I. Introduction/Executive Summary

During December of 2002 The Welcome Door Foundation (WDF) Directors and Advisors gathered for two animated sessions of strategic planning. Following 3 years of very successful service delivery (Wednesday Night Supper and our collaboration with UCSD Medical School's free clinic), we felt it was important to map out our plans for the future.

Directors present for at least one session were Ellen Casey, Robin Kohler, Bill Lee, Vicki Trimble, Chris Westberg, and Mary Herron. Advisors present included Pastor April Herron-Sweet of the Pacific Beach United Methodist Church and Dr. Ellen Beck from UCSD.

One aspect of our program that makes us particularly unique is the involvement of our constituents. The WDF Executive Director, Laurie Leonard, offered program goals that were formulated in dialogue with our constituents. Those same individuals participated in the strategic planning retreat and continue to guide our efforts. Without the presence of Sonja and Billy Cook, Tom Madsen and Janell O'Rourke, Jack Clarke, and John _____, we would miss out on addressing the true needs of the homeless. Our discussions were facilitated by Kate Engler of GDJ Associates, who was invaluable in the production of this document.

We visualized our work in terms of the construction of Billy¹s House, both in metaphor and reality, and stepped back to contemplate its creation. Our process involved visualization of our goals and then a systematic plan of action to achieve success. We recognized that we have formed a solid foundation for our work with our organization in place. Our programs are the many rooms in our house, and our abundance of new ideas will be our additions and remodeling projects. We have our building materials, and we are underway with our blueprint for success: this Strategic Plan for the Welcome Door Foundation.

This plan is a dynamic document to guide the Board's activities as we look for new opportunities to serve and succeed. It will be revisited at least annually (in November), and will be modified and amended as needed. Our purpose in maintaining the plan is to explain our rationale for activities conducted at WDF.

As we created this document, we came to appreciate many of the unique characteristics that set WDF apart from other agencies:

-- We offer a non-judgmental, compassionate welcome to all who come to our door.

--We have forged a strong and healthy collaboration with our host church and other churches in our community, local medical schools, businesses, and funders.

-- We live our motto: healing through helping….one person at a time.

-- We stress the importance of one on one mentoring.

-- We strive to serve people and solve problems.

Please enjoy this document as a way to understand what we are about at the Welcome Door Foundation and as a way to support our mission. Welcome!

Mary Herron
Chair, WDF

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II. Mission and Vision Statements

Our vision is a physical environment of healing for the mind, body, and spirit.

The Welcome Door Foundation is organized to offer a unique, compassionate environment to the chronically homeless which promotes self-healing and provides the basis for learning responsibility, gaining skills, and pursuing new beginnings. We strive to be a listening ear and a speaking voice for our clients.

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III. Organization Profile and History

A core belief at The Welcome Door Foundation (WDF) is that becoming homeless is a trauma from which one must heal in mind, body, and spirit. We endeavor to be nurturers in restoring dignity and self-respect to those who walk through our door.

It has been our experience that a key ingredient in facilitating the empowerment of healing is building trust. We begin by offering a meal each Wednesday evening. As people are personally welcomed they are invited to sign in--last name not required. (This enables us to keep a record of numbers served. We are averaging 100 guests each Wednesday evening). As the food line forms, guests have the opportunity to schedule medical, dental, and acupuncture appointments. These services are made available through a longstanding collaboration with UCSD Medical School and the Pacific College of Oriental Medicine. This is the only access to health care available to many of our service recipients. Guests are entertained and the schedule is maintained by our screening of a first-run movie

Among our success stories is the life-changing experience of dental work to arrest infection and restore the ability to eat and smile! Our dental clinic has provided 53 full sets of dentures to clients at no cost to them. We also are initiating a collaboration with the Lion's Club to offer eye exams and corrective lenses.

Homeless people routinely are ticketed for illegal lodging, open container violations, sleeping in the car, or sleeping on the beach. The police do not issue a bus token with the citation. Thus the cycle begins: a person is cited for a minor infraction, with no incentive or transportation to appear in court, and the citation automatically becomes a warrant for arrest. The fine is now $273. The next police contact results in jail where a person is held in custody until arraignment. The time served is usually 3 days. If multiple tickets are issued and ignored it is not uncommon for a client to do 6 months in jail, which costs the taxpayers in excess of $12,000. There is another way.

On Wednesday after the meal, everyone who has received a citation the previous week signs up for his/her court date. We issue a reminder and agree where to meet. We pick these "offenders" up at the appointed time and place, take them to the courthouse, help them through the system, and finally stand with them before the Judge as a Client Advocate. We then request that community service hours be assigned. Some of those hours are spent supporting WDF programs. Some are spent in health awareness and illness prevention classes organized by WDF. Removing the cloud of legal issues and setting small goals toward social redemption enable a pattern of success as opposed to a cycle of failure.

The San Diego City Attorney's Office has classified our agency as an alternative sentencing program. We also encourage our clients to manage many aspects of the Wednesday night meal program as a gesture of empowerment. The client must show up on time and accept responsibility for past actions and see the value in helping others. We believe this to be a very important first step in the healing process. Since beginning the classes the first week of October 2002, we have had 97 clients attend various classes from hypertension screening, to basic first aid. A portion of the classes actually cover street survival skills such as "When is sick "sick-enough" to seek treatment?" We also use these classes to disburse basic first aid/hygiene items, new socks, and any other personal supplies that we can procure to in some way make life on the street a little easier.

This program is currently run by a very dedicated person. Being a formally homeless drug addict himself, he has become an invaluable part of the program. With the exception of our Executive Director, our organization has no full-time staff, but is voluntarily supported by those who have been redeemed through WDF services, and to whom we pay small stipends as they work toward full recovery.

We serve an average of 10 clients per week and have resolved over 80 citations and warrants. Detailed records are maintained to enable us to determine the success of this program. Ideally, offenses will not be repeated. However we will continue to track and interpret the numbers for reporting to our funders.

Our budget is averaging $3,000 per month with some spikes, such as the cost of insurance, a once per year expense. Our desire to respond to the needs of our homeless population is ever expanding. We have just begun dialogue regarding the redevelopment of adjacent church property for affordable housing, which will enable us to get to a ground level solution for addressing homelessness. Fortunately our program spaces are provided by the Pacific Beach United Methodist Church rent-free, and we have received grants from the California Endowment, the Cal-Pac Conference of Methodism, and from individual board members. We have a grant requests before the Bonner Foundation (to improve the nutritional quality of our meals, for supplies, and for special holiday meals) and Parker Foundation (support for our advocacy program). Our food is currently supplied by neighborhood businesses, churches, and WDF budget funds.

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IV. Program Goals and Objectives

Our strategic planning process helped us identify the following goals.

1. Continue to coordinate the Wednesday Dinner for our clients.

Short-term objectives:

- Investigate "faith-based" funding (3/1/03).
--- Meet with Georgia Tate (and other County of SD staff)
--- Attend White House Initiatives workshop

- Improve nutritional quality of the food we serve (5/1/03).
--- Debrief/Reapply for Bonner Foundation funding
--- Investigate San Diego Food Bank resources

- Apply for additional/appropriate grant monies (ongoing).

Long-term objectives:

- Offer greater range of services
--- Showers

- Develop "theme-based" services as appropriate (i.e., January/birth certificate month, February/music month, March/art month, etc. or 1st Wednesday/birth certificate day, 2nd Wednesday/music day, 3rd Wednesday/art day).

2. Continue providing and strengthening advocacy support to our clients.

Short-term objectives:

- Identify/Train appropriate personnel to assist constituents (3/1/03).

- Develop a list of referral agencies for common needs (ongoing).
--- Collaborate with churches, United Way, others.

- Investigate possibility of support from Aging and Independent Services.

- Apply for additional/appropriate grant monies (ongoing).

Long-term objectives:

- Expand to include a larger population.
--- See #4 and #6

3. Continue referrals to our collaborative medical (including vision care), dental, and acupuncture clinics.

Short-term objectives:

- Pursue collaboration with Lion's Club.

- Carefully plan to reapply to Alliance Healthcare Foundation.
--- Meet/Communicate with Ruth Reidel/Linda Lloyd

- Apply to The California Endowment for additional funding ($50K) to continue with existing program and add dental services.

- Apply for additional/appropriate grant monies.

Long-term objectives:

- Work with Dr. Ellen Beck to find additional grant monies (The California Endowment) in collaboration with UCSD.

- Add psychiatric services (2004).

4. Develop a Women's Program. See Appendix 1 - Women's Program Design.

Short-term objectives:

- Develop initial program design.

- Investigate appropriate funding sources.

Long-term objectives:

- Find core group of volunteers to teach steps toward independence.
--- Self defense
--- Financial planning
--- Self-help…where to turn to for help
--- Trauma support

5. Strengthen our mind/body/spirit healing vision by acquiring 2 to 3 bedroom home.

Short-term objectives:

- Meet with PBUMC to evaluate feasibility of collaboration

- Identify potential funding sources.
--- Faith-based funding
--- Community Development Block Grant

- Apply for appropriate grant monies.

Long-term objectives:

- Identify the property.
--- Prepare appropriate grant applications

6. In conjunction with No. 4 above, develop support system and residential program goals for our "transitional" clients. See Appendix 2, Residential Program Design.

· Medical Needs
· Adult Daily Living Skills
· Family Advocacy
· Legal Advocacy
· Benefits Analyst
· Life Skills Development
· Understanding Technology
· Peer to Peer Counseling
· Employment Readiness
· Achieving Balance

Long-term objectives:

- Apply for appropriate grant monies.

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V. Management Goals and Objectives

1. Develop a sustainability plan.

- Develop master calendar of funding cycles, required reports, etc.

- Develop methods for tracking:
--- Cash flow
--- Data to support our grant writing

- Provide training to staff and board on the importance of networking to:
--- Identify additional funding sources
--- Find new collaborators
--- Etc.

- Conduct post-mortum on unsuccessful grant requests.
--- Debrief on all requests

2. Refine by-laws to incorporate expansion of the program.

3. Hire a part-time administrative coordinator for general office duties.

- Track grant requirements (reporting).

4. Determine our staffing priorities

- Develop job descriptions.

5. Further develop our "story" for potential funders?

-- What do we want to do?
-- How are we going to do it?
-- How do we measure it? Track it?

6. Develop website

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VI. Appendices

Appendix 1 - Women's Program Design
Appendix 2 - Residential Program Design
Appendix 3 - By-Laws
Appendix 4 - Master Calendar

Appendix 1
Women's Program Design

Violent crime
Victim's assistance
Health/Hygiene issues
Assertiveness training

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Appendix 2
Residential Program Design

Medical Needs

- Continue collaboration with UCSD
- Expand dental services
- Add psychiatric services
- Add vision services

Immediate action plan:

-- Collaborative grant writing to find initial program funding for psychiatric services (up to $20K this year).

-- Collaborative grant writing to fund more dental, and follow-up medical care ( up to $30K this year).

Adult Daily Living Skills

- Learning how to live indoors (manners)
- Hygiene
- Nutrition

Immediate action plan:

-- Improve nutrition at Wednesday night supper: Contact San Diego Food Bank and others for ideas

Family Advocacy

- Reconcile with family
- Family liaison on staff
- Some travel budget

Immediate action plan:

Find the appropriate professional to support us on a start-up basis (LCSW or equivalent).

Legal Advocacy

- Continue court program
- Advocate for supervised visitation
- Bankruptcy counseling
- Back filing with IRS for tax refunds

Immediate action plan:

- Look for "Billy bucks."
- Try to identify an attorney to advise us on a pro-bono basis re: these topics.

Benefits Analyst

- Assist clients with eligibility requirements
- Guide clients through the social service maze

Immediate action plan:

- Work with Janelle to set up administrative support program.

Life Skills Development

- Turning survival skills into social skills
- Defining healthy relationships
- Bereavement therapy
- Dealing with being a victim of violence

Immediate action plan:

Understanding Technology

- ATM cards
- Basic internet skills
- Learning the lingo
- Faxing

Immediate action plan:

Peer to Peer Counseling

- Dealing with your demons
- Dealing with guilt
- Making amends
- Victims of violent crimes
- Perpetrators of violent crime
- Cheerleading

Immediate action plan:

Employment Readiness

- Interview skills
- Resume writing
- Vocabulary development
- Basic computer skills

Immediate action plan:

Achieving Balance

- What is balance?
- How to identify your red flags
- Time structure
- Hobbies
- Healthy mindless pursuits
- Guatemala project participation

Immediate action plan:

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Appendix 3
By-Laws