Jasmine (name changed for privacy) connected with HopePHL's Youth Emergency Shelter (YES) as a teenager after a turbulent childhood. Her mother lost custody of her children when Jasmine was just seven years old, leading her to be separated from her siblings and placed in foster care. She bounced between 14 different foster homes before finding stability at YES during high school.

During her six months at YES, Jasmine reengaged and graduated from high school. With the guidance and support of her caseworker and dedicated shelter staff, Jasmine developed her social, emotional and life skills. She learned to advocate for herself and take control of her future.

Today, Jasmine is in her early thirties and uses her voice to impact others. She’s launching a nonprofit to serve youth in the foster care system—children who, like her, need the type of safety, stability, and opportunity that HopePHL provides. She recently revisited YES to share her story with the youth residents and offer hope for what their lives can become:

“My stay at YES offered what I needed to live my own life. Participate. Ask for what you need. These challenges feel overwhelming, but they are not forever.”

Learn more about the YES shelter here.

A Mission to Strengthen Our Neighborhoods

Nissim Lebovits, founder of Clean & Green Philly, presenting at the first fall workshop series at HopePHL

HopePHL has partnered with the Clean & Green Philly (C&GP) team to host a fall workshop series to help community groups understand how to use their website for their own needs. The first of these took place in November at HopePHL. This partnership began after Clean & Green Philly founder Nissim Lebovits was voted the winner of a community Pitch Contest we hosted in September, the prize being capacity building services with the HopePHL team.

Clean & Green Philly is a non-profit founded in 2022 by Nissim Lebovits. The organization now has more than thirty volunteers, from community advocates to land use policy experts and web developers. Their team uses data and technology to help empower residents, non-profit organizations, and government stakeholders to find and prioritize vacant properties for interventions, understand how to transform the properties they've identified, and connect users to resources that can support them to restore vacant land and improve quality of life in their neighborhoods.

As for their future goals, Nissim has a vision. "We hope to build collaboration among the various Philadelphia stakeholders who work on vacant property and offer direct capacity support to community groups seeking to improve quality of life in their neighborhoods through vacant property interventions," he said.

To get involved or learn more, visit cleanandgreenphilly.org.

Board Member Spotlight: Trina Smith

Meet Trina Smith, who first joined the HopePHL board in 2015 and became board chair June 2024!

Job Title: Director at PFM Financial Advisors LLC

Best leadership advice ever received? Getting buy-in to your vision is crucial if you want to get the best from the people you work with.

Why you chose to get involved with HopePHL: I love the comprehensive services HopePHL provides. It’s not just a meal, it’s a place to stay and resources to help empower them to build a great life.

What have you learned from being a HopePHL board member so far? Organizations can change and adapt to new circumstances, and they have to be flexible in order to thrive.

What you enjoy the most about this time of year: My birthday! I also love the festivals that happen this time of year.

Renewed Funding for Students Experiencing Homelessness

On Tuesday, October 29 HopePHL joined Valley Youth House, Eddie’s House, and other advocates at City Hall as Isaiah Thomas, Councilmember At-Large and Chair of City Council’s Education Committee, joined Dr. Tony B. Watlington, Sr. the School District of Philadelphia’s superintendent to announce an additional $2.3 million in funding to support programs that work in schools to identify and serve students experiencing homelessness. According to School District of Philadelphia data, there are 10,000 students experiencing homelessness in the district.

In November, representatives of HopePHL traveled to Harrisburg, PA to further increase awareness of youth experiencing homelessness. Presenting an overview of our Thrive program and its accomplishments thus far and discussing the importance of advocating for preventative policy and action.

Thanks to the renewal funding from School District of Philadelphia, with the support of City Council, we are now able to continue services until June 30, 2025. And we will continue to work together with Valley Youth House and Eddie’s House to secure funding beyond this school year to support the collaboration

Read the full recap here.

We Want To Hear From You!

We are gathering insights from our community and would greatly appreciate your participation in the following Brand Reputation survey. Your feedback is essential to us as we strive to improve our services and strengthen our impact.

This should take about 10 minutes and all responses are confidential.

Thank you for your continued support and commitment to our mission!

Click here to take the survey.