Case Study: Opportunity House

housing for homeless young adults, many of whom have aged out of foster care. It serves

In 1994, I began working with the formerly homeless population in Dignity Housing, a non-profit organization located in the West Mount Airy section of Philadelphia, PA. Dignity Housing has assisted hundreds of families by providing permanent housing, life skills building, educational instructions, and many more life-sustaining fundamentals. After Dignity Housing, I went on to serve the homeless population through various other non-profit organizations experiencing the same stories of despair laden with poor parental guidance, drugs and alcohol, physical, mental and sexual abuse, poverty, and criminal behaviors.

The mission is to “Preach the gospel of Jesus Christ and meet human needs in his name without discrimination.” The clientele ranges between families, single men, and single women. In which the temporary housing facility has separate areas for each. Their mission is to help these individuals as well as families to get stable and on their feet within two years.

We plan to use the Covenant House of Atlanta as our parent organization. The Covenant House was created in 2000 with the goal of creating a home for Atlanta’s homeless youth. Children are never turned away and are provided shelter and resources, as well as someone to talk to. Their services are designed to help children in need attain self-sufficiency. Their services range from outreach to mental health services and include crisis care and assistance with independent living.

Assists a wide range of underserved clients with a full spectrum of programs designed to help them rebuild their lives and move them to self-sufficiency. Our services encompass housing for low-income and homeless individuals and families; outpatient group and individual counseling; private, individual counseling; and job training and employment services. Eligible clients include: • Low-income and homeless individuals • Veterans • Individuals with a substance abuse diagnosis • Individuals living with HIV/AIDS • Adults with co-occurring disorders (mental illness and substance abuse) • Male and female parolees • Pregnant women and women

The current strengths of Providence House Resource Support are its ability to meet the unique needs of the homeless community. This is well recognized, particularly where transitional housing and supportive services have been an obvious need for some time. However, it is important to credit Providence House for their ability to fill gaps in the institutionalized system of service provision. This is a direct product of its fundamentally unique way of thinking about its own organization, goals, and the clients that they serve.

I believe that religious facilities should no longer be tax exempt. It is  unjust and unfair for religious facilities to remain tax exempt . Ever since the roman ages  religious facilities  have been tax exempt, meaning that they don’t pay property tax or any tax at all. The 1954 federal Johnson Amendment prohibits a pastor from talking about candidates from the pulpit in light of Scripture. Thus, based on what a pastor says about an election from the pulpit, the tax code allows the government to tax a church. For over two-hundred years in america has been tax exempt, because of this the annual donations they rain  in per year in the United States alone is about one-billion dollars. Religious facilities, like every other non-profit organization

Having all the members in the program agree upon the same mission and vision was a large wall we faced. We would come up with ideas and we could not get people to agree on just one as a whole. To finally get a common mission and vision for the program we narrowed the options down to two for each then worked as a team to combine them each into one. The ideas that were presented were all close to being the same just were all worded differently. It was not an easy task to get everyone to agree, but after arguing and bickering between members we were able to successful make a mission and vision for A Chance program. The mission of A Chance program is to eliminate youth homelessness in the Riverside area and to provide them with the education and resources to reach their full potential as caring, responsible, citizens. Our vision is to provide a safe home for the youth and to enable them to reach their full potential as citizens. Our mission and vision is to let everyone know our main goal is to help the homeless youth in the Riverside community get a second chance and to help them reach their full potential as students and community members. Once we decided on a mutual mission and vision we then had to decide on what we were going to do to reach

The Light House Christian Ministries views and address the social dysfunction of its population by providing services to struggling families in need. The two areas that the Light House can improve their ministries to the community is by expanding the food pantry, and by expanding the educational services. The Light Houses uses the structural functionalist perspective to address poverty, hunger and health concerns by using methods and strategies to provide services in the community to meet the people most basic needs. I believe we need more organizations like the Light House to help serve the community and provide them with the skills and opportunities to become self-sufficient. When people become self-sufficient they feel a sense of self pride and accomplishment which encourages them to give the same encouragement and support they received. Hopefully this cycle will continue till everyone become self-sufficient and organizations like the Light House is no longer

Non-profit organizations include, but are not limited to: Fraternal beneficiary societies, orders or Associations, cemetery corporations and corporations organized or trusts created for religious, charitable, scientific or educational purposes or for the prevention of cruelty to children or animals, home owner associations, business leagues or organizations not organized for profit but operated exclusively for the promotion of social welfare, as well as clubs organized and operated exclusively for pleasure, recreation and other non-profit purposes. The net profit of these organizations cannot benefit any private stockholder or member. An unwarranted salary, however, may cause a corporation or organization to lose its nonprofit status.

The field house at Brazosport High School will soon be named the W. Marcus Stephenson Field House. The Brazosport Independent School’s Board of Trustees unanimously approved honoring Stephenson, a Brazosport High School graduate (class of 1954), a former BISD Board Member and a respected Brazosport area leader. In accordance with BISD Local Policy, in naming a new facility, the Board held a public hearing to consider naming recommendations.

Unlike for-profit organizations, not-for-profits don’t have owners, they have a board of directors, many have paid staff some use volunteers. Not-for-profits can generate excess revenues but they aren’t divided to shareholders as for-profit organizations, they must be retained for the organizations self-preservation, expansion, or future plans. Not-for-profits face strict government regulations. Most larger organizations are required to publish their financial reports detailing their income and expenditures publicly with the exclusion of churches who don’t have disclose financial information to anyone including church members.

In 2013, the United States Census Bureau estimated the poverty rate in the United States at 14.5 percent, calculating up to nearly forty-five million people (United States Census, par.1). Noting this problem, the nonprofit, Christian organization, Habitat for Humanity, expanded nationally as well as internationally. The small branches, like East Cooper Habitat for Humanity, or ECHFH, follow and fulfill the organization’s mission: to help create a better community by creating a safe place for everyone to live (Habitat for Humanity). By constructing houses for patrons, ECHFH aims to raise the health of that family along with the community; the housing attempts to increase physical abilities, social abilities, and security for the recipients of aid (Habitat for Humanity). ECHFH not only constructs new housing, but also repairs old houses. Furthermore, ECHFH incorporates their community bonding through social and local events. So rather than focusing only on the building of housing, ECHFH also focuses on the building of community bonding.

Since 1984 Saint Francis has offered basic social services that potentially save the lives of several. As the organization itself says, Saint Francis house’s main mission is to “rebuild lives by providing refuge and pathways to stability for adults experiencing homelessness and poverty” (Saint Francis House 1). They do this by providing several services. Their services include: Food, daytime shelter, clothing, showers and toiletries, and mail & ID services.

Non-profit organizations provide services to those in need, they protect, maintain, and enhance the well-being of their clients, and they meet the needs of the clients by creating policies and programs. A non-profit organization is a tax exempt organization operating for an exclusive purpose,such as religious, charitable literacy, educational or public safety. Organization is dedicated to the promotion of social welfare for charitable, educational, or recreational purposes. Cannot take political positions or be involved in political campaigns, discriminate on the basis of race, nationality, or ethnicity. Excessively engage in activities unrelated to its tax-exempt purposes, pay profits to individuals and/or lobby to influence legislation except