HISTORY

The Daily Planet is a nonprofit, 501(c) 3 charitable organization founded in 1969, when many teens were dropping out of school and society. These young people, who initially saw themselves as a sort of Bohemian class in Richmond, really amounted to a disenfranchised segment of young adults. And they needed help. The Daily Planet was organized and began offering them shelter, meals, health clinics, and counseling to help them integrate back into society. In the early 1970s, the young people the center had been serving were asked to come up with a name for the place that had helped them reclaim their lives. Much like Clark Kent in Superman, who entered the telephone booth and was transformed into the superhero, these young people felt The Daily Planet helped transform them. Because of the connection they had with the story, The Daily Planet earned its name, paying homage to the newspaper where Clark Kent worked.

Today, Daily Planet serves as part of Homeward’s Greater Richmond Continuum of Care and provides a wide scope of health and human welfare services to those experiencing or at risk of homelessness. The Planet operates the only free standing health care center in the area providing primary medical, behavioral health, vision, and dental care to the homeless, uninsured and underinsured regardless of their ability to pay.

The Daily Planet built a new facility for its Safe Haven program in 2004. This new facility allowed the program to expand to 21-beds. The 6,700 square-foot facility includes bedrooms, baths, offices, a kitchen and dinning area, a meeting room, and a laundry and recreational area.

In 2008, The Daily Planet opened a 20-bed medical respite facility designed to provide convalescent care upon hospital discharge for up to 30 days for adults who do not have appropriate living arrangements to support recuperation.

The Daily Planet celebrated its 40th anniversary last year and continues its mission of giving hope to and helping those who are homeless, or those at risk of homelessness, achieve a level of self-sufficiency. Through the health care center, medical respite, job placement, Safe Haven and life support services, we offer an integrated system in which our patients and clients can find help in rebuilding their life for a brighter future.

VISION STATEMENT
The Daily Planet envisions a community where ALL are empowered to live healthy, enriched and stable lives.

MISSION STATEMENT
To that end, The Daily Planet addresses the holistic wellness of those at risk of or experiencing homelessness by providing accessible, comprehensive, and integrated quality health services to the citizens of the Greater Richmond Metropolitan area.

VALUES
In our recent strategic planning process, the board and staff identified key core values for our organization that will guide our work with our clients, each other, and our community partners:

The Daily Planet Strategic Plan 2009-2012

Four goals were identified:

Goal 1
To be the leader in providing accessible, timely, comprehensive and integrated quality healthcare.

Goal 2
To adopt professional, measurable, business, environmental, and administrative practices that support the delivery of excellent services.

Goal 3
Increase awareness and resources to build, grow and sustain effective programs and services.

Goal 4
Build and sustain a skilled, committed and invested board that is representative of the community.

ANNUAL REPORT

 Annual Report 2008

IRS 990 

 990 (2007-2008)