The HALO Foundation
Love Heals
Programs and results
What we aim to solve
Our mission is to help one more child spend one less day alone. We believe every child should have the support of a family. HALO provides housing, healing and education to homeless and at-risk children.
Our programs
What are the organization's current programs, how do they measure success, and who do the programs serve?
HALO Kansas City Learning Center
The HALO Learning Center in Kansas City serves a a safe haven of healing and hope for nearly 700 homeless and at risk children a year. Youth participate in therapeutic art and life skill programs, remote learning support, tutoring, professional development, scholarships and individual services in the areas of housing and mental health referrals. Free programs and services are offered year-round in partnership with numerous Kansas City organizations and shelters, multiple times a week, with a future focused curriculum to equip our youth with life skills to promote healing and help them learn independently in a safe environment. For the cost of $200 per youth, HALO can continue to provide and improve upon our program supplies, safe facilities and qualified staffing and additional resources.
Through our programming and services, HALO strives to make the largest impact in the shortest amount of time, and puts a strong focus on youth retention.
HALO Jefferson City Girls Home
The HALO Girls Home is a licensed Transitional Living Program (TLP). It is an 18 month-long program that provides free housing for pregnant, parenting, and non-parenting youth ages 16-21 years old who are in homeless or high-risk situations. The goal of the program is to help youth exit crisis mode, set long-term goals and learn to live independently in a safe environment. Youth accepted into the program are required to be enrolled in school and seek and obtain part-time employment while finishing high school. Youth who have graduated from high school must either obtain full-time employment or start college classes. Youth also participate in life-skills workshops, aimed at independent living, working towards the 5 main focus areas of: Daily Living, Self Care, Relationships and Communication, Housing and Money Management, and Career and Education. Each youth meets weekly with HALO Staff to work on their goals and assess their progress throughout the program.
HALO Jeff City Boys Program
The HALO Jefferson City Boys program is a safe place of healing and hope and puts at-risk and homeless teen boys on a path to a positive future. Through tutoring, connecting with male role models, life skill development, healthy relationship building, and recreational activities, these boys have the potential to do great things in our community. This program takes place in a home surrounded by 6 acres of land and connects male teens to resources year-round, provides a home cooked meal and is open during the after-school hours of Monday-Thursday 3 p.m. – 9 p.m. and hosts Summer activities. Partnering with the Jefferson City Public School Districts for referrals, this program serves over 50 youth per year. Additionally, this program provides the boys an opportunity to be a part of the HALO Heat Basketball team, which competes in AAU tournaments and focuses on the benefits of being part of a team.
HALO Uganda Learning Center & Community Outreach Program
The HALO Learning Center provides a collaborative and safe space for HALO Uganda youth to gather, learn, teach, grow and flourish. The Learning Center is open to youth in HALO Homes, as well as local community youth, up to age 23. The Learning Center provides skills training for youth and classes in topics of Fashion & Design, Salon/Cosmetology, Music and Dance and Entrepreneurship, as well as life skills training, therapeutic art, food support and community events. Additionally, The Learning Center is an accredited vocational institution in the areas of Fashion & Design and Salon/Cosmetology.
The Community Outreach Program serves youth in the greatest of need from 2 nearby slums. This program provides food support, counseling, peer to peer support groups, and skills sessions. Additionally, this program facilitates a Girls Empowerment Program which reaches out to vulnerable girls who have been sexually exploited and conducts counseling sessions and life skill opportunities.
HALO Uganda Homes and Resettlement & Boarding Program
HALO Homes empower youth by facilitating holistic development through shelter, health, education, mentorship, future focused training, therapeutic art, and reconciliation with their origin communities where appropriate. HALO supports 2 homes in Kampala, Uganda; the Lungujja Girls Home, supporting 14 girls ages 0-18 & Kibuli Boys Home, supporting 20 boys ages 0-18. The average length of stay is 3 years and youth come from backgrounds of full or partial orphans, living on the street, involved in prostitution or experiencing sever abuse or neglect.
HALO Resettlement & Boarding Program is reserved as the next right step for eligible youth who have spent an average of 3 years in a HALO Home. Resettlement is the point in which a youth has completed their residency in the HALO home and will re-enter the community independently or with an identified family member, or continue their Primary or Secondary education through a nearby boarding school, fully supported by HALO.
HALO Kenya Homes
HALO began working in Kenya in 2007 and currently supports two homes in the Nanyuki area. The HALO Baraka Home houses 28-32 youth, ages 0-16. Additionally, HALO provides funding support for the Simama Transition Home for youth ages 0-17. Many of the youth living in these homes have lost parents to the AIDS epidemic, and have been effected by extreme poverty, abuse and neglect. HALO meets the basic needs of youth in the Homes including food, water, clothing, shelter, caretakers, education and art programming.
Caretakers and staff work to reunite youth with their communities of origin through family tracing and reunification when assessed as safe and appropriate. Once reunified with family, youth receive ongoing support from HALO to ensure progress in school and overall wellbeing.
HALO Mexico Home & Education Program
Lily of the Valley was the first HALO-supported orphanage, and has had a relationship with this home since 2004. HALO provides the children of this home with tuition for education, school uniforms, therapeutic art and other needs. This orphanage houses anywhere from 65 to 110 children from the streets of Tijuana each year, with a focus on youth who have been victims of sexual abuse.
Once youth are eligible, HALO provides scholarships to the youth of Lily of the Valley to attend vocational training or University based off of an application and approval process.
HALO India Program
HALO supports 30 children at the Ashirvad Orphanage in Tuni, India. Many of the children residing at Ashirvad have not been able to stay with family due to severe poverty, illness, and/or the death of a parent or guardian. Upon first working in India, many of the youth at this home had lost family members from the 2004 tsunami that ravaged the nearby coast.
HALO has been providing food, water, clothing, shelter, caretakers, therapeutic art and education to these children since 2006. In addition to providing basic needs, HALO has granted several scholarships to eligible youth from Ashirvad to attend vocation training or University over the years. Several youth have graduated and have entered the community as a contributing member, now able to provide care for themselves and their families.
HALO Kansas City Boys Home & Girls Home--Under Construction
The HALO KC Homes will operate in the same fashion as the Jefferson City Girls Home. They will be 18 month-long programs that provides free housing for pregnant, parenting, and non-parenting youth ages 16-21 years old who are in homeless or high-risk situations. The goal of the program is to help youth exit crisis mode, set long-term goals and learn to live independently in a safe environment.
Youth accepted into the program are required to be enrolled in school and seek and obtain part-time employment while finishing high school. Youth who have graduated from high school must either obtain full-time employment or start college classes. Youth will participate in life-skills workshops, aimed at independent living, working towards the 5 main focus areas of: Daily Living, Self Care, Relationships and Communication, Housing and Money Management, and Career and Education. Each youth will meet weekly with HALO Staff to work on their goals and assess their progress throughout the program.
Where we work
Awards
Innovator 2017
ArtsKC Fund
Local Hero 2018
Ingram's
External reviews

Photos
Videos
Our results
How does this organization measure their results? It's a hard question but an important one.
Number of children served
This metric is no longer tracked.Totals By Year
Population(s) Served
Women and girls, Men and boys, Adolescents
Related Program
HALO Kansas City Learning Center
Type of Metric
Output - describing our activities and reach
Direction of Success
Holding steady
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?
HALO empowers youth to become contributing members of their communities. Our goal is to break the cycle of youth homelessness and poverty.
What are the organization's key strategies for making this happen?
HALO has a comprehensive strategic plan that all team members report on monthly via our HALO Scorecard.
Strategies are centered around Housing, Healing, Education initiatives. Please reference the Breaking the Cycle chart attached.
What are the organization's capabilities for doing this?
The key to HALO's success is not duplicating efforts and partnering with existing organizations that best fit our mission.
What HALO does well is taking programs and adapting them to any situation. Whether it is for a youth emergency shelter, an international home or a classroom, HALO's programming breaks down the barriers to allow the youth to dream about their future.
Over 82% of HALO hours are volunteer. HALO empowers over 200 volunteers worldwide to accomplish our mission.
What have they accomplished so far and what's next?
HALO has served over 8,000 youth by providing housing, healing, education services.
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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Who are the people you serve with your mission?
HALO serves homeless and at-risk youth.
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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 make fundamental changes to our programs and/or operations, To inform the development of new programs/projects, To identify where we are less inclusive or equitable across demographic groups, 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 demographics (e.g., race, age, gender, etc.), 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 tell the people who gave us feedback how we acted on their feedback, 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
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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.
The HALO Foundation
Board of directorsas of 04/10/2023
Eddie Welsh
COO at Capital Materials
Term: 2015 -
Vanessa Connell
CPA and Community Activist
Suzanne Alewine
CEO & Principal Parnter at Community Asset Builders
Greg Lam
Copilevitz & Canter
Kelli Jones
Senior Advisor, CPA and Certified Financial Planner at Moneta Group LLC.
Leandra Hulett
Group Vice President at Target
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 ? No -
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? No -
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:
The organization's co-leader identifies as:
Race & ethnicity
Gender identity
Sexual orientation
Disability
Equity strategies
Last updated: 05/24/2021GuideStar 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 review compensation data across the organization (and by staff levels) to identify disparities by race.
- We ask team members to identify racial disparities in their programs and / or portfolios.
- We analyze disaggregated data and root causes of race disparities that impact the organization's programs, portfolios, and the populations served.
- We disaggregate data to adjust programming goals to keep pace with changing needs of the communities we support.
- We employ non-traditional ways of gathering feedback on programs and trainings, which may include interviews, roundtables, and external reviews with/by community stakeholders.
- We disaggregate data by demographics, including race, in every policy and program measured.
- We have long-term strategic plans and measurable goals for creating a culture such that one’s race identity has no influence on how they fare within the organization.
- We use a vetting process to identify vendors and partners that share our commitment to race equity.
- We have a promotion process that anticipates and mitigates implicit and explicit biases about people of color serving in leadership positions.
- We seek individuals from various race backgrounds for board and executive director/CEO positions within our organization.
- We have community representation at the board level, either on the board itself or through a community advisory board.
- We help senior leadership understand how to be inclusive leaders with learning approaches that emphasize reflection, iteration, and adaptability.
- We measure and then disaggregate job satisfaction and retention data by race, function, level, and/or team.
- We engage everyone, from the board to staff levels of the organization, in race equity work and ensure that individuals understand their roles in creating culture such that one’s race identity has no influence on how they fare within the organization.