Program Matters: Rules are made to be broken?

Senior Director of Programs Jeannine Short

 

Community LINC has had a longstanding rule that families who have exited the program could not re-enter.  Given the emphasis on harm-reduction, however, we have taken steps to align our processes by shifting our focus away from static rules to the big picture—helping families become permanently housed.

 

Recently, a single mother of four made the decision to exit the program (without agency assistance) for what she thought was a permanent housing opportunity.  She soon discovered, however, that the decision was erroneous at best and requested re-entry into the program.  Other program performance issues notwithstanding, the family was allowed to return.

 

Approximately two months later, this young mother had obtained fulltime employment, signed a lease, and was given the keys to her own permanent residence.  On the day of her exit, she came to my office to tearfully express her gratitude.  In her words, “Thank you for giving me a second chance… for believing that I could it.”

 

I don’t know who coined the phrase “rules are made to be broken”, but in this case I’m very glad they did.