Our History: Today
Our mission is to assist individuals achieve self-sufficiency, reach and maintain their maximum potential, and live responsibly and harmoniously in a healthy community and complex world.
We achieve this by using innovative, comprehensive, and collaborative approaches to a social service provision. Each year, West End serves thousands of individuals in the areas of employment and training, GED preparation, tutoring, crisis alleviation, first-time home buying, before and after care, youth and adult socialization and physical fitness, Summer Camp, community revitalization, rental security deposits and relocation loans and grants, truancy prevention, transitional housing, as well as numerous community based events such as voting, tax preparation, and holiday programming.
The target populations these programs serve are TANF (Temporary Assistance to Needy Families, formerly (AFDC) and Food Stamp recipients, low income single parents and families (i.e. the underemployed and the working poor), and at-risk youth and young adults. West End is one of Wilmington's most well respected agencies and has been nationally characterized as a "Safe Haven and a one-stop shopping" facility for the delivery of coordinated social services. West End has also initiated innovative programs in collaboration with other social service and government agencies.
A special feature of our programming is our collaborative efforts with other private organization and public agencies. This enables us to provide a wider range of services to our clients and allows for more economical expenditure of funds by all involved. In these times of limited funding, collaboration is an essential aspect of responsible and effective service provision.
Furthermore, as a responsible social service agency, West End has succeeded in capping its management costs to below 7% for over eight years. This is a hallmark of effective management and administration. To ensure financial efficiency of the agency infrastructure, every program at West End is conscious of its position as a community-based service provider, and our mission continues to be driven by our not-for-profit credo.
Our History:
1880s * WWI * Great Depression * 1940s and '50s * 1960s, '70s and '80s