Agency Spotlights

Each month we will feature a local non-profit agency that receives City/County Funding.

Court Appointed Special Advocates (CASA)

CASA for Lancaster County recruits, trains, and supports community volunteers who advocate on behalf of abused, neglected, truant, or ungovernable children in Lancaster County Juvenile Court. CASA volunteers get to know the children and the circumstances that brought them and their family into the child welfare/juvenile court system. CASA volunteers do their own investigation and then write reports that go directly to the judge about what they are seeing and what they recommend should be done in the child's best interests. CASA volunteers provide the judges with more information on which to base their decisions and provide children with a stable adult who can speak for them in court. CASA volunteers recommend services and programs that can benefit the child as well as those that will assist in addressing the issues that brought the family into the system.

CASA volunteers make a difference in the lives of vulnerable children. For more information on becoming a CASA volunteer or supporting CASA, please visit the CASA for Lancaster County website.

The League of Human Dignity

The League of Human Dignity is a consumer-based nonprofit organization founded in 1971, providing services that help adults with disabilities live independently, in their own homes and communities, rather than being forced to live in institutions. In Lancaster County, the League provides services through the Lincoln Center for Independent Living. These services include:

  • Assistance to facilitate transition and diversion of individuals from nursing homes or other Institutions and facilitate transition of youth to post-secondary life
  • Independent living skills training
  • Individual and systems advocacy
  • Information and referral
  • Peer counseling and support
  • Training in personal assistant hiring and management

Other services also offered are medical equipment loan, rental, sales, and service, and a grant program that helps consumers who have mobility limitations to remove physical barriers in their homes that prevent full accessibility. For more information, call the League toll free at 888-508-4758 or local at 402-441-7871, or visit the League of Human Dignity website.

Family Violence Council

The Family Violence Council (FVC) works to stop violence against women and their children by coordinating the Lincoln/Lancaster County response to domestic violence, dating violence, stalking, and sexual violence. FVC staffs community coordinated response teams and related task forces and committees. FVC also coordinates and manages a variety of community projects, mostly grant funded, to support the work of the coordinated response and improve the response to victims and perpetrators of abuse. FVC helps the community plan for improvements in responding to abuse by maintaining a database on domestic and sexual violence incidents, analyzing data to determine needs, and reporting on progress toward achieving goals to improve safety for victims and perpetrator accountability. FVC also works to insure there are appropriate program responses for domestic violence offenders and provides training focusing on the behavior of domestic violence offenders and appropriate interventions to stop such behavior.

For more information, email Bob Moyer.

Friendship Home

Friendship Home is Lincoln, Nebraska's emergency shelter program designed specifically to meet the complex needs of victims of domestic violence and their children. Our mission is to support, shelter, and advocate for women who are victims of domestic violence and their children. Friendship Home takes a strength-based approach to working with victims of domestic violence and their children that empowers them to become survivors. For victims in the community exploring the possibility of leaving violent homes, and for those who have left and are now homeless, Friendship Home offers an array of services, which include:

  • Case management
  • Crisis intervention
  • Information and referral services
  • Ongoing post-shelter support
  • Pre-shelter support
  • Provision of basic needs
  • Safety planning
  • Short-term mental health and substance use counseling
  • Support groups for victims and children
  • Victim's and children's advocacy

For more information about our services, visit the Friendship Home website. Call our emergency shelter line at 402-437-9302.

Matt Talbot Kitchen & Outreach

Serving lunch and dinner seven days a week, Matt Talbot Kitchen and Outreach is a hunger relief and outreach center for those in need. Last year Matt Talbot provided nearly 113,000 nutritious meals to the hungry in Lincoln and more than 25,000 homeless prevention services such as:

  • Drug and alcohol evaluations
  • Help with obtaining vital identification documents
  • Life skills classes
  • Nutrition counseling
  • Transitional housing

Learn more at the Matt Talbot Kitchen and Outreach website.

Stepping Stones for Families

Stepping Stones for Families (SSF) is a program of Lincoln Medical Education Partnership. The mission of SSF is to empower families by providing them resources and support to overcome barriers in order to achieve stability. As many of our clients struggle with alcohol or drug abuse, we believe that addressing drug and alcohol abuse can improve the health of the whole family. Our dual-credentialed therapist provides:

  • Alcohol and drug evaluations
  • Interim services for those on waiting lists at other community agencies
  • Outpatient counseling
  • Relapse prevention

We are a licensed, Commission on Accreditation of Rehabilitation Facilities (CARF) accredited, outpatient substance abuse treatment center. Our family advocate works alongside our therapist, assisting clients and families to help with housing and basic needs concerns as well as employment, medical, and emergency issues. By reducing the barriers that bring stress to the lives of our clients, we are able to help them focus on their treatment and recovery.

To make an appointment or to find out more about our services, please call 402-488-6511 or visit the Stepping Stones website.

Our Location

We are conveniently located on a bus route at:
4600 Valley Road
Suite 223
Lincoln, NE 68510

Our office hours are:
Monday through Friday
8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.

Houses of Hope of Nebraska, Inc.: Building Better Lives in Recovery

Houses of Hope helps men and women who are experiencing substance use and mental health issues by assisting them to:

  • Maintain abstinence
  • Establish necessary recovery supports
  • Improve self-esteem
  • Integrate into the workforce
  • Reach their highest potential for independence and personal responsibility

These services are provided in three programs that serve over 700 individuals annually. Joint Budget Committee helps fund the men's halfway house program, which provides individual and group counseling, educational groups, and peer support in a nurturing environment as individuals begin their return to employment and work toward independent living. Visit the Houses of Hope website for more information.

Family Service

Family Service's Behavioral Health Program currently provides therapy and family support services in 14 Lincoln Public Schools and was recently awarded a $21,000 grant from the Juvenile Justice Prevention Fund to focus on providing individual, family, and group therapy to address concerns around:

  • Attendance
  • Drug and alcohol abuse
  • Grades
  • Home issues
  • Mental health problems

The group therapy work would include anxiety management and support for teen parents. The Family Service mental health therapists at Lincoln High, East, North Star, and Southwest High Schools and Culler, Park, Mickle, and Lefler Middle Schools would intervene with these youth at an early stage to prevent them from being referred to a higher level of care. By providing this service within the student's school, it allows the youth to consistently attend therapy in a familiar place, and parents will not have to leave work to transport their child to a therapy appointment away from the school. Family Service has several other programs, including the Child Care Food Program (CCFP), the Women, Infants and Children Supplemental Nutrition Program (WIC), and our Before and After School Program.

For more information, visit the Family Service Lincoln website or contact:
Barry Gourley
Executive Director
Phone: 402-441-7949

Voices of Hope

Voices of Hope provides 24-hour-a-day advocacy services for victims of:

  • Domestic violence
  • Harassment
  • Incest
  • Sexual assault
  • Stalking
  • Related forms of abuse

Our services include the 24-hour crisis line (402-475-7273), 24-hour victim advocacy in response to calls from hospital emergency rooms and law enforcement for victim assistance, and daily walk-in services. We also offer:

  • Assistance with protection orders
  • Basic needs provisions
  • Crisis counseling
  • On-campus services at University of Nebraska Lincoln and Nebraska Wesleyan
  • Safety planning
  • Support groups

Last year, Voices of Hope answered over 8,000 crisis line calls and provided face-to-face services to over 2,000 victims. Our free and confidential services are available to women and men. For more information, visit the Voices of Hope Lincoln website.

CenterPointe

Grounded by the solid belief that every person has the ability to recover, CenterPointe makes pivotal treatment available for people suffering from mental and substance use disorders. Meeting people where they are and supporting them to gain control of their lives is what CenterPointe aims to do. CenterPointe provides a broad continuum of care - nearly 30 programs - in the areas of:

  • Community support
  • Crisis response
  • Housing
  • Rehabilitation
  • Treatment

Screening for outpatient services is available daily at:
1000 S 13th Street
Lincoln NE 68508

For more information, visit the CentrePointe website or call:

  • Administrative Offices
    Phone: 402-475-8717
  • Outpatient Services
    Phone: 402-475-5161

St. Monica's Behavioral Health Services for Women

St. Monica's helps women build healthier lives for themselves and their families through treatment for substance abuse, trauma, and mental health, serving 400 women a year in a variety of residential and outpatient programs. Lancaster County Human Services provides funding for Intensive Outpatient Treatment, with individual and group counseling, family services, educational groups, and case management to help women forge a path to a productive, hopeful future through:

  • Employment
  • Health
  • Personal safety
  • Sobriety

For more information, visit the St. Monica's Life Changing Recovery for Women website.