Hope Beyond Bridges
Restoring HOPE to the homeless because a Bridge is NOT a home.
Programs and results
What we aim to solve
There is an epidemic of homelessness fueled by traumatized individuals who absent spiritual, family or community support turn to drugs and alcohol to numb the pain of their past. Despite what most believe, the majority of homeless aren’t lazy, crazy or mentally ill. They suffered complex repetitive trauma from an early age, wiring their brains contrary to God’s design. We desire to build relationships with the chronic homeless, leverage those relationships to guide them toward resources or programs to address the physical and/or emotional trauma and restore them to functioning members of our community.
Our programs
What are the organization's current programs, how do they measure success, and who do the programs serve?
Weekly Minisrty Outreach
Our ministry is a relational ministry like Christ was relational – valuing each life as uniquely made in the image of God. We want the homeless to see, hear, smell, taste, and experience the love of Jesus Christ through our interactions.
Our ministry model to accomplish our mission involves partnering with local churches. Our faithful partners purchase food and supplies, provide the commercial kitchen required for food preparation and the volunteers to go out and serve the food. Each week, we provide a hot nutritious meal, something cold to drink, hygiene kit, clothes, shoes, bug spray, blankets, and on occasion, medical supplies, but most importantly, we offer encouragement and prayer. The results of the 2020 annual point-in-time count published June 23, 2021 and organized by the Coalition for the Homeless Houston recorded 3,567 homeless residents in Harris County, of which 1,515 were living on the streets rather than in shelters.
Where we work
Affiliations & memberships
Evangelical Council of Financial Accountability - Member 2018
Evangelical Council of Financial Accountability - Member 2019
Evangelical Council of Financial Accountability - Member 2020
Evangelical Council of Financial Accountability - Member 2021
Evangelical Council of Financial Accountability - Member 2022
Evangelical Council of Financial Accountability - Member 2023
External reviews
Photos
Videos
Our results
How does this organization measure their results? It's a hard question but an important one.
Number of direct care staff who received training in trauma informed care
This metric is no longer tracked.Totals By Year
Population(s) Served
Homeless people, Veterans, People with psychosocial disabilities, Substance abusers
Related Program
Weekly Minisrty Outreach
Type of Metric
Context - describing the issue we work on
Direction of Success
Increasing
Context Notes
Our Executive Director has participated in many Trauma Informed care classes and currently developing curriculum for our recovery center.
Average number of service recipients per month
This metric is no longer tracked.Totals By Year
Related Program
Weekly Minisrty Outreach
Type of Metric
Output - describing our activities and reach
Direction of Success
Increasing
Context Notes
From 2021 to 2022 we saw a 15% increase From 2022 to 2023 we saw a 30% increase Success is this number decreasing over time. We are currently in midst of a homeless crisis.
Number of hygiene kits distributed
This metric is no longer tracked.Totals By Year
Related Program
Weekly Minisrty Outreach
Type of Metric
Output - describing our activities and reach
Direction of Success
Decreasing
Context Notes
As with the previous metric we have seen a 15% & 30% increase over the last two years. Success for us is to see a decreasing number of hygiene kits distributed equating to fewer people homeless.
Number of veterans with PTSD served
This metric is no longer tracked.Totals By Year
Related Program
Weekly Minisrty Outreach
Type of Metric
Output - describing our activities and reach
Direction of Success
Decreasing
Context Notes
We do not encounter as many Veterans as expected based on national averages. We have far more who claim to be veterans which are weeded out quickly by our Veteran Peer Support specialist.
Number of meals delivered
This metric is no longer tracked.Totals By Year
Related Program
Weekly Minisrty Outreach
Type of Metric
Output - describing our activities and reach
Direction of Success
Decreasing
Number of active church partnerships
This metric is no longer tracked.Totals By Year
Related Program
Weekly Minisrty Outreach
Type of Metric
Output - describing our activities and reach
Direction of Success
Increasing
Context Notes
As we have grown into new areas and back into previous areas post-pandemic, we have seen our church partnerships increase.
Improved Emotional Well-being
This metric is no longer tracked.Totals By Year
Related Program
Weekly Minisrty Outreach
Type of Metric
Outcome - describing the effects on people or issues
Direction of Success
Increasing
Context Notes
Qualitative Indicator: Positive feedback from individuals served regarding improved emotional and mental well-being.
Our Sustainable Development Goals
Learn more about Sustainable Development Goals.
Goals & Strategy
Reports and documents
Download strategic planLearn 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?
We believe our weekly outreach & feedings are not about enabling the homeless but rather allowing us to build relationships, establish trust, hear their stories and learn their names. There is incredible power in a name. They don’t care what WE know until they know we CARE. We want to eradicate homelessness in our city.
What are the organization's key strategies for making this happen?
Our ministry model involves partnering with local churches who purchase the food and supplies, provide the commercial kitchen required for food preparation and the volunteers to go out and serve the food. Each week, we provide a hot nutritious meal, water or Dr. Pepper, hygiene kit, encouragement and prayer.
In addition to our weekly outreach, God has given us a vision and we are currently developing a plan to open a recover center specific for traumatized homeless individuals.
When doing our due diligence to avoid duplicating services, we discovered a significant need for the homeless population from outside the 610 loop to the suburbs. Currently we serve along the northwest corridor of Houston. One of our long-term goals is to launch outreach teams circumferentially around Houston. We are not aware of any other organizations who target the suburban areas we cover.
What are the organization's capabilities for doing this?
We have developed relationships over the last 12 years with local churches who share our vision and desire to eradicate homelessness in the greater Houston area through weekly outreach and relationship building. We have ministry trucks to support our weekly outreach.
What have they accomplished so far and what's next?
The impact of Hope Beyond Bridges restoring HOPE to the homeless, again by God’s grace has been more than 70 individuals choosing to seek treatment for their addictions and ultimately finding a path off the streets once and for all.
We hand out more than 3500 blankets between October to March. We are ECFA accredited and great stewards of our finances. Recently, we have discovered a potential sustainable revenue stream selling hygiene kits to other organizations. We anticipate our 2021 budget to be $300,000 and includes adding two new routes to our weekly outreach program, training and curriculum development and potentially completing phase one of the recovery center.
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 make fundamental changes to our programs and/or operations, 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 act on the feedback we receive
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What challenges does the organization face when collecting feedback?
We don’t have the right technology to collect and aggregate feedback efficiently, It is difficult to find the ongoing funding to support feedback collection, It is difficult to identify actionable 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.
Hope Beyond Bridges
Board of directorsas of 01/18/2024
MD Dr. Shaun Lehmann
President
Term: 2019 - 2026
Shaun Lehmann
President
Angela Cross
Treasurer
Khari Gaynor
Vice President
David Droll
Executive Director
Clayton Rhodes
Member
Nancy Frasier
Secretary
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? Yes
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
Disability
We do not display disability information for organizations with fewer than 15 staff.
Equity strategies
Last updated: 12/18/2019GuideStar 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 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.