COVENANT COMMUNITY SERVICES, INC.
hope lives here
Programs and results
What we aim to solve
We serve foster youth ages 18-21 and former foster youth ages 18-24. Our services include safe and affordable housing, case management, life skills training, employment, mentoring, and advocacy. We have both scattered site residential options and a single site apartment complex. Our measurement tools include the John Burton Tracking system and narrative reports and graduation data. We are helping youth restore broken lives and shattered dreams. We expose giftedness and ability and crush the notion that all foster youth must end up homeless, addicted, dead or in jail. As such, we combat low educational performance, homelessness, domestic violence, addiction, lack of social and life skills, involvement in gangs and with the legal system, and mental health issues.
Our programs
What are the organization's current programs, how do they measure success, and who do the programs serve?
Transitional Housing Programs
Building Blocks provides affordable housing and support to current and former foster youth ages 18-21. Services and case management are 18-24 months in length and provide hope and love to youth in a safe, clean, and supportive environment.
CHOICES THP-Plus provides case management services to former foster youth aged 18 to 25. Services include HOST Homes and Scattered site housing with supportive services. Case managers help youth navigate adulthood through life skills, mentoring, vocation training, educational services, and behavioral health.
THP-Foster Care is a licensed program serving 18-21-year-old foster youth with housing, life skills, behavioral health, case management, and mentoring.
Each of the transitional housing services is designed to develop organic skills and community connections to aid youth in the development of social and life assets to succeed. The work is conducted through partnerships with the local community, faith community, and county and state programs.
Social Enterprise - Vocational Training for Foster Youth
Covenant Coffee - training and mentoring former foster youth with on-the-job training, vocational mentoring, food handling certification, barista skills, and coffee business training. Covenant Coffee employs and mentors current and former foster youth aged 18-24. Covenant Coffee was launched with three goals:
1) to provide our community with incredible freshly roasted coffee,
2) to train former foster youth in coffee roasting and business, and
3) to provide a career for former youth in an exciting and uplifting environment.
Covenant Coffee is a wholesale and retail green bean coffee roaster. Every time you enjoy a freshly roasted cup of Covenant Coffee, we want you to know it was roasted "on purpose" and "for a purpose". We roast coffee beans "on purpose" as a means to help former foster youth find success from shattered and broken backgrounds. We roast coffee "for a purpose" to serve our community and club members with exceptional coffee with a cause! #hopeinacup
Foster care Support Services and Prevention
Jeremiah Mentoring Project - Kern County Mission - Providing mentoring services to foster youth to equip for successful futures. Population - Foster children ages 0-17, families in reunification and former foster youth aged 18-24 The Jeremiah Mentoring Program (JMP) serves foster children ages 11-17 and former foster youth ages 18-24. JMP provides compassionate mentors to foster youth for positive relationships that lead to growth and independence. Covenant recruits, trains, and supports mentors to equip for successful transitions to adulthood and independence Covenant Horse Program - Kern County Mission - Using Horsemanship to teach life skills to youth Population - Former foster youth ages 18-24 The Covenant Horse Program (CHP) serves former foster youth by teaching the principles of relationships using horses. Youth exiting foster care often have trouble with their personal relationships. Not knowing how to communicate, lack of boundaries and fear to trust are all issues that youth encounter. The goals of the CHP are to assist and support former foster youth as they navigate life while enlisting mentors from the community to share time, talent and treasure with former foster youth. CARENET - Kern CountyMission - Providing services and resources to foster children returning to their families and youth leaving the foster care system, thereby equipping them for successful transitions. Population - Foster children ages 0-17, families in reunification and former foster youth aged 18-24 Families going through reunification from foster care often experience difficulty making successful transitions due to simple, solvable solutions that cannot be met with existing family resources. CARENET is a collaborative community effort developed to meet the needs of these families by providing the necessary items and volunteer or paid help to deliver and install resources needed for successful transition.
Covenant Coffee
Employment, mentoring, and vocational services to assist former foster youth to improve employability, determine strengths and weaknesses, and find a career path.
Where we work
Awards
California Nonprofit of the Year 2018
California Association of Nonprofits
Affiliations & memberships
Other 2009
External reviews

Photos
Videos
Our results
How does this organization measure their results? It's a hard question but an important one.
Number of foster youth who obtained employment
This metric is no longer tracked.Totals By Year
Population(s) Served
At-risk youth, Adolescents, Young adults, Foster and adoptive children, Adolescent parents
Related Program
Social Enterprise - Vocational Training for Foster Youth
Type of Metric
Output - describing our activities and reach
Direction of Success
Holding steady
Context Notes
Covenant serves and supports former foster youth and completes training modules to help them work in the community.
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
Population(s) Served
Ethnic and racial groups, At-risk youth, Homeless people, Children and youth
Related Program
Transitional Housing Programs
Type of Metric
Output - describing our activities and reach
Direction of Success
Holding steady
Context Notes
Covenant hosts group training, one-to-one training, mentoring, and on-the-job training for foster youth in life skills and specific skills related to the hospitality industry and coffee.
Number of youth who volunteer/participate in community service
This metric is no longer tracked.Totals By Year
Population(s) Served
Young adults, At-risk youth, Economically disadvantaged people
Related Program
Transitional Housing Programs
Type of Metric
Output - describing our activities and reach
Direction of Success
Increasing
Context Notes
Youth serving at Covenant and in one of our transitional programs work, volunteer or go to school totaling 40 hours per week.
Number of youth who have a positive adult role model
This metric is no longer tracked.Totals By Year
Related Program
Transitional Housing Programs
Type of Metric
Outcome - describing the effects on people or issues
Direction of Success
Holding steady
Context Notes
Covenant tracks connections at entry and exit of service and support to help youth find positive role models for life success.
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?
Goals for 2022:
Expansion of Covenant Coffee through an emphasis on retail sales, special events, and a new operation in the mobile business
Increase vocational services and training for former foster youth.
Increase sales of bagged Covenant Coffee thereby allowing Covenant to hire and train more former foster youth.
Hire 10-15 former foster youth to staff Covenant's social enterprises.
Host annual fundraising event.
Develop route services for mobile coffee.
Create housing models for sustainability.
What are the organization's key strategies for making this happen?
Strategies for implementation of goals include Board member participation and networking, staff initiative, and outside help from businesses, organizations, and individuals. Purchasing and supply-chain decision-making with strategy in mind.
What are the organization's capabilities for doing this?
The capabilities of Covenant continue to grow as more individuals, organizations, businesses and churches enlist in the fight against child abuse and neglect. Additionally, the bench depth and quality of our staff and team has direct impact on the cap[abilities of the organization.
What have they accomplished so far and what's next?
In 2018, we installed solar on the building.
We have developed a mobile unit for catering and a route.
We have hired 7 new and additional former foster youth staff.
We have held vocational training and paid work experience for 35 former foster youth.
We have paid over $1,000,000.00 to foster youth through vocational training.
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?
Current and former foster youth aged 18-25 years old.
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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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What significant change resulted from feedback?
After learning that youth had a difficult time attending life skills workshops, due to lack of transportation conflict with work, we moved to an online portal. Youth can now attend classes live or view them online.
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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 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 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?
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, It is difficult to find the ongoing funding to support feedback collection, Staff find it hard to prioritize feedback collection and review due to lack of time
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
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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.
COVENANT COMMUNITY SERVICES, INC.
Board of directorsas of 01/23/2023
Errol Shaw
Retired
Term: 2020 - 2023
Errol Shaw
Errol Shaw Attorney
Russell Unruh
Owner and Broker, The Russell Group
Randy Martin
CEO and Founder, Covenant Community Services, Inc.
David Nicholas
Transamerica
Petrini Jeff
AC Electric
Tom Hartnett
Kern Mechanical
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
No data
Race & ethnicity
No data
Gender identity
No data
No data
Sexual orientation
No data
Disability
No data
Equity strategies
Last updated: 09/30/2022GuideStar 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 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 employ non-traditional ways of gathering feedback on programs and trainings, which may include interviews, roundtables, and external reviews with/by community stakeholders.
- 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 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 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.