The private nonprofit organization, Our Friend’s Place (OFP), provides transitional living services, life skills mentorship, and educational assistance to women of various age groups in the Dallas area.
For more than 34 years, OFP annually serves over 500 youth and young women struggling with homelessness, poverty, neglect, and abuse, with their two primary services: Transitional Living Centers located in Old East Dallas and their SOAR to Success Program.
Their Transitional Living Centers annually provide shelter for 40 women, ages 18-24. Women living in their centers are provided with award-winning life skills training and intensive case management.
The SOAR to Success Program is broken down into three parts: SOAR Discovery, SOAR Workshops, and SOAR Take Flight. Each providing unique benefits to women of various age groups and circumstances ranging from in-school needs, college preparation, personal development, homelessness prevention, and mental health.
OFP works with several schools in the DFW area such as IDEA High School, Thomas Jefferson High School, North Dallas High School, and Mesquite High School.
They also partner up with churches, community organizations, and other nonprofits like Alley’s House, to achieve their mission of assisting women in need.
According to Joy Adegbola (OFP’s community engagement specialist, as a private nonprofit organization), they employ certain liberties and policies that allow them to meet the needs of the community and their staff members, in a way other publicly funded nonprofits, may not be able to.
“When I came to Our Friend’s Place, what stood out to me, because of that private funding, was seeing how impactful and intentional Our Friend’s Place was and is working towards being,” Joy states.
“For example, today I spent a lot of my morning in various meetings that we’re having in order to make Our Friend’s Place an anti-racist organization.”
Joy, who’s worked at several nonprofits, states, “and that doesn’t always happen.”
As the community engagement specialist, Joy works on OFP’s marketing and volunteer opportunities. In closing, she shares remarks for her organizations and invites volunteers to assist with their mission.
“Our Friend’s Place is not just a place where you come to volunteer,” she said. “It’s a place where you can build community. If anyone is interested in making a difference, I highly recommend checking out our website and reaching out to anyone on our staff.”
Currently, OFP is preparing for two large events happening in September:
September 18, 2021 – Annual Gala, Auction & Casino Night @ Renaissance Dallas Hotel
September 22, 2021 – North Texas Giving Day
For more information on programs provided by Our Friend’s Place and their upcoming events visit https://ourfriendsplace.org.