City of Philadelphia
The Journey of Hope Project
The Journey of Hope Project offers an opportunity for individuals experiencing prolonged homelessness and behavioral health challenges to embark on a path towards recovery; improve their health and wellness; live a self-directed life, and strive to reach their full potential.
Link: The Journey of Hope Project’s Guide to Providing Values-Based Support
Journey of Hope Mission Statement
The Journey of Hope Project is a collaboration between several innovative long-term residential treatment programs designed to serve individuals experiencing prolonged homelessness, substance use disorders, and co-occurring mental health challenges. The Project is able to admit individuals directly from the street, shelters, and safe havens by reducing barriers to treatment admission. Upon completion of treatment, individuals are connected with permanent supportive housing opportunities, as well as ongoing outreach and follow-up to help support long-term sustained recovery in the community.
Referrals for all programs come primarily from street homeless outreach teams, such as Project HOME, Horizon House, Hall Mercer, Self, Inc, and MHA, as well as from staff located within shelters, DBH safe havens, and winter cafes via Bethesda, Horizon House, and Project HOME.
How It Works
In order for individuals to be considered a potential candidate for the Journey of Hope Project, they need to meet the federal Housing and Urban Development definition of chronic homelessness: documented one-year continuous homelessness or four episodes in three years.
This is determined by accessing several City databases that track outreach contacts and shelter history, as well as obtaining additional information from the referring outreach worker/referral source.
All referrals receive a substance use, mental health, and nursing assessment at a Crisis Response Centers before being transitioned into the most appropriate setting to meet their needs.
Programs are funded by the DBHIDS Division of Community Behavioral Health and Behavioral Health Special Initiative program.