Joppa

“Joe stevens jacki stevens president vice pres. Husband & wife”

“A copy of the form 990 is presented to the board for approval prior to filing.”

“The board reviews the conflict of interest policy annually and discloses any conflicts.”

“The organization makes its governing documents and financial statements available to the public upon request. These documents are available for the same period of time as described in internal revenue code section 6104(d) for other public disclosure documents.”

“Joppa helps homeless people survive, find housing and rebuild their lives. Working with other service providers, joppa helps people living under bridges, in tents, shacks, vehicles and on the streets access existing resources and develops unique programs and services to meet unmet needs in homeless services, housing development and education advocacy.”

“Homeless services - each week, joppa volunteers and staff go to locations in central iowa where people are living under bridges, in tents, shacks, vehicles, and on the streets. We build relationships, meet basic human needs, make referrals and provide a support network. We give people hope and let them know someone still cares by spending time with them and helping them survive until they can get back into housing. We meet unmet needs in our community, filling gaps in services, such as providing winter survival heater systems, heater fuel, insulated boots, winter gear, temporary shelter packages, physical mailing addresses and mail deliveries, an outreach medical team, a homeless nutrition food program, transportation, bus passes, phones and minutes, job development and placement and housing assistance including funding housing applications, providing deposits and first month's rents. Once people are back in housing, joppa volunteers maintain relationships, help people recover and rebuild their lives via an extensive 6-24 month aftercare program whereby we provide counseling, mentoring, help with budgeting, transportation, coins for laundry, help finding meaningful work and/or a volunteer role in the community, supplementing snap benefits with nutritious food and providing supplies not allowed by the snap program, such as personal hygiene items, tp, cleaning supplies and laundry detergent. We surround each individual with a "circle of friends" that provides social interactions and helps people continue moving forward.”

“Housing development - working with other service providers, joppa has helped more than 400 people get off the streets with a small staff, volunteer help, private donations and community partners. We work with all existing housing agencies and funding sources as well as with private landlords and property owners. Due to the strength of the relationships we build and our comprehensive aftercare services, more than 85% of these men, women and children remain off the streets today. We have studied various homeless solutions and housing in other cities and have led a community- wide effort over the past six years to help end homelessness in central iowa via a tiny home village model based on best practices from successful villages across north america. Joppa is working with a number of community leaders and municipalities to develop iowa's first transitional tiny home village, to give people a safe place to go to get the help they need to gain a source of income and overcome other barriers to housing. In addition, joppa is developing permanent market-rate cottage homes for the elderly, disabled, vets and formerly homeless with rents starting at just 300/month.”

“Education advocacy - joppa educates students, adults and organizations about homeless issues, including local schools, colleges, universities, businesses, churches and others to increase awareness about homeless issues and provide volunteer service opportunities. We host signature events designed to support and dignify homeless people, as well as engage and educate the community, including the following annual events: iowa homeless memorial, homeless christmas celebration, project pj and joppa community cleanups that have resulted in the recycling and disposal of more than 600,000 lbs of junk and debris. Joppa kids is a k-12 program for schools, youth groups and kids clubs to help future generations learn about homelessness and do something to help homeless people through service learning and other volunteer projects. Joppa also advocates on behalf of homeless clients with property managers, employers, medical professionals, city and government officials, family members, attorneys and others. We create awareness for issues affecting the local homeless community and ensure clients have proper identification and legal representation. We started and oversee the polk county street outreach coalition, which has been meeting monthly since 2009 to collaborate and coordinate efforts with the local continuum of care, veterans administration, and all the agencies and other homeless service providers in central iowa.”