Cottage Housing Inc

Reviewed by the Sacramento Region Community Foundation
Fundraise

0% complete

$30,000 Goal

Cottage Housing Inc. (CHI) is an independent, community-based, non-profit corporation launched in 1994 by a coalition of Sacramento government, business, and church leaders seeking solution-oriented longer-term alternatives to traditional short-term (30-90 day) crisis-oriented homeless intervention programs that often deliver high recidivism rates. CHI provides longer-term residential placement coupled with personal development programs intended to attack the deeper-rooted causes of homelessness - to improve the health of a challenged population and equip our residents with the tools and skills to rebuild their lives.

CHI's approach improves the neighborhood environment and business climate of our community, saves taxpayers money, and helps rebuild our participants' lives. We serve over 400 men, women, and children at two facilities: the first was Quinn Cottages, opened in 1997 in Midtown Sacramento, housing about 75 individuals. Between its opening and 2012, and prior to the mandated imposition of Housing First in 2014, the number of Quinn Cottages residents with significant disabilities doubled while their average length-of-stay was reduced almost by half (from 23 months to 14 months). By serving nearly twice as many people as originally planned, our two-year transitional project lowered its anticipated cost-per-person by half - much less than more expensive institutional options. In 2002, CHI opened Serna Village, the region's first long-term residential support program for homeless parents reuniting with children they have lost to foster care and other out-of-home placement. Serna Village is an 83-unit family complex serving approximately 100 adults and 200 children. All must be referred by homeless services organization and must have a disability.

Giving Activity

Mission

Cottage Housing Inc. offers safe and affordable housing and services to homeless individuals and families, helping equip our residents with the tools and life skills necessary to rebuild their lives, their families, and their place in the community.

Needs

CHI is developing an alternative approach to dealing with the causal effects of homelessness. This program, "Community Within Community" is designed to support residents in their journeys to become physically well, emotionally and fiscally whole, with their sobriety intact. The Community Within Community Program will utilize incentives to celebrate, and motivate, participants who are meeting the goals that they themselves established as part of their journey to self-sufficiency. These incentives may include experiences and gift cards that, while small in monetary value, provide an outsized boost to our participants' self-confidence and personal momentum.

Youth Program

As part of our healing, community-focused approach CHI is proud to have SkyLab - a safe place where children at our Serna Village location can come learn about themselves (as leaders and mentors), and the wonders of science, art, engineering, and math in the world around them. The mission of SkyLab is to help kids at CHI truly appreciate that "the sky's the limit!" Sky Lab offers several programs to engage and enrich the lives of our youth and child residents, including Homework Club, Fab Lab (STEAM) and Eureka! (STEM), Zumba, Cheer, Reading Club, a mentoring program, and experiential field trips.

In addition to unrestricted funding, CHI would love to have an experienced Zumba volunteer to come "take it up a notch" and lead our kids through Zumba's heart-healthy dance moves.

We create healing communities that are solution-focused, participant-driven, and strength-based, where homeless people help themselves - and each other-to transition from the streets to self-sustainability. When you sponsor a cottage for a year, you are supporting that resident and their family on their path to self-sufficiency.

Welcome Baskets

With more than 400 residents escaping homelessness, including nearly 300 children, we have a great need for household items, clothing, personal care products, and other items essential to daily life in a safe and comfortable environment. These items are assembled into welcome baskets for new residents to make them feel welcome.

Organization Data

Summary

Organization name

Cottage Housing Inc

other names

CHI, Quinn Cottages, Serna Village

Year Established

1994

Tax id (EIN)

68-0322086

Mission Category

Human Services

Operating Budget

$500,001-$1 million

Organization Need

Funding: Unrestricted, Funding: Program

Demographics Served

Individuals with disabilities, Low-income individuals/families, Homeless/Underhoused/Unhoused

Local Counties Served

Sacramento

Address

Quinn Cottages 1500 North A Street
Sacramento, CA 95811

Other

5836 Dudley Blvd. McClellan Park
Sacramento, CA 95652

Service areas

Sacramento, CA, US

Phone

916-492-9065

Email

kmartin@cottagehousing.org

Website

http://www.cottagehousing.org

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