OUR TARGET

Hearts of Gold (HoG) works to improve the lives of 450+ children and 375+ mothers annually at three Manhattan shelters: Icahn House East, LLC; Semiperm, created by Settlement Housing Fund; and Nazareth Housing.  Sadly, half of the women and children at these shelters are victims of domestic violence, some have additional children in foster or kin care, and others spent their own lives in foster care.  The mothers have, on average, a 10th grade high school education and are at a significant disadvantage in the workplace.  Approximately 90% of all shelter residents (including the mothers and children we serve) are Black or Latino, far greater than the 53% representation of those ethnicities in New York City.

Reducing homelessness is not simply a matter of providing housing.  In order to have significant impact, we must address the core problems of homelessness, which include (but are not limited to) disintegration of extended families, domestic violence, joblessness and a lack of both education and basic life skills.  Though the city provides basic “shelter” and services, resources are scarce to non-existent for “quality of life” issues such as these. HoG addresses these issues by enhancing the lives of homeless mothers and their children.  We empower them as they advance from homelessness to the shelters to permanent housing.  We also enhance the physical facilities in which they live. 

It is a modest goal to simply improve environmental conditions; it is much more difficult to repair the shattered lives of families.  This is the ultimate goal of HoG.  We step in and replace some of the sadness with joy, and replace some of the stress with happiness.  We provide a trusting relationship, with HoG serving as a surrogate “family” to hundreds of New York’s most needy.  HoG never abandons these mothers and children when they move to permanent housing; we elevate those who still need us to alumni family status, and they remain entitled to many of the benefits afforded our shelter families and more.  We move with the times, identifying emerging problems at our three adopted shelters and leveraging our organizational capacity to respond rapidly with help.  Immediacy is our motto.

1. CAUSES FOR CELEBRATION

2. EMPOWERMENT = ACHIEVEMENT!

3. WORKING IT

4. HOMEWARD BOUND