History
PATH Beyond Shelter is a community organization that helps homeless families with children to resettle in permanent houses and to access basic needs, including food, Shelter, health care, and education, especially for the children. The idea to develop the organization in Los Angeles was developed in 1983 by Rev. Charles Orr, who called upon the members of the community to develop a community initiative to help the poor and homeless families. In 1984, a day center was established, and PATH was incorporated. By 1990, the organization established the PATH Westside Center, with 32 transitional housing beds (“The PATH timeline,” 2017).
The organization is a non-profit entity, which implies that it has always relied on donations from the authorities and the members of the community, as well as private business entities. The organization has been operating in Los Angeles, and it has developed various programs over the years to help in alleviating poverty among homeless families. Its primary focus is to help families with children because some of its programs are exclusively aimed at enhancing the wellness of children in the county.
Goals
The primary goal of the organization is to provide housing to families with children. PATH has developed an initiative to find affordable housing for families living in the streets. The program also involves the direct involvement of the organization in constructing permanent housing units for the poor families living in the transitional centers (“A focus on housing,” 2017). PATH works alongside other organizations to ensure that the families living in the streets are rescued by providing them with temporary housing as the organization looks into the best avenues to follow to provide the families with permanent housing.
Members of the organization believe that the primary cause of homelessness is the lack of affordable houses; hence, it has an objective to increase the number of housing units that are affordable for impoverished citizens. Another goal of the organization is to reach out to the families in the streets rather than waiting for them to visit its facilities. Volunteers are sent to the streets to interact with homeless individuals, and they collect demographics that help the organization and other agencies to target various groups of homeless individuals (“A focus on housing,” 2017). Seeing that PATH is more interested in families with children, the street outreach program is quite effective in identifying families that need help.
Funding
PATH is funded solely through donations and grants from the local authorities. The organization has numerous partners that also inject finances to support its processes in poor housing families. The various projects in the organization are funded by the revenue generated from donations. Members of the community are urged to give financial support to the program through donations. The donations are budgeted at the beginning of the year to ensure that the company allocates sufficient funds to the most important projects (“Financial information,” 2017). All donations are highlighted in the financial reports at the end of the fiscal year to ensure there is transparency in handling finances.
Donations to the organization can be sent directly and instantly through a donation link to the Network for Good. The organization also has a mail service where donors can send checks payable to PATH (“Financial information,” 2017). Additionally, the organization has a planned gift program where donors can send gifts in the form of cash, stocks, real estate, insurance coverage, property, and other products that might be helpful to the families without homes. People can also volunteer to handle the various tasks in organizational projects.
Services
All the services offered by the organization are directed to families without homes, and the organization particularly focuses on families with children. Impoverished veterans are part of the beneficiaries of the rapid housing services offered by the organization. PATH provides Shelter and other basic needs for homeless families with children, and it focuses on ensuring that the families transition from the housing centers of the organization to permanent houses. The organization has partnered with various entities to construct housing units for the homeless. The donation program of the organization includes the provision of health insurance, educational scholarships, and other services geared toward enhancing opportunities for children in homeless families to lead a normal life.
Critique
PATH Beyond Center is one of the several organizations in Los Angeles that have set out to make a difference in the society to help children and their families to settle in affordable permanent houses. The organization has been quite successful in its quest, but it is apparent that targeting homeless individuals with children implies that the organization has a preference for the people it is willing to help. While the initiative to put children and their parents off the streets is quite a positive contribution to the Los Angeles community, closing its doors to the homeless without families has some undesirable ethical implications. The organization should mobilize more public and private entities to focus on helping the entire homeless population without discriminating against their social status. Most importantly, it should focus on enhancing the efficiency of its street outreach program to help more children.
References
A focus on housing. (2017). Web.
Financial information. (2017). Web.
The PATH timeline. (2017). Web.