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Door of Hope

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Situated on the beautiful, 6-acre Door of Hope campus in San Diego are programs to transform lives for homeless mothers with children, pregnant/parenting teens and seniors. To learn more about The Salvation Army capital campaign to build 24 new apartments for homeless mothers and children,click here

The new and growing profile of homelessness is mothers with children. The Salvation Army offers a safe haven at the Transitional Living Center where familes may stay for one year while rebuidling their lives. With career counseling, the women focus on finding a job, learn to budget and save 80% of their income. A six-month follow-up study shows that 92% of the center's graduates are still in permanent housing, a figure 31% higher than the US Department of Housing And Urban Development's expected standard.

The Haven is a structured group home for pregnant and parenting teen mothers and their babies. The girls complete their high school education while learning valuable skills, including parenting skills through Parent-Child-Interaction Therapy, a treatment that improves bonding and decreases the risk of future child abuse. The youngest girl to come to the Heaven was only 11. Often these girls are victims of abuse, incest or rape when they are referred by the courts or foster care. More than 70% of the teen mothers successfully complete the Haven program.

In The Salvation Army's Central Kitchen, Chef Joe and his staff prepare 250,000 meals served annually in San Diego. Each day of the week nearly 1,000 meals are prepared for families living on the Door of Hope campus and seniors at Salvation Army Senior Dinning and Social Centers throughout the country. Home-delivered meals make it possible for hundreds of seniors to live independently in their own homes.