My Sister's Place, Inc.

MSP Goals

1. Provide life-saving emergency housing (Sanctuary Plus and Sanctuary II) and intensive supportive services to survivors of domestic violence serving 140 survivors a year and enabling at least75% families to make a successful transition from violence, abuse, and homelessness to safe and stable housing.

2. Provide transitional-to-permanent housing to 45 families a year through MSP’s transitional housing program RISE (Reaching Independence through Survivor Empowerment), with 15 families graduating RISE and becoming self-sufficient.

3. Provide rental support and supportive services for 32 families for two years through MSP’s RISE Plus program, with 15 families moving to a Rapid Rehousing model that progressively decreases the rent support they require as they become more self-sufficient.

4. Provide wrap around services to Shelter, RISE, RISE Plus, and FRSP (Family Rehousing and Stabilization Program) participants including case management, advocacy, counseling and therapy, to support a family’s progress towards self-sufficiency.

5. Provide workforce development workshops and opportunities to increase income for at least 50 clients through new or improved employment, training, and access to public benefits.

6. Provide furnishings and household goods for clients moving to transitional housing from shelter through the Move In program which provides help to 50 families a year by supporting moving and appropriately furnishing their new homes.

7. Provide After Care services to at least 50 families exiting RISE and RISE Plus to ensure a continuum of care aimed at preventing recurrence of abuse and homelessness.

8. Provide one time emergency financial assistance through the Fresh Start Fund program to 200 families in any of MSP’s programs to stabilize their path to success.

9. Provide case management and other supportive services to over 200 families through the FRSP program that houses families in DC government subsidized units.

10. Continue to educate the community by conducting at least five trainings to a variety of partners with a goal to increase DV awareness and to prevent domestic violence as well as how to recognize DV symptoms and share tools and resources for help.

Projects Goals for Emergency Shelter & Supporting Strategies
Please note that project goals are set on an annual basis. Our goal is to increase the number of clients in each target annually. However, due to the ongoing pandemic, we are conservatively estimating the numbers to be the same in year two.

Activities:
1. Assist 150 survivors who call the shelter with safety planning and referrals.
2. Develop 130 safety plans with DV survivors seeking or receiving emergency housing.
3. Provide life-saving emergency shelter to 140 survivors (adults and children) along with case management to enable clients to make a successful transition from violence, abuse and homelessness to safe, stable housing.
4. 600 intensive case management and counseling sessions to help survivors heal from trauma, identify needs, create realistic service plans and in achieving goals, includes referrals agencies providing healthcare, legal services, childcare, job training, and housing among other supports
5. 35 direct legal connections to the DC Volunteer Lawyer Project for legal assistance on custody matters, immigration needs and other legal matters, on-site legal services to address custody and immigration issues, as well as providing education and advocacy
6. 500 meals providing nutritious, healthy food to assist families in meeting their nutritional needs.
Activities:
7. Assist 150 survivors who call the shelter with safety planning and referrals.
8. Develop 150 safety plans with DV survivors seeking or receiving emergency housing.
9. Provide life-saving emergency shelter to 140 survivors (adults and children) along with case management to enable clients to make a successful transition from violence, abuse and homelessness to safe, stable housing.
10. 600 intensive case management and counseling sessions to help survivors heal from trauma, identify needs, create realistic service plans and in achieving goals, includes referrals agencies providing healthcare, legal services, childcare, job training, and housing among other supports
Project Goals for transitional housing and activities
RISE project goals, activities and anticipated outcomes include but not limited to the following:

1. 400 sessions of case-management, counseling and advocacy services to participants as determined by their self-identified needs, which may include: 1) referrals for critical services such as health care, psychiatric care, addiction treatment, child care and legal assistance; 2) provision of individual, family or group counseling and 3) referrals for other supportive services to help participants reach self-sufficiency. All of these services are voluntary and offered as needed by each individual family.
2. Assess participant’s financial ability to afford rent and living expenses, helping participants increase or downsize their units or find other sources of income/better or additional jobs as needed;
3. Offer a minimum six months of aftercare to all participants, following their exit.

My Sister’s Place new mission statement describes our work to shelter, support and empower survivors of domestic violence and their children, while providing leadership and education to build a supportive community. MSP is unique in offering a full continuum of care from emergency shelter through transitional-to-permanent housing and providing after-care support long after families have exited our housing programs. MSP serves families from the first days of deciding to flee to long after they have established their own homes, for as long as they want to stay connected with us.

MSP developed our unique “Move-In Program” to provide furnishings and other household goods as clients move into new homes and our own “Fresh Start Fund” to help families with financial support to ensure they do not fall back into homelessness because of one unexpected bill.

The end of 2022 marked extraordinary expansion for MSP. We opened a new shelter, Sanctuary II, increasing our emergency shelter capacity by nearly 50%. We expanded our footprint throughout all programs, adding transitional housing to 15 more families and support services to another 150 clients in transitional housing programs. We are currently the largest provider of housing for families fleeing domestic violence in DC.

Among our most recent achievements is our newly launched emergency cash transfer program, RISE Trust. The program will help clients set and meet financial goals that will support long-term self-sufficiency. While there have been several cash transfer programs across the country, none are specifically targeted to domestic violence survivors. Because financial limitations are often the reason survivors stay in abusive relationships, and the reason they go back to their abusers, we believe that a cash transfer program for this population will not only lead to increased well-being but will also save lives.

MSP also stands out in our intentional hiring of highly educated, licensed and multi-cultural staff. Our experienced team of licensed social workers, therapists, case managers and residential counselors provide intensive case management and counseling sessions, art therapy, psycho-education workshops, workforce training, youth programs and activities, health and parenting work-shops and addiction counseling. Key programming that strengthens MSP portfolio of programs is our mental health support provided to clients through licensed therapist, including our own very popular full-time art therapist. These supportive services ensure that clients are empowered to recover and thrive so that they can maintain their independence, gain employment, placement into job-training and educational programs.

FY 22 results to be published once available, FY 21 results are the following:

MSP served a total of 160 adult survivors and 285 child survivors throughout all programs.
110 survivors provided with safe secure emergency shelter
1247 case management and counseling sessions provided to adults and children
49 individual safety plans designed, 96 client goals set, and 57 financial and budgeting plans created with
survivors
57 sessions held to assist survivors with securing employment, increasing income, or education program placement
57 psycho-education workshops and 70 youth activities conducted for shelter residents
98 survivors transitioned from shelter or other crisis location to transitional housing
94 survivors served through transitional housing programs on an on-going basis
18 domestic violence survivors moved to independent permanent housing
40 Move Ins completed to help clients establish homes
117 Fresh Star Fund grants awarded to help families with unexpected expenses when needed most
Conducted 8 Domestic Violence and Bystander Intervention training to over 200 community participants
20 weekly DV resource clinics held in the community and virtually
Partnered with more than 30 community services providers to meet our clients’ needs
Established relationships, formal agreements and DV tenant right education with 38 local landlords to better serve survivors in transitional to permanent housing.