The Home 4 Good Initiative
Our Vision
Through our Home for Good SBC Program, the AmeriCorps Partnership empowers national service volunteers to serve as homeless services case managers. Across Santa Barbara County, our members help people experiencing homelessness to acquire and retain housing. 25 AmeriCorps Members serve through United Way Home for Good each year, supporting 15 Partner Organizations of the Coordinated Entry System. They provide Housing Retention Services to keep people from re-entering homelessness. Everyone Deserves a Home For Good. A link to the Coordinated Entry System is below, which leads you to this community-wide system for homeless resources.
Who United Way Serves
Each year, we reach approximately 30,000 people through initiatives focused on impacting education, financial stability, and improved health — the building blocks for a high quality of life.
Over 90% of our clients qualify as low to moderate income.
Our AmeriCorps members help vulnerable people get “document-ready” so they can apply for housing, and keep their housing. over 60% of documented homeless people have lived in SBC for 11 + years. Last year alone, our AmeriCorps members helped house 414 people! That’s 17 people housed per AmeriCorps worker in Santa Barbara County!
Coordinated Entry
Coordinated Entry is an important process through which people experiencing or at risk of experiencing homelessness can access the crisis response system in a streamlined way. Their strengths and needs are quickly assessed, and they are connected to appropriate, tailored housing and mainstream services. The assessment provides the ability for households to gain access to the best options to address their needs, incorporating participants’ choice, rather than being evaluated for a single program within the system. The most intensive interventions are prioritized for those with the highest needs.