For over 40 years, Heartly House has provided comprehensive services for residents of Frederick County. Its mission is to end domestic violence, sexual assault, human trafficking, and child abuse, and to provide victims with safety, shelter, and supportive services. This mission has expanded and allowed Heartly House to impact the lives of many people throughout our community.

After evaluating the future trajectory of the organization, one main need became apparent: Heartly House services should be more broadly available throughout the County. Transportation and distance can be a barrier to obtaining services. While the pandemic increased the usage of technology, victims and clients may not have access to reliable internet or devices to access services.

When the Ausherman Family Foundation approached Heartly House in 2021 as a potential applicant for a Multi-Year grant, the organization immediately identified expanding its services outside the city as a primary goal.

The expansion of services to satellite locations has a variety of benefits:

• Makes services available in more communities
• Increases access to vital services
• Broadens its reach and level of engagement
• Maintains a higher retention rate
• Builds trust with clients

These benefits and other goals established by Heartly House were given structure and measurable outcomes after working with Sharp Insights, LLC, a consulting firm. Through this consulting work, Heartly House developed a dashboard that will track its progress toward its goals. For example, by the end of the five-year grant period, Heartly House plans to increase the number of employees at its satellite locations and reach more clients. Having measurable outcomes will provide Heartly House with structure and a roadmap moving into their future planning.

Heartly House has already taken steps toward its goals of creating satellite locations by recently opening a facility part-time. Another change included a new staff position to direct these satellite locations. Amy Wilkinson stepped into this role and will help the satellite locations to grow and reach more people.

One final goal of this grant is to assess unmet needs. Often clients of Heartly House are facing other intersectional issues such as food insecurity. By working with these clients, Heartly House will maintain detailed records about what other services their clients need or are not receiving.

The Ausherman Family Foundation is proud to support Heartly House with a $400,000 Multi-Year Grant. We look forward to seeing the impact of these satellite locations and collecting data on its progress.