Overview
ForKids' Haven House Emergency Shelter opened in 1988 in Norfolk, Virginia providing emergency shelter to families experiencing homelessness. Thirty years later, ForKids is one of the largest year-round providers of homeless services for families in Virginia. Dedicated to our mission of breaking the cycle of homelessness and poverty for families and children, ForKids works to quickly house families regardless of their barriers while employing an array of services to help families address the issues that contributed to their housing crisis and develop a plan of action to achieve and maintain stability. ForKids is the only regional organization to provide comprehensive educational programs for children experiencing homelessness. The Regional Housing Crisis Hotline is the central point of contact for families in crisis for all of Hampton Roads, connecting callers to over four hundred housing-related resources. ForKids' combined services touch the lives of over 63,000 people each year.
Financials
Programs
During fy18, forkids served nearly 1,200 individuals from over 360 families experiencing homelessness, with nearly 750 children, providing them with 66,000 bed-nights of housing. On average, forkids provided comprehensive services to more than 200 families and 400 children every day. Housing is provided through emergency shelter, transitional housing, rapid re-housing and permanent supportive housing depending on the needs of the family. Critical services include case management, housing placement, employment services, mental health coordination, and budgeting. In fy18, 90% of families leaving a forkids housing program exited to appropriate housing.
Forkids' children's education program addresses student gaps in performance, cultivates social emotional well-being and advocates for children and their families. School age children benefit from afterschool tutoring, mentoring and/or advocacy, and summer programs designed to prepare them for the upcoming school year. Services are offered to children in our housing programs at community sites and to students in two local elementary schools through an innovative pilot program. In fy18, our education programs benefitted 411 students, with over 130 students receiving academic tutoring. 97% of eligible students demonstrated improvement in their math and/or reading skills and 95% of students promoted to the next grade at the end of the school year.
Forkids also provides extended services to our clients and the community at large. The regional housing crisis hotline, operated by forkids, serves as the central point of intake for individuals and families experiencing homelessness in all 14 localities in hampton roads. In fy18, the hotline answered over 45,000 calls from 24,000 households (30% of whom needed emergency shelter). Good mojo thrift store provides critically needed household supplies to families recovering from the crisis of homelessness and helps families by providing school supplies and holiday support. Aftercare services are an informal but essential part of our work, extending our impact as forkids families stay in touch and connect for years, as needed. Through our housing programs and extended services, forkids impacted the lives of 63,000 people last year.
