The Midnight Mission is a human services organization in

downtown Los Angeles Downtown Los Angeles (DTLA) contains the central business district of Los Angeles. In addition, it contains a diverse residential area of some 85,000 people, and covers . A 2013 study found that the district is home to over 500,000 jobs. It is a ...

Skid Row A skid row or skid road is an impoverished area, typically urban, in English-speaking North America whose inhabitants are mostly poor people " on the skids". This specifically refers to poor or homeless, considered disreputable, downtrodden or fo ...

."Midnight Mission Provides Services to Skid Row Community"
'' NBC Los Angeles'' (August 19, 2019)"Fault Lines: A Trip to the Midnight Mission"
Anna Scott, ''

KCRW KCRW (89.9 MHz FM) is a National Public Radio member station broadcasting from the campus of Santa Monica College in Santa Monica, California, where the station is licensed. KCRW airs original news and music programming in addition to program ...

'' (September 19, 2014) It was founded in 1914."Q&A: L.A. has tens of thousands of homeless, hungry people. We ask Midnight Mission how it helps — and how we can"
Noelle Carter, ''

Los Angeles Times The ''Los Angeles Times'' (abbreviated as ''LA Times'') is a daily newspaper that started publishing in Los Angeles in 1881. Based in the LA-adjacent suburb of El Segundo since 2018, it is the sixth-largest newspaper by circulation in the ...

'' (May 3, 2018) A

secular Secularity, also the secular or secularness (from Latin ''saeculum'', "worldly" or "of a generation"), is the state of being unrelated or neutral in regards to religion. Anything that does not have an explicit reference to religion, either negativ ...

non-profit A nonprofit organization (NPO) or non-profit organisation, also known as a non-business entity, not-for-profit organization, or nonprofit institution, is a legal entity organized and operated for a collective, public or social benefit, in co ...

,"Midnight Mission celebrates 100 years of service"
Dana Bartholomew, ''

Los Angeles Daily News The ''Los Angeles Daily News'' is the second-largest-circulating paid daily newspaper of Los Angeles, California. It is the flagship of the Southern California News Group, a branch of Colorado-based Digital First Media. The offices of the ''D ...

'' (August 28, 2017)"Skid Row’s Midnight Mission Running Club is Racing Off to Rome"
Shayna Rose Arnold, ''

Los Angeles Magazine ''Los Angeles'' magazine is a monthly publication dedicated to covering Los Angeles. Founded in the spring of 1961 by David Brown, the magazine is currently owned and published by Hour Media Group, LLC. Los Angeles magazine's combination of feat ...

'' (January 21, 2015) the organization provides food, drug and alcohol recovery services, "safe sleep" programs, educational training, a mobile kitchen, and family housing with an emphasis on developing

self-sufficiency Self-sustainability and self-sufficiency are overlapping states of being in which a person or organization needs little or no help from, or interaction with, others. Self-sufficiency entails the self being enough (to fulfill needs), and a self-s ...

Background

The term "midnight mission" was common in the 19th and early 20th centuries to designate efforts by domestic

missionaries A missionary is a member of a religious group which is sent into an area in order to promote its faith or provide services to people, such as education, literacy, social justice, health care, and economic development.Thomas Hale 'On Being a Mi ...

in the United States against so-called "

white slavery White slavery (also white slave trade or white slave trafficking) refers to the slavery of Europeans, whether by non-Europeans (such as West Asians and North Africans), or by other Europeans (for example naval galley slaves or the Vikings' t ...

", a deprecated term for

prostitution Prostitution is the business or practice of engaging in Sex work, sexual activity in exchange for payment. The definition of "sexual activity" varies, and is often defined as an activity requiring physical contact (e.g., sexual intercourse, n ...

History

The Midnight Mission was founded by businessman and lay minister Tom Liddecoat in 1914. Meals were served at midnight, after church services. As of 1920, the mission held nightly religious services. The mission became an incorporated

in 1922. During the

Great Depression The Great Depression (19291939) was an economic shock that impacted most countries across the world. It was a period of economic depression that became evident after a major fall in stock prices in the United States. The economic contagio ...

, the Midnight Mission was a major residence in Los Angeles for people who lacked permanent housing. During

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...

, the mission began assisting with job placement and established job training programs. In 1963, the Midnight Mission conducted a survey of people living in

, and concluded that alcoholism was a significant contributor to their life situation. In 1974, they named recovered alcoholic and popular A.A. speaker Clancy Imislund as managing director, a role he undertook for many decades. Midnight Mission dining room

In 2004, a campaign called Building a Home for Hope raised funds for an expanded facility. David Bentley was hired as the owner's project manager by the Board and oversaw the design by Gin Wong Associates and the construction by Snyder Langston until the new facility on San Pedro route Street opened in April 2005. Permitting and construction was difficult due to the site being within an active archeological zone. San Pedro Street was the original access route from downtown Los Angeles to the port in San Pedro in the 1800s. In 2005, the shelter served three meals to approximately 170 residents and 500 guests each day. The shelter continues to emphasize their role as a "bridge to self-sufficiency", making this the first bullet point in their

mission statement A mission statement is a short statement of why an organization exists, what its overall goal is, the goal of its operations: what kind of product or service it provides, its primary customers or market, and its geographical region of operatio ...

. The Mission is not associated with any religious group.

References

{{Reflist

External links

Official website
Homelessness charities Organizations based in Los Angeles Organizations established in 1914 1914 establishments in California