ON THE FRONTLINES

Interfaith Community Services has always been a safe haven for those in need in our community. When 2020 began we had just completed our 18-month campaign to end and prevent homelessness for 2,019 people. Understanding homelessness to be the result of systemic poverty, we had planned for a 2020 that would focus on lifting as many families as possible out of poverty using our “Helping People Help Themselves” model. Then COVID-19 changed everything.

Our low-income neighbors and communities of color have been overwhelmingly and disproportionately harmed by this pandemic. Since March 2020, more people in crisis have turned to Interfaith for help than we have ever seen in any similar time period. With most of our thousands of volunteers and many of our professional staff sheltering in place due to age or health conditions, we faced one of the most challenging periods in the history of our organization. Thankfully, Interfaith Community Services is not your standard social services organization.

We are a membership organization with hundreds of diverse faith communities, thousands of supporting local families, and deep community partnerships. Their support, your support, allowed us to help our neighbors in their greatest time of need.

As you will see in this report, Interfaith Community Services did not close, did not miss a beat, and in fact grew and evolved amidst the pandemic to even better connect community support to neighbors in need.

When our country rose up against racial injustice, Interfaith stood proudly with Black, Indigenous, and People of Color. Internally, we launched a Racial Justice Working Group. Through the leadership of our Vice Chair, Dr. Kadri J. Webb, we launched a Multi-City Racial Reconciliation Coalition. Racial injustices are at the heart of the deficits we work daily to address around poverty, housing, health, employment, and education. In order to fulfill our mission of bringing diverse people together to address these challenges, we must also create positive systemic change, and not just address the impacts of racism, but be actively and positively anti-racist in all ways.

Thanks to the outpouring of support, love "and partnership from our community" we have been able to help thousands of neighbors with food, shelter, housing, employment, counseling, treatment, healing, and overall support. Thanks to the commitment of our member faith communities and supporting individuals "we will do even more together", in the years ahead. Thank you for joining us on the frontlines: yesterday, today and tomorrow.

TIMELY INTERVENTIONS TO PREVENT INDIVIDUALS AND FAMILIES FROM BECOMING HOMELESS IS EVIDENT BY THE FOLLOWING DATA:

Housing 2019

Poverty, homelessness, and a lack of affordable housing are among the most challenging causes for Interfaith Community Services. For individuals and families experiencing homelessness or at-risk of becoming homeless, stable housing is critical for long-term success, yet at times, seemingly impossible to achieve. Interfaith has shown the effectiveness of prioritizing secure, long-term housing and appropriate services to end homelessness. Just as importantly, timely interventions to prevent individuals and families from becoming homeless is evident by the following data:

New Campus for Healing and Transformation

In 2019, the San Diego County Board of Supervisors unanimously approved a $6,000,000 capital grant to Interfaith to expand Recuperative Care for veterans and civilians discharging from local hospitals. Interfaith is leveraging this public investment with additional private donations and community support to purchase and transform a blighted motel into a place of healing and transformation. When complete in 2021, this new campus will provide 54 beds of Recuperative Care and an additional 60 beds of Interim Graduate Care for persons overcoming homelessness. One-time donations are needed to support this project, and naming opportunities are available in recognition of community supporters.

Using Research to Further Our Mission

This year, Interfaith began a robust research project in partnership with collaborative providers to more fully demonstrate short and long-term impacts of our housing interventions. This project is only made possible by the launch of a new agency-wide database within Interfaith, dramatically upgrading our ability to track performance across all of our programs, and allowing us to better connect the over 20,000 people we serve annually to available programs and services.

Interfaith Expands to Mission Valley

In 2019, Interfaith partnered with Affirmed Housing, a local affordable housing developer, on a new project to provide permanent supportive housing for individuals previously experiencing homelessness. Interfaith is now providing on-site supportive services and case management for the 61 individuals residing at Stella apartments, located in Grantville, near Mission Valley in San Diego.

It is times like these that show us the true compassion of our community. From the beginning of our COVID-19 response efforts until today, the remarkable outpouring of support from the community is the reason Interfaith continues to be there for our neighbors in need.

At the beginning of the crisis, Interfaith launched an Emergency Fund to lift up our neighbors in need and address the unique challenges the pandemic created for those we serve.

The community immediately responded with incredible support! This enabled Interfaith to continue to operate existing programs, while also taking on the added costs and increase in people needing help as a result of the crisis.

Thank you to our generous donors, volunteers, faith communities and partners; it is because of you that we have been able to remain open to meet the needs of so many people in our shared community.

Volunteer Spotlight

For over forty years, volunteers at Interfaith have been essential in expanding services, goodwill, and hope to people in our community. That has never been more significant than in 2020. The COVID-19 pandemic created an unforeseen absence of hundreds of familiar volunteer faces at Interfaith. But, it could not deter altruism!

With the crisis came an outpouring of helpers willing to wear a mask, stay six-feet apart, and do the work. They would ensure our neighbors, many never expecting their lives to be so cruelly disrupted, have food for their families along with essential items to stay safe, healthy, and strong.

The emergency volunteer team created an environment of collaboration and innovation, reminding us that together we confront and conquer unimaginable challenges and create a resounding force. Within the first few days, volunteers filled hundreds of emergency food pantry requests. In a matter of weeks, they repackaged thousands of essential products to reach as many people living without access to basic needs. For months they distributed tens of thousands of meals to alleviate unmeasurable hunger. Hope is tangible at Interfaith. It is apparent in each person, in our every day or amidst catastrophe, who rises up to help.

Want to get involved as a volunteer? Email: getinvolved@interfaithservices.org

Faith Communities Set a Food Drive Record When Needed Most

Interfaith saw the number of people seeking food assistance nearly quadruple in the first months of COVID-19. In just five days, our emergency food pantry served 1,258 adults and 770 children. Thankfully, we also saw an increase in food donations, including the biggest one-day food drive in Interfaith history – North Coast Church collected a record-breaking 100,000 lbs

Additionally, Emmanuel Faith Community Church collected 20,000 lbs. in their annual drive; Church of Rancho Bernardo continues their weekly food and sack lunch donations totaling 11,000 lbs.+ and more than 5,000 sack lunches; and our friends at Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints in Poway have donated 3,900+ sack lunches. This is only a short list of the incredible support we received from our local faith community during this unprecedented time.

Launch of “On the Frontlines” Webinars!

Interfaith implemented a series of webinars during the early months of the crisis to demonstrate an in-depth look at services offered in response to the COVID-19 emergency and to offer the community an opportunity to meet people serving on the frontlines. Each webinar, hosted by CEO Greg Anglea and various frontline staff, features a virtual tour of our locations, highlights different programs and services and shares specific ways we help those in need.

On July 23rd, 2014, Kimberly arrived to Louisiana to celebrate her daughter’s birthday. When a group of police officers came to arrest Kimberly, it was to everyone’s surprise to learn that her arrest was prompted by allegations of a murder case from a decade prior.

Kimberly asked herself how it was that this happened and why she was now facing 26 years in prison, but she kept her faith. After years in court, Kimberly was in tears when she was exonerated. Finally, she was able to say that she was amongst the 8% of people who have won their court appeal.

Yet, the road ahead was not any easier. Unfortunately, at this point Kimberly was left without a home and, without any promising support in Louisiana, she had no choice but to move to California and stay with her elderly mother. When she arrived, Kimberly was not allowed to stay at her mother’s senior living home for long.

Soon Kimberly ended up at Interfaith, where she secured a temporary home at our Haven House Shelter. During that time, Interfaith Housing Specialist, Katie Bradberry, and Housing Stability Case Manager, Daniel Sturman, helped her find a job through a temp agency at a plant nursery.

At her new job, Kimberly found working with plants very peaceful, tranquil, and most importantly, healing. Kimberly found such passion at the nursery that her supervisors noticed and offered her a permanent full-time position.

Simultaneously, through Interfaith’s Rapid Rehousing program, Kimberly became eligible for short-term assistance to get back on her feet. Interfaith helped her connect with a property manager in Escondido where she was approved for a one-bedroom apartment.

Two weeks later, Interfaith was able to provide financial move-in assistance for Kimberly’s first month’s rent and security deposit. Interfaith also provided her furniture for her apartment through our Make It a Home program.

For a few months since then, Interfaith has continued to help Kimberly to ensure stability in her new home. Kimberly decorated her home with plants from the nursery where she works and is now learning about savings, budgeting, and further building on her self-sufficiency.

“If Interfaith knows you are helping yourself, they will go the extra mile. If you want to help yourself, you can go all the way with Interfaith. You have to be strong, you have to want to pick yourself up and they are there. Interfaith made me a better person. They made me independent.”