San Antonio-based Haven for Hope recently put a spotlight on its CEO to celebrate her efforts and commitment to help those in the area experiencing homelessness.
As previously reported by The Dallas Express, Haven for Hope is a non-profit organization that provides social services like drug counseling, drug training, and transitional housing, all on a single campus. Its “one-stop-shop” model has been credited with reducing unsheltered homelessness in San Antonio’s downtown area by 77%.
Kim Jefferies, Haven for Hope’s president and CEO, has more than two decades of experience in the non-profit sector.
“I dropped out of college when I was 19 and didn’t get my undergraduate degree until I was 31. I got my Masters when I was 40. Never give up on yourself!” she said in a Facebook post on the organization’s page.
She previously worked at Autism Lifeline Links, Headstart, The Nonprofit Council, United Way, and the San Antonio Area Foundation. Additionally, as a devout Lutheran, she has been very involved with her church, even going on a mission trip to Malawi, Africa.
“Being the first female CEO at Haven for Hope is a great privilege and a great responsibility that I don’t take lightly,” Jefferies said. “Haven for Hope is such a critical part of our community here in San Antonio, and to be able to lead this organization as a woman leader gives me a platform to hopefully encourage others to step into leadership spaces where women have never been before.”
“I’m honored to be a part of Haven’s incredible history and its future. In my time at Haven, I will work tirelessly to demonstrate the profound impact that women in leadership can have on our community!” she added.
As previously reported by The Dallas Express, Jefferies appeared on The Dallas Express Podcast when host and DX co-founder Sarah Zubiate-Bennett visited the campus last year.
“The co-location of services is key,” she said about the operation. “Eliminating barriers to entry.”
“Not having to take a bus here and take a bus here and take a bus here to get to those appointments,” Jefferies told Zubiate-Bennett. “People learn how to renavigate community and reintegrate into the community before they go back out into this large city, and they take those relationships with them.”
The City of Dallas has yet to try the “one-stop-shop” strategy employed by Haven for Hope despite it polling favorably among Dallas residents. Some local stakeholders are looking to bring the model to Dallas, but it remains to be seen whether City officials will embrace the approach.
Meanwhile, some 75% of Dallas residents believe homelessness, vagrancy, and panhandling continue to be “major” problems throughout the city.
