HopeHouse

The Collaborative worked with the Oklahoma Department of Human Services (OKDHS) to provide a Pay for Success loan to hopeHouse OKC for their hopeWORKS program. The program assists women and their families who are experiencing or are at risk of homelessness by providing housing, education, job training, and job placement. On-site transitional employment opportunities are offered through hopeWORKS for the first nine to 12 months of a woman’s stay. Training and certification opportunities are provided along with an immediate monthly stipend to meet a family’s basic needs.

During this transitional period, the women are taught job skills that are necessary before entering the workforce and are paid a livable wage. Through one such hopeWORKS initiative, some of the women make homemade cinnamon rolls in the facility’s industrial-sized kitchen which are marketed and sold to the surrounding community. Other opportunities are provided to learn administrative and cleaning skills on campus. Through the program, women are taught employability soft skills such as communication, problem-solving, and time management.

Upon completion of the hopeWORKS program, participants will transition into off-site career opportunities through community partnerships such as Work Ready Oklahoma while they complete the remaining aspects of HopeHouse’s wholistic programming. Once residents graduate, they have the option to move into graduate resident housing for 8-12 months and begin full-time employment. Graduate programming consists of monthly case management, drug testing, a monthly graduate family event, and a staggered rent structure.

“While we’ll continue to partner with like-hearted businesses all across the OKC metro for long-term job placement, we are beyond excited to launch a new fully-integrated business endeavor, in cooperation with the Oklahoma Impact Investing Collaborative and Oklahoma Human Services, to directly and even more strategically employ women as we empower them to ‘rest, heal, & rebuild’ their lives in a holistic and sustainable fashion.”

- hopeWORKS Leadership Team