Hope House
Our Mission
Hope House of McAlester is a private, faith-based supportive shelter program that assists women and their children in breaking the cycle of homelessness. In addition to providing safe shelter, Hope House also provides a sense of stability, recovery support, job search assistance, transportation assistance, life-skills training, specialized classes, family reunification, and many more resources that empower women and their children for long-term, life-changing success!
Rescuing women from homelessness…
According to a nationwide survey, more than 216,000 women are homeless on any given night in the United States.
85% of homeless families are headed by single women with children under 18. These women are often solely responsible for supporting the family financially as well as caring for the children. Without adequate access to transportation, affordable childcare, and a proper support system, the barriers a woman faces in maintaining employment and establishing a stable home become insurmountable and can lead to an endless cycle of homelessness. For children in these families, homelessness and the associated disruptions can have profound impacts on their life trajectories.
Studies indicate that children who do not have a consistent place to call home:
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Are sick at twice the rate of other children
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Go hungry twice as often as sheltered children
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Experience twice the rate of learning disabilities and are twice as likely to repeat a grade
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Have three times the rate of emotional and behavioral problems of non-homeless children
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Are substantially more likely to be separated or removed from their custodial parents, which is a predictor of future homelessness in adults
Building Hope
The programs at Hope House are designed to assist women and their children in healing and reclaiming their lives, building a foundation for a safe, secure, and better way of life, and truly breaking the cycle of homelessness. Because we believe in a long-term approach to ending homelessness, the length of stay of our residents is very individualized. The average stay for a resident at Hope House is 4 – 6 months.
During a stay at Hope House, each woman and child is given safe shelter, staff and peer support, and a family focused environment. Each woman receives assistance in finding employment and/or establishing her children in school or childcare and is guided through the processes of securing permanent housing and transportation. Hope House staff members serve as advocates to ensure every family receives social services and benefits essential to their new start to happy and healthy lives. Hope House provides dependable transportation to school, work, interviews, and appointments vital to establishing a new way of life.
Growing stability…
Hope House recently partnered with two other local organizations, Shared Blessings and Rebuilding Together Kiamichi Country, to establish transitional housing opportunities for some of the women who successfully complete the Hope House program and are able to pay a reduced rent. In November of 2019, the first transitional housing residents moved into a rental home of their own. They will continue to pay a reduced rent for 12-18 months, enabling them to save for a more permanent future and end the cycle of homelessness for themselves and their children.
Hope House of McAlester is committed to ending child and family homelessness in our community, one family at a time!