Community and History
In the Bronx, you can see incredible diversity: not just in culture and language but also in stories, circumstance and need. The Bronx is also a community which has suffered from cycles of poverty for a number of generations. This puts our neighbors at greater risk for a host of issues, including food and housing insecurity, disadvantages in accessing employment and education, and poor medical and mental health outcomes.
In 1982, a group of people started a soup kitchen in the Bronx. Over the years it has grown into an esteemed Bronx institution where each client is seen as a valued member of a loving community, deserving not only healthy food but also the support needed to move from crisis to stability and ultimately self-sufficiency.
Approach
According to POTS’ Theory of Change, individuals will make the greatest and most-sustained progress toward stability and self-sufficiency if they are provided access to the resources, programs, and services needed to make progress in five related stability-creating areas:
Theory of Change
Supporting educational aspirations for clients and their children increases their ability to achieve and maintain stability and self-sufficiency.
Providing access to health care and preventative services stabilizes health concerns and improves clients’ quality of life.
Ensuring uninterrupted access to hygiene, grooming, and communication tools is essential to providing a stable and functioning life for our clients.
Maintaining safe and stable housing provides clients’ ad their families’ safety, peace of mind, and pathways to move forward.
Increasing financial assets including income, public benefits, food, clothing, and other material goods ensures that clients have the resources to support their stability.
POTS measures its own success by how well we help each client reach increased stability in all of these areas. Our Stability Index establishes standards for individual progress in each area. We measure both individual achievement and community achievement in determining how well we’ve done each year in achieving our mission and how we can do even better.
Part of the Solution programs are thoughtfully designed to create enduring stability for all the members of our community. We have three programmatic pillars:
- Emergency Food Programs, which consist of a daily nutritionally-balanced lunch from our Community Dining Room, and a monthly supply of fresh groceries from our Pantry; More Information
- Day-to-Day Services which include clothing, a hot shower, a haircut, and medical and dental services; More Information
- Next-Step Services, which include case management and social services, plus legal, educational, workforce development, and mentoring programs. More Information
Impact
Approximately one-third of Bronx residents are currently living below the poverty line and this year alone, POTS will help close to 40,000 people, including 12,000 children, with a multitude of needs.
POTS’ services address the varying issues and complexities that accompany poverty by helping clients find stability across areas such as financial wellbeing, health, education, housing and day-to-day needs. By providing comprehensive and personalized support to our clients, we are able to address their unique circumstances and help navigate a pathway forward.
In 2020, POTS maintained its commitment to addressing the emergent needs of the community and providing consistent services to clients in need throughout the COVID-19 pandemic.
- POTS’ Emergency Food Programs provided 2,301,307 total meals to over 12,000 households in 2020, more than doubling what was distributed in 2019.
- Through POTS’ Day to Day Services, 1,100 people were helped by the mail facilities and the shower program was re-introduced in October, 2020 after a temporary suspension due to the pandemic.
- POTS’ Legal Clinic prevented 180 evictions despite extended eviction moratoria which slowed the evictions process and pandemic-restricted ability to conduct legal services.
- POTS’ general case management team helped over 14,000 clients access more than $7,000,000 in public benefits, such as SNAP benefits and public assistance.
- While unemployment rates skyrocketed, POTS helped to place 41 people in full and part-time employment during the pandemic and continues to help clients with long-term goals around employment. Additionally, the Workforce Development team conducted 219 client assessments and connected 90 people to employment training.
- POTS’ social services coordinator has assisted 60 clients seeking mental health support, including placing 8 formerly homeless, mentally-ill clients in supportive housing.
- POTS’ Next Step Services team distributed over $400,000 in direct emergency assistance to over 600 households who have found themselves in danger of eviction, electrical turnoff, facing lost employment, without Unemployment Insurance benefits, lacking the resources for remote schooling, or otherwise in financial need.
- POTS distributed more than 90,000 masks and 17,000 hand sanitizers to clients who could not afford to purchase hygiene and sanitation products for themselves.