Amethyst Place, Inc.

Our Noble Cause is to inspire transformational healing and empower generations of women and children to achieve recovery, reunification, and resilience. Entering our program, families are unhoused, most children are in foster care, and moms are in early recovery. Yet annually, through our long-term supportive housing program at 28th and Troost, we help 200 women and children overcome the interconnected cycles of poverty, trauma, and substance use to achieve multi-generational impact. Our Supportive Housing Program provides safe housing through 37 fully furnished apartments and access to basic needs, with no maximum length of stay. Our Family Empowerment Program supports educational, career, financial, and wellness goals to help families overcome generational poverty. Finally, our Therapeutic Support Program helps families heal from past trauma, stabilize mental health, improve parenting skills, and build resilience.

Our services are provided through three program areas:

Supportive Housing: The goal of the Supportive Housing Program is to reunify and stabilize families through 37 apartment units with wraparound supports.

Family Empowerment Program: The goal of the Family Empowerment Program is to help families increase their economic and social mobility through educational, vocational, financial, and wellness support and programming.

Therapeutic Support Program: The goal of the Therapeutic Support Program is to help families heal from past trauma, stabilize mental health, improve parenting skills, and build resilience.

Amethyst Place is a long-term supportive housing program that inspires transformational healing and empowers generations of women and children to achieve recovery, reunification, and resilience. Located at 28th and Troost, we serve families from across the KC Metro area. Poverty, substance use, and trauma are often interconnected cycles that pass through generations. For single mothers and their children, additional layers of societal stigma and gender inequity create further barriers for overcoming these cycles. Associated challenges include houselessness, untreated mental health disorders, intimate partner violence, family separation and foster care placement, poor educational attainment, unlivable wages, and legal system involvement. To help mothers upend these cycles for themselves, their children, and future generations, a holistic, long-term, and evidence-based approach is needed to truly heal and empower families. For 22 years, Amethyst Place has been one of the few agencies in Kansas City that provides long-term supportive housing and comprehensive services to help families transform their lives. Through our program model, we are a leader in collective impact work, coordinating care and maximizing resources for families referred to us from our nine referral partners.

Key Outcomes in 2022 included:

Housing Stability: The average family resided at Amethyst Place for 24 months. We employ a long-term approach to achieve a long-term solution. Because our program does not limit how long families can reside here, they are given the time and resources needed to create lasting change. 100% of families enter Amethyst Place experiencing a housing crisis. Yet, 90% of families that have left Amethyst Place as successful graduates since 2020 are still stably housed in the community—demonstrating how our program effectively addresses houselessness for the vast majority of participants.

Reunification: At intake, the majority of children were in out-of-home placement. Yet, by year-end, 86% of children in out-of-home placement were reunified with their mom and siblings at Amethyst Place. Families also improved by one level in the Family/Social Relations domain, averaging “Building Capacity” (4) by program graduation.

Substance Use Recovery: Women averaged 967 days in recovery, with 98% sustaining or re-engaging in recovery. Women leveled up by one in their Substance Use domain, averaging “Empowered” (5) by program graduation.

Overcoming Poverty: We strive to help families overcome generational poverty through educational attainment, meaningful career paths, and financial literacy. In 2022, 86% of women were employed, in school, or employed while in school. This is notable compared to intake, when just 40% of women were employed and 20% were in school.