Lifting Up Westchester

Lifting Up Westchester restores hope to Westchester Countys men, women
and children in need by providing them with food, shelter and
support and lifting them to greater self-sufficiency with dignity and
respect.

For almost four decades, Lifting Up Westchester has worked to
permanently change the lives of our neighbors in crisis by finding them
stable, long-term, housing and providing the support they need to
rebuild their lives. We serve approximately 3,500

Westchester residents
each year through four key program areas:

Emergency Food & Shelter: We operate a 19 bed women's shelter and a
38 bed men's shelter in downtown White Plains, as well as drop-in
shelters for both men and women with capacity for 30 adults.On
weekdays, our soup kitchen serves 60 to 100 individuals a mid-day meal,
as well as packed meals to take-away.

Housing Stabilization:

We identify safe, stable and affordable housing
options for those living in shelter and on the streets and help these
clients transition into independent living where possible. For those
community members with mental health or other challenges, we provide
ongoing financial assistance and a support system to help them maintain
their housing.We currently have over 200 individuals living in our
supportive housing units - 90% of them have been stably housed for more
than 5 years.
Vocational Training & Employment:LUW trains low-income individuals
to become certified home health aides who we then employ in our social
enterprise, Neighbors Home Care Services, a licensed home care
agency. Through Neighbors, we currently employ 175 aides who provide low
cost, high quality care to seniors who wish to remain in their homes.
Through our partnerships with other agencies, we provide additional
vocational training, job readiness, and job search programs to assist
clients in finding and maintaining employment.

Next Generation Educational Opportunities:

We provide after-school
mentoring and summer camp programs for over 500 homeless children to
ensure that they are the first in their families to go to college and
the last to live in poverty.
We start working with students age 5 in our
literacy program and offer programs throughout their
school years, ending with a mentoring and college prep program for high
school students. 100% of our students graduated from high school last
year (compared to 50% of homeless children nationally) with 89%
enrolling in college and the remaining 11% in vocational school.