Programs and results
What we aim to solve
Providence House, founded in 1988 by Jean Sayres and Mary Anne Selber of First Presbyterian Church, was created to address the core needs of homeless families. Traditional shelters separated families and children based on age and gender. Therefore, a family experiencing homeless had no opportunity to heal and grow together because of the limitations of shelters to serve the whole family. Every single dollar is used to support our programs that help homeless families move towards self-sufficiency. Specifically: 1) Education: 4-STAR Child Development Center, Workforce Development Program with local community college, and Adult HiSet/GED Program, 2) Housing: short-term emergency and long term, permanent housing, 3) Supportive Services: on-site counseling, case management, dietary services and children's support. Our unyielding focus is centered around helping families to reach their highest level of self-sufficiency.
Our programs
What are the organization's current programs, how do they measure success, and who do the programs serve?
Providence House
Providence House is a residential shelter for homeless families with children. Our holistic program hinges on three strong pillars: (1) shelter- emergency/permanent, (2) supportive services- counseling, job training, parenting classes, workforce development, life skills training, financial literacy training and (3) education- 4 STAR Child Development Center and a full time adult HiSet Program.
Where we work
Affiliations & memberships
Association of Fundraising Professionals - Member 2010
National Coalition Against Domestic Violence 2010
Rape, Abuse and Incest National Network (RAINN) 2010
United Way Member Agency 2010
External reviews

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Our results
How does this organization measure their results? It's a hard question but an important one.
Average number of service recipients per month
This metric is no longer tracked.Totals By Year
Related Program
Providence House
Type of Metric
Output - describing our activities and reach
Direction of Success
Increasing
Number of people using homeless shelters per week
This metric is no longer tracked.Totals By Year
Related Program
Providence House
Type of Metric
Outcome - describing the effects on people or issues
Direction of Success
Increasing
Number of meals served or provided
This metric is no longer tracked.Totals By Year
Related Program
Providence House
Type of Metric
Output - describing our activities and reach
Direction of Success
Holding steady
Our Sustainable Development Goals
Learn more about Sustainable Development Goals.
Goals & Strategy
Learn 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?
Our vision is to "Imaging 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 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.
What are the organization's key strategies for making this happen?
The main facility on Cotton Street provides emergency and basic support services such as shelter, meals, laundry facilities and a high quality child development center. A family entering the Providence House participates in assessing the needs and obstacles to permanent independent living that a family faces and focuses on providing the life skills training, behavior modification, education and employment at the highest level of each individual's ability. When a family completes this segment of the program they are ready to move to Project Next Step.
Project Next Step is for families who have become stabilized in the main shelter and are working full-time at a job or on their education. This segment involves moving them into apartments in 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, at which time the rental leases which Providence House initially holds, are converted to the client's name, so that they may continue to live successfully in these neighborhoods.
Our 2020 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 at least five families to begin careers (not simply 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 to include the community.
What are the organization's capabilities for doing this?
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. Specifically, is the (Who, What, When and Where) benchmarks correct or do we need to revisit the plan.
Providence House employs staff that have worked within the social service sector, but also 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.
What have they accomplished so far and what's next?
In 2019 alone:
1) 26 adults completed vocational educational training; 16 adults participated in the HiSet/GED program
2) Providence House served 415 people; 266 were homeless children ages 0-17
3) We engaged 233 volunteer groups! They gave 4,614 hours serving meals, reading to children, hosting birthday parties and pitching in to the meet the needs of families
4) 40 families (41 adults and 79 children) graduated from the program boosting the total number of families that have completed the program to 630
5) More than 28,000 meals were served and we provided 41,000 nights of lodging
6) We garnered in-kind goods valued at $399,848
7) 207 on-site counseling sessions were completed including both individuals and family sessions.
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.
PROVIDENCE HOUSE
Board of directorsas of 4/23/2020
Attorney Dan Farris
Law Office of Daniel Farris
Term: 2020 - 2022
Attorney Jacob White
Ayres, Shelton, Williams, Benson & Paine, LLC
Term: 2020 - 2022
Jennifer Frierson
Community Activist
Margaret Sour
Oil and Gas Manager
Bobby Madison
Administrator
Matt Sawrie
Federal Home Loan Bank
Cody King
Ameriprise Wealth Managers
Bert Schmale
Bancorp South
Michelle Arnold
LSU Health Science Center
Chaz Coleman
Ayres, Shelton, Williams, Benson & Paine, LLC
Timothy Graham
Benteler Steel
Stephanie Rogers
Southern University Shreveport
Marcia Moffatt
Self-Employed
Charlotte Gaffney
Retired
Trey Fauber
Cole, Evans & Peterson
Brian Crawford
Willis Knighton Health Center
Matthew Sawrie
Home Federal Bank
Karl Rosenblath
Rosenblath Builders
Benny Vaugh
Vaughn Builders
Malia Wollerson
Heard, McElroy & Vestal
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? No