PROVIDENCE HOUSE

Providence House imagines a community where no family is homeless. We want to be a catalyst for change so that no family in our community is homeless by providing an opportunity to thrive as equal members of our community by engaging people in acts of compassion, empowerment, and advocacy.

The singular aim of Providence House is to break the homeless cycle one family at a time. We are a residential development center and temporary home for homeless families with children providing comprehensive supportive services for improving the family structure and moving the family into independent living to break the homeless cycle.

The main facility on Cotton Street provides emergency and basic support services such as shelter, meals, laundry facilities, and a 4-star child development center. A family entering Providence House participates in assessing the needs and obstacles to permanent independent living that a family faces and focuses on providing life skills training, behavior modification, education, and employment at the highest level of each individual's ability.

Families who have become stabilized and are working full-time at a job or on their education move out of Providence House and into our community. These families add to the stability and quality of life in their new neighborhoods and demonstrate to others what people can do to help themselves through education and hard work. Once these families have successfully managed their responsibilities within their new home, they graduate from the program.

Our Strategic Goals are:
1) To engage parents and encourage them to become involved advocates for their children. Specifically, we will give incentives to parents and students to take an active role in attending school functions, events, and meetings pertaining to their children's progress, behavior and enrichment;

2) Focus on developing employment opportunities that will allow families to expand career options. The goal is to have parents begin careers, not simply obtain a job;

3) Enhance our focus on the mission by implementing more effective case management while building relationships with support and appreciation; and

4) To market and grow our Child Development Center.

Our ability to accomplish these goals is predicated on the involvement of all staff. In October of each calendar year, the entire staff meets to measure our success (or failure) of each goal. We are only capable of moving our strategy forward when:

1) We employ, empower, and entrust the best and the brightest to support specific programmatic area;
2) We provide compensation commensurate with the expected outcomes with each program sector;
3) We research, collaborate, and share best practices;
4) We constantly and consistently engage the families that we serve to determine if we are hitting our intended benchmarks;
5) We measure performance strategies, checking that our Who, What, When, and Where benchmarks are correct -- revising as necessary.

Providence House employs staff with experience in the social service sector and others that bring in a different level of expertise. The private sector offers a wealth of information that can enhance the work of the non-profit sector. It takes both groups to yield the outcomes and expectations within our strategy.

Since its inception, 665 families have completed the program at Providence House and moved from homelessness to independence.

In 2021:
- 17,888 nights of lodging were provided;
- 20,913 meals were provided in the House and the Child Development Center combined;
- 18 families on average were served daily; of these families, we served an average of 30 children (newborn to 18) per day;
- 36 families obtained permanent housing;
- Over 4,000 calls were received for homelessness prevention;
- 61 families in Shreveport were helped with rental and utility assistance;
- 138 counseling sessions were provided for residents and others in the community;
- 39 people graduated from workforce development courses at Providence House through our partnership with Bossier Parish Community College (BPCC).