Solutions for Change

Solutions for Change was founded in 1999 to transform lives and communities by permanently solving family homelessness. Our approach is unique, providing a complete and sustainable solution driven by accountability. There are many solutions at Solutions for Change. Taken together, they are the pillars supporting a productive environment in which we build the futures of homeless families. Our solutions consist of Solutions Academy, Solutions Enterprise, and Solutions in the Community. Every day, they combine to create successful, sustainable solutions for families and the San Diego communities in which they live.

The Solutions for Change Vision and Ten Year Target: 10,000 Overcomers have been made, deployed and

Goal One: Save 550 parents and their children from The Churn (177 families). Provide evidenced-based proof that 74% complete Solutions Academy and are transformed into Overcomers!

Goal Two: Pivot the main-campus expansion project from a government funded project into a privately funded specialized vocational empowerment academy.

Goal Three: Despite the obstacles of COVID, it's full speed ahead! Launch Phase 2 of the #WeAreOneUs national demonstration project. Through the Overcomers, inspire a National Overcomers Network be created.

Solutions for Change has implemented the model of Servant Leadership throughout the organization. All employees are provided an initial 40 hours of training over their first few months and are given additional training and coaching in service to helping each employee reach their full leadership potential.

With the unpredictability of the pandemic barreling into the over 600 once homeless parents and their children's enrolled in our programs spread across several cities, we built and implemented an emergency response strategy unparalleled in our two decades of service. Within a week, working day and night, our leadership team crafted a plan that completely changed our operating model. Recognizing that being in a lock down state would affect many of our already vulnerable parents and children, we activated an initiative called the "Safe Huddle Zone." We reached out into our graduate alumni network of moms and dads who had gone through our life transforming programs years earlier and offered them an opportunity to rally around our currently enrolled families and come work for and with us. We had an overwhelming positive response from our alumni. Calling them Empowerment Coaches, our now full time employed grads consistently connected and engaged with our families keeping them informed, supplied with necessities and comforted through emotional, physical and spiritual health and wellness check-ins. This single decision of purposefully engaging those who benefited from our programs years earlier and asking them to come back and serve for the sake of others in the same programs that transformed their lives, manifested itself into a miracle-like intervention. Through an online 360 degree feedback system we maintained scores over 90% from both our clients and employees in multiple critical scoring areas. We included our external community stakeholders in our decisions and through a series of special remote-led communications kept them informed and engaged. By putting our people first, we all pulled together and came out of a global pandemic with no layoffs and losing less than 5% of our enrolled families.