PathForward

PathForward’s mission is to foster stability and dignity through transformative services and housing solutions.

PathForward’s vision is an inclusive and equitable community where all neighbors live stable, secure

Goal One: PathForward seeks to find and fill gaps in services for people in Arlington experiencing homelessness. Ex. PathForward hopes to initiate a Back to Work program to create jobs for our clients.

Goal Two: PathForward is modernizing its infrastructure to continue to provide high-quality, efficient care to our clients.

Goal Three: PathForward seeks to increase our capacity to provide care to clients through our existing programs and services.

In 2020, PathForward hired consultants at Veritas Culture to train and coach our senior leadership team in Diversity, Inclusion, Equity, and Belonging (DIEB). The senior leadership team was trained in DIEB initiatives and approaches. In addition, our President/CEO became a Certified Culture Facilitator. Furthermore, all of PathForward’s staff members were given the opportunity to attend OAR’s Undoing Racism workshops. This was voluntary and 71% of the staff participated. These Anti-Racism and Racial Justice three-month virtual cohorts engaged staff in learnings and conversations that analyzed, confronted, and addressed racial patterns that have been embedded in their lives.

Because PathForward operates a 24/7, 365 day/year shelter, everything we do had to change for safety purposes during the pandemic. Unlike most other businesses, our doors had to remain open for our clients. PathForward implemented an emergency plan that delivers core and COVID-specific services in way that maintains the safety and well-being of our clients, staff, and volunteers. This includes PPE use, deep cleanings of the Homeless Services Center, social distancing protocols, onsite COVID-19 testing, quarantine space, if needed, medical care including COVID care, street and medical outreach for people living in encampments, vaccine administration, and more. Our Nursing Services and Medical Respite Programs are often the only health resource for clients. PathForward’s services are crucial during the pandemic, when people experiencing homelessness face an increased risk of contracting and transmitting COVID-19. In response to the movement that arose from George Floyd’s murder, PathForward created a Diversity, Inclusion, Equity, and Belonging (DIEB) task force to focus on proactive systemic change and collaboratively foster a culture representative of the PathForward staff and the community it serves. Meeting twice a month and comprised of employees from all areas of our workforce, this task force has successfully advocated for changes to employee policies and procedures including recruitment, promotion, termination, paid time off, benefits, and performance reviews. The task force succeeded in the addition of Juneteenth, MLK and Veteran’s Day to core federal holidays recognized by PathForward. Finally, the task force has also successfully proposed that PathForward offer paid time off to vote in elections and has moved forward in an intentional effort to use Black-owned businesses as vendors. The DIEB task force’s work is invaluable as PathForward becomes a more inclusive and equitable organization for its staff, clients, and community.