Program:
Emergency Housing
- Budget:
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$0
- Category:
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Human Services
- Population Served:
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Homeless
Program Description:
<div>Families selected into our program receive temporary emergency housing and hospitality in one of our participating church, synagogue, or mosque congregations. Guests are sent to safe, child-friendly living quarters with private rooms for two weeks to two months at a time. They are never split by age or gender, as in traditional shelter programs.</div> <div> </div> <div>Each night, volunteers provide dinner and companionship for the families. They may help children with their homework or simply keep the families company. The goal is to create a calm environment for families to rebuild.</div> <div> </div> <div>Our Day Center in Mt. Airy serves as a comfortable daytime base for NPIHN guest families and alumni. There, heads of household can care for their children if necessary, while preparing for education, career, and housing opportunities with the help of NPIHN staff and volunteers. The facility features a kitchen, as well as a shower for use when one is not available at a host congregation. It also includes a resource library that provides videos, books, and other materials to help our families become fully independent.</div>
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Program:
Supportive Services
- Budget:
-
$0
- Category:
-
Human Services
- Population Served:
-
Homeless
Program Description:
<p>NPIHN offers supportive services to current and former families for as long as they are needed. Some of our relationships with families extend back as far as 10 years.</p> <p > </p> <p >Families affected by or recovering from homelessness often need more than shelter to achieve self-sufficiency. Over our 20-year history, we have expanded our supportive services to address the issues that commonly affect homeless and formerly homeless individuals as they rebuild. Our supportive services include:</p> <p > </p> <p >- Career Development and Education Planning</p> <p >- Family Therapeutic Services</p> <p >- Financial Literacy Training</p> <p >- Housing Support</p> <p >- Material Support</p> <p >- Parenting Education</p> <p >- Tax Credit Assistance<br /></p> <h1>Education Planning and Career Development</h1> <p >Heads of household and teens who are ready to work receive individualized assistance from our Career Development and Youth Engagement Counselor, Geoffrey T. Woodland. Geoffrey works with each individual to identify marketable skills. With his guidance, participants formulate short- and long-term goals in areas including: </p> <ul type="disc"><li >Obtaining a GED</li><li >SAT and College preparation</li><li >Associate’s and Bachelor’s Degree programs</li><li >Résumé building</li><li >The job application and interview process</li></ul> <h1>Family Therapeutic Services</h1> <p >NPIHN’s Family Therapeutic Services Program, headed by Neva Pryor, M.S., provides weekly on-site individual and group therapy coupled with parenting education for our families. During these sessions, children and teens participate in art and music therapy sessions facilitated by BuildABridge. The goal of the therapy program is to help participants work through emotional issues that have created obstacles to their achievement of financial independence, self-sufficiency, and positive self-image. <br /></p> <h1>Financial Literacy Training</h1> <p >Our Director of Family Services, Valerie Harris, works with our current and former families on meeting and maintaining their financial goals. Through individual counseling, weekly workshops, and collaboration with community resources, tutors, and mentors, heads of household work towards:</p> <ul type="disc"><li >Establishing a bank account</li><li >Restoring credit</li><li >Creating a savings plan</li><li >Negotiating debts</li><li >Securing benefits (including WIC, Food Stamps, SCHIP, Adult Basic, TANF, Section 8, CCIS, etc.)<br /></li></ul> <p >We partner with Consumer Credit Counseling Center of Delaware Valley (CCCDV) for financial literacy education. (To learn more about NPIHN’s partner organizations, click here).<br /></p> <h1>Housing Support</h1> <p >Our Director of Family Services, <u>Valerie Harris</u>, works with families in our temporary congregational housing to find appropriate housing solutions. Some of the housing support we provide includes:</p> <ul type="disc"><li >Reviewing credit reports and making recommendations for credit restoration</li><li >Facilitating families’ participation in WORC IDA savings plan</li><li >Assisting families in completing and submitting housing applications (to PHA, transitional housing programs, and private landlords)</li><li >Providing rental assistance </li><li >Providing referrals and resources to potential First Time Home Buyers</li><li >Coordinating workshops designed to educate families in Home Ownership</li></ul> <h1>Material Support</h1> <p >Through generous donations and grants provided by community neighbors and partnering businesses and foundations, NPIHN is able to provide material support to current and former families, for as long as is needed. These materials include school supplies for youth, school clothes and uniforms, sports equipment, musical instruments, computers, furniture, vehicles and more.<br /></p> <h1>Parenting Education</h1> <p >NPIHN’s Parenting Educator, Susan Endy, facilitates weekly workshops for families in the comfort of their congregational shelter. The goal of the workshops is to facilitate positive interaction between the parent and the child. In addition to the weekly workshops, Susan meets with each adult individually to address specific family issues and parenting concerns. She also maintains ongoing relationships with the families who graduate from our shelter program on as as-needed basis. </p> <p > </p> <p ><strong>Tax/Tax Credit Assistance</strong></p> <p > </p> <p >Tax Crediat Assistance is offered though the Benefit Bank from January to April by one of our trained volunteers.<br /></p>
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Program:
Children & Youth
- Budget:
-
$0
- Category:
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Human Services
- Population Served:
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Children and Youth (infants - 19 years.)
Program Description:
<div></div><div> According to The National Center on Family Homelessness, families with children make up over a third (34%) of the homeless population, and that number continues to grow. The City of Philadelphia Office of Supportive Housing estimates that on any night in Philadelphia, over 1,000 children and their families are homeless. One of the unique aspects of NPIHN’s program is its commitment to providing child-friendly living accommodations and services.</div><div> </div><div>The trauma of homelessness and economic uncertainty take an insurmountable toll on children and teens. Within a single year, 97% of homeless children have moved, interrupting their schooling and removing them from family relationships. 25% have witnessed violence. About half of all school-aged children experiencing homelessness face emotional disturbances caused by anxiety and depression. Academic and social challenges in school are common. The high school graduation rate for homeless teens in Pennsylvania is less than 25%.</div> <p > </p> <p >NPIHN services for children and teens were created to foster personal growth in the youth of our program. We have learned from our families that if parents did not have opportunities for personal growth as children, they have little imagination about ways to help their own children develop character. Our services are intended to address the emotional needs of youth experiencing or recovering from homelessness and expose them to new personal growth opportunities.</p>
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Program:
Transformational Housing
- Budget:
-
$0
- Category:
-
Housing
- Population Served:
-
Other Named Groups
Program Description:
<p>One of NPIHN's primary goals is to ensure that the families we support are able to find affordable housing in mixed-income communities upon leaving the shelter. We have established a small “transformational” housing program to offer affordable housing opportunities to our families.</p> <p>NPIHN staff and mentors provide extensive assistance to these families, ensuring that they are able to consistently pay rent on time and maintain good credit. The end goal of NPIHN's transformational housing efforts is to prepare families to become permanent renters or homeowners in neighborhoods of their choice within three to five years. We have two opportunities for our former families:</p> <ul><li><strong><em>Property Rehabilitation:</em></strong> NPIHN volunteers devote hours to rehabilitating donated or purchased residential properties in Northwest Philadelphia, a safe, mixed-income neighborhood located close to our support network. Upon completion, we lease the properties to eligible families that have left our congregational-based shelter setting. We currently have two such properties.<br /> </li><li><strong><em>Rental Subsidy Program:</em></strong> NPIHN provides substantial rental subsidies for up to three years to eligible families that have left our congregational-based shelter setting. The subsidies supplement monthly market-rate rental fees that families pay to Northwest Philadelphia landlords participating in our program. Landlords have the assurance of getting responsible tenants, backed by the supports of NPIHN's extensive network of resources. We are currently providing subsidies for three families.</li></ul> Our organization is always pleased to consider properties in need of rehabilitation for our next volunteer project. We are also happy to discuss opportunities with interested landlords.
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Program:
Other Services
- Budget:
-
$0
- Category:
-
Human Services
- Population Served:
-
Other Named Groups
Program Description:
<p>Our additional services were established to create a comfortable atmosphere around our families as they transition into and out of our shelter program. </p> <p ><strong>Material Support</strong></p> <p >NPIHN works to help families succeed in their goals of self-sufficiency, starting with the most important things like keeping their rent up-to-date and utilities turned on. To do this, we help families save money and encourage environment-friendly methods by making use of gently-used items. Through our material support program, families receive:</p> <p ><strong> </strong></p> <ul type="disc"><li ><strong>Household Furnishing: </strong>We have a warehouse of donated furniture, including bedroom, living room, and kitchen sets that are available to our alumni families. Our goal is to furnish the home of every family member who leaves our congregational housing program. Click <a href="http://philashelter.org/how-to-help/property-donations">here</a> to donate furniture.<br /><strong> </strong></li><li ><strong>Children’s Clothing & Toys</strong>: We have a partnership with Cradles to Crayons to provide a week’s supply of age-appropriate gently-used clothing, toys, and books to our families upon request. <strong><br /></strong></li></ul> <ul type="disc"><li ><strong>Adopted Santa Christmas Gifts: </strong>One of the ways we maintain contact with alumni families is by sending Christmas wish lists to all of our current and alumni families. Families fill out their “wishes” and “wants” for each member of their family and return it to us. We then match each family with a community Santa (sometimes a school class or a congregation, or a generous volunteer). We currently match about 70 families with their adopted Santas.</li></ul> <p ><strong>Recreational Outings</strong></p> NPIHN partners with <a target="_blank" href="http://www.art-reach.org/ARR_index.html">ArtReach </a>and <a href="http://www.access-sports.org/">AccessSports</a> to obtain tickets to various sporting, art, and cultural events in the Philadelphia area. This year, our families were able to enjoy complimentary tickets to the Nutcracker, the Philadelphia International Flower Show, and the Philadelphia 76ers games. <br />
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