Our History

1988 –The church women united held a forum on family homelessness. From that sprang Evansville Coalition for the Homeless, originally made up of those 30 local organizations. The early work was focused on developing the coalition, securing funding for training in housing and other areas, and collecting data on the homeless population. At that time, more than 200 people were homeless in Evansville.

1989 – We were incorporated and became a 501 C3. Street Relief began that year as an awareness drive, partnering with WSTO and a variety of agencies and volunteers.

1990 - Focus on healthcare and housing led to the creation of what we now know as ECHO Healthcare and ECHO Housing.

1991 – A one hour documentary produced by Daughters of Charity entitled, "The Cry of the Poor" aired on channel 14 in Evansville.

1992 – Increased training in economic development initiatives

1995 – Aurora hired first staff and executive director, who assisted Partners in Caring in developing the Anti-Poverty Strategy

1996 – We assisted the Local Initiates Support Corporations (LISC), a national organization, to establish operations in Evansville.

1997 – Application to Housing and Urban Development's (HUD) Continuum of Care grant. We were asked by the community to create a homeless outreach team.

1998 – Staff was hired for the Homeless Outreach Team.

2000 - We completed a year-long survey of the homeless population. We instituted a dental and eye care voucher program, funded through the HUD continuum of care. We held our first homeless memorial service to honor those individuals who passed away while being homeless.

2001 - Brought the outreach director for the National Coalition for the Homeless to release the results of the survey. The Helping Each Other Learn Peace, Patience, Priorities (H.E.L.P) group was formed. H.E.L.P. provides mutual support and problem solving opportunities for local homeless care providers through monthly meetings. We developed a tenant education program. This was our first homeless prevention endeavor.

2002 – We began forming the 10-year plan to end homelessness in Evansville. We transferred the dental and eye care voucher program to ECHO Health.

2003 – We celebrated our 15th year anniversary and invited Dan Shepley, the Executive Director of the Coalition for Homelessness Intervention and Prevention in Indianapolis (CHIP) to speak at our celebration luncheon. CHIP is the lead agency in the Indianapolis blueprint to end homelessness.

2004 – We released Destination: Home, the 10 year plan, to the public.

2005 – We assisted with implementation of Destination: Home by serving as resource coordinator and staff support for the Commission on Homelessness. We changed our name to Aurora, which means luminous light or new dawn. We are the guiding light to the homeless as well as the community. We were on the horizon of looking at new ways to provide homeless services.

2006 – We added more staff to the community development side to be able to support the work of Destination: Home.

2008 – We added Shelter Plus Care, a program which helps individuals with disabilities such as mental health issues, HIV positive, and substance abuse issues. United Caring Shelter contracted with us to provide a case manager for their transitional housing program. We added the Home 4 Good program, which was a partnership with Habitat for Humanity of Evansville. It targeted homeless prevention among Habitat partner families and created a vehicle for homeless clients residing in transitional housing to enter into home ownership through Habitat.

2009 –We also added the New Start program, which was a contract with ECHO Housing Corporation to provide the case management to the New Start Program. We added HPRP, Homeless Prevention and Rapid-Rehousing Program. We transferred the Home4Good program to Habitat for Humanity.

2010 –We increased organizational capacity with the addition of a Program Director, Finance Manager and Communications Specialist. Case management for the New Start program was transferred to Echo Housing.

2011 – We added a Development Officer and launched a new fundraiser, the Midwest Gingerbread Competition and Holiday Showcase.