Urban Pathways, Inc.
For homeless New Yorkers, the way home
Programs and results
What we aim to solve
On any given night, 61,000 individuals sleep in NYC shelters. Thousands more are unsheltered and call streets and public areas home. They are black, white, and Latino; old and young. They served in our armed forces. They are teens who have run away from foster homes; they are senior citizens. They are working adults who cannot afford city rents. Some find a night's rest in a respite bed or a chair in a drop-in center. Many are not as fortunate and spend the night fearing for their safety while gathering strength for the coming day. Many factors contribute to the crisis of homelessness in New York City. Lack of affordable housing is one cause. Releasing mentally-ill individuals without adequate planning is another. Inadequate income-support programs for disabled individuals — as well as stagnant wages for the employed — are other causes. Often, a combination of factors force an individual to live on the streets, where danger is constant and survival an overwhelming preoccupation.
Our programs
What are the organization's current programs, how do they measure success, and who do the programs serve?
Homeless Outreach
Urban Pathways’ outreach programs serve as the first point of contact for many homeless New Yorkers. Outreach teams engage difficult-to-reach individuals “where they are at” and offer immediate assistance, assessments, and referrals to community resources, 365 days per year. Outreach programs connect with over 1,500 clients annually.
Olivieri Drop-In Center
The Olivieri Drop-In Center in Manhattan provides clients with meals, clothing, and showers in a safe and welcoming environment; it also provides overnight “respite beds” in collaboration with faith-based partners. Intensive case management, medical and psychiatric assessments and referrals, and housing placement assistance are offered at the Olivieri Drop-In Center, which provides services to an average of 75 men and women daily. We are planning to open a second drop-in center.
Safe Havens (Transitional Housing)
Urban Pathways’ Safe Havens offer a secure, low-threshold environment so that individuals can leave the streets and begin the process of finding a home of their own. Four Safe Havens, located in the Bronx, Brooklyn, and Manhattan provide housing and intensive support services to over 200 adults annually.
Supportive Housing
Through its residences and scatter-site apartments in Manhattan, the Bronx, Brooklyn and Queens, Urban Pathways helps adults achieve stability and self-sufficiency, and participate fully in life in the community. Urban Pathways currently has over 675 extended-stay and permanent supportive housing units in operation, as well as 86 units for low-income community residents who are at risk of homelessness; plans are in place to provide additional permanent housing to formerly-homeless and low-income individuals through congregate and scatter-site housing programs.
Where we work
External reviews
Videos
Our results
How does this organization measure their results? It's a hard question but an important one.
Number of clients served
This metric is no longer tracked.Totals By Year
Population(s) Served
Adults, Homeless people
Type of Metric
Output - describing our activities and reach
Direction of Success
Holding steady
Context Notes
Figures indicate the number of non-duplicated individuals served during the fiscal year July 1 - June 30, in all programs.
Number of households that obtain/retain permanent housing for at least 6 months
This metric is no longer tracked.Totals By Year
Population(s) Served
Adults, Homeless people
Type of Metric
Output - describing our activities and reach
Direction of Success
Increasing
Context Notes
This reflects individuals who moved from the streets into transitional or permanent housing, entered long-term treatment, or were reunited with family or friends.
Number of adults with a source of ongoing care
This metric is no longer tracked.Totals By Year
Population(s) Served
Adults, Homeless people
Type of Metric
Output - describing our activities and reach
Direction of Success
Increasing
Context Notes
Figures represent individuals served across a range of platforms from street outreach to permanent supportive housing.
Our Sustainable Development Goals
Learn more about Sustainable Development Goals.
Goals & Strategy
Learn about the organization's key goals, strategies, capabilities, and progress.
Charting impact
Four powerful questions that require reflection about what really matters - results.
What is the organization aiming to accomplish?
• Help individuals who live on the streets to move into shelter, transitional or long-term housing, mental health or substance abuse treatment, or reunify with family or friends.
• Assess homeless men and women for eligibility for income and other supports which will increase their financial stability.
• Provide individuals who live in Urban Pathways’ transitional and extended-stay residences to complete housing application packages and begin their journey toward more permanent housing and greater independence.
• Assist eligible individuals who live in supportive housing to graduate to independent living through the “Moving On Initiative”; provide after-care to graduates to ensure that they have the supports they need to ensure long-term stability.
• Improve access to health care for residents in supportive housing through the Medical Wellness Program; this program also seeks to reduce clients’ reliance on expensive episodic treatment in hospital Emergency Departments.
• Provide job-readiness training for men and women who wish to re-enter the workforce through the UPwards Program; UPwards also provides job-placement assistance to Program graduates.
• Work with public funding agencies and private philanthropic partners to secure support for programs and services that enable homeless men and women to regain their independence and rejoin the community.
• Collaborate with stakeholders and other advocates to ensure that the needs of the homeless, and providers of services to the homeless, are reflected in policy discussions and budget priorities at the local, state and federal levels.
• Continue to focus on commitment to providing effective, evidence-based services to clients in order to maximize their ability to achieve long-term stability and independence.
What are the organization's key strategies for making this happen?
While many programs offer temporary, stop-gap solutions to address homelessness, many of them provide no long-term stability and result in individuals re-entering shelter or returning to the streets to live.
The concept of “housing first” has increasingly gained acceptance among homeless services providers as the best method to move people out of shelters and reduce the likelihood of a return to life on the streets. Research shows that the majority of homeless individuals who are provided with supportive housing are still in that housing, and not in the shelter system or on the street, two years later.
Urban Pathways believes that “housing first” is the single most effective way to move people from the streets or other unsafe living conditions and has developed a continuum of services to ensure that individuals are placed in housing which meets their needs and which provides the necessary supports so that they can live independent and fulfilling lives. This continuum of services engages homeless men and women where they are in the cycle of homelessness by providing outreach, drop-in center services, transitional housing, and extended-stay and permanent supportive housing. Housing is complemented by intensive case management and engagement, referrals for medical and psychiatric treatment, and assistance in maximizing socialization and daily living skills. Urban Pathways’ goal is to provide each program participant with housing and support, tailored to their needs, so that they can achieve self-sufficiency and independence.
Urban Pathways partners with a diverse network of supporters to ensure that it can implement cost-effective, evidence-based programs and services to help homeless individuals move toward greater independence once they are in stable housing. While public agencies provide the bulk of funding for housing and essential services, the Development and Communications Department constantly engages individual and corporate donors, foundations, and others to increase financial support for additional services – such as job training and access to medical care – that improve the quality of life for clients and increase their self-sufficiency.
What are the organization's capabilities for doing this?
The budget for Fiscal Year 2019 is approximately $25 million. Eighty-six percent of this total is allocated to program expenses (outreach, drop-in center, safe haven, and supportive housing). Twelve percent is
For the fiscal year ending June 30,2018, Urban Pathways achieved the following:
Street Outreach and Drop-In Center Programs:
• Provided extended services to 769 men and women through outreach programs in New York City and at Newark Liberty International Airport.
• Served 2,163 men and women at the Olivieri Drop-In Center in Manhattan; of this total, 263 individuals received comprehensive services.
• Assisted 80 percent of street outreach and drop-in center program participants to obtain or maintain vital income and other supports.
Transitional Housing:
• Served 295 men and women in three Safe Havens in Manhattan and Brooklyn.
• Provided housing placement assistance to clients, resulting in nearly 18 percent reuniting with family or friends, or moving into their own housing.
Supportive Housing:
• Served 728 men and women in supportive housing programs; 97% of men and women placed in Urban Pathways’ supportive housing remain in their homes for at least one year.
• Opened the Howard Amron House in Manhattan, providing affordable permanent housing to 11 formerly-homeless men and women.
• Helped 20 men and women transition from supportive to independent housing through the “Moving On Initiative,” coordinated by the Corporation for Supportive Housing.
• Provided access to comprehensive primary and urgent medical care to 232 men and women through the Medical Wellness Program at four supportive housing sites.
What have they accomplished so far and what's next?
• Serve over 2,500 homeless men and women each year through street outreach, drop-in center, and transitional and supportive housing programs. Provide these individuals with the tools, including income supports and health care access, that they need to regain their independence and become fully-participating members of their communities.
• Continue to work with public social services agencies to fund and operate evidence-based programs which meet the myriad needs of a challenging population. This includes enhanced outreach and drop-in services which encourage homeless individuals to begin the process of finding housing and stability, as well as supportive housing programs which address the underlying issues that contribute to homelessness and recidivism.
• Continue to work with public and private partners to provide support for services which enhance clients’ ability to live independently.
• Continue to collaborate with advocates for the homeless and other stakeholders to ensure that City and State elected officials make adequate budget provisions for supportive housing and other services for the homeless, including difficult-to-engage single adults.
• Continue to enhance programmatic and administrative processes to ensure that Urban Pathways remains an acknowledged leader in providing services to the homeless in New York City.
How we listen
Seeking feedback from people served makes programs more responsive and effective. Here’s how this organization is listening.
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How is your organization using feedback from the people you serve?
To identify and remedy poor client service experiences, To identify bright spots and enhance positive service experiences, To inform the development of new programs/projects, To strengthen relationships with the people we serve, To understand people's needs and how we can help them achieve their goals
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Which of the following feedback practices does your organization routinely carry out?
We collect feedback from the people we serve at least annually, We take steps to get feedback from marginalized or under-represented people, We aim to collect feedback from as many people we serve as possible, We take steps to ensure people feel comfortable being honest with us, We look for patterns in feedback based on people’s interactions with us (e.g., site, frequency of service, etc.), We engage the people who provide feedback in looking for ways we can improve in response, We act on the feedback we receive, We ask the people who gave us feedback how well they think we responded
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What challenges does the organization face when collecting feedback?
We don't have any major challenges to collecting feedback
Financials
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Operations
The people, governance practices, and partners that make the organization tick.
Connect with nonprofit leaders
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- Analyze a variety of pre-calculated financial metrics
- Access beautifully interactive analysis and comparison tools
- Compare nonprofit financials to similar organizations
Want to see how you can enhance your nonprofit research and unlock more insights? Learn More about GuideStar Pro.
Connect with nonprofit leaders
SubscribeBuild relationships with key people who manage and lead nonprofit organizations with GuideStar Pro. Try a low commitment monthly plan today.
- Analyze a variety of pre-calculated financial metrics
- Access beautifully interactive analysis and comparison tools
- Compare nonprofit financials to similar organizations
Want to see how you can enhance your nonprofit research and unlock more insights? Learn More about GuideStar Pro.
Urban Pathways, Inc.
Board of directorsas of 02/01/2023
Mr. Steven Sheppard DiCesare
Hughes Hubbard & Reed LLP
Term: 2018 -
Ms. Erin H. Abrams, Esq.
Via Transportation, Inc.
Term: 2018 -
Peter R. Brest
Consultant
Gary Belsky
Elland Road Enterprises
Erik Ipsen
Writer/Editor
Michael Barnett
Sculptor Capital Management Inc.
Lisa Choi
Ernst & Young LLP
Adam Heft
Goldman Sachs & Co.
Daniel Katcher
Newmark Grubb Knight Frank
Ethan Kaufman
Andrea N. Anderson
WeWork
Kelley Gott
Target
Ajay Salhotra
PDT Partners, LLC
Shaun Mirza
Captain PQ Chemical Industries (Pvt. Ltd.)
Michael Innis-Thompson
TD Bank
Keith Berger
Bank of America
Patrick Li
Nuveen Real Estate
Cynthia Summers
Primary Care Development Corporation
Chiara Carter
JPMorgan Chase
Brad Handler
Energy Transition Research, LLC
Jeanne Sun
JPMorgan Chase
Board leadership practices
GuideStar worked with BoardSource, the national leader in nonprofit board leadership and governance, to create this section.
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Board orientation and education
Does the board conduct a formal orientation for new board members and require all board members to sign a written agreement regarding their roles, responsibilities, and expectations? Yes -
CEO oversight
Has the board conducted a formal, written assessment of the chief executive within the past year ? Yes -
Ethics and transparency
Have the board and senior staff reviewed the conflict-of-interest policy and completed and signed disclosure statements in the past year? Yes -
Board composition
Does the board ensure an inclusive board member recruitment process that results in diversity of thought and leadership? Yes -
Board performance
Has the board conducted a formal, written self-assessment of its performance within the past three years? No
Organizational demographics
Who works and leads organizations that serve our diverse communities? Candid partnered with CHANGE Philanthropy on this demographic section.
Leadership
The organization's leader identifies as:
Race & ethnicity
Gender identity
Transgender Identity
Sexual orientation
No data
Disability
No data
Equity strategies
Last updated: 07/29/2022GuideStar partnered with Equity in the Center - an organization that works to shift mindsets, practices, and systems to increase racial equity - to create this section. Learn more
- We disaggregate data to adjust programming goals to keep pace with changing needs of the communities we support.
- We disaggregate data by demographics, including race, in every policy and program measured.
- We use a vetting process to identify vendors and partners that share our commitment to race equity.
- We seek individuals from various race backgrounds for board and executive director/CEO positions within our organization.
- We help senior leadership understand how to be inclusive leaders with learning approaches that emphasize reflection, iteration, and adaptability.