Women's Ministries

Program Mission Statement:

(self-reported)

To be a Christ-based program teaching the principles and truths of the Bible. To offer support for the physical, emotional and spiritual needs of all the women and children who come to us for assistance regardless of race, color or creed.

Score Summary

Overall Score:	Better
Practice Principles:	Excellent
Faith Related Elements:	Excellent
Outcome Measures:	Good
Change Process:	Better

Program Facts

• Paid (FTE) Staff Working: 4
• Program Participants Last Year: 494
• Meets about 25 time(s) with each participant per month
• Participants remain in the program for 9 months

Board Activities

Funding Overview

(self-reported)

	This Program	This Organization
Organization Budget: $2,441,604 Program Budget: $184,763
Foundation Grants	2%	10%
Government Grants/Contracts	0%	0%
Individual Gifts	60%	48%
Business/Corporate Gifts	0%	1%
Congregation/Denominational Gifts	2%	4%
Dues/Fees/Income	6%	2%
Other	30%	35%
	Average Program Funding From All Samaritan Programs	Average Organization Funding From All Samaritan Organizations
The next charts display the average funding sources for all programs currently in the Samaritan Guide for your comparison. Average Organization Budget: $3,820,907 Average Program Budget: $417,789
Foundation Grants	19%	18%
Government Grants/Contracts	6%	8%
Individual Gifts	37%	33%
Business/Corporate Gifts	9%	8%
Congregation/Denominational Gifts	10%	10%
Dues/Fees/Income	8%	9%
Other	9%	11%

It is important to maintain diverse income sources for your programs and for your oganization as a whole. Doing so provides long-term financial stability to your organizations and programs. It is also important to note that government funding often comes with stipulations and restrictions. More information is available in the Raising Resources Toolkit - pdf.

Score Details

Program Focus
Program Mission	Clarity and specificity of the program's mission statement.	Good
Target Population	Clarity and specificity of the programs target clientele.	Excellent
Eligibility Criteria	Clarity and specificity of the program's eligibility criteria.	Good
Program Requirements	Well defined requirements for client participation.	Excellent
Referrals From Other Organizations	Do other organizations recommend this program to their clientele.	Excellent
Referrals to Other Organizations	Does this program recommend other programs to their clients?	Excellent
Volunteer to Staff Ratio	Are volunteers effectively incorporated into the program?	Good
Past Participant Recruiting	Are past program participants recruited as volunteers?	Excellent
Evaluation and Practice Princples
Practice Principles	How supports and resources are provided to increase outcomes.	Excellent
Outcome Measurement	The ability to measure stated program outcomes.	Good
Change Process	Specific and measurable statement of the program's goals.	Better
Faith Related Elements	Integration of faith related elements.	Excellent
Measurement Frequency	Frequency of measuring client outcomes.	Excellent
Program Evaluation	Level of the budget allocated to measuring client outcomes.	Good
Institutional Stability
Organization Age	A measure of the organization's durability.	Excellent
Board Oversight	How involved in the program are the members of its board?	Excellent
Program Duration	Average duration of a clients participation with a program.	Good
Finances
Budget Diffusion	Diversity of the programs funding sources.	Good
Government Funding	Does this program accept little or no government funding?	Excellent

Program Score Details

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Outcomes & Measures:

(self-reported)

Scoring for this section is based on the organizations ability to provide at least three clear and specific outcomes with corresponding measures in which a relationship is shown between outcomes and measures.

Outcome 1: Spiritual and Emotional Maturity

Measure Used:
All of the women who come to the Shelter are extremely dysfunctional spiritually and emotionally. The women who choose to join our New Creation program must attend regular Bible studies, weekly classes, and our new Biblical Principles for Living class, turn in individualized homework dealing with specific issues in their lives, share testimony times and attend church regularly. The women must also have a mentor from a local church.

By reaching out and helping each woman deal with their problems and look at their heart issues they are able to break the cycle of dysfunction and become productive citizens in their home life and society again.

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Outcome 2: 30-35% of the women who come to the Shelter have no identification

Measure Used:
We are still seeing more and women who come to us without identification or self-worth. Besides a safe place to stay, we are helping them to be re-established by assisting them in obtaining their identification, Social Security card or Birth Certificate. In order for them to receive welfare or help from many agencies or even begin a job search, they need their identification. This is the first step in helping them to feel like they are themselves again.

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Outcome 3: Aid in finding and maintaining a job

Measure Used:
Once a woman has received her identification, she can begin a job search. Through another agency, clients are sent to job training classes. 90-95% of the women obtain jobs and must maintain them in order to be considered being placed in our long-term program. Each woman is checked each day through a daily accomplishment sheet. Our main concern if for the welfare of each woman (and child) that comes through our program and we need to make sure that she is capable of handling her daily stresses and working toward becoming a productive citizen.

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Outcome 4: Daily Living Skills

Measure Used:
The clients are given daily chores and have a checklist of disciplines that are to be completed to remain in the program. Last year we began a “Biblical Principles for Living” class which is a mandatory for the women in our program.

We also work with local organizations that provide parent training for the women, as well as a support group to help the women with parenting problems. This is just one example of collaborating with our local agencies to help us teach life skills to our clients.

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Outcome 5: Financial Independence

Measure Used:
A savings account is set-up with a bank and the women in the New Creation program pay a small program fee to the Mission. When their program is completed ½ of the money is given back to allow them to set up their own household. By this time, they have learned to budget their money and have taken classes in money management. Our goal is to really encourage each woman to realize that they are a gift from God and that they can make it on their own and have a lot to offer our community!

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Change Process:

(self-reported)

Scoring for this section is based on the organizations ability to provide clear, measurable, client-focused stages of change based on participant participation.

In 2007 our Women's Shelter began major renovations in order to accommodate 90 women and children (up from 20). Due to unforeseen circumstances, we are still not complete. Because of this we had to turn almost 800 women and children away due to lack of space. However, through all of that we were still able to serve 6,042 meals, see 21 commitments to Christ and 2, 357 women attend Bible Studies.

By opening our doors to just the essentials, like food, clothing and shelter, we are opening our hearts and sharing the love of Jesus to women and children who are afraid of life. Many are coming to us because of court orders or a fresh start on life from poor choices they have made. We are here to help them choose a different life-style.

By offering the New Creation program, they are learning to reinforce a healthy and interdependent life (utilizing the community, churches and mentors). Our new “Biblical Principles for Living” class teaches the women practical principles to help them face, deal and endure any problem that comes into their life. We strive to get at the heart issues of their problems so when our clients are finished with the program, they have stabilized their financial futures, become healthy self-supporting members of the community, and built relationships within the Christian community, but most of all — they have learned to love themselves as Christ loves them.

Program Score - Historical Review

Note: Significant decreases in scores may be the result of incomplete data in a Samaritan Award application.

End Notes

Incomplete Applications

Significant decreases in certain scores may indicate failure to comprehensively complete certain sections of the Samaritan Award application. Please be sure to fill out every question in the Samaritan Award application.

Relative Scoring

Total program scores are partially computed against other programs from within the same pool of applications and so are not cumulative.

Additional Reference Material

More information on scoring and methodology may be found on the Samaritan Guide and Award website.

Acton Institute Relationship

The Samaritan Guide and Samaritan Award are projects run by the Acton Institute. Inclusion in the Guide does not signify endorsement by the Acton Institute. More information on why the Acton Institute runs this project is available online.