At Friendship House, we meet individuals and families wherever they are in their journey. Our compassionate staff help them experience the hope, empowerment and self-sufficiency they deserve. Friendship House serves New Castle County through various programs that attempt to fill the gaps in the homeless service network. Friendship House is in a field of its own because we are so many things to so many people and we focus on serving where gaps exist. For the gentleman who just found himself living on the streets for the first time with temperatures falling quickly overnight, we are his sanctuary. for the woman with kids walking away from an abusive partner, we are a safe haven. For the parents with four kids and not enough jobs to pay their rent, we are their last hope. And for organizations all over the county, we are a partner, friend, and collaborator. Friendship House works with anyone at any point on their journey. We don’t have hefty income or location requirements. We don’t have quotas we have to meet. We do not have contracts limiting or requiring our way of offering help. What we do have is our hearts, and we open them to anyone who enters one of our many locations. We also do not limit the length of time we will walk with any individual – we walk with them as long as it take and as long as they want us there. We strive for every person, whether it be staff, volunteers, clients, to be treated with mutual: Love, Respect, Compassion, Grace, and Acceptance.

1. Sponsor low-budget, volunteer-intensive survival programs that fill gaps in the human service safety net. Examples: Sunday Breakfast, Friendship House Clothing Bank, Winter Sanctuary, Empowerment Centers. 2. Operate Empowerment Centers open to anyone in need. Such centers offer a variety of consumer services that attract large numbers of displaced people with specific needs (e.g. a food for clothing referral, a hot shower, a bus ticket, hygiene products, funds to help with one's rent or utilities, etc.). Clients meet with trained case workers who help them assess their current situation, develop a strategic plan and identify the appropriate, available resources. 3. Strategic Problem-Solving: Having helped the client assess their current situation and prioritize their issues, Friendship House encourages the client to identify and address their most pressing personal issue in a strategic manner. In some cases, Friendship House connects the person to the appropriate program that will provide the professional services and resources needed to implement this strategy. In other cases, Friendship House admits the client into one of its own programs. 4. Strategic Living: Clients that have experienced success in addressing one of their problems in a proactive, strategic manner are then invited to extend these life lessons to other aspects of their lives. Such clients enter into long-term relationships with Friendship House that usually include six months to a year's residency in its transitional housing program. During that time, they may address issues as varied as family reunification, career development, credit restoration, recovery from an addiction, restitution for a previous criminal act, etc. Friendship House has developed the resources to address all the above issues through matching financial assistance and on site programs sponsored by volunteers who offered their professional services. 5. Although clients graduate from various Friendship House program stages, Friendship House is committed to their permanent well-being as well as their programmatic success. For this reason, it maintains ongoing relationships with more than 25% of its empowerment center clients and 60% of its housing clients. Such graduates often become peer mentors themselves in our programs. Having owned their past, they can face their future.

Friendship House has multiple programs that attempt to fill the gaps in New Castle County’s homeless service network. These are broken into the following programs. Our Clothing Bank has continued to grow as a clothing resource for the community, as an employment opportunity, and as a vehicle through which a large coalition of community organizations can collaborate in service. The Clothing Bank has three primary missions. First, it serves as a location for collecting and distributing donated clothing and a delivery service to those community agencies in direct contact with individuals and families in need. Second, it provides entry level employment and training to women re-entering the work force. Third, it creates volunteer opportunities for churches, businesses and community organizations. Friendship House operates several houses for motivated employable adults, with or without children, who are looking to re-establish themselves as independent, self-supporting members of our society. Our transitional housing program is designed to support adults who are serious about making changes in their lives. Many individuals come to us directly from drug/alcohol rehabilitation programs, prison, and even domestic violence shelters. The program operates in three stages and offers up to one year of transitional housing and programming. Our Empowerment Centers offer a wide variety of services focusing on empowering individuals who feel lost, displaced, or powerless. The Friendship House empowerment centers offer anyone experiencing significant strife daytime sanctuary and vital services. As a referral and screening source for more than twenty-five churches, the three empowerment centers are a life line for individuals and families at risk of losing their housing. They also serve as empowerment centers where motivated homeless clients receive the professional case-management, communal support and financial resources they require to rebuild their lives. Friendship House also runs a winter sanctuary program from November – March. As bitter cold temperatures can cause loss of limbs or even life with extended exposure, we partner with our faith community to ensure there are warm options for our friends facing homelessness.

1. Survival Programs: (a.) Death rate among the street-level homeless (b.) The percentage of street-level homeless that opt to engage in case management and identify their core life issues. 2. Empowerment Programs: (a.) Percentage of empowerment center clients that become employed and housed, even if only for a season, (b.) Percentage of empowerment center clients that are willing to experiment with strategic problem-solving, i.e. willingness to address one life issue in a strategic manner with a 90 day commitment to a set plan. (c.) The percentage of clients that complete their 90 day plan successfully and opt to apply this same strategy to a broader portion of their lives. 3. Transitional Housing/Employment Programs: (a.) The percentage of clients that successfully begin the transition from residential programs (e.g. treatment facilities, prisons, etc.) to a functional and productive lifestyle. (b.) The graduation rate of housing residents and employee-trainees from one program stage to another (c.) The recidivist rate of residents or graduates relapsing because of poor life decisions.

1. Survival Programs: (1.) Death rate of under 1% of total street-level clients (2.) A chronic homeless rate (i.e. episode of street-level homelessness in 3 consecutive years) of under 12%.

2. Empowerment Programs: (1.) Participation of 50% of all drop-in clients in at least 3 case management session that include an intake, an assessment of their current liabilities and assets (i.e. economic, communal and personal) and a prioritizing of their life issues. (2.) A willingness of 30% of all drop-in clients to experiment with a 90 day strategic plan. (3.) A 15% graduation rate of drop-in clients into residential programs that address their core issues in a strategic manner.

3. Housing/Employment Programs: (1.) 80% employment rate during 1st 30 days in the program (2.) 75% graduation rate from Stage 1 to Stage 2, (3.) 40% graduation rate from Stage through Stage 2 to Stage 3. (4.) 60% of all participants that stay at least 30 days in the program end the year employed and housed. (5.) 75% of all graduates maintain housing and employment for at least three years, (6.) 50% of all graduates maintain regular contact with their case managers during their first year after graduation.