November 2021 Nonprofit Spotlight: Homeward Bound

As the Firefly team started to plan our community giving back and volunteer efforts for 2022, Homeward Bound stood out as an organization that we feel passionate about supporting. Homeward Bound's mission is preventing and ending homelessness in our community through permanent housing and support. 

Homeward Bound has been using the Housing First model since 2006. Housing First is a homeless assistance approach that prioritizes providing permanent housing to people experiencing homelessness. This approach is guided by the belief that people need basic necessities like food and a place to live before attending to anything less critical, such as getting a job, budgeting properly, or attending to substance use issues.  Since 2006, Homeward Bound has housed more than 2,200 people with an 89% retention rate. They attribute their success to the supportive services they offer that accompany the housing and having a trained, compassionate and nonjudgmental staff who care about the people they serve. 

Homeward Bound partners with landlords and property managers to provide the housing inventory to individuals and families moving out of homelessness. They are also under contract to purchase a former Days Inn property to implement the Home is Key initiative, providing a permanent housing solution for 85 of our community's most vulnerable homeless neighbors. The organization has been operating a smaller-scale permanent supportive housing residence for the last 4 years, with a 90% success rate. 

The Firefly Team will be touring the Home is Key/Days Inn property in January and we'll meet with the staff then to learn how our resources can best be used toward Homeward Bound's mission. If you are interested in learning about how you can help through giving, volunteering or donating items, visit their website.