Mission:
Above all else, Saint Mary’s Garden of Hope is committed to the care and enrichment of human life by fighting hunger, poverty and homelessness. We recognize and affirm the intrinsic worth of each individual. We treat all those that we serve with compassion and kindness. We embrace cultural diversity, works of charity, and justice. We collaborate with other charitable organizations addressing causes without distinction of those served. As visionaries, we are working towards prosperity by empowering the families we serve to live healthy and productive lives and to initiate personal and social change.
Carmen Miranda, Executive Director and Founder of Saint Mary’s Garden of Hope has worked in low income affordable housing, property management and public service for the past 25 years. Saint Mary’s Garden of Hope was established in 1996. Since then it has been offering our community outreach by providing guidance and information on the benefits of home ownership. Primary focus was placed on educating low income families, on the importance of asset stabilization and credit worthiness, in preparation for home ownership and education on housing rights and various finance options.
Most recently, Saint Mary’s Garden of Hope collaborated with a private developer on the groundbreaking of 20 tri-level single family homes as part of the Figueroa Expansion Project for the City of Los Angeles. Located on the corner of 50th and Figueroa Street, these homes were initially targeted for low income families transitioning into permanent affordable housing. As the market collapsed, and sale of these homes was no longer a viable option, the developer together with Saint Mary's Garden of Hope, instituted a new option in order to satisfy the immediate need of displaced families. As a result, all 20 homes were approved for Section 8 Housing and are now a model project for the City of Los Angeles.
Good nutrition and optimal health care, has been a priority and focal point for our program at Saint Mary’s Garden of Hope. Effective March 2011, Saint Mary'sGarden of Hope began collaborating with Apex Home Health Care.
Together, we are working to outreach to disabled individuals specifically targeting the elder community, making services they would otherwise be unaware of or unable to get to, accessible from their own homes. These home health services help meet the needs of the disabled community by providing participants long term support and possible solutions to their medical needs.
On January 2011, Saint Mary’s Garden of Hope began collaborating with one of the largest non-profit organizations in Oregon, Adelante Mujeres. Eduardo Corona, Secretary for Saint Mary's Garden of Hope currently provides the empowerment component of their program. This component focuses on teaching sustainable business skills and offers guidance to immigrants and farm workers aiding them in achieving personal goals which strengthen their family units and help create new jobs thru community development, which ultimately result in commercial recovery.
