In 1985, three clergymen were working among the homeless in the Over-the-Rhine neighborhood of Cincinnati, Ohio. The more they worked in the community, the more aware they were of the of predicament the mentally ill homeless were in around Cincinnati. Due to the policy of deinstitutionalization leading to the number of psychiatric beds being reduced from 4,000 to 400, many of them were ending up on the streets. Once this was realized, the clergymen set out to transform the lives of homeless adults with mental illness and created Tender Mercies.

Even though Tender Mercies started with its strong mission, tragedy struck them early on. After Father Chris Hall, Tender Mercies' first director, helped two women who had been released from a psychiatric institute with nothing but money for a cab to the Drop Inn Center get back on their feet by helping them find an apartment, apply for social security benefits, find support to treat their mental illness and more, one was horribly raped and the other murdered in their own home. This did not discourage the clergymen, though. They went to the manager of the building the women lived in and he agreed to let them manage it instead. Soon after they took over, the building became the permanent home for 12 previously homeless women with chronic mental illness, and so began the legacy of Tender Mercies.

It's been 31 years, and Tender Mercies is still providing housing and supportive services to homeless adults with severe mental illness. When it comes to housing, Tender Mercies has two options: permanent and transitional. Without housing, the homeless cannot combat what leads to homelessness and without supportive services, they are more likely to fall into the routines that led to their homelessness again. Once Tender Mercies takes on a resident, they provide security, medication monitoring, meals, laundry, job training, counseling and so much more.

In just 2013, 67 percent of their residents moved out of Tender Mercies and into community-based independent living with increased incomes, 86 percent of residents stayed with their permanent housing arrangement for 12 months and in all, they served 220 residents.

Tender Mercies' mission is to "transform the lives of homeless adults with mental illness by providing security, dignity and community in a place they call home." They achieve this by maintaining 134 units of permanent supportive housing and 16 units of transitional housing across six different buildings in the Over-the-Rhine community. Together, we can break the cycle of homelessness.

Know someone who could benefit from Tender Mercies? Visit here.

Want to help out at Tender Mercies? Visit here.

To read residents stories, visit here.

Be sure to attend their fundraiser, Taste of OTR, August 26 and 27 in Washington Park.