December Member Feature: St. Francis Friends of the Poor

December 1st, 2023


Welcome to our Member Feature series! For the month of December, we are excited to introduce St. Francis Friends of the Poor, one of our members at Nonprofit New York!

Whether you are a new member or have been a member for many years, we want to get to know you! Introduce yourself to the Nonprofit New York community by participating in our Member Feature series! Submit your response here.

What is your organization's mission?

St. Francis Friends of the Poor offers permanent supportive housing services to homeless men and women with histories of chronic mental illness.

What do you like the most about being a Nonprofit New York member?

The access to concise and relevant nonprofit news each day.

Have you made relationships with other Nonprofit New York members? If so, what has come out of building those connections? If not, is there any organization you'd like to partner with?

We have yet to make any connections but value the opportunities to interact with members via NYN-sponsored webinars and conferences and in general, by running in the same circles. We look forward to making stronger connections moving forward!

Have you read or listened to any sector or sub-sector-related publications, podcasts, or books that you would recommend to the community?

We appreciate the links provided in NYN Media's daily First Reads email that give us exposure and access to a variety of relevant sub-sector-related publications. Another daily email that I recommend is Harvard Business Review’s Management Tip of the Day. It’s not specific to the non-profit sector but still adds value.

Tell us a fun fact about your organization.

St. Francis Friends of the Poor pioneered the concept of permanent supportive housing for the homeless and mentally ill when we opened the first of our three residences in 1980. The project proved so successful that it became a national model for the permanent supportive housing movement. Over 40 years later, the St. Francis Residences continue to provide affordable, permanent housing coupled with on-site medical, psychiatric, wellness, and social services that enable our nearly 300 tenants to thrive. The average length of tenancy is 18 years, and our tenants, with an average life span of 68 years, are living longer and healthier lives than their unhoused peers, whose life expectancy is 42-52 years.

Please share your website link, LinkedIn page, social handles, etc.