Willis Dady Brochure

WILLIS DADY EMERGENCY SHELTER

SOURCES OF SUPPORT Financial

The 2014 annual budget for Willis Dady Emergency Shelter was $614,741. Sources of financial support in 2014 are listed in the table that follows. Percentage of income is shown in the pie chart.

Sources of Income • Contracted Services: Operation Home, St. Luke’s, and Mercy Medical (32%) • Contributions: Individuals, Businesses, and Faith Based (26%) • United Way of Eastern Iowa (20%) • Foundations & Grants (10%) • Fundraising: 5k, benefit concert, etc. (4%)

Foundations & Grants

United Way of East Central Iowa

20%

ising

11%

skill level from helping answer phones, doing yardwork, organizing the donations area, running errands, and providing overnight coverage, to updating our website. To volunteer, please visit willisdady.org/volunteer.

Donate: Support the shelter with a financial donation.

• One night of shelter costs $27 • Donate to Willis Dady Emergency Friends Fund at the Greater Cedar Rapids Community Foundation: 324 3rd St SE, Cedar Rapids, IA 52401. Call GCRCF to discuss Endow Iowa Tax Credit: (319) 366-2862

• Provide a Sunday Meal – Call the shelter to sign up for a Sunday to deliver a meal for 30 clients.

Fundra

7%

Volunteer: We can use volunteers at every

• Donate items —Call the shelter for a current list of items needed.

4% Other

HOW TO HELP

32% Contracted Services

• Participate in our events — See our website for upcoming events.

Willis Dady is a 501 (c) 3 nonprofit organization.

Contributions are tax deductible.

26% Contributions: Individuals, Businesses, and Faith Based

Willis Dady Emergency Shelter 1247 Fourth Avenue SE | Cedar Rapids, IA 52403 Phone: 319.362.7555 | willisdady.org

Our Mission: Willis Dady provides shelter and prevention services to the homeless and near homeless.

Our Vision: We empower our clients to break the cycle of homelessness and become self-sufficient.

Our Values: Empowerment, Respect, Accountability, Compassion, Integrity, Acceptance, Education.

Emergency • Shelter for 16 men and 4 families for up to 30 days • Transportation assistance, food, hygiene supplies, and a safe, supportive environment

WHO WE ARE

Willis Dady Emergency Shelter, a non-profit homelessness prevention and shelter program, was founded in 1987 as a senior project by Mount Mercy University student Jim Welborn.

Welborn had experienced homelessness for 25 years prior to college and created Willis Dady as a men’s day program to help those with similar experiences. The day program later became a shelter and moved from its original location to its present location in 1992.

Willis Dady added case management for clients in 2007 and prevention and veteran services in 2013. Willis Dady has sheltered over 12,000 people since opening in 1987. From 2011-2013 Willis Dady provided the most nights of shelter in Linn County and in 2014 provided the most nights of shelter to single men and second most nights overall (9,584). Willis Dady remains the only shelter in Linn County to house single men with children.

HOW WE HELP

Our goal is to help as many struggling people as possible to avoid needing shelter altogether, and for those who do enter shelter to get them into permanent housing as quickly as possible. To this end, Willis Dady consists of three distinct programs: shelter with case management, homelessness prevention services, and veteran aid.

Case Management • Ongoing one-on-one sessions to identify clients’ strengths and needs in order to empower clients to obtain and maintain permanent housing • Resource referrals to local services (e.g. jobs, housing, health care, etc.) via community partnerships fostered by case manager • Encouragement, accountability, and recognizing progress toward goals

Homelessness Prevention • Support for households at immediate risk of losing their housing • Resource referrals to local services (e.g. energy bill assistance, jobs, etc.) to help prevent losing housing • Outreach at several locations around Linn County

Veteran Aid • Operation Home program through HACAP, funded by the Supportive Services for Veteran Families (SSVF) grant from • Outreach to locate and enroll homeless veterans • Case management to place veterans in

CLIENTS

Clients who stayed at Willis Dady in 2014

• 336 clients received shelter the average stay was 29 days • 275 adults (216 single men & 59 adults in families) • 61 children • 82% cited inadequate income as their primary or secondary cause of homelessness

Demographics

• 16% of adults were Veterans • 42% of adults had some form of disability (24% mental illness & 12% physical disability) • 63% were Caucasian • 30% were Black or African American • 7% were other races or mixed races • The average age of adults was 36 years

Outcomes

Analysis of our clients leaving the shelter in 2014 showed that:

• 63% exited the shelter to permanent or transitional housing • 76% exited the program with some form of income/financial support • 43% exited the program with employment Six months after leaving the shelter we located 57 households (individuals or families) and found:

• 96% were still housed • 70% heads of households were employed