Project Hope Alliance

Project Hope Alliance's mission is to end the cycle of homelessness, one child at a time. We deploy a long-term model of care for kids and youth experiencing homelessness. We have full-time case managers who work alongside kids and youth to eliminate barriers brought on by homelessness that could impede their ability to learn and succeed in school. Our team builds trusting relationships with students and offers individualized support in the form of transportation, technology, basic needs, and social-emotional mentorship from Kindergarten to age 24.

Project Hope Alliance was formed in 1989, as Project HOPE (Homeless Outreach Program in Education) to provide after-school tutoring for children facing homelessness and a lack of transportation. In 2013, an established trial lawyer and partner in her firm, Jennifer Friend, accepted the position of Chief Executive Officer of PHA. Under her leadership, PHA expanded its reach from serving 65 children at one school annually to serving over 400 children annually. Our methodology utilizes a place-based model, providing a range of services directly on school campuses in order to meet the children where they are and permanently disrupt the cycle of homelessness.

Santa Ana Holiday Outreach: In a joint collaboration between PHA, Second Harvest Food Bank, Bracken’s Kitchen, and Goodwill Industries, we provided meals and gifts for Santa Ana students and families at Thanksgiving and Christmas of 2020. We served over 2,000 people through the two events.

School Partnerships: One of our most significant accomplishments has been the hugely successful partnerships we’ve established with local school districts that have high percentages of youth experiencing homelessness. In addition to the Newport-Mesa Unified School District, we’re also serving Santa Ana Unified School District,
courtesy of an invitation at the end of 2020. We have also been invited to serve the Garden Grove School District.

Schools Currently Served: We currently have in-place case managers stationed at five campuses in Newport Mesa who are providing wraparound services for the students, ranging from mentoring and tutoring to basic needs provision. We also have case managers serving 43 schools across the county.

COVID Rapid Response: The crisis of youth homelessness has only been augmented by the COVID-19 pandemic, amplifying an already desperate situation for the youth and families we serve. Due to the school closures, and without access to transportation, students were not able to access the resources provided by traditional homeless services agencies. In 2020, PHA served motels in Santa Ana, Tustin, Anaheim, and Garden Grove with resources to support parents and children struggling to bridge the “digital divide” brought about by distance learning. Partners included St. Andrews and Mariners churches (food and volunteers), IKEA (food), Ecology Center (farm-fresh produce), Bracken’s Kitchen (pre-prepared meals), Edwards Lifesciences (Chromebooks), and Mercury Insurance (Chromebooks). We served 240 unduplicated families and 427 unduplicated children and provided 130 Chromebooks, 114 hotspots, 2,335 bags of groceries, 984 boxes of produce, and 124 pressure cookers.

Graduation Rate: This past June, PHA saw a remarkable 95% high school graduation rate among our senior high students (compared to 64% in CA among those experiencing homelessness pre-COVID).

Success Story: During one of our motel outreaches at a motel in Santa Ana, one of our team members was chatting with a girl and her mom who were waiting for a distribution of fresh produce and a bag of groceries being handed out by our staff and our volunteers. Our staffer asked the girl how she was doing in school and she replied that she was barely passing, as she had to do all of her homework on her phone, due to not having a laptop. The student was at a crucial juncture, as she had not been able to write any of the essays in her English
class, and the instructor was gracious and gave her the summer to catch up on her writing projects. Acquiring the laptop was crucial to her being able to avoid flunking the semester. The staffer communicated the story to our case management team and they collected the girl and her mom’s information and promised to return with some tools to help her with her homework. On the return date, they brought a laptop and a Wifi hotspot, which allowed her to complete her essays over the summer and pass all of her classes with a B grade average. Our team continued to check in with her on a biweekly basis to make sure she had the support she needed, as well as a stock of basic needs supplies like fresh food, hygiene items and school supplies. PHA not only filled a crucial gap for this girl, but continued to monitor her progress, helping remove obstacles to learning through the remainder of the year.

The Orange County Dept. of Education (2015-16 Year) has reported that there are more than 28,000 homeless school-aged children – 5.8% of total school enrollment in the county. Nationally, high school graduation rates are less than 25% for children experiencing homelessness, and not graduating from high school makes a youth 346% more likely to be homeless. Despite its aggregate wealth, Orange County is an under-resourced community as far as its most vulnerable residents are concerned. When looking at homeless school-aged children as a percentage of total school enrollments, Orange County (5.8%) exceeds the state average (4.3%), as well as its southern California neighbors, San Diego County (4.4%) and even Los Angeles County (4.0%).

Orange County, California

“The effects of youth homelessness are devastating, ranging from chronic emotional stress and physical malnourishment to significant academic gaps and difficulty making friends. In comparison with their peers, children experiencing homelessness are nine times more likely to repeat a grade, four times more likely to dropout of school, and three times more likely to be placed in special education programs, according to The Institute for Children, Poverty and Homelessness. But there is hope. At Project Hope Alliance we start with the kids. Our goal is to make sure that every child experiencing homelessness in Orange County succeeds academically. Our impactful, two-generational approach ends homelessness today by rapidly rehousing the families we serve and helping them achieve financial independence. We end the cycle of generational homelessness tomorrow by empowering our kids with a unique academic program lovingly tailored to their skills and strengths.” -Jennifer Friend, CEO Project Hope Alliance