When you give $25 a month to benefit those less fortunate, it can feel like that monthly transfer goes into a black void. But with your gift to Hope for San Diego, you can point to the hundreds of hurting San Diegans that you’ve helped over the past year. Your generous donations led to $340,000 awarded in grants to our 10 affiliate non-profits this spring. This funding bolstered our established relationships with trusted partners that are committed not just to short-term relief, but to the long-term flourishing of the most vulnerable in our city.
Whether you gave $25 a month or $2,500 a year, together, all your gifts combined for a total of more than $1 million in grants to our affiliates since 2016. Here’s what your donations add up to this year:
Alabaster Jar Project
Funding operational costs of the AJP Resource Center in Escondido, to restore and empower the lives of survivors of human trafficking and sexual exploitation. The resource center was able to assist an unprecedented 238 new client interactions in the past year. The center serves drop-in clients with case management and tangible needs (food, clothing), computer access, connection to medical and mental health services, and hosts small group support meetings and bible studies.
A Step Beyond
Funding for the holistic dance and academic program of A Step Beyond that serves students over a nine- to ten-year period, with the goal of breaking the cycle of poverty. Children and youth who grow up in low-income households tend to experience learning deficits – falling behind more affluent peers – early in their school careers. ASB’s model allows staff to develop strong relationships with each participant, provide individualized attention, assist the family when it is in a time of crisis, and help identify and build on each participant’s strengths and interests.
Casa de Amistad
Funding for Casa de Amistad’s Study Companions Program, which provides academic tutoring/mentoring for 240 underserved students in North County to help them improve their success in school and become academically competitive with their mainstream peers. The program provides students with access to one-on-one tutoring, mentoring, STEAM activities, educational enrichment, technology access, college and career readiness support, and academic scholarships.
Generate Hope
Funding for a safe place for survivors of sex trafficking to heal and find restoration in long-term housing and trauma-informed therapy, education, and vocational support. Funds will support Generate Hope’s continuum of care for female survivors of sex trafficking, providing a long-term, comprehensive solution in San Diego County that includes safe housing, onsite education and advanced vocational preparation, onsite therapy, independent living, and life skills training, with a goal of a successful launch to independent living.
“Thank you so much for your continued support! We couldn’t be more grateful to partner with you to see God change the lives of those experiencing homelessness. It’s time to get more people off the streets permanently, and with your help, it’s happening!” — Michelle LeBeau, San Diego Rescue Mission
Restoration 225
Funding to help Restoration 225 rally, restore, and recruit helpers from the Christian church to step into the story of God’s work throughout San Diego County. It supports the foster care community by wrapping support around families that are caring for children from hard places. Grant funding will increase the total number of churches serving as well as the number of families supported.
Safe Families
Funding to support church outreach for hosting vulnerable children and creating extended family–like supports for desperate families through a community of devoted volunteers who are motivated by compassion to keep children safe and families intact. The support will help provide 200 hostings for children whose family is experiencing crises, addressing the elevated needs of at-risk children living in San Diego, needs that have increased due to the pandemic.
San Diego Refuge Tutoring
Funding for the operational costs of San Diego Refugee Tutoring, which provides one-to-one tutoring and holistic academic support to refugees at Ibarra Elementary School in City Heights. Hope for San Diego’s support will help the organization build sustainable staffing and infrastructure to continue serving refugee families.
San Diego Rescue Mission
Funding to support San Diego Rescue Mission’s vision of seeing God transform the lives of those experiencing homelessness, impacting San Diego one life at a time. Hope for San Diego will supply essential needs for the launch of the new Oceanside Navigation Center, the City of Oceanside’s first overnight shelter for men, women and families. This Center is one piece of the larger system San Diego Rescue Mission is building to create a transformational path out of homelessness.
Solutions for Change
Funding to support life transformation by permanently solving family homelessness among primarily single mothers who have been impacted by domestic violence, trauma, substance abuse, mental illness, housing instability, generational poverty, under-education, under-employment, low self-esteem, abuse, codependency, and a history of criminal activity. SFC creates access to the right set of opportunities and then equips families with the skills, knowledge, and resources needed to permanently solve their homelessness.
World Relief
Funding to build a network of churches in San Diego County to mobilize churches in the county to welcome and walk alongside refugees and other immigrants. World Relief strategically partners with other resettlement agencies and refugee ministries and churches in order to develop a more coherent and effective collaboration and training of volunteers. Hope for San Diego’s funding will continue this important work, especially in light of the thousands of Afghan and Ukrainian refugees resettling in Southern California, specifically in San Diego County.