JOVENES INC

At Jovenes, we believe that homelessness is just an experience that youth go through. It does not define them or limit their dreams. We strive to be a place of hope where youth have the chance to embark on a new chapter of their life by leaving homelessness behind. We empower our youth to succeed so they can blossom into young adults who are active and productive members of our community.

Although the youth we serve come from diverse backgrounds, four common barriers to a stable future are found throughout our target population. These common challenges are:
• Barriers to safe, supportive, and affordable housing
• Difficulty accessing basic benefits and health services
• Limitations to educational advancement and economic development
• Overcoming trauma

At Jovenes, we work to address these challenges through our holistic approach. Without Jovenes intervention, the youth we serve are at high risk for chronic homelessness or incarceration. Historically, Jovenes has served young men, but with the creation of multiple forms of permanent housing, the agency has started housing young women and families with children.

We put our youth at the center of all that we do. Jovenes operates within a learning environment where we adapt our programs to the needs of our youth. Our individualized approach recognizes the talents of our youth and helps them identify their strengths so they can develop a vision for their future. We work hand in hand with our youth, investing in them while also making sure that they work hard and invest in themselves.

Jovenes' operational model implements the best practice called “Housing First," which means we seek to move youth from homelessness into permanent housing as quickly as possible and surround them with the supportive services they need. When a homeless youth is welcomed at Jovenes, they undergo an assessment and create an individualized service plan that addresses their housing needs, employment & educational history, mental health status, and personal goals. This allows us to identify the right housing option for each client and the mix/frequency of supportive services and referrals they receive, utilizing best practices such as Critical Time Intervention (a time limited intensive case management strategy designed to help those with mental illness and complex social needs undergo a planned transition of responsibilities of care from the professional to the individual) & Harm Reduction (a set of practical strategies and interventions aimed at reducing negative consequences associated with drug use). We understand that while safe & stable housing is cornerstone of ending homelessness, our youth need multiple forms of support and positive relationships in order to thrive over the long-term. At all levels of housing - emergency, transitional, and permanent- Jovenes provides the following services: individualized case management, employment preparation/job placement, life skills training, internships/leadership development, mental health services, and more. This holistic approach allows Jovenes to work with youth for multiple years as they continue to grow and develop.

Jovenes is actively taking an expanded leadership role in LA's efforts to end youth homelessness while also pioneering new solutions to help community college students who are experiencing homelessness. Jovenes is now the Regional Coordinator for homeless youth in LA County SPA 7 (which covers Southeast Los Angeles) through the brand new Coordinated Entry System, which is designed to help homeless individuals and youth receive the assessments and housing placements they need to move into permanent housing. We are also launching our College Success Initiative, which seeks to address the crisis of homeless community college students and uses rental subsidies in order to help homeless students move into safe and stable housing so that they can focus on their education and enhance their chances of graduation.

Jovenes has over 30 years of working with homeless youth, and we have established effective partnerships with other service organizations along with positive relationships with our elected officials. Jovenes operates a complete Continuum of Care that moves our youth off the streets and into permanent housing.

As a hands-on leader and innovator focused on long-term solutions to end the cycle of homelessness, Jovenes continues to grow through the development of permanent housing. Our housing model includes supportive short term and permanent housing designed to create a home-like atmosphere for those we serve. We've found that once youth have a steady roof over their head and a connection to a support structure of caring individuals, they are able to continue their development into self-sufficient adults. Over the last four years, Jovenes has rapidly developed new permanent housing opportunities and successfully tripled our housing capacity. Using a mix of public funding, private financing, effective partnerships, and innovative program design, we have developed a program with a variety of housing options, providing flexibility to meet the needs and challenges of our youth. Jovenes' Continuum of Care continues to grow and includes the following housing options:

• Emergency Shelter
• Host Homes
• Transitional Housing
• Rapid Rehousing/Rental Subsidies
• Permanent Supportive Housing
• Family Reconnection
• Homelessness Prevention & Diversion

Our Continuum of Care programs seek to instill a quality of life these youth have previously been lacking – one that helps them obtain employment, further their education, manage their finances, develop positive relationships, and boost their self-esteem. Each youth works with a case manager to develop and implement an individualized service plan that addresses their needs for housing, employment, healthcare, and recovery from trauma, with an end goal of placing youth into permanent housing. Due to the personalized nature of the program, each youth will receive a mix of supportive services that are delivered through the implementation of their individualized case management plan. The most frequently accessed services are:

• Individualized Case Management
• Career Development & Employment Support
• Mental Health Services
• Life Skills and Personal Development
• Housing Placement

Jovenes has made a great deal of progress in expanding the capacity and sophistication of our organization. Through an organizational engineering process, Jovenes has created department structures and systems of communication that increase efficiency and improve service delivery for our youth. We have consistently increased our capacity by developing multiple housing options for our youth, while maintaining the personalized care that helps our youth turn their lives around. We stretch every dollar we receive to maximize our impact.
However, our cash flow is still very sensitive to the renewal cycle of grants and contracts, creating a greater level of sustainability risks for management and administration than at the program level. From both private and public funders we are seeing increased attention to financial sustainability ratios, which in our case are negatively affected the capital structure and operating cash flow of Progress Place. In reviewing funders' assessment of our organization, we notice a discrepancy between the strength of the programs and the weakness of our financial position, with the latter potentially affecting the overall outcome of fund development efforts. The new political landscape after general elections may affect future funding received not only by our agency but by the whole continuum of care. HUD is one of the main contributors of funding for homeless programs. We have a high exposure related to our funding from the Los Angeles Homeless Service Authority.