I know that nothing unites us, as Americans, more than the desire to protect our children and our home. However, we all know that we have some serious, urgent problems that we need to deal with to honor our future generations.
Every day, we hear from every media outlet about all of the problems Chicago and our country as a whole are facing with urban homelessness, crime, and violence. And we hear the same publications begging the the public for help and good ideas. The government, business leaders, and community members have looked for these answers, but no answer yet has solved the issues. Well, we can all see that the clock is ticking as the number of people in crisis and the rate of violence continues to take valuable lives.
At the beginning of this school year, I watched our “little scholars”, children residing at A Safe Haven with their homeless parents, head off to school, well dressed, well fed, and ready to learn. This sight strengthens my resolve to do even more, especially knowing that over 20,000 children in Chicago Public Schools are homeless and are not being given the same opportunity to live in a stabilized and safe environment as their parents get back on their feet.
I sometimes feel that, although we don’t have all the answers at A Safe Haven, we know that we have stood the test of time and proven ourselves to be a viable answer and model for thousands of the people we’ve served. Though we have accomplished so much, it pales in comparison to the amount of people who need services. More needs to be done and we need more regular people, more policy makers, and business leaders to join us to help us scale up and help more people get to the root causes of whatever ails them.
For this reason, I am so grateful to the Latino Leaders Magazine, a national publication, and to HR BOOST, and to others for the kind awards and the platforms that are therefore bestowed upon us. I believed that those who take the time to learn and discover our work and our model are always amazed by what we are doing. Thankfully, these awards and media opportunities have introduced us to many like-minded people who are joining us in our mission to transform lives, and beyond that, share our vision for the need to transform the entire system.
When we started A Safe Haven, we fell in love with the stories of the lives being transformed. Each and every individual that moves on to independence moves us. Today, although we love the stories, we love the system even more, because we know that the only way we can truly solve what is harming our communities is with ability to repeat the path to success over and over for many different kinds of people in need.
When giving to a charitable cause, I urge you to consider the long-term effect of your giving. Do you give to satisfy an immediate need, like hunger or protection from the cold weather? If so, that is great! However, consider another kind of giving: the kind of giving that is connected to a robust system that actually is designed to solve the root cause of problems like hunger and lack of warm housing. Your gift could lead to a true life-transforming path, not just for one person on one day, but for thousands of people a year and beyond.
Well, that is what we do at A Safe Haven! And thanks to the support of those who believed in us last year, we moved nearly 5,500 people through our system onto their highest level of independence and wellness. Last year we were proud that 90% of our fundraising and our funding went directly to programs. This benchmark puts A Safe Haven at top for nationally efficient nonprofits. But it also means we rely heavily on word-of-mouth advertising, as we do not spend any money on radio or television advertising, which is how most major nonprofits raise money and spread their brand. You are our best advertisers!
Those who need our services always find their way to A Safe Haven. We operate at 100% capacity in our shelter year around. Unfortunately, it is our policy not to keep a waiting list, but we do refer people to other overnight shelters and ask them to keep trying until a bed opens up at A Safe Haven.
I’m often asked what I like most about my job, and while it’s undoubtedly helping all the people we do get back on their feet, one of the hidden truths is that I love the endless room for innovation within social service delivery. I speak often about A Safe Haven’s comprehensive “vertically integrated ecosystem”. We have been trailblazers with our innovative approach to fund development and have helped redefine the method in which our public and private partners measure outcomes and metrics. That is why I felt it is so important to show how we measure the social return on investment in us.
Homelessness is both a cause and an effect of unemployment. Our social return on investment is even greater than the numbers show. An investment in helping those facing housing insecurity in our city achieve self-sufficiency through sustainable employment results in more tax dollars for our city and state, fewer individuals relying on state and federal aid, improved neighborhood security, and greater economic success all around. The cost of homelessness on society is high: from concrete costs such as paying for emergency room visits and incarceration, to intangible costs such as deteriorating mental health, the collapse of families, and the slow decline of quality of life and the decline of entire communities. It is a problem that left unresolved will only continue to spread and worsen.
Poverty and homelessness are critical problems that touch all of us either directly or indirectly, which is why I thank you for your tireless commitment to doing your part and supporting our efforts to not just transform lives, but to transform the entire giving community to focus on real people experiencing real problems in real time with comprehensive and sustainable solutions.
With great appreciation,
Neli Vazquez Rowland
Co-Founder and President
A Safe Haven Foundation
