About Us
The Manners Housing Foundation is a nonprofit that aids homeless college students who are struggling to find permanent housing in Pinellas County.
Our mission is to provide support and housing for college students experiencing homelessness.
Vision Statement
A support system that empowers students to achieve personal, professional, and academic success.
Mission Statement
Our mission is to provide support and housing for college students experiencing homelessness.
History
In 2012, Lisa Manners started The Manners Housing Foundation Inc. Her inspiration came from a student she met in her Honors Speech course. His story of becoming homeless after being sick and in the hospital left Lisa wondering why there was no program available for a student with such great academic success. As she looked into the issue further she found an article in the Sandbox, St. Petersburg College’s student newspaper, written by former SPC student Deniann Grant. Soon after Lisa came up with the idea for a program to help students who were fighting for their education and future.
The 2017-2018 academic year was the first school year The Manners Housing Foundation became operational in launching our Help Line. With the help of our inaugural Board of Directors, officers, friends, and colleagues we are accomplishing more than we could have imagined!
Funding Research on College Student Homelessness
College student homelessness is not an easy issue to measure. In our first year of operation, the Manners Housing Foundation funded a study that verified at least 14% of the student population at our local college were homeless within the last 30 days before taking the survey and were not accounted for via financial aid processes. The school’s Homeless Wavier Program reported about 64 students in that same year who did get help through the school’s program. We would like to survey the colleges across the state to get more accurate numbers of the need in the future.
2021-2022 Housing Program Planning
An idea for a student housing program has been brewing for years. During our first year of operation we consulted with students, college administrators, housing providers, fundraisers, and more to solidify our program plan and budget. Our plan is to raise funding that will enable us to provide housing for individual college students who are reportedly homeless for a maximum of six semesters in a lifetime, including summer semesters (a maximum of 24 months in a lifetime). The plan will also include:
- Free laundry facility on location
- Financial counseling three times a semester
- Weekly check-ins with a Mentor
- Opportunities to build a portfolio to apply to universities or employment
- Meeting with an Exiting Counselor
Connecting College Students With Resources
In our first year we passed out 785 health and human service resource guides to local college students, which includes information on how and where to access food, shelter, basic healthcare, etc. Some of these services include resources that are only available to college students such as wellness centers and campus food pantries. View our resources page.
This year we have made the guide into a PDF that will allow the student to help them selves if they do not want to call in for help and see what is available. Just click on our Help Now link to complete our survey and download the PDF at the end. The student can always call our Help Line for more information as well. If the student decides to call our Help Line then we evaluate their need and provide what ever may be needed; often a ride to the shelter, one night at a Bed and Breakfast, and/or help with getting a drug test completed to enter the shelter.
Raising Money
In the first six months we raised $2,000 in small donations to fund our 501(c)(3) application and our new website. In July 2019, we were awarded our official 501(c)(3) status.
This year we have had donations from Walmart, U.S. Charitable Gift Trust, Five Below, and web design by Drifting Horizons. Please visit our Penny War past event to view all of the small businesses that have participated in giving to the cause.
All donations to The Manners Housing Foundation Inc. are tax deductible. Additionally, we collected volunteer hours and office supplies to handle our administrative load. We could not do this without the generosity of our team members, friends, and the community!
Nonprofit Directory Memberships