Our Mission
Everybody’s Place exists to love our neighbors by providing a safe, loving housing community with a variety of on-site supportive services for individuals and families in Galveston County experiencing homelessness.

Our Vision
As followers of Jesus, we are building a community of homes for people in Galveston County experiencing homelessness and inviting the larger community to a lifestyle of love and service.

Executive Summary
Every night in Galveston County young boys and girls are sleeping outside, in trailers unfit for human habitation or on the couch of a stranger’s home. Five Galveston County school districts report 2,000+ school-age children experiencing homelessness. It’s a growing crisis and today there is not one safe option currently available to these families. Everybody’s Place is a nonprofit 501(c)(3) organization incorporated in the state of Texas that exists to address the growing challenge of homelessness in Galveston County, TX.

We will accomplish our mission by building permanent supportive housing neighborhoods where individuals and families can live at accessible rental rates (30% of household income). Here, they will be able to establish roots and relationships in a grace-filled community while also having access to a wide variety of on-site supportive services. Each home will be fully furnished and utilities will be paid. Residents will go through a screening process ensuring they are currently experiencing homelessness, have the capacity to abide by agreed-upon expectations and are willing to be a part of the Everybody’s Place community. Residents will be assigned a case manager/counselor who will assist residents in identifying options for next steps and overall health.

Agape Village, our first project, will be a neighborhood of 13 homes for families. Our next step will be a large (25+ acre) community of multiple neighborhoods with a large Community Center. Every neighborhood will have one individual or couple “Navigator” who will work to create a sense of safety and community among their neighbors (celebrating special events, home Bible studies, community meals, etc.) The long-term sustainability of Everybody’s Place is a vital organizational priority. We will achieve this by maintaining ownership of the property and homes, only building as we have funds on hand and in the on-going investment of individuals and organizational partners who share our concern for our most vulnerable neighbors.

Everybody’s Place is modeled after established and excellent housing communities for unhoused people around the country. To that end we are able to leverage the relationships and experience those communities provide. This helps ensure our neighborhoods will be a lasting, beautiful, sustainable and replicable model that provides hope and rewrites the stories of children, young people and adults currently experiencing homelessness.

In additional to rental revenue from residents (30% of residents household income), the financial success of Everybody’s Place is fueled from a variety of funding streams:
Individuals: We continue to identify people who want to be part of Everybody’s Place, building an ever-increasing relational network called “Friends of Everybody’s Place”.
Organizational Sponsorships: churches, businesses, service providers, service organizations (Lions, Rotary, etc.).
Foundations: Developing strategic partnerships with private and public foundations whose mission aligns with the work of Everybody’s Place.

Organizational Overview
Everybody’s Place was founded and incorporated in 2021 by Paul and Tracey Clines. Paul, a United Methodist pastor and Tracey, a career Registered Nurse, experienced a profound and undeniable call from God to leave the safety of their careers to address the crisis of a lack of housing options for people experiencing homelessness in Galveston County. They spent 18 months researching the problem, the need and solutions that work. This involved studying models around the country and building relationships with local organizations that provide services to the unhoused and extremely low income population. In 2022 they organized a Board of Directors and received 501(c)(3) status from the IRS. Through their own networks of relationships they raised over $200,000 and purchased 1.8 acres of property in unincorporated Galveston County, the future site of Agape Village.

Everybody’s Place is driven by four core values:
The command to Love our Neighbor

The inherent dignity of every person

The priority of healthy community

The power of serving others

These values drive the five building blocks that are the focus of our resident care:
Home: Safe, comfortable long-term housing. Homes that are well-built, attractive, nicely furnished and give a sense of “place” and permanence to residents.
Work: Offering training, resources and limited on-site job opportunities with the goal that every person has purposeful work with a dignified income.
Community: The “secret sauce” of Everybody’s Place. Creating a loving community where grace is continually on display. Homes will be arranged in neighborhoods, each home with a front porch (a “safe place” to venture outside) facing a shared courtyard for play, socializing, outdoor community events, and building stable friendships.
Health: Encouraging every person to live a more healthy life: socially, physically, mentally and spiritually. We will offer a variety of classes and training opportunities related to fitness, healthy eating/nutrition, parenting, financial health, grief support, addiction recovery, etc.
Spirit: Every person is of sacred worth, created in the image of God. While respecting the wide variety of religious expressions and beliefs about God, we will invite every person to discover a life-transforming and positive relationship with God through Jesus Christ.

Everybody’s Place Leadership and Management
Co-Executive Directors: Paul and Tracey are the Founders and Co-Executive Directors of Everybody’s Place. They bring a shared passion, a lifetime of experience and relevant skills to their leadership tasks. While working together they provide guidance and leadership to different aspects of the overall work of the ministry.The Board of Directors of Everybody’s Place oversees the governance of the organization. This is a diverse group of individuals with a variety of backgrounds and a shared commitment to the work of reducing the hopelessness rooted in homelessness so many in our community experience. In this role they are responsible for:

Guarding the mission and vision

Providing accountability to the Executive Director(s)

Ensuring the organization is operating according to its bylaws and all applicable legal requirements

Adhering to best financial/bookkeeping practices

A (volunteer) Management Team, led by the Executive Director(s), provides direction and guidance to the day-to-day operations of the organization. Each person on the management team has experience and expertise in a specific area relevant to the overall effectiveness of the ministry. These areas include:
Fundraising: development and donor relations
Operations: bookkeeping, budgeting, tax compliance, asset management, HR
Construction: guiding the building process
Resident Care: programming, coordinating with external agencies and internal cultivator teams, screening residents, move-in success, on-going resident care and classes
Chief Cultivator: identifying volunteer opportunities, training and organizing cultivators (volunteers) for effective and meaningful service
Communication: social and traditional media, on-going communication with Everybody’s Place mailing list, website, branding

Industry Analysis
Everyone agrees that homelessness is a problem. Most people are convinced the problem is overwhelming and there are no good solutions. The reality is that good solutions do exist! To address the challenge of homelessness it’s important to differentiate between chronic and transitional homelessness.
Chronic homelessness describes people who have experienced homelessness for at least a year — or repeatedly — while struggling with a disabling condition such as a serious mental illness, substance use disorder, or physical disability. While chronic homelessness is by far the most visible expression of homelessness, it represents only 17% of the total homeless population.

Transitionally homeless (also referred to as “episodic” or “hidden”) makes up 83% of the homeless (unhoused) population. These individuals are homeless because of a health or career crisis, they are escaping domestic violence or experiencing the spiraling consequences of poor decisions or life events.

Understanding the distinct challenges between the chronically and transitionally homeless is an important component in seeking a solution to homelessness. Both groups have enormous but different challenges.

According to the United States Conference of Mayors’ Task Force on Hunger and Homelessness 2016 Report, “Hunger & Homelessness Survey: A Status Report on Hunger & Homelessness in America’s Cities,” almost half (48%) of all homeless people are members of families with children. Of this number, over one quarter (26%) are under the age of 18.
In 2016, there were 9.5 million poor adults living in poverty in a family with children and no spouse present. The majority of these families (63%) have only one earner, while 44% have zero earners because the person is not old enough or does not work for other reasons. The total number of people in poverty in 2001 was 46.5 million, the largest number since the Census began publishing these statistics 52 years ago. The number of people experiencing homelessness nationally has continued to rise each year since this report.
The reality is that there is a higher percentage of families who are one modest financial crisis away from homelessness than ever. Even more troubling are the number of families who have already experienced the crisis. They have lost their home/apartment, car, job and dignity. Their shame, spiraling problems and the lack of solutions create a crisis that becomes generational, unless someone steps in with a positive solution.

While there have been many different approaches to addressing homelessness (including shelters, transitional housing, “Housing First”, etc.), these do not address the underlying problem. People become homeless for a wide variety of reasons but the fundamental root of homelessness is the catastrophic loss of family or a healthy support system. When communities, government and the nonprofit sector turn their focus on the root of homelessness, solutions become apparent. It is evident that the most effective and lasting solution for the 83% of the homeless population (and the chronically homeless as well) is Permanent Supportive Housing.

Permanent, supportive housing is an intervention that combines affordable housing with on-site support services. The services are designed to build independent living life skills and connect people with community-based health care, treatment and employment opportunities. Further, because the housing is not limited to a period of time, residents are given the emotional freedom to move out of survival mode and develop roots and relationships that provide the necessary support system essential to long-term stability. By HUD definition, individuals living in shelters or transitional living housing are still homeless however as soon as an individual or family moves into a permanent supportive housing community, they are no longer homeless.

The transitionally homeless population pose a powerful opportunity for the right intervention to make a “needle moving” decrease in the homeless population. More importantly, it is proven that creating a grace-filled community where people are given a place to grow roots, heal and learn essential life-skills opens the door to generational change. Ultimately the solution to homelessness is found in the creation and replication of these types of communities. Nowhere is this more urgent than in the hundreds of families in Galveston County currently experiencing homelessness.

Galveston County, Texas
The greatest percentage of the extremely poor in the county are women under the age of 30. Most of them work, are single, have children and cannot afford to raise their family in a safe, habitable home
In the 2021-2022 academic year, homeless liaisons in Galveston County school districts reported over 2,000 unhoused school-age children
Currently there are no housing options for these families. Parents, school districts, social service providers and ministries serving the homeless population are at a complete loss for how to address this growing crisis.
Too many of our neighbors are raising children in uninhabitable conditions leading to impossible odds for academic and social success. Further, the lack of dignity, hope and moment-by-moment fight for survival of homelessness creates generational cycles of poverty that not only diminishes human beings but also the communities where they live.

Unique Market Position
Everybody’s Place creates a unique and indispensable opportunity for people experiencing homelessness in Galveston County by stepping into the gap and creating permanent supportive housing for these neighbors who have no other options. While excellent models of such housing exist in neighboring counties, there are none in Galveston County.
Our initial focus is the most urgent need, housing for families. Agape Village, our first (prototype) neighborhood, will be specifically focused on unhoused families with school-age children. We will actively seek out these families through public school homeless liaisons and networks of social service providers in the county. Everybody’s Place expects to have a waiting list of families that are interested in the program before they even open their doors.

Operations Plan
Four elements essential to our success:
Telling our story well, broadly and consistently
Fund Raising
Excellent Operations
Maintaining our focus on God’s command to love our neighbors

Telling our story well, broadly and consistently
One of the reasons there are no options currently available is that few people are aware the problem even exists. The transitionally homeless are invisible. They are working as many hours as they are able and taking care of their families. Our challenge is telling the story of this population in ways that affirms their dignity but also makes the larger community aware of the crisis.

Our strategy:
Currently we have a database of 200+ individuals (“Friends of Everybody’s Place”) who receive monthly email communication with updates, information and stories about people we are already helping. We are also building our social media (Facebook and Instagram) presence, working to develop a broader network of friends and supporters. As we move forward we anticipate leveraging more traditional media (newspapers, radio, TV) to share our story. We also continue to meet with local churches, service groups (Lions, Rotary) and others to tell the story of Everybody’s Place.

Fund Raising
A key part of our vision is to “invite the greater community to a lifestyle of love and service”. The reason for this is both to make our community one defined by true goodness but also because this work requires the investment of many people.
We know there are enormous financial resources in Galveston County. We also believe that, when presented with the need and a lasting solution, people will be motivated to participate in the work of Everybody’s Place. Fundraising success involves the (often slow) work of cultivating relationships, telling our story (above), ensuring excellent and transparent financial practices and inviting others to partner with us.

Our strategy
Our commitment is to build debt-free, this requires an enormous financial investment from others. Our existing “Friends of Everybody’s Place” have cumulatively given over $300,000 in the previous 12 months (calendar year 2022). We will continue to foster those relationships while inviting new donors to partner with us whether through one-time donations or recurring giving. We are also building organizational partners (businesses, churches, social and service organizations) who would supply volunteers as well as one-time or ongoing financial support. We are pursuing larger grants from relevant Foundations, Organizational Partners (churches and businesses) and the possibility of government funding.

Excellent Operations
Everybody’s Place is led by Founders/Co-Executive Directors Paul and Tracey Clines. They are accountable to a Board of Directors and oversee a Management Team who provide leadership to the day-to-day operations.

Our strategy
Agape Village is our first neighborhood. It will provide a scaled-down model for a future larger expression of a housing community with the potential of providing a home for up to 100 individuals and families experiencing homelessness in Galveston County.
After purchasing the property (debt-free) in 2022, we are now beginning the work of design, site preparation and development.
Agape Village is a 1.8 acre site, large enough for 13 homes. Ten homes will be for families, each around 1,000 sq ft. Three homes will be smaller, container homes (360 sq ft) for individuals, couples and/or the neighborhood Navigator (individual/couple/family who will live on site and work with neighbors to cultivate community and address immediate issues). There will be a Ministry Center that will house space for offices for staff and volunteers, case managers/social workers and also for meetings and small gatherings. Each home will have a front porch and face inward with a central courtyard. The courtyard provides outdoor space for play, getting to know neighbors, exercise and outdoor community events.
Each home will come furnished and be paid for through the generosity of others. The homes will cost between $50,000 (for a finished container home) to $120,000 (for a finished 3 bedroom home). We will only build homes as funding is either committed or fully provided.
Other costs related to building Agape Village will be raised through individuals, organizational sponsorships, public and private foundations and government funds. Those costs include:
Ministry Center building renovation (approx $20,000)
Engineering and Architecture fees (approx $60,000)
Site preparation: utilities, grading, parking lot/driveway (approx $200,000)
Site finishing: fencing, landscaping, security/lighting, signage (approx $100,000)
Operational costs: salary, utilities, marketing, insurance, etc. (2023 operating budget: $121,010)

Maintaining our focus on God’s command to love our neighbors
We are driven by the reality that every individual is made in God’s image. To that end each person has immeasurable worth, deserves our dignity and the offer of God’s grace. In his life Jesus made clear his unique concern for those who had been made to feel unworthy, unwanted and unloved. As followers of Jesus we desire to mirror his concern for our most vulnerable neighbors.

Our strategy
We are hosting monthly prayer/worship/informational gatherings for our “Friends” and anyone else who would want to join us.
We are working with local ministries serving this population and social workers at local school districts to offer our services and assist families and individuals who are currently experiencing homelessness.
Once we welcome new residents we are committed to loving them in ways that enable them to see the radical love and grace of God. We believe moving them from inhabitable living conditions and providing a safe, comfortable home with community is the first step. Beyond that Navigators, staff and volunteers will be trained to be careful listeners and prioritize the dignity of every person, no matter how “messy” their life may seem.

Everybody’s Place timeline:
2021: Establish Everybody’s Place of Galveston County, 501(c)(3)
2022: Develop strategic plan, purchase property for (prototype) Agape Village
2023: Raise funds for drawings, site work and construction of first 5 or 6 (of 13) houses
2024: Move in first residents, raise funds and construction for five to seven new homes
2025: Raise funds for finishing Agape Village, raise funds for a larger 40+ acre site that will be home to 90+ individuals and families. Identify and purchase property
2026: Raise funds for first two neighborhoods (~20 homes) plus Community Center.
This plan will serve as an effective road map for Everybody’s Place in its efforts to love our most vulnerable neighbors by creating a new model for housing and community.

2023 Strategic Plan
Q1:
Determine specific plan for housing construction (site built/factory built)
Develop detailed plans for finished and developed site
Develop engineering/construction documents, submit for approval
Raise funds/commitments for site development, 5 to 6 homes
Build Management Team, develop “Job Descriptions”/expectations for each position
Identify builder
Develop excellent and consistent social media presence
Complete interior renovation of The Hub
Maintain monthly communication with friends, donors, include monthly prayer/info gatherings
Identify 5 to 10 new Organizational Partnerships
Create written documentation for all financial/bookkeeping processes

Q2:
Site development
Finalize house plans
Determine placement and process for moving existing finished container home
Continue to raise funds for initial homes
Develop policies/plans for resident screening, selection, move-in, initial resident care

Q3:
Begin construction on initial homes
Move in first container home
Identify potential 2nd and 3rd container home
Develop plans for home interiors/furnishings