Doing Good: An Important Number to Know

Here is a number we hope you never have to call: (757) 251-0144

But, if you or a friend or family member are survivors of rape, sexual assault, human trafficking or domestic violence in southeastern Virginia, you will find immediate help by calling. Until October 7, 2016 there were multiple hotlines with different numbers. Each was staffed by shelters in area cities. Each was attached to a specific shelter but had no easy way to know what other organizations might have openings for someone needing to move to safety right then.

A $45,000 grant from the Hampton Roads Community Foundation's Sue Cook Winfrey Memorial Fund provided the money for four domestic violence shelters to plan and implement a single, networked crisis line. Working on the project were representatives from The Genieve Shelter, Help and Emergency Response (H.E.R. Shelter), Samaritan House and YWCA of South Hampton Roads. The shelters work in Chesapeake, Norfolk, Portsmouth, Suffolk and Virginia Beach.

The launch the region’s first Coordinated Crisis Response was timed for October -- Domestic Violence Awareness month. The October 7 ribbon cutting at the YWCA's downtown Norfolk headquarters drew advocates and government leaders from throughout Virginia and Hampton Roads, including Virginia Attorney General Mark Herring.

Trained staff and volunteers are available 24/7 to get information, help and safe shelter for the callers.The YWCA is housing the hotline and is training. Estimated call volume per year is 20,000 -- based on calls the shelters fielded last year.

 This Virginian-Pilot article highlights the importance of this new coordinated effort in its October 8 article. . 

Guy Winfrey

The late Guy Winfrey's 1997 bequest started the Sue Cook Winfrey Fund at the Hampton Roads Community Foundation. His field-of-interest fund is for spouses and children experiencing domestic violence and has provided more than $2 million in grants to area nonprofits over the past 19 years. Guy, a car salesman with a good heart, led a hard-knock childhood and dropped out of school at age 14 to go to work to help support his younger siblings. We think he would be pleased to see how his generosity is helping others get the help they need to lead better lives.


 

Helping End Homelessness: Housing First Grants

Housing First looks to alter the traditional practice of moving homeless people into crowded

James Lewis is helped by Fatima Tomlin of JCOC.

shelters and transitional housing before locating permanent housing.

Since 2009, an effort in southeastern Virginia and the rest of the United States has focused on making “homelessness rare, brief and nonrecurring,” stays Suzanne Puryear, president of The Planning Council and a Hampton Roads Community Foundation board member.

The shift benefits both clients and shelters. Quickly securing permanent housing and providing services to help clients settle into stable lives, frees space in homeless shelters for emergency cases and lets agencies help more people. The average stay in Judeo- Christian OutreachCenter’s shelter in Virginia Beach has dropped from six months to 66 days, says Todd A.J. Walker, executive director of JCOC. This allows the nonprofit to serve 100 more people a year.

Samaritan House reports similar trends at its Virginia Beach family shelter, which like the JCOC has received Hampton Roads Community Foundation grants to help  implement Housing First strategies.

“Our clients are moving out of our shelters in 40 days now instead of 60. It’s about 30 percent less expensive for us,” says Angela Kellam, Samaritan House executive director.

Long-term success has improved with 86 percent of clients placed in permanent housing “still doing well after 24 months.” Community foundation funding has helped nonprofits leverage other resources. Samaritan House recently parlayed a $175,000 foundation grant into six national and state awards totaling $450,000, Kellam says.

Hampton Road Community Foundation grants have also helped boost the region’s supply of low-rent housing. Virginia Supportive Housing has built five studio apartment complexes in Hampton Roads that provide homes for formerly homeless citizens. The Richmond-based nonprofit is planning a sixth complex in the region.

“We couldn’t have done it without the foundation,” says Allison Bogdanovic, executive director. “We never had a partner with such a commitment to our work.”

“In all aspects, the foundation has been a critical player,” observes Andrew M. Friedman, director of Virginia Beach’s Department of Housing and Neighborhood Preservation. A foundation grant paid for a 2013 Virginia Beach housing crisis response study that led to positive changes. James Lewis, a former Judeo Christian Outreach Center client, knows personally the results of such efforts. The formerly homeless man now lives in a comfortable home and says: “The oars are there for me, and there are no holes in the boat,” he says. “Now I can get across the river.”

Giving Back: Jane & Bill Charters Help Vulnerable Citizens

In honor of Valentine's Day coming up this weekend we salute the late Jane and Bill Charters, a

Jane & Bill Charters loved their community.

Norfolk, Virginia couple who loved each other and their community. The Charters continue to shower some of the region's most vulnerable citizens with opportunities for better lives.

Thanks to Jane's estate planning, she and Bill have provided more than $3.7 million in grants to 40 organizations in southeastern Virginia since her death in 2004. (Bill died before her 22 years earlier.)

All grant recipients are Hampton Roads nonprofits that daily help struggling citizens keep roofs over their heads and food on the table while also having access to health care and chances to improve their lives. 

The Charters' work is done quietly in partnership with the Hampton Roads Community Foundation where Jane left a generous $6 million bequest to start the William A. and Jane M. Charters Fund. She wanted her field-of-interest fund to be for basic human needs such as shelter, food, medical care and clothing.

In 2015 alone the Charters Fund of the Hampton Roads Community Foundation has helped

• Catholic Charities of Eastern Virginia provide financial and housing counseling to help get clients out of debt and on the road to stability.
• Goodwill Industries of Central Virginia implement job training programs for 150 unemployed or under-employed people. 
• HER Shelter start a program to help domestic abuse victims immediately find a safe place to go.
• Judeo-Christian Outreach Center implement a housing stabilization program for formerly homeless citizens. 
• Legal Aid Society of Eastern Virginia expand services to help citizens resolve legal issues that are barriers to housing and employment.
• Park Place Health & Dental Center expand the hours a dentist is on duty to treat patients with dental problems and no health insurance.
• PIN Ministry provide medical and dental care for the homeless.
• Samaritan House, Genevieve Shelter, HER Shelter and the YWCA of South Hampton Roads collaborate to start a regional hotline that homeless citizens can call to connect with needed services.
• Virginia Supportive Housing provide services for formerly homeless residents of the new Crescent Square apartments in Virginia Beach. 
• Volunteers of America Chesapeake hire a coordinator to find permanent housing for formerly homeless residents. 

Who were the Charters? Jane was a retired federal employee who worked as an administrative assistant with the Navy and also sang professionally. Bill started work in a bank and went on to co-found Investment Corp. of Norfolk in 1927, which introduced the region to the idea of home mortgages. He went on to lead more than 20 real estate companies. 

Both Jane and Bill Charters quietly and generously supported their community during their lifetimes. And, they will always continue to do that through their permanent fund at their community foundation.  

 (The Hampton Roads Community Foundation is a regional community foundation started in 1950 as the first community foundation in Virginia. It is among nearly 750 community foundation around the country serving specific geographic regions. It is the largest grant and scholarship provider in southeastern Virginia and manages more than 400 charitable funds created by donors from all walks of life. Over the decades it has provided more than $230 million to improve life for residents living in the Hampton Roads region of Virginia, including the cities of Chesapeake, Franklin, Norfolk, Portsmouth, Smithfield, Suffolk and Virginia Beach. It also serves people in Isle of Wight and Southampton counties and the Eastern Shore of Virginia, including Accomack and Northampton counties. Learn more at hamptonroadscf.org. You can click here to locate a community foundation near you.)