Today we’d like to introduce you to John Hutchison.
Hi John, so excited to have you on the platform. So before we get into questions about your work-life, maybe you can bring our readers up to speed on your story and how you got to where you are today?
Since 1993, Project Hope for the Homeless has met the needs of men, women and children in Northeast Ohio who are homeless. During our history, we have served more than 10,000 people. We provide shelter, meals, care and guidance with support and referrals to address needs and restore our guests’ hope and renew their lives. By providing an achievable path and accountability to reach their goals, guests can break the cycle of homelessness and live an abundant life. Our guests have their basic needs met and then we are able to help guide them to work on the root of what has caused their homelessness. When basic needs are met, along with support and structure available, our guests are able to truly address their situation to become self-sufficient and live abundant lives.
In 2024, we provided 12,247 nights of shelter and care to 389 individuals and nearly 80% positively transitioned to their own housing, housing with safe friends or family, or entered a residential program, on average in 31 days. We anticipate serving more than 400 people in the shelter in 2025.
I’m sure it wasn’t obstacle-free, but would you say the journey has been fairly smooth so far?
It has not always been a smooth road. During our first years of operation, we did not have our own shelter building and relied on churches to provide shelter for our guests during the cold weather months. Over time, we were able to grow as an organization and acquired our own building in 2000, and were able to open year round in 2006. In 2013, we began a program called Families Moving Forward that serves families with children and they are able to stay in a separate wing of the children designed specifically to be family-friendly and meet their needs. At that time, we were able to double the size of the building through an expansion. We also navigated through the pandemic and faced many challenges during that time, but we never closed our doors to our guests. We continue to evolve and are looking for additional ways to serve our senior population, as it is the largest growing demographic group.
Thanks – so what else should our readers know about your work and what you’re currently focused on?
We are a 50-bed overnight shelter serving up to 38 adults and 12 guests in our family wing. As the only emergency homeless shelter in Lake County, Ohio, we are known for providing excellent service to our guests by treating each person with dignity, respect, and compassion in a trauma-informed way. Our guests transition positively at a high rate and become productive members of the community. This is achieved by the support of the community, which we rely on to help provide the resources we need to accomplish our mission.
We provide individuals and families from Northeast Ohio with a safe place to sleep, basic needs, plus care and guidance through 5 programs serving nearly 500 people through all of our programs in 2024.
Adult Shelter provides emergency shelter, meals, showers, linens, toiletries, clothing and laundry vouchers, workshops from 20+ partners, referrals to resources, and optional spiritual support.
Families Moving Forward (launched in 2013) operates in a separate wing to provide the same services as the adult shelter with consistency and routine in a child-friendly program to build resiliency one family at a time.
Aftercare supports former guests through case management, monthly meetings with educational topics, care packages, referrals, and links to housing subsidies. The program reduces recidivism and helps them succeed in remaining housed.
Senior Care Hope House is a 3-unit transitional housing program for seniors, providing subsidized or free rent for up to 90 days and case management.
Welcome Home provides eligible guests with household goods and small furnishings not available to them by other means for their new home.
Staff work with each guest to set up goals, discuss progress weekly, assist with identifying the root cause of homelessness, provide education on available resources and maintain accountability for progress.
In terms of your work and the industry, what are some of the changes you are expecting to see over the next five to ten years?
We see the demand for services continuing to increase during the next decade. As the population ages and with people living longer, we are noticing more senior citizens are requiring our services and we are looking for additional ways to help serve this growing demographic.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.projecthopeforthehomeless.org
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/projecthopeforthehomeless
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/projecthopeforthehomeless
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/project-hope-for-the-homeless
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLyQD29upTfVxeLJRqSVlYJVPbfm3BTMK6
