SDR World Relief Foundation non profit organization

Lifting Individuals and Families Empowerment Program, or LIFE Empowerment Program, aims to eradicate homelessness by providing engaging and necessary wrap-around services.

As part of the program, adults and children who have suffered a disaster of any size or status are transitioned to more sustainable lives. With person-centered training and support, the program takes a whole-person approach where the individual is at the center of the process. Professional staff will assist the people we serve in maximizing their independence and reaching their highest level of self-sufficiency. By providing support, accountability, productivity, and participation, the program assists with the transition to independent living.

Statement of Purpose

LIFE Empowerment Program prepares and supports participants through eleven programs and 35 services, as needed. In the aftermath of a disaster or homelessness, residents gain housing and a high level of support services. In this service, we hope to assist individuals who have lost their stable homes due to disasters by providing them with opportunities to develop and maintain functional skills in a job of their choice.

Executive profiles

A company is only as strong as its executive leadership. Sandra Richardson has over 32 years of experience working with people with disabilities and people experiencing homelessness. For people with disabilities, she has led the employment support program and national leadership for the Ticket to Work Program. As a member of region-wide coalitions, she has provided training and speaking engagements for the Department of Housing and Urban Development & State of California Department of Housing & Community Development to assist homeless people and homeless providers to access resources for service, treatment and housing. 

Collaborating Parties

SDR World Relief Foundation collaborates with  The Gardens Organization, Sacramento, CA. “The Garden's mission" is two-fold: To promote healthy lives through education, prevention, intervention, compassion, and understanding and to address the social ills of our community with a diverse outlook, leaving no one behind.

“The Gardens” began in 1999 as a grassroots, faith-based community effort to address the gang violence and the spread of the HIV/AIDS epidemic facing vulnerable and marginalized African American and Latino youth in a South Sacramento neighborhood. In 2001, “The Gardens” incorporated as an independent 501c3. “The Gardens” has provided a variety of social services through formal programs, including Providing stable and transitional housing services for Veterans we also implement a Healthy Eating Program, which teaches healthy cooking and eating habits; the AIDS Awareness project, which provides the community with information about HIV/AIDS and infection prevention, the importance of healthy nutritional diet, and the Youth Service Program, which is an after-school program providing healthy snacks, tutoring, mentoring, counseling and anger management to at-risk youth. The Gardens has operated these programs and services since 2004 and has served over 9,600 individuals in the last four years.

T.R.U.E. Project: (Trust, Respect, Unity, Empowerment) – BASSA “Brothers and sisters Stopping AIDS!

This project focuses on HIV/AIDS, substance abuse, peer pressure, tobacco use, and gang violence prevention/intervention using an evidence-based, proven curriculum, including pre/post-survey instruments, used in SAMHSA funded project. This model of T.R.U.E. interjects a peer-to-peer option using scientifically proven curricula and adds new facets to the T.R.U.E. Project. It provides skills training to youth and develops them into youth health educators who deliver proven educational intervention through peer-to-peer education. 

Case Management/Outreach Services:

Aggressive Outreach activities, supported by intensive case management services, which include conducting assessments of families, data collection of individuals/families to provide them with supportive services, and referrals to services; these early efforts were built on a foundation of coalition development, community mobilization, community empowerment activities and reaching out to underserved low-income youth and families within our community.

Leaving No" Veteran" Behind Providing supportive services to our" Veteran" seeking stable, support" Veterans” in getting their DD-214 documents, transitional, permanent housing, support in knowing, understanding, and obtaining their benefits, referrals to medical, mental services, support groups, AA/NA.

Safety Net Service Programs: (Emergency Food Closet)

The Safe Way Foundation funds this service; "The Gardens" primarily provides services to low-income, under-served ethnic minority individuals and families. The Client base includes HIV+ individuals, Senior Citizens, youth, homeless or displaced individuals, single parents, and teenage mothers. These funds support our non-perishable food distribution of non-perishable items, nutritional, perishable fruits, vegetables, meats, beans, and grains, including dog foods, toiletries, and personal hygiene products for men and women.