Building A Sense of Home

Georgie Smith is the founder and CEO of the nonprofit A Sense of Home (ASOH). It began very organically when Smith responded to a cry for help on social media, by a young person who had aged out of the foster care system. Her random act of kindness spawned thousands of random acts of kindness, creating over 940 homes in 9 years for aged-out foster youth.

The video below is a glimpse at ASOH began.

VISION

A Sense of Home, believes as Confucius stated that "the strength of a nation derives from the integrity of the home” and that a home full of hope, dignity, and love is the first step in homeless prevention. ASOH envisions a society where the excess of businesses and individuals are shared through a community experience with those in need of “home”. Here, at A Sense of Home, we believe world where furniture and appliances are never sent to landfills but always given a second life. We believe that homelessness can only be eradicated through the active participation of all community stakeholders when focusing on prevention. The largest sector falling into homelessness is virtually invisible to society. They are the young people who survived the foster care system only to exit the system having to fend for themselves. To this end, we vow to work relentlessly toward the accomplishment of our mission.

MISSION

A Sense of Home strives to prevent homelessness by creating first-ever homes for youth aging out of foster care with donated furniture and home goods. 30% of those struggling with homelessness are former foster youth. The homeless crisis can only end through prevention.

ASOH MODEL

Smith calculated that ability to manage life within “four walls” requires a minimum of 250 items for an individual to properly function, prepare for work or school, and take care of themselves. Not to mention care for children and likewise, prepare them for the world.

Harnessing environmental psychology, the model empowers the beneficiary to reimagine their future and elevate their goals, manifest their dreams, and greatly improve outcomes in their education, careers, and health. An entire community unites its resources to create a home ensuring the beneficiary feels seen, heard, and understood. This is a radically transformative and immersive experience that inspires both beneficiaries and volunteers to become conduits for change.

The ASOH model addresses two major social crises: homelessness and the environment and matches excess in consumer goods with those in need through a seamless process that adds value to every participant, at every step:

• Business Partners: By collecting unwanted furniture, we engage businesses in the process of contributing to a greener environment while giving former foster youth the opportunity to a fair shot at life.

• Corporate Sponsors: By sponsoring home creations businesses give back to the community while providing employees a rewarding team-building experience.

• Individual Volunteers: Our warehouse is where the donated furnishings are received, stored, and sorted ready to be delivered to home creations for youth. By giving us a helping hand in the warehouse, volunteers enable us to get to more youth on our waitlist.

• Individual Donors: The needs of each youth we serve are different and unique. We strive to provide each youth and every home creation with everything that is needed for their specific circumstances. By donating money, individual donors fund specific needs for items (refrigerators, stoves, microwaves, etc.) that we don’t regularly receive from our corporate partners.

• High Schools and Middle Schools: The best way to teach the next generation of leaders the values of kindness and generosity is by having them practice these acts. By organizing drives to collect smaller home essentials, high schools, and middle school students, educate their community while enhancing school spirit. Students sponsor home creations providing their groups a rewarding team-building experience while supporting a life-changing milestone for their peers who would otherwise be fending for themselves.

• Former Foster Youth Paying It Forward: Youth who receive a home creation pay-it-forward by partaking as volunteers to create homes for other youth. Transformed by their own experience their shining example as a volunteer reveals the best version of themselves and inspires their peers to become architects of their own destiny.

Smith created an efficient system that crowdsources over 250, prescreened & high-quality items (otherwise destined for landfills) to be tailor selected and specially designed for each beneficiary. The training of the staff to run the operations, designed by Smith, empowers a humanity-first approach for all aspects of the process, that ensures all activities are carried out with kindness, joy, and gratitude. The entire model is supported by these systems, policies, and procedures that empower anyone to a] design a home and b] install a home — each within 90 minutes. The model can be replicated anywhere in the world has its own propriety software system that certifies seamless scaling. Watch how it works:

OUR WORK

There are between 20,000 – 35,000 youth “aging out” of the foster care system each year. These are the most at risk of becoming homeless in America. Seven out of ten girls aging out have children of their own. The next generation is at the greatest risk of going into foster care. By pooling resources readily available in the community to create beautiful first homes, we change the trajectory of aged-out foster youth (and their own children). Whether they have already experienced homelessness or not, 99% of recipients of ASOH have been successful in maintaining their tenancy.

Not only does ASOH repurpose items otherwise destined for landfills, the experience is transformative for both the recipients and volunteers and has attracted leading foundations and global brands who generously donate but also passionately participate in the life-changing team-building experience of the ASOH “home creation”. These quality items become a life-changing gift for former foster youth when installed lovingly by volunteers from the community; transforming the way the youth view themselves as well as those around them.

At the core of our work is home creation. Empty walls, floors, and rooms, once unlivable, are transformed into fully furnished, functional, and beautiful homes in less than two hours by a team of 12-24 volunteers. By sponsoring home creations, businesses or families give back to the community while providing employees or family members a rewarding and life-changing team-building experience. ASOH not only eliminates the financial obstacles of furnishing a home but also improves the overall well-being of the recipient as well as society overall.

ASOH strives to create a physical home that is the embodiment of the dreams and unique personality of each youth (and their young family) to transform their experience of scarcity and survival to one of comfort and care. Youth who receive a home creation pay-it-forward by partaking as volunteers to create homes for other youth.

EXPANDING A SENSE OF HOME

After six years, and the transformation of thousands of lives within the greater Los Angeles area, the homeless prevention model pioneered by A Sense of Home is now expanding to major cities both in the US and internationally. The first of its kind homeless prevention model supports ASOH regional chapters that serve as hubs where stakeholders centralize their capabilities and resources to create first-ever homes for youth aging out of the foster system. Local businesses, organizations, volunteers, sponsors, and donors join forces to create a cycle of reinvestment, enhancing and improving their communities one youth at a time. And it all began… with one random-act-of-kindness.