[Date] [Recipient] [Title] [Grant] [Address 1] [Address 2] Dear [Recipient]:

On behalf of Safe Harbor of Chester County, we ask for $30,948 to keep the shelter open for extended hours in the winter months. Safe Harbor is an independent, nonprofit organization providing food, shelter, counseling and opportunities to homeless men and women in Chester County, Pennsylvania. With the requested additional funding, the organization will remain open for two full days per week in the winter months to protect the residents from cold weather. The Winter Program will affect the shelter for the months of November 2012 to March 2013.

With the organization helping homeless individuals throughout the area, Safe Harbor is an excellent match to your grant. We specifically target forty persons in need of basic housing and medical services to not only alleviate but also end the cycle of poverty. Our Winter Program is designed to improve the quality of an existing shelter to provide essential services to homeless individuals.

A funding partnership can mean shelter and warmth for the residents of Safe Harbor of Chester County when needed most. For homeless individuals in Chester County, extended hours will preserve the physical health and mental well being of the occupants.

Thank you,

Executive Summary Safe Harbor of Chester County requests a $30,948 Emergency Shelter Grant from the Department of Housing and Urban Development in order to extend the operating hours of the shelter for the winter months of November 1st, 2012 to March 1st, 2013. Safe Harbor is a non-profit charitable organization, whose mission is to provide shelter, food, counseling, and recovery opportunities in a structured environment to single homeless men and women in Chester County. We work daily to provide a safe, secure, and dignified environment while working closely with many area agencies to find ways to move each individual closer to meeting their goals. Individuals receive food, shelter, warmth, laundry, and shower facilities, clothing and personal necessities as needed, as well as support and guidance from our staff and family of volunteers. Since formation in 1992, Safe Harbor has sought to make every year more successful than the last including the large expansion which now allows us to house twenty individual men and women due to the grant from the Chester County Community Foundation. Remaining closed becomes problematic during the winter months when temperatures often drop below freezing and conditions become extreme. Shelters already have guidelines for providing shelter and Safe Harbor does not want to turn away individuals in need during extreme weather due to lack of funding. In order to make the Winter Project a success, $30,948 is required, with $0 funds procured thus far. Safe Harbor serves anywhere from 30-75 people daily and increases when the weather turns extreme. By having the possibility of extended hours during the harsh winter months, hundreds of people will be helped throughout the county. From November 2010 until March 2011, Safe Harbor provided beds for 90 different men and women, totaling 3,916 nights of service. If provided the additional funding, we will be able to better the lives of even more single homeless men and women of

Chester County; providing them a safe, secure, positive environment to reside, rather than being left out in the cold with potentially severe weather existing during the winter.

Objective With additional funding, Safe Harbor will maintain the health and wellbeing of twenty single men and twenty single women in the shelter by extending hours of operation by two full days per week at the discretion of Safe Harbor. To implement the Winter Program by November 2012, funding is needed to pay wages for personnel, bills for utilities and indirect costs.

Need Statement Many people are homeless in the United States. More specifically, three and a half million americans are experiencing homelessness every single year (As cited in, National Coalition for the Homeless [NCH], 2005). Since Chester County is a suburb of Philadelphia, it is beneficial to examine homelessness in our county as well as in Philadelphia. The problem of homelessness exists in the Philadelphia area as well as nation wide. In Philadelphia 13,250 are homeless annually (Trevors Campaign for the Homeless, 2011). In addition, despite Chester Countys reputation as a wealthy county, homelessness is still prevalent. The Chester County Department of Community Development states on their 2010 report, When residents were asked if they knew of anyone homeless in Chester County, most respondents (67%) stated that they did; a few admitted to being homeless (Profile on Homelessness, 2010). With the current state of the economy, Chester County and every community is susceptible to the problem of homelessness. However, with the use of emergency shelter programs and homeless shelters the community can work to alleviate homelessness. Every shelter is unique; many shelters serve individuals depending on their gender, age, and other qualifications (Profile on Homelessness, 2010). Safe Harbor is distinct because we serve homeless, single men and women in Chester County. Like most shelters, Safe Harbor expects residents to leave the shelter during the day and only return to eat and sleep. The reasoning is twofold: we need residents to search for a job to improve their situation and we lack funding to staff and stay open throughout the day. Remaining closed becomes problematic during the winter months when temperatures often drop below freezing and conditions become extreme. Shelters already have specific guidelines for service and Safe Harbor does not want to turn away individuals in need during extreme weather due to lack of funding. West Chester, where Safe Harbor is located, receives an average of 26 inches of snowfall annually. Last year we received 40.1 inches of snowfall, and the Philadelphia area received 44 inches.

More notably, Philadelphia received 78.7 inches of snowfall in 2009, a record over the last 100 years of data. In addition, for 91 out of the 151 days ranging from November 2010 to March 2011, Philadelphia experienced temperatures at or below 32 degrees Fahrenheit. More specifically, for the 31 days comprising January 2011, on 29 of those days temperatures fell at or below 32 degrees Fahrenheit (J. Hilliker, personal communication, October 29, 2011). Remaining outside for the duration of the day in these conditions is not only uncomfortable but extremely dangerous. Hypothermia and frostbite are two of many illnesses with the ability to harm the homeless during extreme weather. Their onset is quick and left untreated they can be devastating. Safe Harbor can reduce the occurrence of these illnesses with funding to keep the shelter open during the winter months. The Mental Illness Policy Organization tells the story of Yetta Adams: a homeless woman suffering from schizophrenia and alcoholism who lived on the streets of Washington, DC. Yetta Adams was found frozen to death on a bench across the street from the headquarters of the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD)... When seeing a crowd outside his office, then-Secretary of HUD, Henry G. Cisneros, left his office to find out what had happened (Homelessness: Tragic side of non-treatment, n.d, para.11). Yetta Adams death was preventable; she just lacked the care and resources to keep herself safe. The homeless populations situations are bleak enough without the possibility of illness and death due to extreme weather conditions. Given the opportunity, Safe Harbor could protect the homeless of Chester County from the often ignored dangerous weather conditions.

Budget Description Our budget is based on the yearly fiscal audit submitted for June 2010 June 2011 and the Shelter Staff Budget completed in July 2011. Since inflation has been negligible recently, we did not find it necessary to adjust our budget for inflation. Safe Harbor has a complex set of expenditures, thus our budget is broken down into three separate categories: Program Services - Homeless Shelter Program, Management and General Cost, and Fundraising. The Winter Program only affects the Homeless Shelter Programs expenses and no other sector of Safe Harbor. Therefore, the funds for the Winter Program will only be applied to the increase in expenses of the Homeless Shelter Program; there is no reflective change in cost to the other sectors of Safe Harbor. There was a set procedure we used to update our budget with the foreseen expenses of the Winter Program. We started with the costs outlined by the fiscal audit. Since the Shelter Staff had a more recent budget evaluation, the costs of the shelter staff are reflective of those changes. Note we listed the annual costs. We then applied two mathematical calculations to the Homeless Shelter Costs. First, we accounted for the additional hours. Safe Harbor is open for 12 hours a day, seven days a week, totaling 84 hours. Therefore, the extended hours two days a week results in a total increase of 24 hours a week. Thus, Safe Harbor will be open a total of 108 hours a week. Multiplying each Homeless Shelter Program cost by 108/84 (or 9/7) reflect the change in hours of operation if Safe Harbor were to remain open two extra full days a week for the entire year, hence our need for a second calculation. November 1st through March 1st constitutes four months of a year, or more simply of a year. All costs from our previous calculation were multiplied by to determine the cost to remain open two full days in only the winter months. The change in expenses determined by our calculations is what the federal grant funds will be allocated to.

There are four staffing division within Safe Harbor of Chester County: Administrative, Counseling, Kitchen, and Shelter. Administrative is the oversight of all Safe Harbor activities. A little more than one third of the cost of Administration division is dedicated to the Homeless Shelter Program. Therefore, 3% of the Administrative cost is funded by the federal grant. The counseling division is responsible for both required and volunteer counseling sessions the occupants receive. Counselors would need to be on sight the extra hours open, so they would devote 7% of their time to the Winter Program. The kitchen staff is already responsible for the preparation of meals seven days a week; the Winter Program would not change their expenses. The Shelter Staff will be heavily affected by the Winter Program. The entire staff will increase the hours worked by 7% annually, and the cost per person is explicitly shown on the budget. There are many supplies and materials that Safe Harbor utilizes. Much of Safe Harbors budget is dedicated to the expenses of food. Since Safe Harbor already supplies 21 meals a week, the Winter Program will not affect the amount spent on food. Postage is only utilized by the categories not affected by the Winter Program. Of the cost of supplies, 70% are used by the Homeless Shelter Program, so there is a relative increase with the extra hours. These supplies include: personal care products, office supplies, and cleaning supplies. Telephone and Internet fees will not change. Many other expenses accumulate in the daily operation and upkeep of Safe Harbor. There are two parts to the insurance at Safe Harbor: the building insurance and the occupancy insurance both of which would increase with the extra hours scheduled. Advertising is only used in the fundraising sector. General occupancy is one of the highest costs to the Homeless Shelter Program, so there is an equivalent increase in price of occupancy. Another large cost is printing, utilized by all three facets of the organization, but only 10% of the cost of printing is used by the Homeless Shelter Program. Lastly are the in-kind donations, which are the value of services volunteered; they are not reflected in the cost of

the Winter Program. When all adjustments are complete, the Winter Program will cost Safe Harbor of Chester County $30,948.

SAFE HARBOR BUDGET

Program Services Homeless Shelter Program Personnel (Salary and Benefits) Administrative (3% of time) Counseling (7% of time) Kitchen (0% of time) Shelter Shelter Supervisor ($15.56 per hour, 7% time) Staff ($14.20 per hour, 7% of time) Staff ($10.61 per hour, 7% of time) Staff ($10.20 per hour, 7% of time) Staff ($10.00 per hour, 7% of time) Staff ($10.00 per hour, 7% of time) Staff ($10.00 per hour, 7% of time) Staff ($10.00 per hour, 7% of time) Staff ($10.40 per hour, 7% of time) Subtotal 46,235 21,097 31,527 15,912 29,714 12,629 23,771 20,057 7,577 $578,602 43,153 19,691 29,425 14,851 27,733 11,787 22,187 18,720 7,072 $428,840 3,082 1,406 2,102 1,061 1,981 842 1,585 1,337 505 $21,602 45,673 69,836 46,053 122,988 65,180 46,053 3,045 4,656 0

Other Sources

Grant Funds

Supplies and Materials Food Food Grants Donated Meals Postage Supplies Telephone and Internet Subtotal 12,990 2,557 95,745 0 17,494 5,255 $134,041 12,990 2,557 95,745 4,236 27,242 6,308 $149,078 0 0 0 0 1,166 0 $1,166

Other Insurance Advertising Occupancy Printing Special Events Other In-kind Expenses Subtotal 14,234 0 72,479 1,593 0 29,494 $117,800 13,285 1,220 67,647 22,771 7,684 29,494 $142,101 949 0 4,832 106 0 0 $5,887

$720,019 Indirect Cost (at 8%) TOTAL PROJECT COST $57,602 $777,620

$28,655 $2,292 $30,948

Plan of Action The objective of this grant proposal is to provide Safe Harbor of Chester County with the means to extend their hours of operation by two full days per week. To reach the goal of starting this program by November 2012, funding is needed to pay wages for personnel and other costs. The period of additional hours of operation would span from November 1st, 2012 to March 1st, 2013. In order to accomplish the objective, a portion of the funds will be allocated to the following three categories of expenses: personnel wages, supplies and materials, and other costs. Extending the operational hours of Safe Harbor will involve additional personnel for supervision and safety purposes. In order to implement the Winter Program all shelter staff employees will receive a 7% annual increase in working hours. There will be a budget increase of $21,602 to account for the extended working hours of the nine employees involved in the Winter Program. While food services are a large portion of Safe Harbors budget it would not affect the Winter Programs budget. While volunteers receive no salary if the hours were extended, more volunteer hours would have to be secured. No outside consultants would be required to complete this project; therefore, no grant funds would be allocated. If Safe Harbor were to extend the days of operation for the winter months, utilities not normally used during this time would result in additional costs. Supplementary hours of operation of the shelter would result in an excess of other costs, such as insurance and occupancy expenses. The starting date of the extended hours would be the first weekend of November and all the preliminary planning would be completed by this point so that the shelter would be operational for the extended hours. The following timeline was constructed in order to illustrate how Safe Harbor of Chester County will set about accomplishing the objectives of the Winter Program. First, Safe Harbor of Chester County will focus on securing the staffing throughout September of 2012 that will be required to implement impending project. In September and October there will also be a focus on advertising to the current

residents and throughout Chester County about the extended services the Winter Program will offer. Implementation of the Winter Program will commence November 1, 2012 and run until March 1, 2013. The Evaluation Report will be completed within three months of the end of the Winter Program (aka June 1, 2013). The evaluation will include recording weather information, conducting health surveys, and doing medical data comparisons. The medical data will be attained from Chester County Hospital and assessed in accordance with medical data from previous years when the Winter Program did not exists and the time during which it is conducted. The assessment process is described in detail in the Evaluation section. Overall, the preparations for and implementation of the Winter Program will span from September 2012 through June 2013. 2012 12 Sept Oct Staffing Advertising Program Implementation Evaluation - Weather - Health surveys and interviews - Medical data comparison 12 Nov 12 Dec 2013 13 Jan Feb 13 13 13 March April May 13 June 13 July 13 Aug

Evaluation In order to compare the Winter Program projects results with the proposed initial objective, Safe Harbor will conduct both formative and summative internal evaluations. Safe Harbor chooses to perform an internal evaluation because of the experience and familiarity of staff members and residents with the actual effectiveness and idiosyncrasies of the project. Statistical data retrieved from the local Chester County Hospital indicating the number of homeless people served by the hospital during the winter months of 2011-2012 will be used as a benchmark, or point of comparison for the following winter season. In addition, to produce a sound longitudinal study, staff and participant anecdotal comments related to the challenges of the winter season prior to implementing the project will be compared with stories and opinions retrieved just before the project concludes in March 2013. In both instances, Safe Harbor will conduct an informal focus group to discuss the hardships residents face of have faced. To produce a formative evaluation, a full-time staff member of Safe Harbor will take daily notes on the number of residents served and the demographic diversity of such residents during the determined months of the Winter Program project. This individual will also document unforeseen events such as unplanned closures, emergency situations, and any event where the shelter was forced to turn people away. This information could help Safe Harbor improve the Winter Program. Additionally, in collaboration with the local college, West Chester University of Pennsylvania, Safe Harbor will retrieve statistical, reliable data on the daily weather conditions from November 1, 2012 to March 1, 2013 from members of the Environmental Sciences Department. The Departments advanced tools and technology will strengthen the detailed accounts of such data; furthermore, this collaboration will strengthen efforts and communication between the university and Safe Harbor, positively positioning the opportunity for continued cooperation.

To evaluate whether the residents stayed or became healthy, a program director from Safe Harbor will disseminate opinion surveys and conduct various interviews with residents served. A fulltime staff member will keep detailed notes on personal care product use, including tissues, over-thecounter medication, and other common health remedies to track any significant increase or decline of use. Additionally, statistics and medical health assessments will be compared to data from the previous year to identify a trend. The assessments will be part of another collaboration. Currently, Safe Harbor is working towards acquiring routine medical check-ups for its residents, to be performed by a licensed medical or nurse practitioner. In conjunction with this project, the medical professional will be required to carry out this component of the Evaluation. According to assessment findings and in comparison with previous data, if the number of deaths or distressing medical issues related to harsh winter weather decreases, the project could be determined a success. All assessments should be completed and published within three months after the determined end of the Winter Program. The grantor will receive a copy of completed evaluation results, accompanied by a narrative. The report will include a list of actual additional hours and dates Safe Harbor applied the Winter Program. In addition, the results can be posted to the Safe Harbor webpage, and/or disseminated to community shelters in other counties where there appears potential for replication of results.

Conclusion In conclusion, Safe Harbor of Chester County asks for $30,948 for our Winter Program to keep the shelter open for extended hours from November 1st, 2012 to March 1st, 2013. With the current state of the economy, the problem of homelessness is prevalent in even the wealthiest areas, such as Chester County. Housing these individuals, specifically with our Winter Program, is critical to the health and well being of each resident. Your grant will go to supplying food, staff, and utilities to keep the shelter open when the homeless need help most.

References Homeless Mentally Ill Facts, Figures and Anecdotes- MENTAL ILLNESS POLICY ORG.. (n.d.). MENTAL ILLNESS POLICY ORG.. Retrieved September 22, 2011, from http:// mentalillnesspolicy.org/consequences/homeless-mentally-ill.html J. Hilliker, personal communication, October 29, 2011 National Coalition for the Homeless. (n.d.). National Coalition for the Homeless. Retrieved September 20, 2011, from http://www.nationalhomeless.org/ Profile on Homelessness, 2010. Chester County Department of Community Developement. Retrieved October 25, 2011, from http://dsf.chesco.org/ccdcd/lib/ccdcd/2011/ homeless_profile.pdf Trevor's Campaign for the Homeless, 2011. Trevor's Campaign for the Homeless. Retrieved September 20, 2011, from http://www.trevorscampaign.org