JeffHOPE

ACTS is a recovery house for women and their children providing a variety of services and programs to their residents. Programs include supportive drug and alcohol services, continuing education for literacy or GED and college prep, job training, health service referrals, counseling and assistance in family reunification, and recreational programs.  A.C.T.S. (Acts Christian Transitional Service) was established in 1976 by Reverend Dr. Marlella Elizabeth Gantt, a native of Philadelphia. ACTS began as a ministry of Acts of the Apostles Church in Jesus Christ. The program provided shelter to women and children suffering from abuse who came to the Church. In 1998 ACTS joined forces with the City of Philadelphia’s Department of Behavioral Health and Office of Addiction Services (DBH/OAS) in order to facilitate a Supportive (Recovery) House. The Recovery House is for adult women in Substance Abuse Treatment and Recovery Programs, as well as women who were recently incarcerated. Recently, ACTS has also begun accepting individuals of all genders to avoid breaking up families.

The Eliza Shirley Shelter is one of the largest shelters for women and children. It serves as the intake shelter to provide short term housing and intermediate placement for families.  The Eliza Shirley House is an emergency shelter facility with two missions: to provide short term lodging, meals, and immediate needs to displaced families and to provide longer term residential counseling, social work, and referral services to homeless single and pregnant women 18 or older, 365 days a year. The Eliza Shirley House provides safe and sanitary housing. Nutritious meals are served and caring, experienced staff are on hand at all times.

JeffHOPE at Eliza Shirley provides acute adult and pediatric care to the residents of the shelter. The majority of our work, though, addresses health literacy, psychosocial needs, and improving access to care. The JeffHOPE Kids Committee provides supervision as well as educational programming for children residing at ACTS during the hours of operation for the clinic.

Conceived as a humane alternative to the old city system of temporary housing, Our Brother’s Place (OBP) was intended to serve as an entry level shelter for individuals experiencing homelessness in Philadelphia. Currently, the shelter is run by The Bethesda Project in conjunction with the City of Philadelphia. The center runs two programs: a shelter capable of housing 149 residents nightly and a day program providing supportive servicesup to 50 people per day.

Admission to the shelter is controlled by the city Office of Service to the Homeless and Adults (OSHA). The center is an emergency shelter, meant to be a short-term stop on the way to more permanent living situations. Individuals experiencing homelessness receive warm meals and social services, taking the first step in accessing housing in the community.  Residents stay in the shelter for an average of 60-90 days and some stay as long as 180 days.

The JeffHOPE clinic at OBP provides general acute care to the residents of this shelter.  Outside of acute medical visits, patients come weekly for blood pressure and glucose checks, smoking cessation, therapeutic listening and check-ins, sexual health screening and education, and social services navigation. We also collaborate with Temple Podiatry who come once per month to provide foot care.

The JeffHOPE Prevention Point Clinic operates in cooperation with Prevention Point Philadelphia (PPP), a private, non-profit needle exchange program committed to protecting the health and rights of individuals who use intravenous drugs and workers in the sex industry in Philadelphia. PPP partners with patients in practicing risk reduction, including using clean needles for every injection and condoms during sexual encounters. JeffHOPE at Prevention Point provides a diverse array of services from acute wound care under the guidance of professional wound care nurses to rapid HIV and Hepatitis screening. We connect patients with primary care, addiction treatment or othermental health services, help patients access identification, insurance, and social services.  Additionally, we offer overdose reversal training and teach patients how to use Narcan.

Philly House (formerly Sunday Breakfast Rescue Mission), located at 13th and Vine, is the site of JeffHOPE's Tuesday evening clinic. Philly House is the third oldest shelter in the country, and receives no funding from the government - it runs solely on donations and revenue from two not-for-profit thrift stores. This men's shelter houses 175 beds and additional overflow sleeping mats to serve as a code red/blue shelter so that no one is turned away during times of extreme temperatures. Residents can stay up to 30 days at no cost to them, with an additional 50 beds in the Overcomer program, through which residents can stay for up to one year, on the condition that they take classes and fulfill certain requirements with the goal of employment by the end of their stay. Additionally, the Mission provides a permanent supportive housing program for men aged 65 and older. 

The JeffHOPE clinic at Philly House provides general acute care to the residents of this shelter.  In addition to acute medical visits, committee members work to link patients to medical care, long-term housing, conduct sexual health screening and education, provide smoking cessation, and chronic health condition education, such as diabetes. We collaborate with the Jefferson College of Pharmacy and the Department of Physical Therapy.