A SAFE HAVEN FOUNDATION
Housing is Healthcare
Programs and results
What we aim to solve
According to All Chicago - Making Homelessness History, 8,857 households were homeless in Chicago in February 2020. Time Magazine reported that, during 2019, over 86,000 Chicagoans experienced some form of homelessness. More people are at risk of becoming homeless every year as housing affordability worsens, costs outpace wages, and availability of public subsidies decreases. Homelessness is damaging to health, economic stability, and other factors that contribute to quality of life. We believe "Housing is Healthcare", and A Safe Haven Foundation exists to help individuals and families aspire, transform and sustain their lives from homelessness to self-sufficiency; from homeless to housed; from personal crisis to sustained success. ASHF’s scalable model is designed to help people in crisis achieve sustainable self-sufficiency and achieve the ‘double bottom line’ of saving money and saving lives.
Our programs
What are the organization's current programs, how do they measure success, and who do the programs serve?
Workforce Development
ASHF Center for Workforce Development collaborates with companies and organizations to help our clients overcome barriers to employment. Client’s complete pre-employment training, including resume writing, interviewing preparation, communication skills, and conflict management. We have developed six sector-based vocational training programs, which provide training in locally high demand industries that pay a living wage. Those industries include landscaping, culinary arts and food service, hospitality, pest abatement, customer service and security. The industry specific programs partner with local employers, who provide mentoring, apprenticeships, internships, on-the-job training, and offers living-wage job opportunities.
Adult Education Program
ASHF Adult Education program helps our clients set the foundation for their future success. We provide our clients with the knowledge and skills to obtain and sustain living-wage employment. Our adult education program supports ASHF’s goal of ending homelessness by providing our clients with the education, skills, and resources to become self-sufficient. Core classes include GED preparation, contextualized literacy, basic math, computer literacy, and life skills.
Youth Programs
ASHF Youth Programs empowers homeless children to succeed beyond their circumstances through education, mentoring, and anti-violence programs. Our Bullying Prevention program partners with a local school where the majority of our youth attend, to increase social-emotional competence among youth participants and reduce bullying incidents. ASHF’s Anti-Violence Mentoring program provides one-on-one mentoring to 40 youth using the CDC’s social-ecological model. The Family Literacy program increases the literacy levels of both parent and child, while encouraging families to engage in fun and educational activities together.
Psychotherapy/Behavioral Health
A Safe Haven’s team of professional behavioral healthcare clinicians
provide on-site individual and group therapy sessions to all residents
of A Safe Haven in need of professional psychological counseling.
Many residents, adults, and children, of A Safe Haven have suffered
from underlying traumatic experiences such as sexual assault,
domestic violence, PTSD from gun violence, human trafficking,
physical and mental abuse and co-existing mental health conditions
or behavioral healthcare diseases such as depression, substance use,
stress, bipolar, and schizophrenia. A Safe Haven trauma-informed care
services have successfully helped tens of thousands of our residents
learn how to cope, manage and overcome their challenges in a way
that allows them to restore their self-esteem and to live their lives
successfully with life long commitments to recovery as positive
productive members of society.
Housing
Housing is the principal service that ASHF provides. We firmly believe "Housing is Healthcare" and provides the first step in healing for a myriad of other issues. ASHF offers a variety of housing options and recovery settings, including interim, transitional, permanent supportive, recovery, veterans and affordable housing managed by licensed professionals.
Where we work
Awards
Humanitarian Award 2010
Al Safeer Media
Chicagoan of the Year 2010
Chicago Magazine
Leader of Color 2010
Chicago United
Chicagoan of the Year! 2011
Chicago Magazine
Best Marriage of Money & Mission 2011
Membership of National Social Enterprise Alliance Washington DC
Two Time Silver Trumpet Award Winner "Issues Management 'Bringing Veterans Home" 2012
Publicity Club of Chicago
Most Inspiring Mission! 2013
Make it Better Magazine
Champion of Change 2013
The White House
Trailblazer Award 2013
Latina Style Magazine
Illinois Humanitarian Award 2013
Secretary of State Jesse White
Enterprising Woman of the Year 2014
Enterprising Woman Magazine
"Service Above Self " 2014
Rotary One
Entrepreneur of the Year 2014
NYC Legal Momentum
Freedom Award 2015
John Marshall Law School
2015 Unsung Heroes 2015
National Associate for Minorities in Communications
2015 Miami Real Estate ICON Leadership Award 2015
Miami Brickell Chamber of Commerce
CLN Hall of Fame 2015 Inductee 2015
Chicago Latino Network
TWO GOLD Awards in Landcaping 2015
Illinois Landscaping Association
Independence Award 2015
Consulate General de Peru
Nueva Latina Estrella Award 2015
Verizon
Leadership Award 2015
National and Illinois Diversity Council
Entrepreneur of the Year 2016
Chicago Latino Network
Maestro Leadership Award 2016
Latino Leaders Magazine
The Company of Grace Award 2016
Spirituality Ignatious Project
Good Neighbor Award 2016
Chicago Association of Realtors
Social Sustainability Award 2016
National Environmental Hall of Fame
Latina Entrepreneur of the Year 2016
AETNA
Three Time "Silver Trumpet Award" 2017
Publicity Club of Chicago
Amigo Award & Named Top 50 Most Influential Latinos 2017
Negocios Now
BIBO Humanitarian Award 'Outstanding Homeless Advocacy 2017
BIBO Foundation
Most Distinguished Design Award for A Safe Haven Veteran Village - Affordable Housing 2017
American Institute of Architects
Chicago Chapter Distinguished Building Award Citation of Merit in Architecture 2017
American Institute of Architects
Orgullo Award 2017
Univision & Goya Foods
Golden Trowel Award 2017
The Yellow Tractor Project
Outstanding Leadership 2018
Bradley University Civil Engineering and Construction
Innovation in Healthcare & Healthcare Delivery 2018
The Institute of Medicine in Chicago
CommUnity Hero Award - Champion For A Well Community and Excellence in Advocacy 2018
Harmony - A Well Care Company
Peoples Humanitarian Award 2018
The Chicago Blues All Stars
Named Who's Who Hispanic Leader 2018
Negocios Now Magazine
Silver Award Winner 2018
Association of Licensed Architects
VETHire Gold Medallion Award Winner 2018
U.S. Department of Labor, Washington D.C.
ASH Cook County Resolution in Honor of ASH's 25th Anniversary 2019
Board of Cook County Commissioners
Philanthropist of the Year 2019
Powerteam International
Humanitarian Award 2019
Georgia Doty Comprehensive Health
Who's Who' Society of Chicago Inductee 2019
Who's Who Society of Chicago
Crains Chicago Business Healthcare Hero Honoree 2020
Crains Chicago Business
Chicago Innovation Award Winner 2020
Chicago Innovation Awards
Women of Influence Award Recipient 2020
Daily Herald Business Ledger
Notable Veteran Executive 2020
Crains Chicago Business
Diversity and Inclusion 2021
Daily Herald Business Ledger
Humanitarian Global Health Award 2021
Chicago Institute of Medicine (IOMC)
Affiliations & memberships
Co-Chair of the Illinois Department of Healthcare and Human Service - Gov. Rauner Transition Team 2014
External reviews
Videos
Our results
How does this organization measure their results? It's a hard question but an important one.
Number of youth receiving services (e.g., groups, skills and job training, etc.) with youths living in their community
This metric is no longer tracked.Totals By Year
Related Program
Youth Programs
Type of Metric
Other - describing something else
Direction of Success
Holding steady
Context Notes
Total number of youth served through services, job training, employment, and overnight shelter.
Estimated dollar value of food donations distributed to community feedings programs
This metric is no longer tracked.Totals By Year
Type of Metric
Output - describing our activities and reach
Direction of Success
Holding steady
Context Notes
Approx 30,000 individuals served in A Safe Haven Food Pantry each year, providing community residents' access to food to support their families' nutritional needs.
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?
A Safe Haven's goal is to restore hope and opportunity to individuals in crisis by providing treatment, housing, support services, and career opportunities.
ASHF was founded in 1994 and has been licensed by the State of Illinois to provide substance abuse treatment services since 2001. In our 29-year history, ASHF has been committed to helping people transform their lives from one of alcoholism, addiction and crime to self-sufficiency in sobriety with gainful, living wage employment and affordable housing. In a safe and supportive treatment environment, clients are able to identify and address the root causes of criminal thinking and behavior.
ASHF realized in order for people to sustain their sobriety, they needed stable housing, living-wage employment, healthcare, and access to supportive services. ASHF strategically expanded it program offerings to include emergency, interim/ transitional, permanent supportive and affordable housing, intensive case management, recovery support services, adult basic education, job training, placement and retention. ASHF seeks to stabilize individuals, unite families, strengthen neighborhoods, and create vibrant, viable communities.
Today, ASHF is a nonprofit social service agency and related social business enterprise dedicated to creating jobs and serving as employers to people with barriers to employment. We collaborate with a network of public and private partners to achieve a common goal—the pursuit of solving the issue of homelessness for people and families in need - one person at a time.
What are the organization's key strategies for making this happen?
A multidisciplinary team approach is used to address various needs of housing, recovery, and mental health services. We employ nearly 200 qualified professional staff, who provides direct-service to over 5,000 individuals annually or over 1,000 on a daily basis. Our employees are professionally trained, credentialed, certified and many have extensive experience in working with vulnerable, high-risk populations.
The main campus has available interim housing for up to 400 individuals, multiple classroom and training facilities, a computer lab, a cafeteria, treatment rooms, a job training center, and access to support services. We also manage special contracts through our Social Business Enterprises (earned-income, for-profit companies) with corporations and government agencies throughout Chicago and surrounding communities. Operating from the principle that housing is the foundation of success, we serve individuals and families from all 77 Chicago community areas, with a large concentration residing in the south and west sides' communities hardest hit by poverty, unemployment, substance abuse, and violence—particularly, North Lawndale, Austin, West Garfield Park, Englewood, South Shore, and Chatham.
Over the last few years, at A Safe Haven, we have done everything we can to meet the growing demand for services, including acquiring and merging with other homeless shelters and services, whenever we're called upon by either social service agency leadership, their boards, their banks, government agencies, or other stakeholders, to help them preserve the important services of organizations that were on the verge of liquidation. The demise of many of these organizations could've potentially left the people that depended on them on the streets and their employees with no other options! We believe that our decisions at crucial times to take the leap of faith and to join forces to stabilize other service providers, assume the responsibility of managing them, and support their funders, and embrace their clients and staff has resulted in a winning scenario, for all Chicagoans.
Today, these decisions have allowed us to now offer a housing network of over 40 locations, gain efficiencies, streamline services, for all including special populations like Veterans, Women with Children, Youth, Men, Ex-offenders, and more as well as streamline various public/private revenue streams. Our results have led to becoming recognized as an International Model for improved overall outcomes, and most importantly rebuilding and restoring the lives of more people to become independent and self-sufficient in a sustainable manner.
What are the organization's capabilities for doing this?
In the last decade, ASHF has grown to become one of the largest social services providers in the region. Our services target very high-risk populations including veterans, mothers with children, homeless young adults, and the formerly incarcerated. We design individualized service plans for our clients that address the root causes of poverty, homelessness, and partner with organizations, businesses, and governmental agencies to increase their educational attainment, secure safe and affordable housing, and gain living-wage employment. Our comprehensive Continuum of Care Core Services includes the following:
• Housing is the principal service that ASH provides to our clients. We believe housing serves as a form of healthcare, which provides the first step in healing for a myriad of other issues. ASH offers a variety of housing options and recovery settings, including interim, permanent supportive, recovery homes, veterans housing, and affordable housing.
• In 2001, A Safe Haven was awarded one of the very first provider license issued by the State's newly established regulating agency: the Illinois Department of Human Services, Division of Alcoholism and Substance Abuse.
• ASHF's Adult Education Program helps clients set the foundation for their future success and supports ASHF's goal of ending homelessness. Core classes include GED preparation, contextualized literacy, basic math, reading, computer literacy, and life skills.
• ASHF's Center for Workforce Development collaborates with companies and organizations to help clients overcome barriers to employment. As the only STRIVE Job Readiness affiliate in Illinois, clients complete pre-employment training, including resume writing, interviewing preparation, communication skills, and conflict management. We have six industry-specific training programs available for trainees to matriculate to Welding, Culinary Arts, Landscaping, Customer Service Skills, Security, Maintenance, and Hospitality.
• ASHF's Psychotherapy / Behavioral Health Program is an imperative part of the recovery process for residents since a large percentage of the individuals that seek help have experienced significant emotional trauma, loss, poverty, poor parental modeling, and/or abuse. The psychotherapy program at ASHF assists clients in addressing these issues through trusting and safe therapeutic relationships as well as intense therapeutic dialogues that emphasize self-exploration and a basic sense of empathy and respect for the uniqueness of each individual client.
• ASHF's Youth Services provides outreach, intake, case management, temporary housing, structured activities, mentoring, and employment services to one of society's most vulnerable age-based populations. We have served youth and young adults since 1998 through our early education, after-school, out-of-school, summer job placement, financial literacy, emergency housing, and mentoring programs.
What have they accomplished so far and what's next?
Since 1994, A Safe Haven Foundation (ASHF) has provided services to over 130,000 women with children, single men and women, veterans, youth, young adults, and the formerly incarcerated. ASHF is one of the few human service agencies in Chicago equipped to accommodate entire families who are homeless. Its available supportive services are offered in a safe, secure, environment where residents are able to establish some consistency, stabilize health, and pursue education and employment en route to self-sufficiency and permanent housing. Stable permanent housing, economic self-sufficiency coupled with social and cultural inclusion are the target for those who enter ASHF's Interim Housing Programs.
ASHF's commitment to accommodating families included those headed by single fathers distinguishes our services as those that can fulfill some of the most difficult and prevalent needs within the delivery system. In addition to assisting adults, ASHF is committed to creating a welcoming space for the children who live in our facility. The family and single adults program successfully schedule activities that will build self-esteem, teamwork, and trust for the most vulnerable of our population. Each program utilizes a strength-based, autonomy-enhancing model of services predicated on the belief that clients already possess many of the strengths necessary to change the conditions which led to homelessness. By identifying and building on existing strengths, case managers help residents secure the necessary resources to achieve the goal of returning to stable housing. Housing is service-enriched with individual programming to help residents meet their personal and vocational goals.
All interim and supportive housing facilities, residents have a clean room, bed, shower, daily meals, access to storage and laundry facilities, designed for universal accessibility, with 24-hour security and access to all programs and services. Room configurations can accommodate entire families, keeping them intact, while allowing families with children an appropriate amount of healing space. ASHF does not discriminate in admission on the basis of race, creed, national origin, political affiliation, religion, gender, sexual orientation, or identified disability. Moreover, ASHF manages nearly 700 units of supportive housing throughout Chicago's 77 neighborhoods, and the surrounding suburbs. Each of our scattered sites includes: Supportive Housing, Transitional/Interim Housing, Permanent Housing units, and are in most instances licensed recovery Home facilities; and are in compliance with the American Disabilities Act, as well as meeting local zoning requirements, and Federal Housing Quality Standards. And, replicates its supportive services at most of its scattered sites and includes qualified staff on-site for oversight and program delivery.
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 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
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What challenges does the organization face when collecting feedback?
It is difficult to get the people we serve to respond to requests for feedback, We don’t have the right technology to collect and aggregate feedback efficiently
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.
A SAFE HAVEN FOUNDATION
Board of directorsas of 06/26/2023
Mr. Mark G Mulroe
A Safe Haven Foundation
Term: 2022 -
Abe Thompson
Partnership Radio
Michael Favia, ESQ
Law Offices of Michael Favia
Jamil Bou-Saab
Terra Engineering, Ltd.
Mark G Mulroe
A Safe Haven
Dr. Tariq H. Butt, MD
Access Community Health Network
Mark Doyle
Veteran Roasters
John Losch
Avant Tecno USA
Esther Macchione
Prestige Health
Ann Sickon, JD
Wisconsibs Inc.
Dr. Chandra Vedak, MD
Advocate Health Care
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
Equity strategies
Last updated: 06/26/2023GuideStar 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 employ non-traditional ways of gathering feedback on programs and trainings, which may include interviews, roundtables, and external reviews with/by community stakeholders.
- 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.
- 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.