Annually, Abby's House serves hundreds of women each year, providing them with shelter, housing & advocacy. Our short-term objectives are ""to answer the door, one knock at a time"" by serving the women who turn to us in need, helping them address the issues that lead to their housing displacement & providing shelter, housing and/or advocacy as needed. The gap between livable wages and affordable housing is increasing at an alarming rate. A woman who makes $12. 33 per hour, the local mean wage, can only afford a rent of $641 per month and have money remaining for other expenses like food, clothing, medications, insurance, child care and transportation. As a result, hundreds of women need to access low-income housing programs in order to have a safe and affordable place to live, but - the wait for public housing can be as long as 8-10 years and many community's waitlists are even closed because they are so long! The supportive, low-income housing options available at Abby's House bridge some of these gaps. Our focus on intensive case management, or advocacy, is to integrate available community services helping our residents and guests access those they need to survive and thrive, preventing future housing insecurity or homelessness. The number of working homeless is on the rise. In fact, close to 50% of the women in our supportive housing work. At Abby's House, we do not require our guests to be on welfare, which is different than many other providers. As such, we meet the gap that has been increasing between wages, available jobs and skyrocketing housing and heat costs. In addition to the significant barrier of lack of affordable housing, there are many other reasons that precipitate homelessness. Unexpected illness and health care expenses can deplete financial resources. In fact, as much as 62% of all personal bankruptcies are related to healthcare costs. Another contributing factor is that, oftentimes, disability benefits for those who are unable to work do not cover the costs of rental housing alone. One elderly woman who lives with us receives a mere $702 per month. Where else could she live safely and with dignity? Last year, our agency served a total of 446 women and their families. The vast majority of the women we serve are low-income and are either under- or unemployed. Sixty-five percent of the women have experienced domestic violence. Some of them have physical disabilities, while others are struggling with mental health issues -- such as PTSD from the abuse or are struggling to recover from addiction to alcohol and/or other drugs. As in recent years, we continue to see an increase in the following three groups of residents: 1) women age 55 and older who are losing their homes due to reduction in hours or wages, job loss, divorce, and/or foreclosure; 2) young women who have aged out of the foster care system who have no real knowledge of how to live independently, no financial resources and nowhere to go; and 3) working women who can simply no longer afford market-rate rent. Our long-term goals are to end the cycle of poverty and violence and to provide an environment in which these women can rebuild and reclaim their lives. Every past resident and guest is invited to stay involved in Abby's House Women's Center - attending group meals, participating in activities and using our internet-ready computers - and many do! The success of the individualized programming is based upon meeting its objectives: * 100% of women who come to the shelter or low-income housing units participate in an intake interview with our Advocate and develop an Individualized Empowerment Plan. * 98% of families with children will be connected with appropriate day care and/or educational institutions. 85% of guests and residents will make consistent progress on their Empowerment Plan goals * 85% of guests leave the shelter or transitional housing for permanent housing. 100% of guests and residents have membership to our Women's Center, a homelessness prevention program. This drop-in program provides education, health care services, social activities and professional advocacy for current and former guests and residents.

At Abby's House, our focus is to provide homeless, battered and low-income women -- and their children -- with SOMEPLACE. Someplace to sleep, to eat, to bathe; someplace in which to feel safe; to feel heard and supported; someplace to regain their footing on the path to independence. Our unique combination of empowerment, hospitality and advocacy has helped countless women take the next step in their journey. We continue to help women regain their footing on the path to independence -- the vast majority of our women move into permanent housing, either within Abby's House supportive housing programs or in the community, after successfully achieving the goals on their Empowerment Plans. Given their traumatic histories and the nature of the problems that lead to their homelessness, this is truly remarkable. Abby's House was founded in 1976 by a large collaborative of women, committed to supporting other women, who grew a grass-roots response to address the critical issue of homelessness that was emerging as a community need in Worcester. It was this dedicated group of volunteers, led by Annette Rafferty, who did the outreach, the planning and the fund-raising to open our shelter. Today, we are fortunate that this spirit of volunteerism continues - involving more than 200 women each year. Our mission ""is to provide shelter and affordable housing, as well as advocacy and support services, to homeless, battered and low-income women with our without children. "" In fact, we were one of the first shelters in the United States designed specifically to address the needs of women. We provide a warm, welcoming and safe place for women who are homeless. Within our walls and with our support, a woman can recognize her own inner strengths and abilities. We listen with respect and without judgment, and encourage her to be as self-sufficient as possible given her individual needs and circumstances. Each woman living with us is assigned her own Advocate, who helps identify realistic goals and tools she needs to achieve them. We empower women to access the resources they need to succeed, such as higher education, job training, affordable housing and child care. We also provide linkages to critical services for every guest and resident. We continue to help women regain their footing on the path to independence answering the door - one knock at a time.

Over the past 41 years, we have developed a multi-pronged approach to address homelessness: 1. We adopt a holistic approach to sheltering and housing women. By providing each woman with an Advocate to help her identify realistic goals and the steps needed to achieve them, each woman is met where she is. Using an individualized approach allows the Advocate to encourage, mentor and empower each woman to implement these steps on her own so that she builds her self-confidence and develops a new set of skills in the process. This makes for long-lasting change. 2. Through our Speaker's Bureau and rigorous communications and outreach program -- which includes our newsletter, e-news blasts, and Facebook posts -- we educate the community about homelessness, poverty, domestic violence and other issues that impacting the women we serve. In doing so, we help create a larger base of support for the work we are doing. 3. Staff and board members at Abby's House are active in the community, participating in coalitions, public and legislative forums, sitting on panels, etc. , informing and affecting social policy. We have found that treating each woman as an individual allows her to see her situation more clearly, recognize her strengths and challenges as she moves forward, and create a realistic plan for her to regain her independence and self-esteem. We have purposefully avoided government funding, as the money generally comes with 'strings attached' - meaning we would not be able to treat each woman individually, but develop one strategy to use with everyone, regardless of her circumstances. We receive our operating support from a variety of sources including: 48% from individuals, corporations, civic and religious groups and corporations/businesses; 25% from fees; 18% events and earned income (Thrift Shop), and 8% from donated goods and services, and change in beneficial interest. This diversification of sources allows us to be more sustainable as we are not heavily reliant on any one stream of revenue. Our lean budget is due, in part, to the involvement of over 200 volunteers per year, who essentially save the organization an estimated $579,000 in expenses, based on the value of volunteer time according to Independent Sector. While this is beneficial to Abby's House it is also beneficial to the individuals who support the organization through the donation of their time and talents. Their involvement promotes civic responsibility by providing volunteer opportunities for a diverse assemblage of college students and community members who work together to help women regain their footing on the path to independence. Volunteers gain valuable insight into the roots of social problems that cause homelessness, and the role of homeless shelters in creating a safe and healthy urban environment. Developing and maintaining positive working relationships with local professionals and organizations is vital for effective service and advocacy, and to maximize donations through non-duplication of services. Our Advocates are well-versed about the resources in the area and provide referrals and linkages to the services each woman needs to get her life back on track. Primary collaborators include: the Homeless Outreach and Advocacy Program of Community Healthlink (providing housing and health services), Head Start (providing services for children as well as parenting classes), the MA Department of Transitional Assistance, the MA Department of Social Services, the MA Department of Mental Health and other mental health services providers, the Rape Crisis Center, AdCare Hospital (providing drug treatment services), Legal Assistance of Central MA, Daybreak and other emergency shelters.

Members of the Board of Directors, volunteers, and core staff regularly monitor the progress and effectiveness of the program through direct observation and evaluation of the data. The Housing staff meeting with each resident regularly to discuss their status in relation to the goals set out in their service plan. Effective, individualized advocacy strategies are developed in these meetings. The key indicators we will use to develop a baseline for our success are: * The # of women who are provided with shelter or low-income housing * The # of women who move out successfully into independent housing situations * The # of external referrals we make * The # of women who meet the goals as outlined on their Individualized Service Plan We are developing a baseline of agency data in relation to our referral goals and tracking this year and we are in the process of reviewing available client software to formalize and record our Empowerment Plan tracking and evaluation activities to improve workflow. This will be in addition to the demographics and case notes that are currently kept through a combination of technology and hard copy records. We are also working to develop a self-evaluation tool and a client satisfaction tool to help inform our decisions and activities focus going forward.

While we have been very successful in our advocacy work, it has made group programming challenging due to the wide variation in our resident's and guests' time availability. We are in the process of assessing the continued viability of group programming through an evaluation of layered schedules. Our work has been individualized through our commitment to regular ISP review meetings as well as to secure the following services and benefits for the residents and guests of Abby's House so they can take advantage of these offerings at a time they are available. *Membership in the Tower Hill Garden Club Accessible computer and internet access with supporting technical guidance Individualized Financial Literacy Coaching YWCA membership accessing fitness plans