Lifebridge North Shore

Jason Etheridge, Executive Director has grown Lifebridge from a $1 million organization to close to $3 million. His vision for a regional approach to homelessness led to Lifebridge’s merger in 2016 with River House (Beverly, MA), a men’s shelter and then an acquisition in 2018 of the Grace Center (Gloucester, MA) which is a day resource center.  He led the restructuring of staff, resources, and programmatic offerings to improve services resulting in increased assistance to homeless men & women and those seeking a safe environment. Jason has an extensive background of over ten years in fundraising including consulting, capital campaigns, major gifts and corporate philanthropy.

Lifebridge North Shore is committed to serving individuals in need including people who recently transitioned out of homelessness, those in need of day services, and those homeless working to return lives of independence and self-sufficiency.

As an organization with locations in Salem, Beverly and Gloucester, Lifebridge provides services to more than 400 unduplicated individuals each day.

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Lifebridge’s project is to create a regional center where community partners would work together to serve the homeless population.  This “hub” would centralize services both physically at one location, as well with case management, supportive programs and tracking using sophisticated technology. Lifebridge was instrumental in creating a quarantine site at the start of the pandemic (March, 2020) where we brought regional organizations together.  In an effort to continue to serve the homeless moving forward, a regional response would be vital.

Lifebridge North Shore’s mission is to offer men and women the opportunities they need to end their homelessness. We believe the solution to homelessness is through meeting people “where they are at,” one person at a time. Lifebridge offers housing with supportive services, personal and income development, and stability in physical and mental health.

We provide our clients the tools and life skills to transition to permanent housing and self-sufficiency. Our supportive programs have been transformative for many of our clients because they give opportunity to engage in our services, learn new skill sets, and uncover new talents.

According to 2019 statistics by the National Alliance To End Homelessness, there were 396,045 individuals experiencing homeless in the United States.  The number of people in Massachusetts remains very high with over 20,068 homeless individuals in the state (Massachusetts Coalition for the Homeless, January 2018).

Each client has a different story as to why they became homeless. We see individuals who struggle with addiction and mental illness. Clients also include Veterans, victims of domestic violence, change in living situation due to losing a partner and young people who come out as gay, lesbian, or transgender who do not have a home. 

www.lifebridgenorthshore.org

Lifebridge’s proposed project of a regional center would include organizations working together to serve the homeless population. This would include the Cities of Salem, Beverly, Gloucester and Lynn, Harborlight Community Partners, North Shore Community Health, Healthy Streets Outreach Program, Lynn Community Health, Action Inc. North Shore Medical Center, and the Northeast Homeland Security Regional Advisory Council (NERAC) and local police departments.

During this COVID-19 crisis, it is evident there is a disconnection between providers with a lack of communication and working together.  As a regional leader, Lifebridge North Shore played an integral role to establish a quarantine site which involved collaboration.

With a centralized approach within one facility, we would offer the following:

Shelter – offering a safe environment including beds and meals

Case Management – staff responsible for being a dedicated partner in each client’s journey to self-sufficiency

Supportive Services – critical to overcoming hurdles and aid in financial, physical/mental health, legal, recovery, educational, and employment goals

Client Tracking – systemic way using technology to track homeless individuals

Several organizations use the Homeless Management Information System (HMIS) to collect client data, however currently the information is only used for one particular organization.

The demographic population that we serve are homeless and formerly homeless (through our permanent supportive housing on our campus) men (60%) and women (40%) ranging in age from 18 years old to 65 years old on the North Shore of Boston.

Lifebridge’s proposed project is a way to bring regional partners together to serve a vulnerable group of people. Currently shelter systems are operating separately and not working collaboratively. Information can get lost over time as it relates to health providers and services. We are proposing a solution to have agencies work together in a novel way to meet the needs of the homeless.  With the current situation of the pandemic and its long term effects, we anticipate needs of the homeless will certainly increase.

Needs will address:

Safe place to sleep

Source for food when hungry

Resources for addiction, housing and employment

Access to medical advice

Our project is aligned with The Elevate Prize as it is an innovative idea to have a central “hub” serving the homeless population with vital communication systems and technology.  Funding and expertise from The Elevate Prize would be an extraordinary gift to help those in need in our community.

Jason Etheridge has served as Lifebridge’s Executive Director for over seven years.  Under his leadership, Lifebridge’s approach to ending homeless became regional when we acquired two other organizations serving the same clients by merging with River House in 2016 and bringing the Grace Center under our umbrella in 2018.  With this regional span, we went through a re-branding by changing our organizational name to Lifebridge North Shore.

The proposed concept of one central “hub” came from our recent experience where Lifebridge led and managed a regional response to address needs due to the COVID pandemic.

Lifebridge is committed to helping the homeless and underserved in our communities through a variety of services.  We measure success once our clients obtain permanent housing, along with personal achievements for self sufficiency and independence. Our organization is genuinely motivated by the individuals who have been able to change their lives.   

The Lifebridge North Shore impact includes:

•             100 people accessing our two day resource centers daily in Salem and Gloucester

•             80 emergency shelter beds in Salem and Beverly

•             88 recently housed individuals where we continue to offer supportive services

•             Over 200 community meals every day

Our organization experiences adversity due to the nature of those we serve. There are false perceptions in society where people do not fully understand why homelessness exists and how to solve it. Lifebridge puts an emphasis on education and engagement to help people better understand our work and impact. We de-mystify stereotypes of the homeless by bringing people to our locations for visits to see exactly how we serve our clients. A visitor to one of our locations may see a Community Meal being served, a program being taught or a client working on a computer to do a job search.

Lifebridge has endured challenges when working with other agencies where “political” or specific interests become the focus.  We have found it is imperative to break down responsibilities for all involved and communication is paramount in achieving goals. 

As Executive Director, Jason demonstrated strong leadership and vision in bringing two organizations, River House (Beverly, MA) and Grace Center (Gloucester, MA) under the Lifebridge umbrella in 2016 and again in 2018. This involved board member integration, operations, political relations, and community awareness. 

Jason continues to serve as a role model to staff, as well as to clients. He sees potential in people and builds relationships.  He saw potential in Jeron Reddick, initially one of our overnight staff. Jason made a point to get to know Jeron and learn about his interest in social work. Jeron experienced personal challenges growing up in a tough neighborhood where drugs and gangs were prevalent. He knew education would be a way to move beyond those streets and wanted to make a difference in his community.  He regularly talked with Jason about his goals and completed his undergraduate degree at Salem State University in May, 2019 while working at Lifebridge. During this time, Jeron was promoted to case manager where he works with clients who were formerly homeless to ensure they stay housed.  Jason continues to mentor Jeron and provide insight as he pursues goals to be a director in the non profit sector.

Our proposed project of a regional approach to helping the homeless in a centralized way is innovative as it strives to connect agencies and partners to ultimately help such a vulnerable group of women and men. This has not been done before as most organizations work independently on their own.

The mission and impact of Lifebridge North Shore is truly about making a difference in humanity to help others. We feel strongly a regional approach connecting agencies will have a long lasting effect as it relates to client stability, tracking, communication, employment, and housing.

Since this would be a completely new project, we currently do not have data, however we do know there would be thousands of homeless individuals yearly within our geographic area that would benefit from streamlined systems and management.

Goals include:

-          Identify all stakeholders and then establishing roles and expectations

-          Determine key staff who will lead and manage

-          Understand critical components to best serve homeless population

-          Create technology for tracking and communication

Key barriers will be continued funding and managing across various agencies.

Lifebridge believes communication would be paramount in working with other organizations. The Elevate Prize funding would create a foundation to start this project.  It would be our hope that we continue to acquire funding from other grant sources, as well as individual donors and corporations who would see the value and join in to support.

Harborlight Community Partners, The Salem Food Pantry, North Shore YMCA, Healthy Streets Outreach Program, Haven Project, North Shore Career Center, Police Assisted Addiction & Recovery Initiative, North Shore Community Health, Salem Police Department Community Impact Unit (CIU).  Lifebridge North Shore works with these partners on client safety, food insecurity, addiction, employment and housing.

According to the National Alliance to End Homelessness, “a chronically homeless person costs the tax payer an average of $35,578 per year. Costs on average are reduced by 49.5% when they are placed in supportive housing. Supportive housing costs on average $12,800, making the net savings roughly $4,800 per year.”

Our proposal of a central resource would greatly impact community costs, as well as be a vital system to help those we serve. We would take the Lifebridge model of wrapping case management and services around a homeless individual to help them secure permanent supportive housing within our proposed “hub” model.

Lifebridge is just beginning to explore funding options for this proposed project. We would rely on donations and grants for continued support of this proposed project. We have a development office with two staff members where we raise over $600,000 in philanthropy in fiscal year 2020 from individuals, businesses, grants and events. 

Lifebridge North Shore dba The Salem Mission Inc. is a 501(c)3 organization

Federal Tax ID# 20-4539306

Lifebridge is just beginning to explore funding options for this proposed project. We anticipate annual grant funding would need to be around $500,000. We would rely on donations and grants for continued support of this proposed project.

Estimated yearly expenses for proposed project:

Technology/Communications - $100,000

Staffing of 2 Case Managers, Director, & Support Staff - $250,000

Supportive Services - $100,000

Facility (lease space) - $50,000

Those who are homeless have so many barriers to overcome. As an organization, we feel that we can truly help them if we have the systems and resources across agencies. A regional response where partners are communicating and information/tracking is occurring will better help the vulnerable population we serve. 

Philanthropy is essential to our work as a growing and regional non profit.  We rely on our Board Members and advisors as we think and plan strategic goals.

We would like to continue partnerships around affordable housing. We currently have Harborlight Community Partners as a significant partner and hope to grow more as housing is such an important component in helping the homeless.