About Us
Gateway Center’s Commitment
Homelessness in Atlanta has been a pervasive issue with multiple layers as to the causation. Annually, there are an estimated 3,000 individuals experiencing homelessness based on Atlanta’s most recent Point in Time Count.
Since 2005, Gateway Center (GWC) has been committed to providing effective, strategic, and innovative program and services as part of our collective impact model.
GWC is a proven leader and has positioned ourselves to be adaptable to respond to the needs of the homeless community. Gateway Center programs are designed to address the underlying barriers that prevent individuals and families from transitioning out of homelessness, such as unemployment, behavioral health, housing affordability, and/or medical conditions. We provide a trauma informed and a client-centered environment where individuals can receive the tools they need to end their homelessness and achieve self-sufficiency. To ensure the alignment of services, Gateway Center has focused our efforts into our Five Keys to Success (1) Housing Placement and Stability,(2) Health and Wellness,(3) Family and Community Engagement,(4) Job Skills Training and Placement, and (5) Adult & Financial Literacy
Mission, Vision and Our Big Goal
Mission
To connect people experiencing homelessness with the support necessary to become self-sufficient and find a permanent home.
Vision
To live in a community where homelessness is rare, brief, and non-recurring.
Our Big Goal
By 2025, Gateway Center is committed to achieving an annual average of 65% of guests transitioning to a positive housing placement upon discharge.
Values
How we carry out our mission matters. For this reason Gateway Center has identified four key values that we expect every member of our team to live out every day, in every interaction, with every individual who enters our doors.
- GWC believes in the worth and dignity of every person in our community.
- GWC operates with transparency.
- GWC uses resources efficiently.
- GWC achieves measurable and lasting impact.
History
In 2002 Atlanta Mayor Shirley Franklin asked the United Way of Metropolitan Atlanta to study the issue of homelessness in the city, and provide recommendations on how to make substantive progress in moving individuals experiencing chronic homelessness into permanent housing. The result was a Blueprint to End Homelessness in Atlanta.
A major Blueprint recommendation was to establish a central point of care in metro Atlanta to meet the needs of those experiencing homelessness in a systematic and supportive manner. To that end, Jack Hardin led the initiative to identify a facility and raise funds that led to the development of Gateway Center, which opened July 27, 2005, and is now a self-managed 501(c)(3) organization. It serves as the gateway for the continuum of care for individuals experiencing chronic homelessness in the City of Atlanta and Fulton County.
For more information on the United Way Regional Commission on Homelessness, please visit their site:United Way Atlanta – Homelessness.
*A chronically homelessness individual is defined as a person with a disability who has either been homeless for more than a year, or has had at least 4 episodes of homelessness in the past 3 years. The disability that results in homelessness may be mental, physical, or addiction-related.