Miracle Messages

Miracle Messages is an award-winning nonprofit organization that helps people experiencing homelessness rebuild their social and financial support systems, primarily through family reunifications and a phone-based buddy program. Phone buddy program: Miracle friends matches unhoused neighbors with trained volunteers for weekly phone calls and texts, to provide general wellness checks and lightweight problem solving. To date, we've paired over 150 new friends worldwide. Miracle Messages offers a humane, highly effective way to help end homelessness: strengthen social supports and financial security, shatter stigmas, and empower people everywhere to get involved. Our work has been featured in the new york times, Washington post, cnn, in a ted talk, and hundreds more. We're on a mission to end relational poverty on the streets.

Reunion services: a person experiencing homelessness records a short message to a loved one (or vice versa). Then, our network of "digital detectives" attempt to locate the loved one and deliver the message. To date, we've reunited over 450 families worldwide.

Miracle money: Miracle money provides unconditional direct cash transfers of 750 a month for 12 months to at least 55 adults experiencing homelessness in los angeles county and at least 55 in san francisco and oakland, as part of a randomized control trial evaluating basic income combined with social support. Social support will be provided over 12 months through Miracle friends, a phone buddy program that matches unhoused individuals 1:1 with committed volunteers from around the world for weekly calls and texts to check-in, say hello, and offer lightweight support. The goal is to address "relational poverty," which is a deadly, often- overlooked form of poverty that leads to nearly unimaginable levels of social isolation, stigma, and shame. Without adequate social support, people experiencing homelessness tend to stay homeless.