 |
| Founded | 1969 [1] |
|---|---|
| Type | Central nonprofit |
| Legal status | 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization |
| Headquarters | San Antonio, Texas |
| Location | |
Employees | 200+ [2] |
| Website | www |
Endeavors, formerly known as Family Endeavors, is a non-profit organization that provides programs and services towards community, disaster relief, employment, housing, mental health, and veteran family services in the United States. [3]
In 1969, several of San Antonio’s inner-city churches banded together to launch “Urban Ministries,” and initiated programs such as food bank and housing for seniors and runaway youths. [4] In 1977, the scope of housing programs was expanded to include individuals with mental illness. [4] In 1992, employment programs were initiated for those with disabilities. In 1995, after school programs for youth were launched. [4]
In 2007, Urban Ministries was rebranded initially as San Antonio Family Endeavors with the scope of the organization covering supportive housing, job training, employment, case management, homeless prevention, group and individual counseling, and youth development services. [2] As the organization expanded their services nationally the name was shortened to Family Endeavors in 2013 and then to just Endeavors in 2018. [3] [4]
Since 2011, Endeavors has been receiving federal funding in an effort to end veteran homelessness. Federal funding of 4 million dollars was renewed again by congressman Joaquin Castro in 2016. [5] On May 20, 2016, Family Endeavors expanded their mental health services by formally opening their first of three mental health clinic which operate under the banner of Steven A. Cohen Military Family Clinic operating from within their San Antonio office. [6] The second Military family Clinic was opened in El Paso and the third in Killeen on July 15, 2017 and May 15, 2018 respectively. [7] In addition, to in house care the Cohen Clinics also provide online video counseling services. [8]
Children and youth services include on demand case management, clinical and social work and direct care that staff provides on a national scope to evacuation centers, foster homes, corporations, community centers and families. [9]
Employment services are provided under the Endeavors Unlimited label for individuals with disabilities specifically Commercial Grounds Maintenance and Custodial Services. [9]
Housing Programs are the longest running program from Endeavors with a goal of providing permanent supportive housing to individuals and families with mental illness, disabilities, and female Veterans. [10] They follow the Fairweather Lodge model with case management, professional counseling, life skills training, and employment opportunities. [9]
The most notable institution are the Fairweather Lodge/ Family Fairweather lodge located in Bexar county, San Antonio, Texas. [11] Additional homelessness prevention programs for veterans are present in Comberville County and Fayetville, North Carolina. [12] [13]
Steven A. Cohen Military Family Clinics operate in San Antonio, El Paso and Killeen. [6] In addition, to onsite care for veterans telehealth services in the form of online face to face therapy services our available to post 9/11 veterans.
The United States Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) is a Cabinet-level executive branch department of the federal government charged with providing lifelong healthcare services to eligible military veterans at the 170 VA medical centers and outpatient clinics located throughout the country. Non-healthcare benefits include disability compensation, vocational rehabilitation, education assistance, home loans, and life insurance. The VA also provides burial and memorial benefits to eligible veterans and family members at 135 national cemeteries.
In the United States, the number of homeless people on a given night in January 2023 was more than 650,000 according to the Department of Housing and Urban Development. Homelessness has increased in recent years, in large part due to an increasingly severe housing shortage and rising home prices in the United States.
Ciro Davis Rodriguez is an American politician and social worker who served as a U.S. Representative for Texas's 23rd congressional district, serving from 2007 until 2011. The district stretched from El Paso in the west to San Antonio in the east, a distance of some 500 miles (800 km). A member of the Democratic Party, he previously represented the neighboring 28th congressional district from 1997 to 2005, and was a member of the Texas House of Representatives from 1987 to 1997.
Supportive housing is a combination of housing and services intended as a cost-effective way to help people live more stable, productive lives, and is an active "community services and funding" stream across the United States. It was developed by different professional academics and US governmental departments that supported housing. Supportive housing is widely believed to work well for those who face the most complex challenges—individuals and families confronted with homelessness and who also have very low incomes and/or serious, persistent issues that may include substance use disorders, mental health, HIV/AIDS, chronic illness, diverse disabilities or other serious challenges to stable housing.
In November 2004, voters in the U.S. state of California passed Proposition 63, the Mental Health Services Act (MHSA), which has been designed to expand and transform California's county mental health service systems. The MHSA is funded by imposing an additional one percent tax on individual, but not corporate, taxable income in excess of one million dollars. In becoming law in January 2005, the MHSA represents the latest in a Californian legislative movement, begun in the 1990s, to provide better coordinated and more comprehensive care to those with serious mental illness, particularly in underserved populations. Its claim of successes thus far, such as with the development of innovative and integrated Full Service Partnerships (FSPs), are not without detractors who highlight many problems but especially a lack of oversight, large amount of unspent funds, poor transparency, lack of engagement in some communities, and a lack of adherence to required reporting as challenges MHSA implementation must overcome to fulfill the law's widely touted potential.
The South Texas Medical Center (STMC) or Bexar County Hospital District consists of 900 acres (360 ha) of medical-related facilities on the northwest side of San Antonio, Texas, United States.
Out of 10,000 female individuals 13 are homeless. Although studies reflect that there are many differences among women suffering homelessness and there is no universal experience, the average homeless woman is 35 years old, has children, is a member of a minority community, and has experienced homelessness more than once in their lifetime.
So Others Might Eat (SOME) is a nonprofit organization that provides services to assist those dealing with poverty and homelessness in Washington, D.C. The organization provides affordable housing, job training, counseling and other healthcare services, and daily needs such as food and clothing to the poor and homeless. It spends the largest portion of its annual budget on affordable housing, with a majority of its residents recovering from addiction. SOME describes its mission as helping "our vulnerable neighbors in Washington, DC, break the cycle of homelessness through our comprehensive and transformative services".
Assertive community treatment (ACT) is an intensive and highly integrated approach for community mental health service delivery. ACT teams serve individuals who have been diagnosed with serious and persistent forms of mental illness, predominantly but not exclusively the schizophrenia spectrum disorders. ACT service recipients may also have diagnostic profiles that include features typically found in other DSM-5 categories. Many have histories of frequent psychiatric hospitalization, substance abuse, victimization and trauma, arrests and incarceration, homelessness, and additional significant challenges. The symptoms and complications of their mental illnesses have led to serious functioning difficulties in several areas of life, often including work, social relationships, residential independence, money management, and physical health and wellness. By the time they start receiving ACT services, they are likely to have experienced failure, discrimination, and stigmatization, and their hope for the future is likely to be quite low.
Housing First is a policy that offers unconditional, permanent housing as quickly as possible to homeless people, and other supportive services afterward. It was first discussed in the 1990s, and in the following decades became government policy in certain locations within the Western world. There is a substantial base of evidence showing that Housing First is both an effective solution to homelessness and a form of cost savings, as it also reduces the use of public services like hospitals, jails, and emergency shelters. Cities like Helsinki and Vienna in Europe have seen dramatic reductions in homelessness due to the adaptation of Housing First policies, as have the North American cities Columbus, Ohio, Salt Lake City, Utah, and Medicine Hat, Alberta.
The Fairweather Lodge Program is a psychosocial rehabilitation model in which residents live together and run or participate in a business that provides them with employment. As of 2006, there were over 90 Fairweather Lodges in 16 US states.
Homelessness or houselessness – also known as a state of being unhoused or unsheltered – is the condition of lacking stable, safe, and functional housing. The general category includes disparate situations, such as living on the streets, moving between temporary accommodation such as family or friends, living in boarding houses with no security of tenure, and people who leave their domiciles because of civil conflict and are refugees within their country.
Swords to Plowshares is a veterans organization that provides job training, housing, and benefits advocacy to low income and homeless U.S. military veterans. Swords to Plowshares also operates a drop-in center for veterans requiring emergency services, and engages in policy work. It is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization headquartered in San Francisco, supported by governmental and private grants, as well as donations from individuals. Michael Blecker is the executive director.
Conard House is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization based in the SoMa arts district of San Francisco, working to support adults living with serious mental health and medical conditions. The organization's restated mission is "to empower people who live and work on the margins of society."
Richard Philip Usatine is a physician, photographer, writer, speaker, and professor of family and community medicine, dermatology and cutaneous surgery. He is Assistant Director of Medical Humanities Education at the University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio.
The Banyan is a non-governmental organization based in Chennai, India that was founded in 1993 by Vandana Gopikumar and Vaishnavi Jayakumar to cater to mentally-ill and homeless women in the city.
Homeless veterans are persons who have served in the armed forces who are homeless or living without access to secure and appropriate accommodation.
Cohen Veterans Network (CVN) is a US not-for-profit philanthropic organization that serves post-9/11 veterans and their families through a nationwide system of mental health clinics. CVN's headquarters are in Stamford, Connecticut, United States.
The United States Department of Housing and Urban Development estimated that more than 181,399 people were experiencing homelessness in California in January 2023. This represents more than 27% of the homeless population of the United States even though California has slightly less than 12% of the country's total population, and is one of the highest per capita rates in the nation, with 0.46% of residents being homeless. More than two-thirds of homeless people in California are unsheltered, which is the highest percentage of any state in the United States. 49% of the unsheltered homeless people in the United States live in California: about 123,423 people, which is eight times as many as the state with the second highest total. Even those who are sheltered are so insecurely, with 90% of homeless adults in California reporting that they spent at least one night unsheltered in the past six months.
WestCare Foundation, Inc. is a nonprofit organization offering behavioral health, human services, and support across various locations, including 17 states, Guam, Puerto Rico, the US Virgin Islands, the Republic of Palau, the Dominican Republic, and the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands.