accepting help and engaging in activities that lead them to address crisis areas in their lives that resulted in homelessness. ASHF has special programs to address the needs of specific populations. For example, our family centered, trauma-informed intervention model is designed to support single parents and intact families with children who are experiencing homelessness. We coordinate closely with a number of social service and health agencies as well as community based organizations to help parent(s) as well as children cope and recover from housing displacement and associated traumas. Twenty percent of ASHF employees are U.S. military veterans who are charged to provide case management, adult education, workforce training, and job placement services to homeless veterans who are reintegrating to their communities. Lastly, but just as important, are our reentry programs for troubled and homeless youth and adult ex-offenders. In addition to the continuum of care described here, these men and women participate in mentoring programs that support their efforts to become productive and trustworthy members of the community. No person stands alone at ASHF — staff, peer support groups, and partnering agency support result in successful transformation of the homeless.
Read A Safe Haven’s Philanthropy Awards article here.
