Our History

In November 2013, a joint local government — nonprofit task force commissioned by the Raleigh City Council, identified the need for a “one-stop-shop” for individuals and families at risk of homelessness to provide a long-term, holistic and permanent solution for ending homelessness. The first step, a temporary one, was the establishment of a weekend meals program known as Oak City Outreach Center (OCOC). Catholic Charities of the Diocese of Raleigh was chosen to operate the Oak City Outreach Center, and on June 14, 2014, Oak City Outreach Center served its first meals; 750 meals served the first weekend. Oak City Outreach Center partnered with over 70 different faith communities and humanitarian organizations to provide the food and recruited more than a hundred volunteers to provide welcome and hospitality to the homeless.

The second step, the development of a multi-services hub for people experiencing homelessness, was fulfilled with the opening of Oak City Cares on April 10, 2019. Catholic Charities of the Diocese of Raleigh was again chosen to be the operator of the new Center, Oak City Cares. Wake County and the City of Raleigh provided funding for the purchase and renovation of a facility to house the multi-services center located at 1430 S. Wilmington St., Raleigh NC. The Oak City Outreach Center weekend meals program was incorporated into Oak City Cares when it opened in April 2019.

Oak City Cares was initially created by Catholic Charities of the Diocese of Raleigh as a separate 501c3 organization on June 8th, 2018. An initial campaign to raise $2.5M in operating and startup costs was launched at that time and then concluded successfully on October 8, 2019. All employees of Oak City Cares were initially leased from Catholic Charities. However, due to the success of the organization in establishing its foundation, independently raising sufficient funds to operate, and as a result of the overwhelming support from the community, the two organizations agreed to become fully independent from each other on January 1st, 2021, and all employees then became employees of Oak City Cares, Inc.

Oak City Cares is the operator and coordinator of the Oak City Cares multi-services hub that brings together an array of Wake County nonprofits ensuring that people experiencing homelessness get onsite help and serving as a bridge to the ongoing resources they need. Oak City Cares does this by connecting those at risk to coordinated services that create a path to stable housing and renewed hope. The primary and overarching goal of Oak City Cares is to make homelessness in our community rare, brief, and non-recurring. 

 Since opening in April of 2019 as of June 30, 2023, Oak City Cares has:

-Provided 258,763 meals on weekends and holiday through its Weekend Meals Program

-Provided 42,148 showers for guests through our Basic Needs program

-Provided 25,150 laundry services for guests through our Basic Needs Program

-In the last year, we served 6,204 unique guests.

In the past sixteen months, Oak City Cares stabilized more than 69 households in housing by keeping them in their homes and avoiding homelessness altogether, or by helping them rapidly exit out of homelessness into a home.