For 40 years, COTS has been committed to serving the most vulnerable members of the Detroit community by providing emergency shelter, affordable housing and more. COTS is on a mission to create opportunities for families who are overcoming poverty to collaborate, thrive and succeed in building strong and stable households, neighborhoods and communities.
COTS provides housing and support to nearly 1,000 people daily —and more than 60 percent of those served are children. Our Programs include family-only emergency shelter for families; supportive housing with assistance for addiction, disability or illness; affordable housing; and children’s services such as learning labs to support academic success, drop-in child care to help working parents, and child development services for families experiencing homelessness.
With the realization of poverty as the driver of homelessness and our need to address it came our theory of change for disrupting generational poverty. COTS’ focus is now exclusively on engaging families to develop economic self-sufficiency and stabilized environments to create a multi-generational impact and ultimately break the cycle of poverty. This innovative approach is called Passport to Self-Sufficiency™ (PTS).
PTS is COTS’ poverty reduction and alleviation framework used across all programs and projects in the organization. Using a two-generation, whole-family approach, we partner with families who are currently unhoused or at risk of experiencing homelessness to provide longterm services that are person-centered, strengths-based, and trauma-informed.
COTS’ PTS assists families in reaching their housing, economic, health, education and career goals through coaching, mentorship and support, as they overcome homelessness and break the poverty cycle for the next generation — and beyond. This trauma-informed, research-based, transformative, whole-family approach is designed to create poverty-resistant families and is the overarching framework for all of our work. All of our programs and services are provided within the framework of this theory of change.
All of COTS’ work is done through a lens of intergenerational mobility. Knowing generational poverty is often at the root of cyclical poverty, it is imperative to support, coach, and offer resources to not only the heads of households (parents) but to their children as well. To this end, COTS uses a whole-family approach, providing mobility coaching to both parents and their children.
We provide services through a network of partnerships aimed at building healthy relationships. These relationships support the mutual growth and development of the whole family, while also supporting families in meeting their basic needs, as well as their households’ needs. Partners are critical to these services and are the heart and soul of all we do.
“It takes a village to raise a child.” – African Proverb
Everyone plays a part in the success of children in our communities. Consider partnering with COTS as we partner with families on their journey to stability and self-sufficiency. Visit us at cotsdetroit.org to learn more or to make a gift today. Together, we can help to break the cycle of poverty for families and “Create Opportunities To Succeed!”
Visit cotsdetroit.org to Create Opportunities To Succeed! You can follow us on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter as @cotsdetroit. And, please subscribe to our podcast, COTS: The Art of Family wherever you download your podcasts.
November 29th is #GivingTuesday!
Join COTS in celebrating this national tradition of generosity.
We know that there are many amazing charities that are deserving of your generosity. As you consider year-end giving, please consider partnering with COTS to build better futures. Know that the investment you make has a long-lasting impact on families and changes the trajectory for their children.
