St. Luke’s Mission Center offers opportunities for homeless individuals and those interested in service. It is home to a seven-bed, year-round men’s shelter that focuses on transitioning residents into permanent housing through an employment focused model. Friendship Place’s AimHire Job Placement program provides intensive, individualized vocational rehabilitation and job placement services. Residents are referred to the shelter by Friendship Place staff and partake in Friendship Place’s screening process. The shelter focuses on self-sufficiency and residents are responsible for forming their own schedules, coming and going from the shelter as they need and chores to aid in the upkeep of the space.
The shelter’s residents stay for an average of three to four months and have nearly a 100 percent success rate in both employment and housing upon exit fromthe shelter and one year later.
The Mission Center also houses the only city-run hypothermia shelter for men in the upper northwest. It is home to a community garden, with one plot re- served for shelter residents, and a 24-bed hostel that groups who are visiting D.C. for service activities can rent. In addition to its partnership with Friendship Place, shelter residents share a monthly meal with Crossroads, a community of The Metropolitan Church
which meets on site.
