Miriams Kitchen works to end chronic homelessness in Washington, DC. They advocate for permanent supportive housing as a long-term solution, while meeting short-term needs by providing healthy meals and high-quality social services to more than 3,500 chronically homeless individuals each year.

Mission Statement: This is why in 2012 Miriam’s Kitchen changed our mission from just responding to homelessness to fighting to end it. In doing so we held ourselves accountable for every action needed to accomplish this goal: Over the years we expanded our programs and built partnerships that brought nurses, social workers, psychiatrists and lawyers on site—all aimed to help our guests improve their health, increase their income and obtain housing We established a housing program to make sure that when clients move into housing, they have the support they need so they don’t fall back into homelessness; We added an advocacy program—because we’re trying to end homelessness not just for the guests that walk through our doors, but for all individuals who are experiencing long term homelessness in DC; And we recently received a federal grant to launch a new Street Outreach Program, which takes the quality services that we provide in our dining room onto the streets—wherever individuals experiencing homelessness might be (under bridges, in parks, in museums…) The good news is that we are making progress in ending chronic homelessness in DC! Chronic homelessness in DC has declined 19.7% from 2012 (when we changed our mission) to 2016. Additionally, MK and our partners have helped house more than 1,570 veterans since 2013!