HOPE
  • Home
  • DONATE
  • YOU can help
  • If You Need Help
  • Advocacy
  • Stories Of Hope
  • Leadership
  • Contact Us
  • Announcement 2
  • Gift to Honor Somoene
  • Homeless Awareness Month
  • Voting
  • Pontiac Restaurant Collaborative
Social Distancing and an Isolation Shelter have helped to keep the shelter virus-free. 
Despite COVID-19, we feel blessed. 
Please keep HOPE in your thoughts and prayers. 
Wish List
Please Note: wish list items in ANY BRAND are much appreciated . Thank you.

3 ways to financially support HOPE

Picture
Picture
Picture

HOME

About Hope
Report Card
$ponsor a Meal
Programs
Picture

HOPE depends on the financial support of many private donors.
​YOU can be a HOPE Hero

Wish List
Please Donate

HOPE provides
safe and judgment-free shelter,
innovative programs and 
​public
advocacy to end homelessness
​
The Adult Shelter
      249 Baldwin Avenue
      Pontiac, MI 48342


“Low-Barrier” Emergency Shelter
      (most barriers removed)
  • No ID/Sobriety/Background Check
  • Trauma-informed approach
  • Embedded services through community partners
            - Medical             - Housing
            - Behavioral        - Employment
Picture
The Recuperative Shelter
      1416 Joslyn Avenue
      Pontiac, MI 48340


Inpatient “discharge to home” option for individuals experiencing homelessness.

  • Nurses provide patient monitoring and education​
  • Person-centered connection to vital documents, legal and housing resources through intensive case management.  
Picture
HOPE is committed to
helping each guest resolve their homelessness and
identify a network of supportive services
delivered in a trauma-informed setting. 

 

ABOUT HOPE


HOPE, Inc. was founded in 1998 as a community response to a homeless person freezing to death in downtown Pontiac, Michigan. Since this time, the center has provided emergency shelter for individuals struggling with homelessness in northern Oakland County, turning no person away.
HOPE is committed to serving Pontiac's homeless population through two distinct yet complementary programs, Adult Shelter Program and our newest venture, Recuperative Care Center. In both of these programs our mission is the same- to help those in need of safe shelter and support services without judgment.





Picture
Picture
HOPE’s strengths-based culture is about meeting the guest where he/she is at, bringing as many resources to the shelter as possible to improve participation, with hospitality framing the guest experience.  We remain solidly committed to guests viewing our organization as a way out of homelessness, rather than a place of last resort.   The Oakland County Health Network provides onsite access screening for mental health services.  Community Network Services and Easter Seals-Michigan, two core providers for community mental health provide onsite intakes as well as mental health case management.  Community Housing Network, TTI  PATH and SOS provide onsite housing counselors who connect HOPE guests with appropriate housing.  The integration of healthcare, mental healthcare and housing for shelter guests helps them improve quality of life and a pathway out of homelessness.


The majority of our support comes through volunteers, civic groups and churches, which we have a strong relationships with-  in-kind donations account for the same percentage of income as all other funding sources. In 2015,  about 1800 volunteers helped us to shelter 500 guests! Volunteers provide dinner, breakfast, and sack lunches for our guests  as well as donated vitally needed shelter supplies (ie socks, underwear, cold weather clothing). HOPE could not exist with out the help of our volunteers and donors.

Picture
Picture
 

REPORT CARD

Newest Report Card

Spring 2019 Report Card (04/01/19 to 06/30/19)
 
          Measure Rates                HOPE        Average

          Length of stay                31 days    25 days
          Positive Destination      39.49%       18.01%
          Recidivism Rate               3.48% 
      27.54%

Winter 2019 Report Card (01/01/19 to 03/31/19)
 
          Measure Rates                HOPE        Average

          Length of stay                40 days    27 days
          Positive Destination      32.35%       16.58%
          Recidivism Rate               2.16% 
      30.29%

Using the 2018 statistic of 799 guests served at HOPE, the following stats can be used to illustrate the difference this report card really means:  
  • If the average shelter served 799 guests, 133 guests would have initially been moved into secure housing ("Positive Destination"). After 40 people returned to the streets ("Recidivism"), homelessness would have been resolved for 93 people. 
  • At HOPE, for the same 799 guests, 258 guests initially moved into secure housing ("Positive Destination"). After 6 people returned to the streets, homelessness was resolved for 252 people. 
  • Both places successfully moved guests into a positive destination, but HOPE moved many more. ​It's not a contest, but guests of HOPE really are the winners. 

Fall 2018 Report Card

          Measure Rates           HOPE      Average
          Length of stay.            43 days   20 days
          Positive Destination   44.7%       14.43%
          Recidivism Rate          11.22%     34.35%

This means that HOPE engages our guests much longer than  the average shelter.
The HOPE collaborative effort helps people move into 
appropriate housing at a much higher rate.
HOPE guests stay in their housing rather than return to the streets (3 to 14-times more likely to stay housed)
.

HOPE is an effective shelter. We partner with more service providers to achieve powerful results. We help guests obtain all their needed documents and we bring service-providers into the shelter for meetings – rather than hoping guests will find an office and the transportation will to get there on time.  
 
Be proud of the work you support. Share these stats with a friend. Have your friends join our mailing list. (Send email to Contact@HopeWarmingPontiac.org)  Have your friends Like us on Facebook (HopeShelterPontiac). 
 

PROGRAMS


ADULT SHELTER
RECUPERATIVE CARE CENTER
THE FUTURE
 

Adult Shelter


HOPE emergency shelter hosts up to 62 guests each night providing basic needs:
  • warmth
  • evening meal
  • shower
  • safe place to sleep
  • light breakfast and bag lunch​

HOPE assists with pathways out of homelessness using:  
  • Service Navigator (case manager)
  • Collaborative Service Partners
  • Volunteer medical clinicians
​​
Picture
Upon intake, every guest at HOPE is immediately screened to assess what resources might help move them from homelessness. In addition to the ongoing provision of basic needs, health care, and supportive service coordination.

​HOPE invites 
outside agencies with programs related to housing, mental health, and other related issues to visit the center in order to conduct outreach to guests, further connecting them with community resources that address their specific issues and concerns.

Picture

Low Barrier Model

HOPE is a low barrier shelter which means that we do not require sobriety, identity documentation or  adherence to a program or religious affiliation to participate.  Additionally, our low barrier model removes transportation and other barriers by inviting other providers to provide services onsite at HOPE. Those services include housing services, triage health clinic, community mental health services and more are available to HOPE guests.

Safe Place

HOPE strives to provide a safe space for our guests; we are solidly committed to guests viewing our organization as a way out of homelessness, rather than a place of last resort.
​
The emergency shelter hosts up to 62 guests in bunk beds each night (plus up to 10 additional in chairs)  providing warmth, an evening meal, a shower, a safe place to sleep, and either a light breakfast or bag lunch. The center also provides its guests with hygiene kits, and dry socks and underwear. We also have some coats, boots, jeans and sweatshirts available for those needing these items.  
Picture
Picture

Service Navigation

Picture
Service Navigator, Carolyn
Upon intake, every guest at HOPE is immediately screened to assess what resources might help move them from homelessness. In addition to the ongoing provision of basic needs, health care, and supportive service coordination, HOPE invites outside agencies with programs related to housing, mental health, and other related issues to visit the center in order to conduct outreach to guests, further connecting them with community resources that address their specific issues and concerns.
Learn More

Groups at HOPE

  • Alcoholic Anonymous (AA): A traditional recovery based group offered to guests & former guests at Adult Shelter on Mondays & Wednesdays​. Recuperative Center guests can attend AA at New Bethel Missionary Baptist Church (across the street from Recuperative) 

  • Women of HOPE: Offered to female guests & former guests at Adult Shelter on Tuesday mornings. This group helps to support the unique needs of women who find themselves homeless as well as how they can successfully transition out of homelessness. This group addresses healthy relationships, self-care and day-to-day issues women encounter.

  • AfterShock: Offered to former male guests of HOPE at the Baldwin center on Thursday evenings. This group was formed out of a need to lessen the 'shock' of transitioning from homelessness to being securely housed. This group functions as an all male fellowship group that provides a support system of after care for men who have transitioned out of homelessness. 

  • Yoga: Yoga is offered weekly on Wednesday evenings to current guests as a way to promote self-care and healthy living. 

Adult Shelter

Picture
Carolyn Hurst, Shelter Manager
Kim D, Service Navigator
​
​ph: 248-499-7345

fax: 248-499-7354
Since its founding, the organization has provided seasonal emergency shelter for individuals struggling with homelessness in northern Oakland County, turning no person away. Beginning at the Baldwin Center, HOPE operated during the coldest 3 months of the year and guests were given two blankets and a pillow and slept on the floor in the same room that they were served dinner. In 2010, the organization purchased a foreclosed building across the street. Bit by bit and with the help of many, many volunteers the space has been transformed. With over a half million dollars of volunteer labor and in-kind donations we have made many improvements to our space including adding handicapped bathroom and shower facilities, laundry facilities as well as an outdoor pavilion for our guests.  In 2014, HOPE achieved our long standing goal of providing year round shelter to our guests. 

Recuperative Care Center

In 2015, HOPE opened the Recuperative Care Center, a specialized shelter for patients who are homeless  and discharged from area hospitals ‘to home’ but have no home where they can recover from illness, injury, surgery, etc.  Through these two shelter programs, HOPE strives to create a community where all have the opportunity to move from homelessness to safe housing, gain access to resources, and develop the skills to enhance their quality of life.
Picture
LaTonya Terry, Shelter Manager
TBD, Service Navigator

ph: 248-499-6437
​
fax: 248-499-6828

Future Community Center and Shelter

HOPE has recently acquired a few lots adjacent to the Adult Shelter on Baldwin Ave.  to provide space for a building to house Recuperative as well as space to develop an improved shelter and space to better respond to community need. Currently the Recuperative Care Center is housed in rented space which is too small for the need and is located about three miles from the adult shelter.





Picture
Picture
Fulfilling the goal of building a new shelter on these lots will allow HOPE as a whole to become more centralized and better serve our guests and the community as a whole.

​
 

Recuperative Care Center

Picture

Time to Heal

HOPE Recuperative Center is the only place in southeast Michigan where homeless individuals can receive proper post hospital care until they recover their strength. This specialty shelter offers up to 15 guests a safe and supportive environment, as well as meals, oversight of  their medical treatment, follow-up care, connection with community mental health programs, legal clinic, helping people secure vital identity documents and connection with housing options.

Coordination of Care

HOPE nurses help our guests to have continuity of care to through their presence at Recuperative. The nurses help to reduce hospital re-admissions through patient education, advocacy, and medication management.   
Picture
Image: Nurse, Ruth; Guest, Steve 

Picture
Service Navigator, Dave

Service Navigation

Upon intake, every guest at HOPE is immediately screened to assess what resources might help move them from homelessness. Our Service Navigators advocate for our clients.  In addition to the ongoing provision of basic needs, health care, and supportive service coordination, HOPE invites outside agencies with programs related to housing, mental health, and other related issues to visit the center in order to conduct outreach to guests, further connecting them with community resources that address their specific issues and concerns.
Learn More
 

What does the future hold for HOPE?


Picture
HOPE continues to respond to the needs of the community. Moving forward, HOPE sees the need to improve facilities in a manner that elevates self-esteem and personal dignity, the need to help make physical and mental healthcare more accessible, the need to make fresh foods more accessible, and the need to make community resources more accessible. HOPE is here to be supportive and collaborative. 

HOPE provides safe and judgment-free shelter, innovative programs, and public advocacy to end homelessness.

HOPE envisions a community where everyone has the opportunity to move from homelessness to safe housing, gain access to resources, and develop the skills to enhance their quality of life.

Next Project

HOPE is in the beginning stage of our capital campaign. The goal of the capital campaign is to fund a new venture. In 2015 four lots to the North of HOPE's existing Adult Shelter were donated to the organization. These donated lots will be the site for the new resources.

The new location will house HOPE Community Resource Center and Shelter. Currently in Oakland County there are very limited options for people who are experiencing homelessness. Daily, HOPE receives calls from people who are homeless -- living in cars or doubled up with other families. These stories are heart wrenching. In order to fill this gap in homeless services in Oakland County, expanding the Shelter Program is vitally important. 

Please look for more information coming soon as our project develops!

​#BuildingHOPE

Powered by Create your own unique website with customizable templates.
  • Home
  • DONATE
  • YOU can help
  • If You Need Help
  • Advocacy
  • Stories Of Hope
  • Leadership
  • Contact Us
  • Announcement 2
  • Gift to Honor Somoene
  • Homeless Awareness Month
  • Voting
  • Pontiac Restaurant Collaborative