Services and support that promote future growth
Services
& Support
Apply for Services
At Come As You Are Cville, we have adopted community, compassion, dignity, and equality as our core values. Each day this is displayed in the extraordinary measure through the unified effort of our staff, volunteers, and supporters.
Located in Charlottesville, Virginia, Come As You Are Cville has been serving people throughout the area since 2018 and seeks to provide access to resources that empower people experiencing homelessness to progress on the road toward economic and personal stability.
Mentorship
Our team offers one on one mentorship for individuals between the ages of 5-17. Youth mentoring programs aim to improve the child’s well-being by providing a role model that can support the child academically, socially, and personally. Our program is recognized as having significant benefits, such as lower dropout rates in high school. Subsequently, it increased graduation rates and an increase of enrollment into and graduation from higher education institutions. This goal is accomplished through school work, communication, and activities. We develop friendships and successful mentoring relationships utilizing four stages: preparation, negotiating, enabling growth, and closure. These sequential phases build on each other and vary in length. In each phase, some specific steps and strategies lead to mentoring excellence. Mentees will benefit from learning the importance of volunteering their time and serving throughout the community, having discussions on future career aspirations, obtaining the skills toward those goals, learning about how to start and run a business, character training, and teamwork emphasis.
For more information or to submit a request, email us at [email protected]
Benefits of the Program
- Assigned mentor
- Accountability
- Increase in academics and graduation rates
- Social skills
- Building self-esteem
Prison Ministry
Our pre-release services are intended to prepare offenders for the transition from incarceration life within the community. Jail pre-release services may include assessment, reentry, transition planning, training, counseling, mentoring, tutoring, information, and referral. Training programs focus on job readiness and employment skills, budgeting, consumer skills, family relationships, transition expectations, and related areas of value to offenders soon to be released. Pre-release services in state correctional institutions include:
- Assisting prison staff in delivering the Department of Corrections’ Life Skills Program.
- Developing reentry and transition plans for difficult placement cases.
- Connecting with community services soon after release.
In collaboration with dedicated spiritual leaders, our prison ministry offers profound spiritual lessons, such as forgiving, restoring, and praying (reminding that God does all the work). It also teaches efficient lessons about listening, patience, and cross-cultural communication to reduce the recidivism rate.
For more information or to submit a request, email us at [email protected]
Post-Incarceration Services
Our post-incarceration services are provided to clients that have been recently released from incarceration and are intended to address the specific needs of individual offenders after release from prisons or jails to support successful reintegration into the community and sustain crime-free lifestyles. Risk and recidivism reduction services include assessment, training, counseling, mentoring, tutoring, information and referral, job readiness, and employment services. Post-incarceration services also assist clients in obtaining stabilization and emergency services such as locating food, clothing, transportation, and shelter assistance.
Housing Department
Our Housing Department offers direct access, without barriers, to stable housing. Housing stability is the base that allows an individual to feel safer; connect to resources; engage with the community, including through employment and volunteer opportunities; and address comprehensive health needs. To meet this goal, CAYA works on all aspects within the housing spectrum through homelessness resolution, housing stability, and housing opportunity. In the area of homelessness resolution, work includes prevention and rehousing strategies and supportive service interventions. The pathways out of homelessness and housing instability vary and are unique to the needs and resources of each individual. CAYA is also committed to utilizing the shelter system as a critical part of ending homelessness. Sheltering and emergency services should function as a component of rehousing, not as an endpoint for persons experiencing homelessness.
CAYA is committed to street outreach efforts designed to build trust and support connections to rehousing and services for individuals and families experiencing homelessness. This support is critical, particularly for those who may not be engaging with shelters and other services. While focusing on creating connections to stable housing, outreach workers establish rapport and reduce harm by providing critical, life-saving resources such as food, water, clothing, blankets, and other necessities.
For more information or to submit a request, email us at [email protected]
Person Centered
Focused on the whole person, including strengths and challenges, while meeting everyone where they are without pre-judgment or assumptions.
Trauma Informed
Emphasizes trauma awareness, physical and emotional safety, choice and empowerment, and strength and resilience.
Culturally Responsive
Respectful of beliefs and practices, sexual orientations, disability status, age, gender identity, cultural preferences, and linguistic needs; outreach staff are also aware of racial inequities and disparities and tailor their approach accordingly.
Disaster Relief
When people endure natural disasters without aid, they may face a lifetime of diminished hope for prosperity. Come As You Are Cville is working 24/7 to ensure that we’re delivering disaster relief to victims quickly. Not only by helping to restore lost assets but also by maintaining their aspirations — and investing in our community’s long-term economic and democratic health. We work diligently to keep people at risk of displacement in their existing homes whenever possible. To help residents stay in their current homes, CAYA funds and connects residents with eviction and legal assistance referrals, temporary rental and utility assistance, employment/vocational counseling, linkage to longer-term housing programs.
For more information or to submit a request, email us at [email protected]
Disaster Relief Assistance
- Eviction and legal assistance referrals
- Temporary rental and utility assistance
- Employment/vocational counseling
- Long-term housing programs
Pre-Intake Form
Please fill out the form below. We are here to serve you.