Open for Business

The Village of Hope, a 192-bed transitional housing program for homeless men, women and children, opened in March 2008 with the arrival of 30 men from the Rescue Mission’s shelter in Santa Ana. The Children’s Dream Center, a 6,000 square foot center located on the Village campus, was completed three months later in July and the Rescue Mission began admitting single homeless women with children and intact families.

As of May 26, 2009, the Village of Hope is at 90% capacity, with a total of 169 homeless individuals consisting of homeless single men, single women, single women with children, single men with children, and two parent families. The largest homeless sub-population on the Village of Hope campus is single women with children.

Village of Hope Services

The following services are provided on the Village of Hope campus:

  • Spiritual and Personal Development: The Village of Hope’s 288 seat chapel and auditorium offers opportunities for residents to grow spiritually and socially through media, concerts, workshops, worship, and wholesome entertainment. Several workshops for women have been offered since opening and the community has used the auditorium for events and meetings, including a children’s ballet production.
  • Case Management and Counseling Services: Case managers assess needs, define services, monitor treatment plans and outcomes, and provide a nurturing, relational context for guidance and assistance. A licensed therapist provides individual and family counseling. The Village of Hope is an internship site for Pepperdine University students in counseling.
  • Medical and Dental Care: The Hurtt Family Health Clinic at the Village of is one of 18 community based health care clinics in Orange County, providing health care services to the medically underserved. The 6,000 square-foot health facility offers primary and preventative care services to Village of Hope residents and to poor and homeless in the county. Hurtt Family Health Clinic recently received designation as a Federally Qualified Health Center which allows for the receipt of federal reinvestment funds for the expansion of health care services for poverty and homeless populations. Clinic usage has increased 106% over the last eight month period.
  • Workforce Development and Computer Training Center: The Village of Hope Workforce Development Center is still under construction but will offer an array of services to assist the homeless in achieving their educational and vocational goals.
  • Food Service and Dining: Developed by the Cheesecake Factory, the Village of Hope food service program provides three meals daily and two snacks for the children’s program. The food services program also delivered approximately 450 meals daily to the Santa Ana winter Armory, which provides emergency shelter to the homeless from November to the end of April.
  • Child Development Center: The 6,000 square foot Child Development Center offers age appropriate activities through the day for pre-school children and an on-site after school tutoring program for school age children which is taught by Concordia volunteers.
  • Transportation Services: Residents are assisted with transportation vouchers or van service as needed to access community based services.
  • Recreation: The Village of Hope contains two basketball courts, children’s playground area, and a large community garden. The community garden has produced one crop for the kitchen last fall, and a spring planting should yield plenty of fresh produce (tomatoes, lettuce, zucchini, and peppers) for the kitchen during the summer. Several of the raised beds have been designated for the children who also have planted their own vegetable garden.

Village of Hope Partnerships

Since opening, the Village of Hope has established several strong partnerships with foundations, academic institutions, non-profit organizations and the business community which has strengthened our core programming. These partnerships include the following:

  • Community Care Health Centers
  • Healthy Smiles
  • Pepperdine University
  • UCI Outreach Dept
  • UCI Psychiatry Dept
  • Children & Families Commission of Orange County
  • Concordia University
  • Kaiser Permanente
  • ATEP (Advanced Technology and Education Park)
  • Child Guidance Center
  • Perinatal services
  • Pediatric dental services
  • Mental health services
  • Saturday free health clinic services
  • Psychiatric med oversight
  • Pediatric primary care funding and consulting
  • Afterschool Tutoring Program
  • Mobile clinic operation
  • Community College
  • Parent-Child Interactive Therapy

Other Village of Hope News

Impact of Economic Crisis on Program Delivery

The Orange County Rescue Mission is very fortunate to have diversified funding streams and many loyal donors. However, as the local economy continues to struggle with job and housing losses and the continuing rise in unemployment, we see the effect in both a rising demand for assistance with the basic necessities of life (food, shelter and clothing) and a corresponding decrease in charitable giving. Over a seven month period, the number of calls for information on the Village of Hope program increased 300% while core funding declined 24%. In order to insure the vitality of all of its programs during this economic downturn, the Rescue Mission has frozen staff salaries, eliminated two staff positions and is being fiscally conservative at all levels of the organization.

Urban Land Institute Award

In April, the Village of Hope was named one of twenty-five national outstanding developments from the Urban Land Institute's (ULI) Awards for Excellence. The competition is widely recognized as the land use industry’s most prestigious recognition program. ULI’s Awards for Excellence recognizes the full development process of a project, not just its architecture or design. The criteria for the awards include leadership, contribution to the community, innovations, public/private partnership, environmental protection and enhancement, response to societal needs, and financial viability.

Hair Salon Now Open at the Village of Hope

Tim Telles, owner of Tribeca Salon in Aliso Viejo CA., has been heading up a volunteer effort to help the women and men of the Village of Hope look and feel better. For the last eight months he has helped to organize volunteers to give hair cuts, hair color and new hair styles. His desire is to have the salon open three days a week and is actively recruiting other stylists to volunteer. He states: “They are so thankful for the services we provide. Some have not had a cut or color in a long time. I had a client who lost everything to alcohol and a young girl with a baby who had no support. These people could be your next door neighbor…”