Open Doors Social Services

“The finance and executive committees review the form 990 and then present it to the full board for their review prior to filing.”

“The organization's bylaws require that all conflicts of interest be disclosed. The executive director and the board of directors are responsible for determining whether a conflict of interest exists. If a conflict is determined to exist, specific action is determined on a case- by-case basis to eliminate any bias or impropriety caused by the conflict.”

“Compensation is determined by the board of directors, independent from the executive director. The organization periodically performs a wage-scale analysis using data from similar non-profits in the state of utah to determine officer compensation. The deliberation and determination of compensation is documented.”

“The organization makes its financial statements and governing documents available to the public upon written request.”

“Open doors received federal funding through tanf to support our circles initiative. This funding is guaranteed for three years and was instrumental in helping the program remain viable now and in the future. The secure funding allowed open doors to focus on service delivery and alignment with the national circles usa model to strengthen our program. Our circles coordinator arranged a strong partnership with clearfield job corps to provide education and support to teens and young adults who are already striving to improve their education and find a career path. Serving this population was a new experience for open doors and there were many successes and challenges. The successes included serving 45 young people, at least two of whom went on to obtain jobs at 200% of the federal poverty level almost immediately after certifying in the program. The biggest challenge is that most of these young people return home for the summer or after graduation, so open doors is unable to continue to support them with volunteer mentoring, to help even more program participants excel and reach their education and career goals. The partnership with clearfield job corps helped open doors achieve its contract goals and objectives. In addition to strengthening the circles self-sufficiency initiative, open doors also strengthened its other self-sufficiency programs, including more case management to program participants who want to change their lives for the better. Open doors started allocating funding for concrete services (such as rent or utility assistance) differently, making more of that funding available for participants who worked on goals to improve their education and employment, and increase their income. After the large increase in federal funding to help with rent assistance during the covid- 19 pandemic, the davis county community largely saw open doors as a rent relief organization, but that is not the mission of open doors, even thought the agency stepped up to help people experiencing financial difficulties during the pandemic. Turning most agency programs and services back toward the agency mission to strengthen families and help people become self-reliant, and changing the public's perception, was a big task. Open doors has been largely successful in this regard by putting more time and resources into self-sufficiency programs, focusing less on emergency services, and giving resources to families and individuals committed to joining our longer-term programs to really improve their lives. Food insecurity is increasing at an unprecedented pace due to economic factors including increases in food prices and immigration by refugees. While this growth in need has strained food bank resources across the state of utah and in davis county, open doors rose to the challenge, serving over 8,000 unduplicated individuals, which is an increase of nearly 3,000 individuals over the prior year. With food donations remaining almost level in comparison to the previous year, serving so many people is a great accomplishment. Open doors obtained more volunteers, improved efficiency, and started exploring alternatives to traditional retail food distribution. By the end of the fiscal year, the agency started gearing up to test a new model of mobile food distribution to serve more people at more locations in a more economical manner while taking the strain off of daily food distribution at open doors warehouse. One of open doors biggest successes this year was in the homeless-to- housing program, which helps people who are experiencing homelessness become housing ready so they can get into a rental unit with open doors paying the deposit and first month's rent. Open doors provides ongoing case management support and a diminishing percentage of the rent payments over an average of six months until the rent is taken over by the tenant. Out of twenty-six households who exited the homeless-to-housing program, only one returned to homelessness, with twenty-five”