The mission of JOURNEYS | The Road Home is to individually assess and serve the homeless and near homeless while broadening community awareness and involvement with the homeless.

JOURNEYS | The Road Home is a nationally recognized agency for leading its local communities in providing effective, comprehensive services to unhoused and at-risk of homelessness residents.

Source: Nonprofit submitted responses

Goal One: The goal of our PADS Shelter Program is to provide immediate overnight shelter for individuals.

Goal Type: This goal reflects our commitment to further our advocacy work for our organization and or cause area.

Goal Two: The goal of the HOPE Day Center is to coordinate supplemental, supportive social services for clients to assist them on their paths to housing stability.

Goal Type: This goal reflects our commitment to further our advocacy work for our organization and or cause area.

Goal Three: The goal of the Pathway Housing Readiness Program is to provide a steppingstone to long-term housing stability for clients.

Goal Type: This goal reflects our commitment to further our advocacy work for our organization and or cause area.

Describe an investment in leadership

Leadership development is encouraged as soon as one joins the agency. Staff can attend informational and educational webinars in order to further their knowledge of their role so they can become better leaders at JOURNEYS. Additionally, the agency holds monthly meetings for all staff to come together and talk of how they are performing that month. This is where staff have the ability to voice their thoughts and listen to any announcements the agency has for the coming month, offering the opportunity for staff to learn new tactics and strategies. JOURNEYS also awards great leaders with raises and/or new positions in the agency after seeing them succeed in their roles. Overall, JOURNEYS invests in leadership development through conversation, education, and motivation.

This organization mobilizes for mission in the following ways:

• Strategic Partnerships

• Networks of Collective Impact Efforts

• Thought Leadership

• Raising Awareness

• Community Building

What are this organization’s external mobilizaton efforts?

JOURNEYS partners with the Alliance to End Homelessness in Suburban Cook County, and we are a member of the Association of Homeless Advocates for the North/Northwest District of Cook County. Free onsite medical and prescription services for our clients are provided through a partnership with the Heartland Health Outreach. Additionally, our agency continues to form and maintain meaningful partnerships with local groups and individuals that regularly provide food donations and volunteer hours to support the HOPE Center. JOURNEYS has created a diverse funding stream. This includes: individual donors, local governments, county governments, corporate foundations, corporate match programs, service clubs, faith communities, private foundations, and fundraising events. The state and federal governments also provide funding and support. The agency employs grant writers to seek out and apply for a variety of funding opportunities.

With the pandemic still in full force, JOURNEYS has remained flexible and adamant on providing the accessibility needed for all clients to receive its services. At the beginning of the pandemic, JOURNEYS was forced to adapt its shelter and supportive services in order to protect clients, staff, and volunteers from contracting the virus. This involved shutting down the PADS sites, creating appointment-only and mobile services at the HOPE Center, and placing clients in local hotels. JOURNEYS was the first agency in its region to use hotels as a source of shelter, and the agency has continued providing supportive services to these clients at the HOPE Center. Currently, a handful of PADS sites are opening up again, and to support these shelter sites, the Hotel Shelter Program will continue to shelter clients until deemed unnecessary. The Mobile Meal Program is also still in effect, transporting donated meals to the clients housed in the hotels. These two programs were formed because of the pandemic, and they continue to spread hope and comfort to those who are unhoused or at-risk of homelessness. Overall, last year gave JOURNEYS The Road Home an opportunity to grow, and while the world is constantly changing in these uncertain times, the agency will continue to adapt for its clients.