What We Do
RS has innovated an intentional continuum of care to reveal the strength of all. We work together to seek reconciliation, one heart at a time, through informed relationship building around shared meals, strengths-based social & therapeutic services, and the creation of economic opportunity.
Friday Night Meal
Document and ID Assistance
EMERGENCY SOCIAL ASSISTANCE
Our emergency social assistance with case management in order to help our clients identify their strengths and resources and strategically plan to achieve self-sufficiency.
Friday Night Community Meals – Offered every week and open to the surrounding community. The meal is served “restaurant-style” by our partner churches and organizations. Volunteer at a Friday night meal and get to know your community better!
Professional Case Management – Caring caseworkers work with individuals to develop customized treatment plans and accomplish goals.
Rent and Utilities Assistance – Offered to qualifying RS clients at risk for having power disconnected or being evicted. Funded in part through the Housing Resource Commission.
KC Medicine Cabinet – Provides clients with needed medications and medical supplies. Funded in part through the KC Medicine Cabinet, we are striving to build a healthier community.
Shelter Care Case Management – RS caseworkers work with clients to improve their living situation by finding available resources.
THERAPEUTIC & SELF‐SUFFICIENCY PROGRAMMING
Our Therapeutic & Self-Sufficiency Programming comprises two parts: Mental Health Services and the RS Café’s Self-Sufficiency Menu. This programming empowers people to access and then move beyond public assistance to find meaningful life work, stable housing, stable income and measurable hope.
Mental Health Services – Includes individual and group therapy, as well as aftercare support groups, available at no cost for persons suffering from trauma, depression and the effects of generational poverty. Our one-of-a-kind program, SnAP (Strength eNergy And Power), piloted in collaboration with Jackson County Cares Mental Health Fund and now funded by JCCMHF, the Health Care Foundation of Greater Kansas City, and Humana, is what we refer to as a “stealth mental health” program. It is promoted to emergency social services clients and community members as an encouragement group, but is run by a clinical therapist using proven evidence-based practices and clinical measures. A licensed therapist assists individuals who have experienced trauma and depression and are stuck in poverty but have no diagnosis or other resources for healing.
The RS Café’s Self-Sufficiency Menu – The RS Café offers access to resources essential for accessing employment, education, health care, community services and is the only open gigabit‐speed Internet cafe and hotspot on Troost—even the bus stops on the block are strategically covered by the “RS Café Wifi.” In conjunction with the RS Cafe, our Document and ID Assistance service helps people secure documents—birth certificates, Social Security cards, state IDs, etc.—needed to qualify for employment and benefits assistance.
RS Foster Grandparents Program
“More than 80% of grandparents reported a greater sense of well-being after mentoring through the Foster Grandparents Program. ”
ECONOMIC COMMUNITY BUILDING SERVICES
Our Economic Community Building comprises two parts: the Foster Grandparents Program and RS Social Ventures, Inc. This programming provides on-site volunteer and employment opportunities that bring new capital—both financial and social—into the neighborhood.
Foster Grandparents Program – RS recruits, trains and mobilizes low‐income senior adults to volunteer with young people in difficult public schools and other local children’s institutions. Foster Grandparents provide tutoring and mentoring services as well as an all‐important connection to a caring adult. This is a partnership program with the Corporation for National & Community Service’s Senior Corp. Volunteers receive a stipend for their participation. Last year, RS invested over $362,000 in the lives of nearly 90 hard‐working senior citizen volunteers who live, shop, and play in the community around 31st and Troost. Foster Grandparents are serving at 31 civic institutions, including schools, hospitals, preschools and childcare centers in Jackson, Platte, and Clay counties.
RS Social Ventures – In late 2015, RS Social Ventures, Inc., was launched as a for‐profit C-Corp wholly owned subsidiary of Reconciliation Services. Unlike a job placement program or training program, RS Social Ventures has two objectives: (1) to provide living wage employment opportunities and meaningful work for individuals completing RS programs and for those living in the community; and, (2) to provide an ongoing source of revenue for RS nonprofit social services. We believe such social ventures are essential to securing non-profit sustainability in the years ahead and critical for building community wealth to lift families out of poverty. The pilot program has already provided work for more than 280 people!
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