Vine Maple Place

Vine Maple Place assists families in crisis to stop the cycle of homelessness by helping single parents and their children build lives of hope, stability and greater self-sufficiency. We are dedicated to equipping at-risk families with the skills they need to become stable and economically self-sufficient. Our focus is to help adults break the patterns in their lives that lead to homelessness and to help children avoid repeating those same patterns as they mature.

Since inception in 2000, we have provided transitional housing and support programs for homeless single parents and their children. Because clients who come into our program may have experienced declining financial stability for several years before reaching a crisis point that leads to the loss of their housing, we recognized a significant need for intervention for families in imminent danger of losing their housing due to financial instability. From that identified need, our homelessness prevention program was implemented in 2013.

The combined programs give us the flexibility to meet families before, during, or after a homeless episode, and have significantly increased our capacity to help more people in need in our community. Our services for homeless and near-homeless families include housing assistance, case management, financial literacy, employment development, and child and youth services. We believe this innovative approach could virtually end family homelessness in our community, and we have designed it to be easily replicated in other communities.

We respond to family housing crises by initially providing innovative housing solutions -- emphasizing homeless prevention and rapidly re-housing families to limit the time they spend homeless. We know that by keeping families in their existing homes, they return to stability more quickly, with less trauma to the children, and at far less cost to the community. They are also able to stay connected with their established schools and support systems.

Once a family is stable, we work toward a long-term solution. We tailor a plan of support services, based on where they are in the cycle of homelessness, to help them transform into thriving, self-sufficient members of the community.

Our wraparound services for families include:
• Housing Solutions: Housing assistance focuses on keeping families in their current housing or quickly getting them re-housed within 30 days, and includes some temporary shelter/transitional housing. We offer financial assistance to stabilize an immediate housing crisis, and support services focused on building skills that eliminate barriers to housing stability.
• Case Management and Counseling: Case managers assist each family in creating and implementing a family transition plan, utilizing counseling and life skills development classes focused on reducing housing barriers, to achieve stability.
• Financial Literacy and Coaching: Training and one-on-one coaching, including debt reduction, spending plans, and credit repair and management, is a core foundation that strengthens families in financial distress. Financial coaches teach classes that develop knowledge of basic financial management skills, helping families learn to stabilize their housing and financial situation for the long term.
• Employment and Livable-Wage Development: Workshops and one-on-one coaching build employment development skills for clients. Obtaining full-time, livable-wage employment is critical to achieving long-term stability, including stable housing, and increased economic self-sufficiency.
• Child and Youth Services: The needs of at-risk children are identified through in-depth assessments and parent communication, and a development plan is created to help each child reach age-appropriate emotional, academic, and developmental goals. They participate in activities that promote self-esteem and emotional stability, utilizing tutoring, counseling, mentoring, therapeutic intervention, and life skills coaching, in order to be successful at home and school. They also develop the skills necessary to break the cycle of generational homelessness.

Vine Maple Place is governed by an all-volunteer Board of Directors, made up of 7 committed and active members who meet quarterly, with 100% participation in financial support. The operations are led by dedicated executive and senior management who are highly experienced in leadership, developing and implementing long-term strategies for growth and sustainability, and organizational effectiveness and efficiency.

Our highly qualified staff work as a cohesive team, along with hundreds of trained and screened volunteers. They provide case management and counseling, financial and employment workshops, mentoring, tutoring, life-skills training, development, and administrative support to ensure the success of our clients - fulfilling our mission to break the cycle of homelessness for single parents and their children.

We are also joined in our commitment by over 30 area churches and dozens of businesses that support us by providing funding, volunteers, and leadership. We have developed multiple funding sources including: individual, church, and business donations; matching gift programs; fundraisers; foundation and grant funding; and community group support.

Overall, our revenue is well-diversified and not dependent on any single source. We recognize the need to continue to increase our income in order to expand our programs to help more families in need. Accordingly, we have a fundraising plan that includes: 1) expanding fundraising resources, 2) increasing individual donor income, 3) increasing fundraising event income, 4) developing stronger church and community connections, and 5) developing relationships with potential new foundations. Our fundraising efforts are led by a Development Team made up of Vine Maple Place staff, board members and committed volunteers.

To build a stronger community, we need community awareness and coordinated response. We recognize that no single agency or program has all the resources needed to prevent homelessness, so we developed the Community Caring Network an alliance of collaborating social service agencies, area churches, schools, community organizations, and the cities of Maple Valley, Black Diamond, Covington and parts of Kent. This alliance is managed by Vine Maple Place and works together to serve families who are homeless or in imminent danger of becoming homeless.

Distressed families become stronger through our programs and the help of the Community Caring Network. Families receive support focused on obtaining emergency assistance, legal aid, landlord negotiations, mental health counseling, and more. For example, we collaborate with local landlords and property management firms to identify and provide affordable housing to families in our program. We also have collaborative partnerships with YMCA, to provide child and family mental health counseling, and KidVantage NW, to provide basic essentials for children in need.

We have seen thousands of families break the cycle of homelessness and become stable and economically self-sufficient.

2023 Results
Adult Outcomes:
95% reached housing stability and 91% maintained their current housing past one year.
73% were employed at exit and increased their earned income toward a livable wage.
75% increased their financial stability by increasing their financial literacy.

Child Outcomes:
96% re-engage emotionally and in a healthy family relationship.
91% show a positive outcome in situation, attitude or behavior.