Six programs. One continuous path.

Poverty does not arrive in tidy categories, so our programs are built to hand families to one another — from an emergency grocery run to a signed lease to a career with benefits.

1. Stabilize

Meet the immediate emergency — food, rent arrears, utilities, a night indoors — within 72 hours of first contact.

2. Secure

Lock in housing, benefits, childcare and health coverage, with a case manager attached for a full 12 months.

3. Grow

Training, credentials and employer placement that raise household income above the local self-sufficiency line.

Colorful fresh produce arranged at a community market

Food Security Est. 2009

Fresh Start Pantry Network

Hunger in America is rarely about a total absence of food — it is about the last ten days of the month. Fresh Start runs 84 client-choice pantries and 19 refrigerated mobile markets that reach neighborhoods and rural counties where the nearest full grocery store is over 20 miles away.

Client choice: families shop the shelves themselves, no pre-packed boxes
Fresh produce, dairy and protein make up 61% of everything we distribute
Evening and Saturday hours, because most clients are working
On-site benefits screening for SNAP, WIC and school meal programs

612,480meals distributed in FY2025

84pantries and 19 mobile markets

$0.19average cost per meal delivered

Workers on site at an affordable housing construction project

Housing & Shelter Est. 2013

Doorway Home Initiative

An eviction filing follows a family for years — it blocks the next lease, the next job, the next school. Doorway Home intervenes before the filing whenever we can, and rehouses fast when we cannot.

Emergency rent and utility assistance, typically disbursed within 72 hours
Eviction defense with staff attorneys and pro bono partners in 9 counties
Security deposits, first month’s rent and landlord risk-mitigation guarantees
Twelve months of case management after move-in, not thirty days

1,284households rehoused in FY2025

87%still housed after 24 months

41%drop in filings in our pilot county

A brightly painted pencil sign reading Love to Learn outside a school

Education & Youth Est. 2015

Bright Path Scholars

Children in unstable housing change schools three times as often as their peers and lose an estimated four to six months of learning with every move. Bright Path keeps kids anchored: same tutor, same site, same hot dinner, no matter what the family is going through.

After-school tutoring and homework labs at 38 sites, four days a week
Summer learning camps that hold reading levels through the break
College and trade-school advising, application fee coverage and FAFSA help
Scholarships averaging $4,200 for graduating seniors in our programs

4,910students served in FY2025

94%on-time grade promotion

312scholarships awarded

Adult learners working through an IT support course on laptops

Workforce & Careers Est. 2017

Career Launch

A job is not the goal; a wage that covers rent is. Career Launch trains adults for roles that regional employers are actively hiring into, and removes the practical obstacles — childcare, transit, a working laptop — that end most training programs early.

Free credentials in healthcare, logistics, IT support and skilled trades
Childcare stipends, transit passes, tools and interview clothing included
62 employer partners committed to interviewing every graduate
Two years of career coaching after placement, including raise negotiation

3,106adults completed training

$23.80median starting wage

79%employed at 12 months

A financial coach leading a planning workshop with community members

Family Stability Est. 2019

Safety Net & Financial Coaching

Roughly a third of American households cannot absorb a $400 emergency. Our Safety Net fund makes small, fast, no-strings grants for the exact expenses that spiral — a car repair, a licensing fee, a medical co-pay — and pairs them with coaching that builds a buffer.

Emergency grants averaging $680, approved in a median of 26 hours
Free IRS-certified tax preparation returning an average refund of $2,940
Benefits enrollment: SNAP, Medicaid, CHIP, LIHEAP and the EITC
One-on-one financial coaching and matched emergency savings accounts

7,420emergency grants issued

$11.4Min refunds and benefits claimed

68%built $500 in savings within a year

A volunteer in a bright jersey preparing supplies at a relief staging area

Disaster Response Est. 2021

Rapid Relief

When a wildfire, flood or winter storm hits a community we already serve, we do not have to build trust from scratch — our partner network is already on the block. Rapid Relief moves cash and supplies in the first 48 hours, then stays for the long rebuild that the news cycle misses.

Direct cash assistance to affected households, no application backlog
Pre-positioned water, shelf-stable food, generators and cold-weather kits
Case management for FEMA, insurance and state relief paperwork
Rebuild grants to local partners at 6, 12 and 24 months post-disaster

9disaster responses since 2021

48 hrsmedian time to first cash grant

$1.81Mdeployed in FY2025

Where we work

Twelve states, five regional offices

We expand only where a local partner invites us and where we can staff a regional team — never by parachute.

Mountain West

Denver, CO · Headquarters
Serving CO, NM, UT, WY

Southeast

Atlanta, GA
Serving GA, AL, SC

Great Lakes

Cleveland, OH
Serving OH, MI

Southwest

Phoenix, AZ
Serving AZ, NV

Ask about a partnership in your city

“The pantry got us through October. The case manager got us through the year. Nobody once asked me to explain how I ended up there — they just asked what I needed next.”

Portrait of program participant Rachel T.

Rachel T. Doorway Home participant, Cleveland

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