Located on a decommissioned military base, the Village of Hope is a 262-bed transitional housing program for homeless men, women and children. Opened in March 2008, the Village of Hope is unlike any other homeless shelter in the nation. This stunning development is meticulously manicured, tastefully decorated, and boasts more than 150,000 square feet of structures including two restored barracks, set on five acres.

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 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.

Parenting and Child Enrichment Center: The vision for the Village of Hope’s Parenting and Child Enrichment Center is to provide parents with practical, biblical, heart-based parent training and their children with a safe and secure environment for their enrichment and preparation for school. The goal is to develop, empower, encourage, and strengthen biblically focused families. The Rescue Mission’s threefold approach is to provide a safe, nurturing, and stimulating environment for children; perform and teach positive and nurturing parenting/caregiving responsibilities, techniques, and strategies; and facilitate and supervise play and educational activities for children. The Rescue Mission provides this approach pursuant to an onsite program where the parents and guardians of any such children live and volunteer within the Village of Hope. 

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.

Sunwest Bank Success Center: The success center offers residents the tools needed to find and maintain employment through a comprehensive job training workshop which includes career exploration, skill application, managing interviews, applications and resumes, building leadership qualities and succeeding on the job. Residents are supported through one on one consultations, job leads, and networking opportunities through employers and partnerships in the community. In addition, residents receive practical life skills through financial literacy and asset building, credit education, computer training and a comprehensive high school diploma program.

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.

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. 

Hair Salon: 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…”

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
• Pacific Symphony 

Other Village of Hope News

Impact of Economic Crisis on Program Delivery: The Orange County Rescue Mission is very fortunate to have persified 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: 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.