Our History
History of The Greater Works House, Inc.
We were
formed on January 11, 2019 when our Executive Committee,
consisting of Apostles Darryl & Rita Udell, Minister Denise
Morris, and Deacon Cromwell & Pastor Georgia Williams met at the
Best Western Plus Arrowhead Hotel, Colton, California to explore
opportunities in forming a Community Development Corporation
(CDC) to serve low-income, disadvantaged, and homeless senior
citizens and veterans residing in San Bernardino County. We
agreed to start a CDC from scratch and call it ‘The
Greater Works House, Inc’. modeled after ‘The
Lydia House’ in Washington, D. C., who is now our
business advisor with a sitting board member, Pastor Clifford
Beckford.
We are a
faith-based, nonprofit independent organization that is engaged
in a wide variety of activities beyond worship, most of which
provide a multitude of social services and immediate benefits to
needy individuals and families. We are independent of our
congregational worship place, Greater Works Praise & Worship
Centre, but rather a freestanding public charity to address
well-defined, periodic processes and tasks to improve the
quality of life for low-income and disadvantaged residents
living within the county of San Bernardino, California.
We are
formed primarily for the purpose of providing charitable
services within the meaning of Section 501 (c) (3) of the
Internal Revenue Code. The specific purpose for which this
Corporation is organized is to raise
economic, education and social levels of economically
disadvantaged families residing within the county of San
Bernardino to improve their quality of life, while our vision is to be a beacon of
hope for the local community where poverty is diminished and
disadvantaged residents live securely with dignity.
We are
physically located at 930 South Mount Vernon Avenue, Suite 500,
Colton, CA 92324, and our mailing address is PO Box 1615,
Rialto, CA 92377. Our target population is the county of San
Bernardino with a population of 2,180,085 according to the San
Bernardino County U.S. Census Bureau Report dated July 1, 2019.
Accordingly, there are 171,861 residents over 55 years of age
with 13% of them living in poverty. That is roughly 22,342
residents living in poverty whom our efforts are concentrated
upon in satisfying their needs, and this is what makes up unique
and separates us from others. Additionally, there are over
134,000 veterans residing within San Bernardino county, while
approximately 15,000 are over 55 years of age with over 600
living in poverty.
To
accomplish our mission, and set our sights upon fulfilling our
vision, we concentrate our efforts toward the following
services:
Creating
affordable housing for the elderly (homeless, disadvantaged and
veterans), 55 and up, and surround them with the supportive
services needed to reduce poverty within the community of San
Bernardino County to improve their quality of life.
Providing
food boxes, grocery and sanitation bags, clothing for men, women
and children, blankets and winter coats to homeless families
during our quarterly campaign.
Providing
job search, interview skills, resume writing, and on-job
training to support financial literacy education classes and
workshops to increase knowledge and improve skills for
employment opportunities.
Becoming
a Certified Counseling Agency to assist, counsel, guide and help low and middle-income residents
qualify for housing as a first-time homebuyer and become part of
the American dream and have access to state programs, tax
breaks, and federally backed loans.
On March
8, 2019, we agreed to structure our mission around the acronym
SOAR, to fulfill the needs of low-income, disadvantaged and
homeless veterans residing in the San Bernardino County by:
S
—
Strengthening the county community by engaging local, county and
federal resources that address community development issues for
low-income, disadvantaged families, senior citizens and homeless
veterans.
O
—
Observing impacts we make upon the community and improve upon
them as required.
A
— Attracting clienteles and aligning resources to better serve
specific needs.
R
— Responsible services and projects that improve, enhance and
enrich quality of life of county residents.