PLATINUM2022

COVENANT HOUSE NEW ORLEANS

New Orleans, LA   |  www.covenanthousenola.org

Mission

Covenant House serves young people facing homelessness and trafficking by providing relentless support, absolute respect, and unconditional love. Since 1987, we have served over 30,000 youth, offering food, emergency shelter, clothing, medical attention, individual & family counseling, educational assistance, vocational & job training services, life skills, short & long term housing, and so much more. In the past 10 years, our average daily census has increased from 45 to 170 kids per night. As a private nonprofit, we are dependent on charitable donations for 64% of our funding.

Ruling year info

1986

Executive Director

Ms. Rheneisha Robertson MPH

Main address

611 N Rampart St

New Orleans, LA 70112 USA

Show more contact info

EIN

58-1669937

NTEE code info

Children's and Youth Services (P30)

Temporary Shelter For the Homeless (L41)

IRS filing requirement

This organization is required to file an IRS Form 990 or 990-EZ.

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Communication

Programs and results

What we aim to solve

SOURCE: Self-reported by organization

Our youth face some of the greatest challenges in our community: 85% are survivors of physical abuse and/or sexual abuse, assault, or rape 30% aged out of foster care 15% ran away from home 75% were thrown out of homes that no longer wanted them 52% are young women, 46% are young men, and 2% are transgender 40% of our young men and 30% of our young women have been released from jail or juvenile detention 36% of our young women are mothers 30% are survivors of human trafficking and/or sexual labor 35% identify as LGBTQ+ 85% suffer from PTSD/poly-trauma – 35% receive medication 80% have used drugs – 40% require support for serious substance use disorders

Our programs

SOURCE: Self-reported by organization

What are the organization's current programs, how do they measure success, and who do the programs serve?

24/7 Care Center

We offer three levels of residential care: short-term crisis care, longer-term transitional living programs, and supportive housing in off-site apartments for youth with mental health disabilities. A spectrum of professional services address root causes of homelessness, beyond the lack of immediate housing. This includes job readiness training and assistance finding jobs; a job training program in landscape services; assistance enrolling in partnering programs such as Café Reconcile, Liberty’s Kitchen, Goodwill Culinary Arts, and Louisiana Green Corps; life skills training; pre-school education enrollment; medical and behavioral health care in partnership with Tulane Medical School; and pastoral services. Youth are encouraged to complete high school or to enroll in partnering GED programs at the Youth Empowerment Project (NOPLAY program) and the city’s JOB 1 workforce development center for youth. We also assist our young people in applying to college and entering vocational training programs. Our outreach staff works with unhoused youth and makes presentations on homeless issues and services in our community. All of these programs help our youth build skills, resources, knowledge, and the confidence to pursue healthy futures.

Population(s) Served
At-risk youth
Homeless people

Highly motivated residents can apply to transitional living through our Rights of Passage program. We provide on-campus housing, counseling, and mentoring while residents work, save, and advance their education. Residents attend school and work between 50 to 55 hours a week. Participants save 40% of their income is saved and spend 20% toward their food and rent. We provide 24/7 case management and counseling while they build skills and resources for independent living. In our Rights of Passage community, residents create a weekly budget for meals and cooks dinner together in their communal kitchen.

Covenant House also helps residents move into their own apartments off-site through our Rapid Re-housing program. Our staff help young people find appropriate and affordable housing on their own or with a family member or friend.We also offer financial assistance (on a sliding scale) for 10 months to help youth and families establish their independence. Our youth attend meetings with staff on a bi-weekly basis to help them acquire and maintain off-site housing.

Population(s) Served
At-risk youth
Homeless people

For our youth and young parents with a diagnosed disability, we offer long-term supportive housing. Youth in this program live in off-site apartments while remaining closely connected to Covenant House's services and support system. We provide programs directly, while also linking youth to community and neighborhood resources. Services provided by Covenant House include physical health and mental health care, job and education assistance, supportive services, and financial assistance.

Population(s) Served
At-risk youth
Homeless people

Where we work

Our results

SOURCE: Self-reported by organization

How does this organization measure their results? It's a hard question but an important one.

Number of unhoused youth and children who took refuge at Covenant House New Orleans, receiving food, clothing, shelter, case management and counseling.

This metric is no longer tracked.
Totals By Year
Population(s) Served

Young adults, Infants and toddlers, LGBTQ people, At-risk youth, People of African descent

Related Program

24/7 Care Center

Type of Metric

Output - describing our activities and reach

Direction of Success

Increasing

Percentage of youth and children in our 24/7 Emergency Crisis Center who were placed in safe, decent housing, including family reunification whenever possible.

This metric is no longer tracked.
Totals By Year
Related Program

24/7 Care Center

Type of Metric

Outcome - describing the effects on people or issues

Direction of Success

Increasing

Context Notes

COVID impacted this metric

Number of youth in our "Rights of Passage" transitional living program who received longer-term support, residing on-campus as they worked, saved, continued their education, and built life skills.

This metric is no longer tracked.
Totals By Year
Related Program

Transitional living

Type of Metric

Output - describing our activities and reach

Direction of Success

Increasing

Number of residents and youth in the community who benefited from onsite adolescent and pediatric health services, provided in partnership with Tulane Medical School.

This metric is no longer tracked.
Totals By Year
Type of Metric

Output - describing our activities and reach

Direction of Success

Increasing

Number of participants who gain employment

This metric is no longer tracked.
Totals By Year
Type of Metric

Outcome - describing the effects on people or issues

Direction of Success

Increasing

Number of youth enrolled in high school, GED programs, or college

This metric is no longer tracked.
Totals By Year
Type of Metric

Output - describing our activities and reach

Direction of Success

Increasing

Number of children enrolled in Head Start or elementary school

This metric is no longer tracked.
Totals By Year
Type of Metric

Outcome - describing the effects on people or issues

Direction of Success

Increasing

Number of youth provided with bus tickets across the country to reunite with family or relatives who were able to offer a stable and safe living environment.

This metric is no longer tracked.
Totals By Year
Related Program

24/7 Care Center

Type of Metric

Output - describing our activities and reach

Direction of Success

Increasing

Our Sustainable Development Goals

SOURCE: Self-reported by organization

Learn more about Sustainable Development Goals.

Goals & Strategy

SOURCE: Self-reported by organization

Learn about the organization's key goals, strategies, capabilities, and progress.

Charting impact

Four powerful questions that require reflection about what really matters - results.

Our youth face some of the greatest challenges in our community. We have served thousands of youth facing homelessness and trafficking since we opened in 1986. Our first objective is reuniting young people with family, but when that is not possible, we provide residential programs and professional support services to help them move out of poverty and start building brighter futures. The ultimate outcome is independent living as self-sufficient, adult members of our community.

With the help of the Covenant House New Orleans family, our youth ages 22 and under are receiving the unconditional love and relentless support they need to begin healing and start building brighter futures.

We provide three levels of residential support: emergency shelter, transitional living, and off-site apartment housing. Our shelter is open 24/7 to provide food, clothing, and short-term housing for youth and young families in crisis. Our transitional living and permanent supportive housing (PSH) programs foster achievement and growth beyond the average 27-day stay in our shelter. Youth in our transitional living received 6-18 months of supportive housing while they worked, saved, continued their education, and built life skills. Our PSH apartments help those with disabilities maintain independent living. All of our youth benefit from case management & counseling, educational & vocational services, and medical & behavioral health care. Our caseload has increased dramatically; we now average over 200 youth and children per night and over 900 each year. We also serve about 25,000 meals annually.

We have an experienced, professional staff working with our kids. They provide educational, vocational, employment, physical health, and mental health assessments to each youth who comes to us for help. We maintain a youth development approach in our work. Case managers help youth develop individualized plans to guide their stays. Education and employment staff work with youth to improve their job skills and explore employment opportunities, and to address their educational levels. Those without high school diplomas receive assistance to enroll in GED programs; minors are encouraged to stay in school, and we typically have five or six high school (and even college) students living with us. Our licensed youth counselors present workshops on topics such as Conflict Resolution and Creative Expressions. We also have outreach staff that work with unhoused youth, building their trust to accept needed services at Covenant House, from other providers, and right on the street.

We have a track record for service recognized throughout our community, where we are the only provider of an open-intake crisis shelter for youth, and the only provider of a large transitional living program for young men and women. We have professional staff (many with advanced degrees and certification, including Licensed Clinical Social Workers); established income sources (64% private income from individual donors and from corporate/foundation grants); a supportive parent organization, Covenant House International; and an active, volunteer Board of Directors comprised of business, civic, and non-profit leaders in our community. We own our buildings, have an endowment, and attract print and broadcast media attention for our work and our young people's successes.

Our crucial network of service partners is growing. This has proven to be a cost and outcome effective approach to care. Our partners include the Youth Empowerment Project (YEP) and the city's Job 1 workforce development office for GED programs; Café Reconcile, Liberty's Kitchen, Goodwill Culinary Arts, Louisiana Green Corps, Job 1 and others for job training programs; local businesses that provide jobs for our kids; Tulane University Medical School that operates our on-site adolescent and pediatric health clinics, and joins us in providing behavioral health services; and many other medical service providers (such as dental, eye, and OB/Gyn care). Community volunteers broaden our kids' life experiences through their mentoring, assistance, and support.

Recent wellness activities have emphasized harm reduction and preventative care. A new demonstration project for maternal and newborn health outcomes will follow pregnant residents in a small community setting from pregnancy through the first year of their child's life to address low birth weight, pre-term birth, postpartum depression and other perinatal health outcomes.

In 2020, a total of 896 young people took refuge from abusive homes and violent streets at Covenant House. They received food, clothing, shelter, counseling, case management, life skills, and so much more. Read our highlights below:

24/7 Emergency Crisis Care
• 459 youth and children served
• 80% found stable housing and/or family reunification

Rights of Passage (ROP) Transitional Living
• 112 youth and children served
• 86% graduated to a good job and stable housing

Medical & Behavioral Healthcare
• 98% of residents received comprehensive care in our onsite clinic, in partnership with Tulane Medical School
• 81% showed improved functioning in jobs, school, and interpersonal relations

Employment
• 214 youth found work or entered job training programs

Education
• 59 children enrolled in Head Start or elementary school
• 56 youth and children enrolled in high school, college, or GED/HiSET programs

Human Trafficking
• 90 youth served
• 77% found stable housing and/or family reunification

Outreach & Aftercare
• 217 youth received counseling and emergency services in the community

Reunification
• 148 youth received bus or plane tickets to reunite wit family or relatives offering a safe and stable environment

How we listen

SOURCE: Self-reported by organization

Seeking feedback from people served makes programs more responsive and effective. Here’s how this organization is listening.

done We demonstrated a willingness to learn more by reviewing resources about feedback practice.
done We shared information about our current feedback practices.
  • Who are the people you serve with your mission?

    We serve young people ages 16-22 who have experienced homelessness, including trafficked, pregnant and parenting youth.

  • 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

  • What significant change resulted from feedback?

    In response to feedback from our youth regarding our clothing closet, we drafted plans to make the space more inclusive, gender neutral and to include a changing area. We also changed our resident policy to affirm the gender identity of residents and planned specialized activities for that group. We also realigned to meet the unique needs of trafficked persons.

  • 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 look for patterns in feedback based on demographics (e.g., race, age, gender, etc.), 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

  • What challenges does the organization face when collecting feedback?

    We don't have any major challenges to collecting feedback

Financials

COVENANT HOUSE NEW ORLEANS
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Operations

The people, governance practices, and partners that make the organization tick.

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Connect with nonprofit leaders

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Connect with nonprofit leaders

Subscribe

Build 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 HOUSE NEW ORLEANS

Board of directors
as of 10/17/2022
SOURCE: Self-reported by organization
Board chair

Dr. Deidre Hayes

Tulane University School of Social Work

Term: 2020 -

Katie Harvill

Etherio Incentives

Christian Rhodes

Pelican State Partners

Martha Landrum

Community Advocate

Kristen Gisleson Palmer

The Gisleson Group LLC / Bargeboard LLC

David Krebs

Krebs, Farley & Dry

Deidre Hayes

Tulane University School of Social Work

Derrick Martin

Sugchairo, Moi & Martin Economic Advisory Services

Eric Alexander

Marsh & McLennan Companies

Gene Simon

BIS Services, LLC

Gregor Fox

Heather Millican Doyle

Jake Kleinmahon

Ochsner Hospital for Children

Karen Kearney

Intralox

Lance Africk

U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Louisiana

Luis Zervigon

Crescent Capital Consulting

Marc Behar

American Chiropractic Clinic

Paula Brown

State of Louisiana Court of Appeal, Fourth Circuit

Peter Wilson

Roth Law Firm

Tawana Ewing

Thelma French

Total Community Action, Inc.

Board leadership practices

SOURCE: Self-reported by organization

GuideStar worked with BoardSource, the national leader in nonprofit board leadership and governance, to create this section.

  • 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

SOURCE: Self-reported; last updated 10/17/2022

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
Black/African American
Gender identity
Female, Not transgender (cisgender)
Sexual orientation
Heterosexual or straight
Disability status
Person without a disability

Race & ethnicity

Gender identity

 

Sexual orientation

Disability

Equity strategies

Last updated: 10/17/2022

GuideStar 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

Data
  • 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 analyze disaggregated data and root causes of race disparities that impact the organization's programs, portfolios, and the populations served.
  • We disaggregate data to adjust programming goals to keep pace with changing needs of the communities we support.
  • 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 disaggregate data by demographics, including race, in every policy and program measured.
  • 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.
Policies and processes
  • We use a vetting process to identify vendors and partners that share our commitment to race equity.
  • 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.