Union Rescue Mission
The way home
Programs and results
What we aim to solve
Los Angeles is in the middle of an epidemic of homelessness that is unfolding as rents skyrocket, benefits are squeezed, and more individuals and families are one crisis away from being forced to the streets. In 2020, the Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority (LAHSA) captured the scale of the crisis in its annual homelessness count, including the following key facts: • 66,436 people in 2020 were experiencing homelessness in Los Angeles County, a 12.7% increase over 2019 • 72% of people experiencing homelessness are unsheltered • There has been a 45.7% increase in the number of families experiencing homelessness • There has been an 20% in seniors experiencing homelessness. • There has been a 32% increase in the number of deaths of people experiencing homelessness. Union Rescue Mission is committed to ending homelessness for all - and maintains a commitment to never turn away a woman, child, or family.
Our programs
What are the organization's current programs, how do they measure success, and who do the programs serve?
Life Transformation Program
A residential transitional living and recovery program focused on helping broken men to build new lives. Grounded on a solid biblical foundation, the program addresses the root cause of homelessness and offers lasting solutions to men as they move out of addiction and despair and back in the community as productive members of society.
Hope Gardens Family Center
A transitional housing program for women and children, Hope Gardens provides housing and comprehensive services for single mothers and their children who were previously experiencing homelessness. Services include: case management, access to medical care, counseling, job training, adult education, 12-step group support meetings; a nursery, pre-school, and after school program onsite. Mothers can live at Hope Gardens for up to two years to help them overcome challenges, become self-sufficient and move into housing.
Gateway Shelter and Services
Providing for the basic emergency needs of men and women experiencing homelessness: food, clean clothing, shelter, personal hygiene, mail/phone service, safety, spiritual encouragement, a Learning Center, and individual counseling/assessment. Four clinics are also offered on-site addressing legal, physical health, mental health, and dental needs.
Permanent Supportive Housing for Senior Women
Permanent housing and services for senior women who have previously experienced homelessness. This program is located at Hope Gardens Family Center.
Emergency Family Program
This programs provides housing and access to services for families experiencing homelessness. Operated out of our downtown shelter located on Skid Row, families can find emergency housing and access to meals, medical care and case management services to help them transition back into housing. It is now the primary referral program for city-wide agencies working with families experiencing homelessness in Los Angeles County. It is also the only shelter located on Skid Row that serves families.
Where we work
External reviews

Photos
Videos
Our results
How does this organization measure their results? It's a hard question but an important one.
Number of bed nights (nights spent in shelter)
This metric is no longer tracked.Totals By Year
Population(s) Served
Homeless people
Type of Metric
Output - describing our activities and reach
Direction of Success
Increasing
Number of people using homeless shelters per week
This metric is no longer tracked.Totals By Year
Population(s) Served
Homeless people, Adults
Type of Metric
Output - describing our activities and reach
Direction of Success
Increasing
Context Notes
This number includes individuals served through URM's residential programs. If we include day guests and others from the community, URM serves more than 5,000 individuals annually.
Number of meals served or provided
This metric is no longer tracked.Totals By Year
Population(s) Served
Homeless people
Type of Metric
Outcome - describing the effects on people or issues
Direction of Success
Holding steady
Number of families served
This metric is no longer tracked.Totals By Year
Population(s) Served
Single parents
Type of Metric
Outcome - describing the effects on people or issues
Direction of Success
Increasing
Context Notes
This number includes family members (adults and children) served through the downtown emergency family program and at Hope Gardens Family Center and at Angeles House.
Goals & Strategy
Reports and documents
Download strategic planLearn about the organization's key goals, strategies, capabilities, and progress.
Charting impact
Four powerful questions that require reflection about what really matters - results.
What is the organization aiming to accomplish?
Union Rescue Mission's (URM) main goal is life transformation - helping guests get healthy, find employment and housing.
This is achieved through provision of a comprehensive pipeline of services including: food and housing, case management, substance abuse prevention counseling, mental health and medical/dental care, education and learning assistance, job training and placement programs, life skills classes, children and youth programs, and assistance locating permanent housing. Working together, activities empower recovery and life transformation, impacting the lives of more than 5,000 individuals and families each year.
What are the organization's key strategies for making this happen?
Union Rescue Mission's array of holistic services include:
Emergency Services for individuals and families: The downtown Skid Row shelter provides emergency food and shelter and a first step towards recovery, health, jobs and housing for all populations experiencing homelessness. It is also the only emergency service program for families on Skid Row. In addition to basic needs, guests can access onsite services that help fuel life transformation including medical/dental and legal clinics, and case management and supportive services.
Gateway: The Gateway program is the next step towards recovery, providing single adult men and women with up to 30 days of services (food, shelter and supportive services) at a nominal daily fee of $7. After that, guests can decide if they want to stay on and participate in long-term recovery programs at no cost.
Life Transformation programs: Men can choose to participate in an intensive, 40 hour per week, 12-month recovery program. Activities center on helping guests overcome barriers that focus on their emotional, physical, financial and spiritual development.
Transitional Housing for families: URM provides transitional housing for families through Hope Gardens Family Center (opened in 2007) and Angeles House (open in March 2022). Both meet a critical need for transitional/bridge housing for families in LA County. At both sites, families can participate in a program of recovery that helps end homelessness.
Health Clinics: Unique healthcare partnerships provide access to onsite health care. These include a medical clinic (with Los Angeles Christian Healthcare Centers), a dental clinic (with USC School of Dentistry), and a mental health clinic (with Pepperdine University).
Learning Center: This provides access to education through educational, computer, ESL, GED, tutoring programs, and post-secondary education/vocational opportunities to help guests get back into the work force.
Jobs Program: This program helps guest prepare for, secure and maintain a job. Activities include apprenticeships, resume writing/job preparation/placement activities.
Thrift Store/Boutique: URM operates Thrift Store Boutiques in Covina and Whittier. Plans are to open a third one near Hope Gardens - to help provide jobs and a new source of revenue for URM.
What are the organization's capabilities for doing this?
For the last 130 years, Union Rescue Mission has grown to become the largest and most comprehensive outreach to men, women, children and families experiencing homelessness in LA County. It has a rich history of maintaining and innovating programs and working collaboratively to expand services to help end homelessness for all populations, with a priority on serving women and families. Key examples include:
1) During the 1980s, URM was one of the first organizations to start serving women at its downtown emergency shelter
2) In 2007, URM opened Hope Gardens Family Center to provide transitional housing for families and permanent supportive housing for seniors, located in Sylmar. Since it opened, Hope Gardens has helped end homelessness for more than 1400 single moms and their children.
3) In March 2022, URM will open Angeles House to provide transitional housing for families. Located in South Los Angeles, it will impact an estimated 125 families each year.
What have they accomplished so far and what's next?
• Union Rescue Mission is the only shelter on Skid Row serving families. Its emergency family program has become the primary place of referral from city-wide social service agencies and other non-profits for families experiencing homelessness in Los Angeles County.
• Union Rescue Mission's Hope Gardens Family Center has become a model for transitional housing for families. Hope Gardens has an 80% success rate for transitioning mothers with children who complete the program, into permanent housing. Modeled after Hope Gardens, Union Rescue Mission will open Angeles House, a second family housing program, in March 2022.
• Union Rescue Mission is the only organization on Skid Row that is committed to never turning away a woman or family. Currently, for the first time in its history, serving more women than men. It is the primary place from city-wide agencies for referral for families and is considered a leader in the fight to end homelessness for families in Los Angeles County.
• Union Rescue Mission is a member of key task forces and collaborations for ending homelessness in Los Angeles. Rev. Andy Bales, CEO, is a leading authority on the issues of homelessness in LA and is frequently turned to for advice and commentary from City officials, city agencies, and the media.
How we listen
Seeking feedback from people served makes programs more responsive and effective. Here’s how this organization is listening.
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How is your organization using feedback from the people you serve?
To identify and remedy poor client service experiences, To identify bright spots and enhance positive service experiences, To make fundamental changes to our programs and/or operations, To inform the development of new programs/projects, To identify where we are less inclusive or equitable across demographic groups, To strengthen relationships with the people we serve, To understand people's needs and how we can help them achieve their goals
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Which of the following feedback practices does your organization routinely carry out?
We collect feedback from the people we serve at least annually, We take steps to get feedback from marginalized or under-represented people, We aim to collect feedback from as many people we serve as possible, We take steps to ensure people feel comfortable being honest with us, We look for patterns in feedback based on people’s interactions with us (e.g., site, frequency of service, etc.), We engage the people who provide feedback in looking for ways we can improve in response, We act on the feedback we receive, We tell the people who gave us feedback how we acted on their feedback
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What challenges does the organization face when collecting feedback?
It is difficult to get the people we serve to respond to requests for feedback, The people we serve tell us they find data collection burdensome, Working with a transient population, makes it hard to follow up with guests once they have left.
Financials
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Operations
The people, governance practices, and partners that make the organization tick.
Connect with nonprofit leaders
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- Analyze a variety of pre-calculated financial metrics
- Access beautifully interactive analysis and comparison tools
- Compare nonprofit financials to similar organizations
Want to see how you can enhance your nonprofit research and unlock more insights? Learn More about GuideStar Pro.
Connect with nonprofit leaders
SubscribeBuild relationships with key people who manage and lead nonprofit organizations with GuideStar Pro. Try a low commitment monthly plan today.
- Analyze a variety of pre-calculated financial metrics
- Access beautifully interactive analysis and comparison tools
- Compare nonprofit financials to similar organizations
Want to see how you can enhance your nonprofit research and unlock more insights? Learn More about GuideStar Pro.
Union Rescue Mission
Board of directorsas of 03/08/2023
Ms Lisa Sloan
Jeffrey M. Hudson
CEO of George Elkins Mortgage Banking Company
David Wood
Retired. Former Senior Executive JP Morgan Chase
Karen Preston
CEO, Lizzie Driver Inc
Francisco Leon
Executive Vice President California Resources Corporation
Lisa M Sloan
Community Volunteer, Elder San Marino Community Church
Scott Watt
Watt Companies
Helen Williams
Dean of Pepperdine University School of Education & Psychology
Evan Taranta
Manager, Public Affairs Better Place Forests LA
Caryn Ryan
CEO MissionWell
Steve McKenzie
Founding and Managing Partner of Channel West Group
Jonathan Lee
Principal/Managing Director George Smith Partners
Uleses Henderson
Partner One LLP
Eugene Tsai, MD
Assistant Chief of Orthopedic Surgery Kaiser Permanente
Board leadership practices
GuideStar worked with BoardSource, the national leader in nonprofit board leadership and governance, to create this section.
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Board orientation and education
Does the board conduct a formal orientation for new board members and require all board members to sign a written agreement regarding their roles, responsibilities, and expectations? Yes -
CEO oversight
Has the board conducted a formal, written assessment of the chief executive within the past year ? Yes -
Ethics and transparency
Have the board and senior staff reviewed the conflict-of-interest policy and completed and signed disclosure statements in the past year? Yes -
Board composition
Does the board ensure an inclusive board member recruitment process that results in diversity of thought and leadership? Yes -
Board performance
Has the board conducted a formal, written self-assessment of its performance within the past three years? Yes
Organizational demographics
Who works and leads organizations that serve our diverse communities? Candid partnered with CHANGE Philanthropy on this demographic section.
Leadership
The organization's leader identifies as:
Race & ethnicity
Gender identity
Sexual orientation
No data
Disability
No data
Equity strategies
Last updated: 02/18/2022GuideStar partnered with Equity in the Center - an organization that works to shift mindsets, practices, and systems to increase racial equity - to create this section. Learn more
- We review compensation data across the organization (and by staff levels) to identify disparities by race.
- We ask team members to identify racial disparities in their programs and / or portfolios.
- We disaggregate data to adjust programming goals to keep pace with changing needs of the communities we support.
- We employ non-traditional ways of gathering feedback on programs and trainings, which may include interviews, roundtables, and external reviews with/by community stakeholders.
- We disaggregate data by demographics, including race, in every policy and program measured.
- We have long-term strategic plans and measurable goals for creating a culture such that one’s race identity has no influence on how they fare within the organization.
- We use a vetting process to identify vendors and partners that share our commitment to race equity.
- We have a promotion process that anticipates and mitigates implicit and explicit biases about people of color serving in leadership positions.
- We seek individuals from various race backgrounds for board and executive director/CEO positions within our organization.
- We have community representation at the board level, either on the board itself or through a community advisory board.
- We help senior leadership understand how to be inclusive leaders with learning approaches that emphasize reflection, iteration, and adaptability.
- We engage everyone, from the board to staff levels of the organization, in race equity work and ensure that individuals understand their roles in creating culture such that one’s race identity has no influence on how they fare within the organization.