The Phoenix Rescue Mission (“Mission”) was founded in 1952 in downtown Phoenix where an evening meal, Chapel service, and clothing were provided to the poor and homeless, serving between 35 and 50 clients each day.
Today the Mission has expanded its services and outreach to provide 79,456 bed nights of shelter and over 386,000 meals to the poor and homeless during 2014.
In 2010, with the help of PCDIC and Mutual of Omaha Bank, the Mission opened the Changing Lives Center, a specialized facility for homeless women and their children offering a comprehensive approach to breaking the cycle of addiction, abuse, trauma, and homelessness. The financing provided in 2014 was designated as a working capital loan.
The secured campus is comprised of 77,000 sq. ft. of new construction that includes: children’s pre-school and after -school center, a multi-purpose building and 67 fully furnished dwelling units. The campus is further complemented by a prayer and meditation garden, playground facilities and an industrial kitchen servicing the communal dinning room.
The CLC has the capacity to serve 66 women and 127 children and provides a 12-18 month voluntary nondenominational addiction recovery program. The program delivers recovery support, life skills training, childcare and afterschool care, job training and placement assistance, parenting training, medical and dental care, and housing placement assistance for graduates.
The Center also consolidated the services of numerous area nonprofits for its residents such as AZ Women’s Education and Employment and Central AZ Shelter Services, St. Vincent De Paul and St. Mary’s Food Bank.