The Mission
Kindworks’ mission is to empower individuals who have experienced homelessness to attain their highest quality of life by fostering economically just communities in which safe housing and financial independence are basic human rights.
Why?
The idea behind Kindworks came after working for more than ten years with homeless service and affordable housing programs and becoming frustrated with each of their similar shortcomings. The primary causes of their problems were lack of long-term funding, mismanagement of funds and employees, decisions not to adhere to evidence-based practices, and excessive overregulation and documentation. It is said that you become what you are by learning what you do not want to be. The founder recognized the opportunity to prevent these problems rather than perpetually doctoring the same symptoms of the same dysfunctional organism.
How?
Kindworks buys and sells real estate so that a portion of our properties and profits can be used to provide housing, employment, and social services to homeless individuals. Kindworks has been actively investing in real estate since December 2016, and has done eight deals since then.
Several real estate investing strategies will generate income, which will be funneled back into its dual mission: 1) maintaining and increasing income in order to 2) sustainably provide housing, social services, and employment for people who have experienced homelessness.
The picture above is one of Kindworks' rent-to-own type of real estate deals. This deal alone will earn about $30,000, which will be funneled directly into our mission of sustainably ending homelessness.
Kindworks will buy multi-unit residential properties and lease to both market-rate and subsidized tenants. We will begin by serving homeless individuals who have the highest potential for becoming employed and the lowest need for social services. As proof of concept is established and revenue is increased, Kindworks will incrementally begin to serve people with higher needs for services and lower potential for full time employment.
Where?
Kindworks will begin implementing the model in the northeastern United States, but plans to scale the model across the U.S. and other economically compatible parts of the world.
The property above is located in Wales, MA. Quite a few people have shown interest in the home and a family will hopefully be moving in soon. First, we need to repair the plumbing!
This is where we see the Kindworks model headed: Any place on earth where a company is able to profitably buy, lease, and sell real estate.
How will Kindworks make money?
Because the majority of Kindworks’ long-term units will be leased at market rate, the mixed-income properties will still generate a modest profit. However, our primary source of revenue will come from buying, fixing, and selling properties with the help of our newly housed clients. These types of deals will produce bigger returns and allow the company to scale on a national level.
As Kindworks clients transition from homelessness to a healthy, productive life, they will have easy access to employment within the company. In the current system, a client will continue to receive a subsidy despite having the ability and motivation to earn money. When our clients seamlessly receive both housing and employment, long-term subsidies are no longer necessary for people who don’t truly need them. Our clients’ economic independence bolsters the company’s social and financial missions.
Who is the leader?
Kate Miechkowski has worked in direct human services for over 15 years. She has served populations including people living in nursing homes, adolescents, people with developmental disabilities, and people with co-occurring behavioral health challenges. She found her true calling in 2009, to end homelessness through advocacy and implementation of evidence-based practices. She earned her bachelor’s degree in social work in 2011 and her master’s degree in social work in 2015, both from Rhode Island College (RIC). In 2015, during her final year at RIC, Kate began researching and planning the steps to make the Kindworks dream a reality.
More about Kate: The above picture was taken after a football game when Kate played for the Boston Renegades. She lives with her wife, four cats, a dog, and a lizard at her home in Round Lake, NY. She also enjoys playing guitar and singing at nursing homes. Hey...she might even write a song for YOU!
How you can help:
We are currently seeking a total of $30,000 to complete renovations on several properties. This will allow our first homeless family to move into one of the houses and enable us to bring in revenue on the other properties. Of course, that revenue goes back into the long term dream of building sustainable affordable housing and employment for our formerly homeless clients.
If you are unable to donate, please share this campaign with friends, family, and colleagues and be sure to connect on social media:
Podcast (still working on posting it to iTunes, etc.)
Facebook Business page or Social/Brand page
Twitter @RogueSocialWrkr
LinkedIn search Kate Miechkowski