Our Mission
A Sense of Home strives to prevent homelessness by creating first-ever homes and a community for youth aging out of foster care.
50% of those struggling with homelessness are former foster youth.
The homeless crisis can only end through prevention.
Our Vision
- We believe that a home full of hope, dignity, and love is the first step in homeless prevention.
- We envision a society where the excess of businesses and individuals are shared through a community experience with those in need of “home”.
- We envision a world where furniture and appliances are never sent to landfills, but always given a second life.
- We believe that homelessness can only be eradicated through the active participation by all community stakeholders when focusing on prevention.
Youth aging out of foster care face acute inequality
Greatly impedes an individual or a family’s ability to properly inhabit and function in their shelter, undermining their health and productivity in work and school.
The average young adult lives in their parents’ home
- 58% of youth live with their parents
- 59% of parents financially support their children until age 29
- 60% of this financial support goes towards furniture, homewares, and other housing costs
Most foster youth do not have access to parental support
- Limited to no financial support from family
- Usually without access to hand-me-down furniture and basic housewares
- Aged-out foster youth are left without the most basic of human rights…a home
Furniture Poverty
- Furniture poverty is defined as the inability to access the basic essential items that a household needs to achieve the most basic quality of living in order to participate in society as employee and/or student.
- Furniture poverty is a further disadvantage to those who are already disenfranchised.
- Empirical evidence in environmental psychology has found that an inhabitant thrives and flourishes in their home when the home reflects their personality and aspirations.
- ASOH has designed and developed its own proprietary cloud-based workflow automation software (the ASOH App) to ensure that excess furniture is distributed to those who need it most.
- Eradicating furniture poverty tips the scales towards equity.
- The ASOH model not only provides the basic necessities for an individual to improve their life, but by creating a total home environment transforms and inspires youth to surpass their goals.
“The Strength of a nation derives from the integrity of the home”
– Confucius
DIVERSITY & BELONGING
ASOH is committed to diversity, equity, and belonging and strongly encourages all BIPOC (Black, Indigenous and People of Color), women, LGBTQ+ individuals, and those with protected class backgrounds. We value the individuals that we hire and are committed to creating a positive work environment for all identities. We are dedicated to creating a positive and inclusive environment for all volunteers and beneficiaries of all identities.
Our Commitment:
We are committed to not only providing a diverse and inclusive workplace, but an inclusive community where we value the health and well-being of all our staff and community members. ASOH offers 100% paid health and medical benefits to employees, along with generous paid sick and vacation time. We also believe in providing a workplace that fosters advancement and professional development for all employees, conducting our day-to-day business practices accordingly.
Learning and Reading:
We seek culturally diverse books to inspire the young people we serve as well as the broader community. Our “Love Library” contains a book list for both young adults and children. We read these book ourselves and share with the youth we serve. Please share with us your books and your ideas for this list.
What Is Inspiring Us?
We celebrate inspired diverse works of art (in the form of movies, books, documentaries, streaming series, essays, podcasts, music, and poetry) by sharing on our social feeds a series that we call What Is Inspiring Us? When we are moved by a piece of work that elevates the consciousness we share it.
We Celebrate Those We Serve and Embrace Their Input:
We celebrate the accomplishments of all we serve during the home creation and also on this page on our website. ASOH has hired former foster youth in the past and always has paid former foster youth consultants. ASOH has a former foster youth on their board and seeks to elevate the voices of former foster youth through our social media platforms and in-person events.
How We Continue to Progress:
The ASOH Blogs capture our efforts to grow, evolve, learn and become ever more efficient in our contribution to those we serve and society as a whole. We acknowledge we will not always get it right but we will always strive to do and be better. We also acknowledge that the work we do is forging a new frontier and can contribute greatly to improved well being for communities and add data and literature to science. We embrace collaborations of all kinds to be all that we can be in the most efficient and meaningful ways.
A unique space and opportunity for learning and healing for all.
We bring together volunteers to work in communities that they would normally never visit. And we connect young disenfranchised BIPOC (Black, Indigenous and People of Color) people (mostly women and 50% have children of their own) with compassionate members of the broader community that they might otherwise not meet, let alone link arms with to create a home for themselves, and when they pay it forward — create a home for others.
By entering the space the recipient can gain:
- Healing
- A platform to use their voices and understand that their voice matters
- Inspiration to elevate their voice to educate, enlighten, and inspire all gathered to be better, to do better, and most of all, drive sustainable change
- The ability to trust and build connection with those who have had a different experience than theirs and who could be wonderful partners in building the world that they dream of
By entering the space, a volunteer can gain:
- Insight that could inspire them to create technology, or a business, or a nonprofit to drive sustainable change towards peace, justice and equality
- An educational experience that provides context for the importance of championing legislative change
- An opportunity to become motivated to volunteer more and seek out more organizations
- A deeper investment in communities that need loving investment, rebuilding, healing and support
We are committed to action for impact and won’t stop learning, listening, growing and serving. We are committed to evolving our work and model to ensuring we always:
- Evolve how we achieve our goals and deepen the impact
- Listen to those we serve
- Partner with organizations that uplift marginalized communities
- Find and implement new tools in our programs that overcome unique barriers to healing
- Amplify more BIPOC (Black, Indigenous and People of Color) voices
- Ensure a safe, inclusive, and diverse workplace for employees, volunteers, donors, and for those we serve
Integrate social justice and public health scholars in the development of our organization
We strive for a world in which all humans thrive in health and happiness, yet for those who don’t feel safe in society, thriving can feel like an unrealistic dream. So we harness the power of this ASOH movement to ensure sustainable liberties for all.
OUR WORK
ASOH gathers the least recycled household items – furniture and home goods contributing to a greener environment. Returned products to furniture and home goods stores are often discarded. These quality items become a life-changing gift for former foster youth when installed lovingly by volunteers from the community; transforming the way the youth view themselves as well as those around them.
At the core of our work is the home creation. Empty walls, floors and rooms, once unlivable, are transformed into fully-furnished, functional and beautiful homes in less than two hours by a team of 12-24 volunteers.
By sponsoring home creations, businesses or families give back to the community while providing employees or family members a rewarding and life changing team-building experience. ASOH not only eliminates the financial obstacles of furnishing a home, but also improves the overall well-being of the recipient as well as society overall.
ASOH strives to create a physical home that is the embodiment of the dreams and unique personality of each youth (and their young family) to transform their experience of scarcity and survival to one of comfort and care. Youth who receive a home creation pay-it-forward by partaking as volunteers to create homes for other youth.
© 2023 Copyright A Sense of Home,
A tax exempt charitable organization qualified under
Section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code.
Donations are tax-deductible as allowed by law.
Tax ID# 47-3814056.
© 2024 Copyright A Sense of Home
Mission - A Sense of Home