Gray Matters

You've Got a Friend

2012-01-18T14:39:00.003-06:00

Having a friend, or more formally, a support system, is something that differentiates poor mothers who don’t slide into homelessness from those who do.

The fifth policy brief from the Institute for Children, Poverty & Homelessness (ICPH) on the characteristics of fragile families who become homeless makes a number of points. But, the key role of family and friends is the one that struck me the most.

If a poor mother has support from family and friends, she will be able to work more, she will earn more, and she will rely less on welfare than those with weaker bonds.

So, why would that be the case?

The safety net of family and friends relieves some of the financial strains of poverty – they help with groceries, diapers, clothing, and rent. Family and friends who can help out in an emergency with child care or transportation make it possible for a poor mom to get to work and can mean the difference between keeping and losing a job.

The picture for poor mothers who have weak or erratic support is bleak. They struggle to get a foothold in the labor market and end up homeless more often than their counterparts with strong support.

It’s hard to prove or disprove, but we’ve always felt that one of the reasons our program is so successful in transitioning families out of homelessness, is that we give them a readymade community of support. The families live together on a single campus. The adults attend life skills classes and mental wellness groups together. The children play and study together in their classes. They meet other people at the same place in their lives and making the same life changes. They watch out for each other’s kids. They give each other rides.

First they have new neighbors and then they have new friends. And, now we know how important those friendships can be.

"Where you are isn't where you're going"

2011-12-07T07:46:00.003-06:00

We held an Open House in our Community Room last night. The room was full of resident families, board members, volunteers and staff. We were all chatting and enjoying the atmosphere when one of the residents told his story in a way that reminded each of us why we do this – work for a nonprofit and commit to this mission.

He was a meteorologist for 20 years, when he got an opportunity to go to an internet weather site for $10,000 a year more. He was making $95,000 a year.

You can guess what comes next.

The internet company went bust and shut down.

He tried to get back on as a meteorologist, but no surprise in this economy, he couldn’t find anything.

In the midst of looking for a job, he had some major things happen in his personal life. The worst of which was his wife walked away and left him to raise his beautiful twin boys by himself.

The spiral into homelessness ended when he and the boys were at a homeless shelter that pointed him to our program.

He expressed his gratitude with dignity for the support he and the boys found while he rebuilds their lives together. It has given him the platform to go back to school to become a surgical technician. He will start his final semester next month.

There are lots of ways that his story inspires - the perseverance, the self-determination - but, the most personal for me was in the way he accepted help when he needed it. He will forever be the model for me of accepting a "hand up" with grace, while neither expecting nor depending on it.

I’ll share more of the research from the Institute for Children, Poverty & Homelessness next month, but wanted give you the same gift of inspiration that we all received last night.

I hope you have a wonderful holiday season filled with hope and joy.

What else makes homeless families different than other poor families?

2011-11-01T15:01:00.006-05:00

The fourth in the ICPH series on families with young children who become homeless identifies still another trait that distinguishes them from poor families who never become homeless.

How old was mom when she gave birth?

Poor women who never became homeless gave birth when they were older. Mothers who became homeless were around 20; under 20 if they were unmarried and lacked a high school education. Mothers who never became homeless were 22-23.

One of the really unfortunate side effects is the impact on the children of young mothers. They are more likely “to have academic and behavioral problems, to display delinquent behaviors such as truancy and fighting, to be incarcerated, and to initiate early sexual activity and become young mothers themselves.”

Homeless and at risk mothers had children with more partners than those who did not become homeless. Having multiple partners “has become increasingly prevalent, particularly among the poor, minority, and unmarried. This growth is alarming; multiple-partner fertility is associated among both mothers and fathers with relationship instability, decreased rates of marriage, lower social support from friends and family, and higher rates of depression.” Their children exhibit poor physical health and more externalizing behaviors like aggression, defiance, theft, vandalism, etc.

While we see the family when the mother and child or children are older, the homeless children who come through our program show the academic, behavioral and health problems the study describes.

The brief goes on to recommend that policy makers interested in reducing child and family homelessness consider programs promoting responsible family planning. We would add, and promote the value of education, and parenting, and job skills, … The list goes on and on.

Another trait of poor families who become homeless

2011-09-20T14:28:00.001-05:00

The third brief from the Institute for Children Poverty & Homelessness series on families with young children who become homeless arrived this month. This one examined the role of family structure.

Only 15% of the mothers who were married when their child was born became homeless in the 5 years of the study. Only 25% of the married mothers were even at risk of becoming homeless.

In contrast 56% of the poor mothers who became homeless and 41% of those who were at risk of homelessness were single. Only 23% of the families that were always stably housed were single.

“Married-parent families benefit from higher earnings and economies of scale as well as greater social and institutional support relative to single-parent families. The economic benefits to marriage are especially relevant for women from poor families. While cohabiting families share some similar characteristics with married-parent families, cohabitation results in the accumulation of fewer economic resources.” In other words, cohabiting couples are poorer.

The study adds an interesting observation just in case you think that marriage will lift poor, single women out of poverty. “Mothers who marry differ from those who remain single in ways that bear direct impact on poverty: They are older, more educated, healthier, and have higher earnings.”

I was surprised to learn that “Children raised in cohabiting households exhibit greater behavioral and emotional problems, lower school engagement, and greater delinquency than those in two-parent married or single-parent households.” They believe it is because cohabitation is less well defined and requires less commitment than marriage. There was no direct explanation of why children in single parent families would have less problems.

More on Fragile Families and homelessness

2011-08-24T15:23:00.002-05:00

The Institute for Children, Poverty & Homelessness released their second brief from the Fragile Families and Child Wellbeing Study not long ago. Again they are looking at the characteristics that make homeless families different from families that are poor, but do not become homeless. This time they looked at the mother’s education as a factor.

“Compared to mothers who experienced homelessness or were at risk of homelessness, stably housed mothers are both more likely to have attained a high school diploma and less likely to have pursued further schooling.” Who would have guessed it. We always assume that more education will improve your job prospects.

So, what is really happening?

The key is the type of advanced education being pursued. Both the costs and benefits of programs can vary significantly by program type. High cost, vocational or career programs rather than college may create more instability than opportunity. “For profit” colleges have been criticized for their recruiting practices, low graduation rates and poor career placement. So the mother who thinks she’s making life better for her children by enrolling in some programs often ends up a dropout, saddled with significant debt, and no better employment prospects than before.

How sad is that.

Fragile Families

2011-07-25T14:03:00.003-05:00

The Institute for Children Homelessness and Poverty (ICPH) sent out a research brief last month called Profiles of Risk: Characterizing Housing Instability. This brief “puts a spotlight on the characteristics that make families who experience homelessness different from poor families who consistently maintain stable housing.”

The research draws on the Fragile Families and Child Wellbeing Study (FFCWS). The FFCWS was designed to understand the lives of children born to unmarried parents, so within 48 hours of birth they interviewed parents of 5,000 children and again when the children were one, three and five years old. The FFCWS showed that compared to married parents, unmarried parents were, among other things, more likely to be poor. The ICPH brief goes on to state “As a result, families in the FFCWS are and economically disadvantaged group, making it an ideal source of information for those interested in homelessness and residential instability.”

The ICPH brief states that “Families facing homelessness are also the most poor of the disadvantaged families in the FFCWS sample; on average they have incomes that are 20% lower than those of poor, stably housed families.”

It goes on to note that “Only 15% of children who experienced homelessness between ages one and five had a mother who was married at their birth. Among poor mothers who maintained stable housing, over half (53%) were married at the child’s birth.”

From the FFWCS “In conclusion, children born to unmarried parents are disadvantaged relative to children born to married parents in terms of parental capabilities and family stability. Additonally, parents’ marital status at the time of a child’s birth is a good predictor of longer-term family stability and complexity, both of which influence children’s longer-term wellbeing.”

Homelessness during the recession

2011-06-20T12:17:00.003-05:00

The Department of Housing and Urban Development’s (HUD) released their Annual Homeless Assessment Report to Congress (AHAR) on June 14^th. Based on 2010 data, the report showed that homelessness did not increase at the height of the recession, despite the economy.

That seems to fly in the face of logic. So why didn’t it increase?

The National Alliance to End Homelessness (NAEH) believes that stimulus funding to prevent or rapidly end homelessness helped. “The $1.5 billion in stimulus funds, called the Homelessness Prevention and Rapid Re-Housing Program (HPRP) offered communities significant new resources to curb homelessness resulting from the recession. The AHAR reports that HPRP funds prevented and ended homelessness for an estimated 690,000 people (my emphasis) in the reporting year, and the program also decreased the length of time people in some areas experienced homelessness.”

As one of the 13 agencies investing HPRP funds to prevent newly at risk families from falling into homelessness in Kansas City, MO, we helped only a small percentage of the 690,000 people helped nationwide. While we kept 125 people from becoming homeless, at an average of 100 families (300-400 people), our waiting list for our transitional housing was the highest it had been in years.

Our experience really isn’t inconsistent with the AHAR report, when you dig down into the subpopulations among the homeless. The number of homeless people in families increased by 6% from 2009 to 2010; 20% from 2007 to 2010.

The NAEH identified the real dilemma in the next couple of years. “Unfortunately, HPRP expires in 2012 and there will not be assistance for those hundreds of thousands of households that are facing homelessness.” … “The federal government is considering deep cuts to domestic discretionary spending which will affect poverty programs and social services across the board. State and local governments have already begun to make deep cuts. An efficient homelessness system supplied with significant emergency resources staved off a new wave of homelessness in 2009 and 2010. But with as high unemployment continues, housing prices rise, and safety net programs are shredded, this trend is likely to shift direction; there will be more homeless people and fewer resources to help them. In the face of growing need and deep budget cuts, an important principle must be to protect the most vulnerable. Certainly, homeless people meet that criterion. The homeless assistance system, in which federal resources leverage significant state, local and private dollars, is the ultimate safety net for the most vulnerable people; there is nothing beneath it. The programs work, they are solution oriented, cost effective and humane. A decision to support these programs and the vulnerable populations they serve would not only be an ethical decision, but a smart one.”

Transformation, not just transition

2011-05-19T13:14:00.008-05:00

We held a strategic planning retreat last Saturday. I always get some gem from the experience and this one was no exception.

I realized that the core of Community LINC is not transitional housing for homeless families. At our core is transformation. Everything we do goes far beyond striving just to end homelessness.

We equip the parents not only to find and keep a permanent home, but to be less dependent on public assistance, and more dependent on themselves. If they have enough capacity for change, we equip them to begin the rise out of poverty. We equip them to transform their lives and that of their children.

How's it going?

2011-04-22T09:49:00.001-05:00

Better really. Given the news that people are more pessimistic about the economy, I wanted to share some encouraging signs for our residents in 2010. For the first time since 2007, more than 1 in 5 residents were earning more than the poverty level for a family of three when they exited the program. The real low point for our families was 2009, when less than one in 10 had income over the poverty level when they left. Even though most graduates in 2010 remained among the working poor, almost 70% had jobs when they left. In 2009, only 36% had jobs when they exited the program.

For our families, there is a strong correlation between how long they stay in the program and whether they have a job. The average length of stay for unemployed people is usually 5-6 months less than for those who find jobs. Residents who experience a long period of unemployment show signs of depression far longer than those who find job, so we believe they leave because they get discouraged.

As more jobs become available, more of our residents will not only leave for permanent homes, but will rise out of poverty. The high point for our families was 2007, when 90% were employed when they exited and 41% were above the poverty level. It may be a slow process, but our families are slowly working back to a better place. I hope we all are.

Benefits and barriers

2011-03-11T06:14:00.001-06:00

We’ve been preparing for a “Meet and Greet” with our local, state and federal legislators. In thinking about the issues we want to bring to their attention - barriers our families face in their path to self-sufficiency- we got another real time example. The mom in one of our client families – homeless until the family came to live in our housing – has a new job. She was stunned to find out that she also lost food stamps and has to come up with $70 per month to keep Medicaid for her baby. No time to accumulate some money. No tapering off. It’s just cut off. It’s ironic that a step toward self-sufficiency caused her to question whether her family could afford for her to work.

Our economy is really complex, and we have to be grateful that our government has created safety nets for people at the lowest end of the economic scale. Unfortunately, you can lose some of those safety net benefits even if you’re the working poor. Nobody intentionally designs government programs to discourage marriage for people who need childcare assistance or make it so that someone is better off economically if they turn down a raise to keep their food stamps. But, that’s what happens.

A heart for homeless children

2010-12-27T14:18:00.007-06:00

The picture makes me think of the MasterCard commercials. Cost of a wellness clinic $XXX. Difference it will make – priceless.

About two years ago, pediatrician Dr. Raymond Cataneo (cutting the ribbon) came to us with an offer for our children. He had volunteered at Community LINC and could tell by observing our kids, that they showed signs of health problems common to homeless children – asthma, diabetes, overweight due to poor nutrition, etc. He offered to create a free clinic to give our children a medical home while they are residents and after they leave.

For most of our kids, the only medical care they receive is at the emergency room. They are covered by Medicaid, but their parents have no insurance at all. That, and the instability of homelessness, doesn’t lead to good medical care.

So we wrote a grant and made the case for creating a wellness clinic and other things that would dramatically improve things for our kids.

We thought our funder would be a church or a civic group, but we were turned down by two. Our eternally optimistic Associate Executive Director Teresa McClain kept searching until we finally found our funding partner in an unexpected place - a corporation with a heart for homeless children – Humana.

Humana provided the funding to build and stock the clinic, to refurbish our children’s centers, build an indoor play area in the basement of one of our buildings, and pay a part time staffer for the Children’s Program.

Shortly afterward, a second funding partner stepped forward to let us know that, at the end of 2011, they would provide the funding to keep the clinic and the Children’s Program going. This time it was the generous and caring congregation of Second Presbyterian Church. They earmarked a percentage of their capital campaign to go their missions work in the community.

We’re very grateful to all of these caring people and to all of you who have a heart for these children.

Happy New Year.

Jobs are fundamental

2010-11-23T11:25:00.005-06:00

We've been watching the number of families who have left the transitional housing program for permanent homes decline over the last two years. To figure out why, Senior Director of Programs and Operations Jeannine Short compared the characteristics of the people who succeeded in transitioning to permanent homes to those who didn't, including their self-sufficiency assessment scores. Not surprisingly, she pinpointed unemployment as the most important factor in the decline.

We knew that unemployment was keeping people from "working the program" and it goes without saying that unemployed people aren't likely to get permanent housing.

Jeannine's study revealed that 100% of the families who exited successfully to permanent homes in 2009 and year-to-date in 2010 had jobs. Only 20% of the families who left without a permanent home had jobs. Their stays were also much shorter –13 months for those who exited successfully compared to less than 5 months for those who did not. Our residents don't always have marketable skills and they are competing for jobs with many others who do. Those who give up without a job, pay a high price for getting discouraged.

Jobs aren't the only factor that permanently ends homelessness. Financial education (budgeting), new life skills, coaching and mental health counseling all contribute to building the skills needed to stay living independently. But, jobs, like affordable housing, are fundamental.

In response, we've beefed up our job placement program by creating a computer lab where our clients can access the Internet, write resumes and get coaching (and the kids can have supervised access at night). And, we've been extremely fortunate to find that one of our interns, Norma, is skilled in job placement. In the few weeks since she took over the lab, she's found jobs for three residents we didn't think had a snowball's chance of being hired. Demand is so high, she's having to set up a schedule to accommodate both our outreach clients and our transitional housing residents. There is light at the end of this tunnel.

The federal strategy to end homelessness

2010-10-28T13:53:00.002-05:00

The federal plan to end homelessness: Opening Doors: Federal Strategic Plan to Prevent and End Homelessness is available on the first page of the United States Interagency Council on Homelessness website at http://www.usich.gov.

The key goals are to end chronic homelessness in 5 years, homelessness for veterans in 5 years, homelessness for families in 10 years and to set a course of action that will end all types of homelessness.

Locally in Kansas City the Homelessness Task Force is creating comparable strategies for ending homelessness. We’ve just drafted an outline of the plan. I’ll keep you posted when the final version is available here.

Why do you care?

2010-08-31T11:12:00.002-05:00

It’s sometimes as moving to hear why a donor or volunteer cares about our mission as it is to hear about the lives of the families who have become homeless.

A first time visitor asked both the Associate Executive Director and me why we had become involved. He then shared a group exercise in a seminar he attended years ago that awakened an awareness in him. The exercise (some call it the diversity shuffle) describes a number of experiences you may or may not have had growing up. If you had the experience, you take a step forward. If you didn’t, you step back.

He looked around the room at a group of people he worked with every day and knew well. He was stunned to see that he ended up way out front.

Some of his co-workers never went to a library as a child. They didn’t have a set of encyclopedias (I’m old enough to remember an old set of Funk & Wagnalls we had in our house). In his family, everyone went to college. Even his grandparents graduated from college in 1917.

The experience opened his eyes to the advantages he had that others didn’t. More than that, he understood what others had never learned. He’s given it a lot of thought over the years and the understanding has grown into desire to offer a hand up to people who have had less.

Another donor told me that he was stunned when his first job paid him more than his single working mother made in her whole life. And, she is a smart, hard working woman.

Not everyone is smart, or educated. Not every kid was read to as a child. And, it shapes our lives.

We’re very grateful for every one of you who sees that and cares.

Less homeless, but more homeless families

2010-06-21T15:20:00.003-05:00

Last week, Housing and Urban Development released their 2009 Annual Assessment Report to Congress. It tells the story of homelessness on one night in January of 2009 when 643,000 people were homeless. An estimated 1.56 million, one in every 200 Americans, spent at least one night in a shelter during 2009. The gist of the report is that individual homelessness is down, but family homelessness is up for the second straight year.

As a nation, we’re doing better. We shelter more people who would otherwise be on the streets. Chronic homelessness was down nearly 30% from levels in 2006. The biggest concern is for families, especially those who haven’t yet entered the counts.

From the Report:
“The long-term impacts of the recession are unclear. A recent study found a nearly five-fold increase in the rate of housing overcrowding, suggesting that many families are doubling up in response to the economic downturn. If some of these family support networks already are struggling to make ends meet, some of the doubled-up families may find their way into the homeless residential service system during 2010.

On the other hand, as the nation comes out of the recession and as the stimulus funding made available through the Homeless Prevention and Re-housing (HPRP) Program starts helping families in crisis avoid shelter, it also is possible that family homelessness will decline during the next reporting period. Indeed, as of May 2010, HPRP has already served more than 350,000 people and approximately 75 percent of the funds have been used for prevention services.”

You can find the whole report at http://www.hudhre.info/documents/5thHomelessAssessmentReport.pdf.

This week, the Obama administration will issue the first national proposal to prevent and end homelessness.

What is it like for the moms?

2010-05-06T11:34:00.001-05:00

Since Mother’s Day is this Sunday, I started thinking about all of the mothers, especially the single mothers, who are sliding into homelessness now.

A former co-worker used to call mothers and children the invisible homeless. You don’t see them pushing a shopping cart or sleeping out in the open on park benches or under bridges where their children are vulnerable. They stay with family or friends until they’re no longer welcome. Then they sleep in cars and go to shelters.

By the time a mom moves into our transitional housing, she has lost a lot of connections - with family, friends and even service providers. Those supportive kinds of relationships are often tied to the neighborhood. It’s really difficult to maintain the crucial ties that took time to form and anchored her children’s lives.

Most of our moms feel like they have failed their children. You see it in the flat affect on so many faces when they move in.

Then, they begin to feel like their kids are safe and life is stabilizing. Their coaches and counselors connect them with services for their kids. They go to lifeskills classes and start working with a budgeter. They begin to create new relationships when they make friends with other moms who are struggling with the same experience.

They do their kids proud. 47 moms moved their children into a home they bought when they graduated from the program. Myeshia got her GED and is enrolled in college. Cindy is getting her MBA. Stephanie is going to law school next fall.

And, their kids have done them proud. Jermaine is the first college graduate in his family. Stephen is finishing his freshman year in college. Julius had his choice of colleges, but is joining his big brother Stephen. Tiffany is one of the speakers at her high school graduation and someday wants to be an attorney and eventually a judge.

Happy Mothers Day to all of the wonderful mothers who have passed through our doors. To all of the moms facing homelessness now, hold on to the hope. To quote Jermaine, “Where you are, isn’t where you’re going to be.”

Miracles on Troost

2010-04-29T08:30:00.001-05:00

One of my co-workers has long referred to our agency as the miracle on Troost. Troost is the street where our campus is located in the urban core of Kansas City. She says that the miracle is the way the lives of homeless families are transformed after being at Community LINC.

Another kind of miracle happened a week or so ago.

I spent a very stressful weekend worrying about cash flow. Our revenue has been good, but a great deal of it hasn’t been paid yet – it is pledges or receivables. When I came in on Monday, I had to borrow money to cover payroll.

On Wednesday, a man dropped into the office. The week before, he ran into a friend of his having lunch with our Associate Executive Director. Our visitor and his wife have been supporting an agency that assists homeless individuals, but they wanted to do something for homeless families. He followed the coincidence of meeting our Associate ED to learn more about what we do. She wasn’t in, so he visited with me.

He asked a lot of questions about what we do, but kept coming back to “What have you been praying for?” It was pretty easy to answer. I was praying for something to help our cash flow and cover the $30,000 deficit I was expecting in April.

He wrote a check for $30,000.

It Made Me Wonder. . .

2010-04-22T13:03:00.000-05:00

One of our residents died last week.

She was only 27 years old - a beautiful, young mother of a nine month old daughter in a happy relationship with a man who loved her.

She had a heart condition since childhood.

It made me wonder. Did she get the medical care she needed? Did she go to the doctor? Many homeless people don’t have a doctor. They don’t get regular care. They go to the emergency room when they need medical attention.

We’re all stunned at the loss – no one so much as the father of her child. It all happened so quickly. She was here and then in a moment gone.

It made me wonder. Did the stress and trauma of being homeless shorten her life? Homelessness has a profound impact. Over 1/3 of homeless mothers have chronic medical conditions. They have three times the rate of post traumatic stress disorder and 50% suffer from depression.

It made me wonder. Would she have lived longer if she hadn’t become homeless?

- Laura Gray

Not Like Them

2010-04-15T13:02:00.000-05:00

Senior Director of Programs and Operations Jeannine Short tells the story of Traci...

Traci and her daughter entered our transitional housing in September 2008. Prior to entering the program, she had a very lucrative career in real estate and was accustomed to providing a stable home for her daughter. When the economy began to turn for the worse and the housing market bottomed out, Traci found herself without an income and the ability to maintain the arguably lavish lifestyle she had become accustomed to. Consequently, with no income, no savings and a delay in unemployment benefits, she and her daughter found themselves without a home.

Upon entering the program, Traci admits she was challenged by the structure of the program. To suddenly be held accountable by someone else after a lifetime of self-sufficiency was more than a struggle for her. Too, viewing herself as “not like them” initially prohibited her from settling in and perpetuated a sense of entitlement. But, despite her best efforts, she struggled for several months to find employment. She was fending off harassing creditors, and as a last straw was turned down for housing due to outstanding debt. She gradually discovered that she was very much “like them”—needing the opportunity to put the pieces back together.

Fortunately, Traci was able to overcome her personal prejudices and begin actively participating in the program. As a result, she was able to find employment, settle over $3000.00 in tax and housing-related debt, obtain a license to sell insurance and move to permanent housing.

- Laura Gray

At the Beginning of the Journey

2010-03-25T12:56:00.000-05:00

Family Coach Frenchie Pulluaim shares how a mom used our transitional housing to give her children some stability and security after a year of chaos.

"Carrie and her family came to Community LINC from the City Union Mission Shelter. Carrie lost her job and struggled for a year - moving from family member to family member to friends. She finally decided to go into a shelter to keep her family together. Carrie has been job searching, but stable housing will make it more likely that she will become self sufficient.

Her goals are to gain full time employment and permanent housing. The children are in school and doing well, she is hoping that stable housing will help the children to feel secure and safe."

- Laura Gray

A Hand Up

2010-03-17T12:55:00.000-05:00

Federal stimulus funding enabled us to implement a Homeless Prevention and Rapid Re-housing program targeted to prevent and quickly end homelessness for families impacted by the downturn in the economy. By definition, if not for this funding, the families served through the program would stay or become homeless.

From HPRP Case Manager Travis Beye:

A couple with four young daughters had been evicted from their home and were living in a homeless shelter. The mother was employed, and the father, who had lost his job due to medical reasons, was recovering and looking for new employment. The couple had located a rental house that would accommodate their family and that was within their budget. They were able to pay the security deposit, but needed assistance with the first month’s rent, after which they would be able to maintain their rent on their own. Their need was urgent, because they were about to reach the end of their allowed stay at the homeless shelter and they did not know where they would go. They also were afraid that the landlord of the house they planned to rent would become impatient and put the house back on the market.

The family met with Community LINC’s HPRP Case Manager to determine their eligibility for HPRP. They qualified for because they were experiencing an episode of homelessness but could also show that, with some assistance to get back on their feet, they would be able to maintain housing on their own.

After working with the landlord to enroll in the program, HPRP made a payment of the first month’s rent, allowing the family to move into a stable home. Realizing that the family had no furnishings for their new home, the HPRP Case Manager was able to work with Church of the Resurrection’s Furnishings Ministry to have beds, tables and chairs, dishes, kitchen items, furniture and even a television donated to the family. Since moving in to their new home in mid-December, the family has been able to follow their budget and maintain their rent and other necessary payments on their own.

- Laura Gray

Paying it Forward

2010-03-08T12:53:00.000-06:00

I’ve always described the impact of providing an apartment in our transitional housing as being the gift of as a safe, stable place to live after being homeless, but last month our residents showed what it brings out in them as people.

After the Haiti earthquake, as the residents discussed the tragedy during a class session, one person after another expressed gratitude for having a safe, secure place for their families. That sense of gratitude lead to “what can we do for the people in Haiti.” They collected $161.00 for earthquake relief and are sending it to the American Red Cross.

Having their need for shelter met made it possible for them to see beyond themselves to the needs of others.

Their generosity is inspiring.

- Laura Gray

The Homeless in This Economy

2010-03-01T12:51:00.000-06:00

At the end of January, the Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City published their Low- and Moderate- Income (LMI) populations Survey. It confirmed what we’ve observed among our homeless residents – that it’s taking much longer for them to find jobs, both because there are fewer jobs and because they are competing with more qualified people for low skills jobs.

From the survey: “Unemployment, lower incomes, lack of insurance and poor housing choices were commonly cited factors impairing recovery in the LMI community.”

". . .Survey results suggest that job prospects for the LMI population continued to decline in the fourth quarter, as most respondents reported that fewer jobs were available for LMI workers than in the previous quarter.

Survey comments offered that one factor curtailing job recovery in the LMI community is the employment of relatively high-skilledworkers in the low-skilled jobs that often were taken by LMI workers prior to the recession.

Respondents also reported that many of those finding jobs were earning less pay than before, putting continued strains on household budgets. Respondents observed that the unemployed in the LMI community were remaining jobless for longer periods of time.”

The next survey will be published in April. Hopefully, there will be some signs of the recovery.

- Laura Gray

Success - spdated

2010-02-24T12:48:00.000-06:00

I wanted to update you on a family whose story I shared several months ago.

Stephanie became homeless in 2008.

She was unemployed when she came to us from a homeless shelter, but she had been actively looking for a job. She found a position at childcare center and was rapidly promoted to Administrative Assistant and Spanish Curriculum Director.

Stephanie was able to negotiate down and retire $10,000 worth of debt to become debt free by the time she left Community LINC in December. She took advantage of a federally
funded IDA program through USBank that helped her save by providing matching
funds. Her IDA funds can be used to fund her education or homeownership.

While she was here, she got up every morning at 4:30 to study for the LSAT. She wants to become a lawyer and someday a judge. She just took the test.

She also has been accepted into Habitat for Humanity housing and is currently working with NACA, one of Community LINC’s partnering agencies, to finance her new home. Her goal is to raise her son in a home of their own.

Thank you for caring about what happens after someone becomes homeless.

- Laura Gray

Success is in the Eye of the Beholder

2010-02-15T12:46:00.000-06:00

Senior Director of Programs and Operations Jeannine Short observes:

We have historically defined success by such factors as the number of life skills classes attended, the amount of money saved, the amount of debt retired, and the number of housing and economic barriers removed. While these are all good measurements of success, we are becoming increasingly convinced that success is really in the eye of the beholder.

Monique and her 3 children entered Community Linc in May 2009 after years of physical and emotional abuse and its resulting cycles of homelessness and instability. Unemployed and extremely unsure of who she was or what she wanted to do, she admittedly got off to a very slow and rocky start. However, after much encouragement and support from her coach, she was able to begin the daunting process of putting the pieces of her family’s life back together. She eventually obtained employment as a Concession Stand Supervisor and began saving money toward her future… for the first time in her life.

Although Monique hit some rough spots during her time at Community LINC and left the program prematurely, she considers her brief journey a success. In her exit interview, she expressed how thankful she was for all that she had gained—namely, her sense of value, self-worth and self-confidence. In addition, she learned the importance of setting goals, taking responsibility for her choices, and putting the needs of her children above her need for (costly) companionship--all of the ingredients for living a life of independence and self-sufficiency.

- Laura Gray

Leaving the Nest

2010-02-08T12:42:00.000-06:00

Some observations from Senior Director of Programming and Operations Jeannine Short:

I remember studying in elementary school about the process that nestlings (particularly baby eagles) go through when preparing to leave the nest. Fledging, as it’s called, is the development of the feathers necessary for flight. More generally, however, it is the development of enough independence to leave the nest. Ask any baby eagle, and I’m sure he’d say that the first flight is absolutely terrifying. In fact, in some instances the mama eagle has to actually push the eaglet from the nest. But once the baby catches the prevailing wind, he’s able to soar to a life of independence.

The process isn’t much different for our residents—minus the feathers of course. For many of them, the structure and accountability provided through Community LINC’s Supportive Housing Program has given them the sense of safety and security that they have needed and perhaps secretly longed for. Consequently, when the time comes to leave the program there is often much trepidation.

Admittedly, it is not terribly unusual for a resident to sabotage their program by making choices that could very possibly result in an early and unfavorable exit. After all, being asked to leave and possibly failing is much more palatable for them than choosing to leave and possibly failing.

The converse is the resident who attempts to prolong their program by such methods as missing housing appointments. For this group, however, a gentle nudge is usually all it takes for them to flap their wings and fly. Like the baby eagle, they may initially stay close to the nest with frequent calls and visits to their former coach, but once they catch the prevailing wind they are off and soaring to a life of independence and self-sufficiency.

- Laura Gray

Community as Crime Fighter

2010-02-01T12:40:00.000-06:00

Two officers from the Central Patrol Division of the KCMO Police Department visited last week to tell us about a service called Crime Free Multi Housing at KCCrimeFree.com.

Although we’re in the urban core of the city, we have had very few incidents on our campus. The biggest things in the last 3 years were some kids broke a window and stole snacks, a former resident left a window open so that he could come back to sleep in his old apartment, and a yelling match in the parking lot.

We’re fortunate.

The biggest reason for that good fortune is that our families become a community while they are here (and even after they leave). In police terms, the community provides the natural surveillance that helps prevent crime.

They may have never known their neighbors anywhere else they lived, but here everybody knows everybody else and all the children. They attend classes together, their kids play together on the playground, and they babysit for each other. They begin to watch out for each other and for all of the children.

Friendships grow between our families and the volunteers who work with them. We have volunteer budgeters who still meet with the family they worked with years ago. One volunteer takes the child of a former resident when she takes her own kids to do something fun. Another volunteer took the son of a former resident to college.

It has become a community of people who look out for each other. It’s community in the best sense of the word.

- Laura Gray

Dangers of Hypothermia for the Homeless

2010-01-25T12:38:00.000-06:00

“The National Coalition for the Homeless has just released its report, Winter Homeless Services: Bringing Our Neighbors in from the Cold, to raise awareness of the dangers and often fatal consequences of hypothermia on people experiencing or at risk of homelessness.

Seven-hundred people experiencing or at-risk of homelessness are killed from hypothermia annually in the United States. Forty-four percent of the nation’s homeless are unsheltered. From the urban streets of our populated cities to the remote back-country of rural America, hypothermia - or subnormal temperature in the body - remains a leading, critical and preventable cause of injury and death among those experiencing or at-risk of homelessness.”

The report concludes that “The Homeless service providers and governments have the responsibility to protect their homeless citizens through state- and city-wide winter plans and increased shelter availability. An exemplary winter shelter would be open 24 hours each day between October 1 and April 30, regardless of temperature, as well as any other days during the year when the temperature falls below 40o F. It would also admit all homeless people, regardless of sobriety status or past bans, unless they are violent or causing an extreme disturbance.”

Our resident families, thank heavens, are not at risk for hypothermia. They live in their own apartments. But, like most cities, our emergency shelter providers struggle to meet the need when the weather turns cold. The newly formed Homelessness Task Force is tackling similar issues for Kansas City.

- Laura Gray

Another Family's Success Story

2010-01-06T12:37:00.000-06:00

The end of last year marked the "graduation" of several families to permanent homes. Our Senior Director of Programming and Operations, Jeannine Short, shared one of those success stories with me this morning.

Jimi and her four children entered our program in March 2008 as a result of prolonged homelessness. Prior to entering the program, the family was living doubled up with relatives. However, when things became too crowded and chaotic, she and her children were asked to leave. With no income, a limited and sporadic employment history and several housing evictions, she was forced to move her family into a shelter.

Motivated by desperation, Jimi made application to Community LINC and was accepted into the program. Upon entering, she immediately set about the task of breaking old patterns, establishing new patterns, learning new skills and positioning herself to adequately provide stable housing and a bright future for her children. She obtained employment at Westin Crown Center, enrolled in Penn Valley’s Business Administration program and retired approximately $3500 in old debt.

More than a year later, Jimi has seen first-hand what diligence and consistency can accomplish. Not only has she successfully completed our program, but she remains employed full-time with benefits, is continuing to work on her college degree, has retired all housing-related debts, and has transitioned to permanent housing.

- Laura Gray

Down But Not Out

2009-12-16T12:35:00.000-06:00

Senior Director of Programs & Operations, Jeannine Short, shares...

Teresa, a single mother of four entered our program as the result of foreclosure on the home she was renting. Like other families in similar straits, she made the difficult decision to double-up with relatives though it meant splitting her children among family members who were willing to make room. Overcome by the guilt of being away from her children, however, she began to look at other housing options, but soon discovered that her meager income—barely minimum wage—could not support a suitable housing situation. Determined to increase her income, she enrolled in and completed Pharmacy Tech Training and was almost immediately hired by a local pharmacy. Unfortunately, her hours were drastically cut and, once again, she was barely making minimum wage. Teresa, however, was unwilling to accept defeat. She launched an intensive, no holds barred job search and eventually landed a position with wages that almost doubled what she’d made previously.

Today, Teresa is certainly looking ahead to the future. Not only is she working diligently to remove barriers to permanent housing; but she is, for the first time in her life, amassing a savings, reducing debt and laying a solid and secure foundation for her children. This single mother of four is a testament to the old saying, “I may be down, but I’m not out!”

- Laura Gray

The Power of Giving Thanks

2009-11-25T12:27:00.000-06:00

Yesterday I was inspired by a friend. She’s one of the people deeply impacted by the downturn in the economy – the people whose lives have changed dramatically. She and her husband are going to lose their house because his business had to close. She had retired when things looked good and then the bottom dropped out for their business. With her part-time income and the minimum wage job her husband took, they would no longer qualify for their house.

So, why was I inspired?

Because instead of being defeated by what she is losing, she is giving thanks for what she has. She has a husband she loves dearly, her children are healthy, and they have a place to go when they leave their house.

She will be my inspiration forever - to give thanks for the good, while acknowledging the bad.

As bad as this economy has been for so many families, I want to share my thanks for the funding to help families, who like my friend, had to make unforeseen changes in how they live.

We have received funding for the last two years from the William T. Kemper Foundation to provide emergency assistance to families we serve. This year, we received funds from United Way’s United for Hope Campaign to both provide emergency assistance and establish a job services to the families we serve through our various programs. Just last week, we launched our own outreach to more families using stimulus funding to prevent homelessness or rapidly re-house the newly homeless.

And, thanks to all of the individuals, congregations, corporations, civic groups, and foundations that made it possible for Community LINC to provide homes for more than 170 people this year and do outreach to hundreds more.

And, a special thank you to all of the volunteers who keep our mission alive: to the Board of Directors for their contributions of wealth, wisdom and work; to the committee members who help us do a better job in our programs, marketing, fundraising, public policy, human resources, and in managing our property; to “The Guys” from Atonement Lutheran Church who come each week to maintain our facility; to our volunteer Apartment Coordinator; to the congregations and groups who refurbish and furnish our apartments; to the many people who come so faithfully to budget with our families; and to the wonderful souls who work with our children week in and week out. You are a blessing to us all.

- Laura Gray

Success is Relative

2009-11-17T12:25:00.000-06:00

Just recently, Community LINC had the opportunity to work with a young mother of three who faced some relatively unique challenges. Although she met the basic criteria for acceptance into the program and successfully fulfilled all of the steps for entry, it wasn't long before we realized that success for Ashley would look different.

True to our mission, we set out to assist her with removing barriers to housing and employment, establishing a savings account, managing her finances, learning new life skills--all of the things necessary for attaining self-sufficiency. But, for some reason, she wasn't moving forward. Despite pep talks and promises to try harder, she just couldn't make any head way. However, during a particular conversation, Ashley stated that she only wanted two things--to feel better inside and to get an apartment for her children.

As a result, Ashley was connected with the necessary services to address her major depression, tormenting fears and significant distrust of people. Within a relatively short period of time, she started to feel better inside and found the motivation to search for and obtain permanent housing.

Though there are many success stories of those who have settled mounds of debt, purchased homes, and realized educational goals, Ashely is equally successful. Why? Because success is sometime relative to the individual. rather than the whole.

- Jeannine Short, Director of Programs

What Happens to the Kids When a Family Becomes Homeless? Part 2

2009-11-12T12:22:00.000-06:00

There is a new study published in American Journal of Orthopsychiatry that helps capture what homelessness does to the emotional well-being of children. The study points out that being homeless doesn’t always have a negative impact on a child’s well-being. However, homeless children are at a higher risk because of their experiences. Like other low-income children they have more exposure to violence, and there are stresses specifically related to being homeless (especially in a shelter setting).

There are a lot of negative consequences for children: feelings of stigma, shame, instability, loss (of homes, friends, and possessions), interpersonal abuse, crime victimization and abject poverty.

When there is nothing to counterbalance those experiences, young, homeless children tend to have more depressive, anxious feelings.

It’s reassuring to realize that there are factors that can counterbalance the experience. “Social or family involvement, secure attachments, and positive self-esteem positively affect mental and physical health, and decrease substance use and self-harming behaviors.”

We are very fortunate to have partnerships with two other agencies that make it possible for us to give our families the tools to help the children. Because of those partnerships, we can give children mental health therapy when they need it, and give our parents new tools to become better parents for their children.

The State of Missouri’s Children’s Trust Fund has funded our Children’s Program, including play therapy for the last two years. Just this year, we entered into a partnership with The Children’s Place. They do mental wellness assessments of our youngsters (ages 2-8), therapy for those who need it, and teach parenting classes for the adults.

One of their first comments to me was how excited they were to work with a group of engaged and receptive parents. That’s probably another indicator that the adults who choose to work through our program make a serious commitment when they become residents. They want to change their lives and the prospects for their children. And, with our partners, we’re going to help them try.

- Laura Gray

Chicken or the Egg - When it Comes to Homelessness

2009-11-05T12:19:00.000-06:00

We know from the National Center on Family Homelessness that mothers experiencing homelessness struggle with mental health issues.

They have three times the rate of PTSD (posttraumatic stress disorder) (36%) and twice the rate of drug and alcohol dependence (41%).
About 50% of mothers have experienced a major depressive episode since becoming homeless.

We recently saw the reverse, where depression in a mother living near poverty level contributed to her family becoming homeless.

Paulette and her 3 children entered our transitional housing on October 15, 2009. Paulette’s 4 year old daughter passed away in January 2009 after having an asthma attack. Paulette was depressed and unable to return to work at the same daycare center her daughter had attended prior to passing. Paulette had no savings and very little support from her children’s father. Paulette lost her job and was unable to pay rent which meant she had to move in with her father in his one bedroom apartment with her other two children. Her goals are to obtain employment and work towards eliminating some old debt. Paulette stated Community LINC will be the start she needs to get her life back on track. Her main focus is housing and her mental health.

Her family coach calls depression "the invisible sickness." She sees it in fathers who spiral into depression when they aren’t able to provide for their families. We see it in most mothers.

But, we also see people overcome the impact of depression.

Caroline, a single mother of a little girl, came to Community LINC after a long stint of substance abuse, homelessness, and chaos including depression. While in our program, she maintained her hard won sobriety, became gainfully employed, retired a significant amount of debt and began work toward an undergraduate degree. She more than doubled her wages and no longer relies on public assistance from food stamps. Today, Caroline and her daughter live in a quaint three-bedroom home.

Our mental health therapist works with all of our adults on all of their issues. She counts herself successful when she only hears from a graduate family occasionally after they leave the program. If she hears from them constantly, she feels they haven’t achieved the independence that is our goal.

Happily, she doesn’t hear from Caroline very often. But, this week, Caroline came by to take her out to the construction site for her Habitat for Humanity home. In her lifetime, she’ll have gone from homeless to homeownership.

- Laura Gray

Pulling a Share of the Load

2009-10-30T12:17:00.000-05:00

We’ve long been proud of the unique success of our program in ending homelessness for families – over the years an average of 80% of our families leave our transitional housing for a permanent home. About the same percentage DO NOT become homeless again for at least our two year follow-up period.

We always felt that tracking those results was a measure of the independence our families achieve after they have completed our program.

Jeannine Short, our Senior Director of Programs and Operations, just completed a study that revealed another measure of independence and our success in addressing the root causes of poverty. The study covered all of the families that left our program from 2005 through August of 2009. She compared the sources of income at entry and exit.

The results were gratifying.

On average, our families decreased their dependence on public assistance by 46% and increased income they earned by 109%. By becoming taxpayers themselves, our residents are saving the government more than $15,000 per month. That savings will total $180,000 every year.

The increase in income from private sources like wages and child support was even more gratifying. Our families increased the tax base by almost $55,000 per month, or $660,000 per year.

- Laura Gray

Stimulus Funding

2009-10-22T12:15:00.000-05:00

We were excited to have a new staff member join us this week. He’s a warm, welcoming guy, but, the best part is that he’s here to reach out to people whose lives have been deeply affected by the economy – those who are newly homeless or at risk of becoming homeless for the first time.

From the National Alliance to end Homelessness: “Homeless programs are about to get a big push in a new direction. They used to focus on providing food and shelter. Now, the economic stimulus package is providing $1.5 billion to prevent people from becoming homeless and to quickly re-house those who do.”

This pool of funding that made it possible to hire our new case manager will give these families respite from the changes that have so dramatically changed their lives and the lives of their children. Our goal is for our case management to help them find needed services and the financial boost they need to remain independent and regain self-sufficiency.

- Laura Gray

Finding Strength

2009-10-14T12:13:00.000-05:00

A classic characteristic of women who have been in abusive and controlling relationships is the belief that they are worthless and incapable of surviving on their own. Even when there is no physical abuse, constant subjection to verbal assaults and demeaning mistreatment results in a weakened self-image and little or no confidence. Fortunately, many who somehow find the strength to leave such relationships also find the strength to succeed. Michelle is a wonderful example.

After leaving an extremely controlling husband, whom she solely relied on for care and support, Michelle entered Community LINC. With few marketable skills, a limited employment history, and few personal possessions, she entered the program and immediately began her long and difficult journey toward self-sufficiency. Motivated by her adverse circumstances, Michelle enrolled in and completed a GED program, settled all of her legal issues, obtained more lucrative employment, retired over $2000.00 worth of debt, saved over $3000.00, and moved to permanent housing.

Despite a long history of relying on others, Michelle found her strength and moved from dependence to self-sufficiency!

- Jeannine Short, Director of Programs

Interventions for Homeless Families

2009-10-01T11:55:00.000-05:00

A couple of us just left a meeting with a researcher from a company engaged by HUD to study the effectiveness of the various methods of moving homeless families from emergency shelter to permanent housing.

They will evaluate several approaches to ending homelessness for families:

Housing subsidies and no other services
Transitional housing with intensive supportive services
Rapid re-housing (placement in housing with temporary rental assistance) followed by services focused on keeping housing
Assisting families in finding their own solutions to their housing problem.

The study will attempt to answer several questions:

What is the relative effectiveness of the different approaches?
Are the same interventions that give short-term housing stability effective for the long-term?
Are there interventions that are more effective for some categories of homeless families than others?

Fortunately, when they measure effectiveness, they will be looking at more than ending homelessness for a family for a few months. They want to know if an approach will be effective in keeping a family stable – i.e. in permanent housing for at least 18 months. They also will be looking at how well the approach keeps families intact, because family dissolution is a significant side effect of homelessness. They will consider the well being of the adults and children, and finally, the impact on self-sufficiency – employment, earnings and dependence on public assistance.

I’ve mentioned some of our successes by these measures in previous blogs: 83% of our families remain in permanent housing for a minimum of 24 months; we routinely reunite families with up to six children; the earnings of our residents increase by more than 50% and their dependence on public assistance decreases by more than 30% by the time they leave.

Kansas City may or may not be chosen as one of the sites for the study. We were invited to the meeting as one of the agencies that are likely to participate. Even if we aren’t one of the cities in the study, it will be fascinating to learn from the results when they are reported out from 2011-2013.

- Laura Gray

The Value of Relationships

2009-09-23T11:52:00.000-05:00

According to Dr. Ruby Payne, noted author of "A Framework for Understanding Poverty," there are certain hidden rules among the classes. Where the middle class value things as possessions and the wealthy one-of-kind objects, legacies and pedigrees, the impoverished value people/relationships.

Recently, a current resident asked permission to bring a significant other into the program, explaining that he would be a tremendous support and that his inclusion would be beneficial for the success of the family. After very careful consideration, he was taken through the process and enrolled in the program. What has resulted is a family that was simply going through the motions has become a family focused on ending the cycle of poverty in their lives. To this end, the significant other is nearing completion of his aviation training--in which he is the top performer in his class--and the family is developing their plan to transition to permanent housing.

Though we may not readily see the value in the relationships that our families choose to maintain, we have to sometimes be willing to take the chance that they know best.

- Jeannine Short, Director of Programs

Tackling Homelessness in Kansas City

2009-09-18T11:44:00.000-05:00

By the time this is published, the KCMO City Council hopefully will have passed a resolution to establish a Homelessness Task Force.

That’s a good thing.

The task force will be charged to identify the issues related to homelessness and develop a plan with both immediate and long term strategies. Hopefully, our City will be as successful in reducing homelessness as some of the cities that have already created 10-year plans to end homelessness.

A point in time census conducted on a single day in January of this year determined that there we about 1,400 homeless individuals and an additional 1,200 people in families. Unfortunately, that doesn't count people who are doubling up or couch surfing (staying with family or friends).

Based on our experience, I would guess the number is significantly higher now. The number of families calling us or dropping in to request services has climbed steeply this year. Thirty four families requested our services in January and 105 in June. Compared to the first six months of 2008, the cumulative total number of walk-ins and call-ins has increased by about 280% this year. Our waiting list is now up to 114 families.

Thank you, City Council. The City couldn’t have picked a better time to form the Homelessness Task Force.

- Laura Gray

Why Our Programs Are Successful

2009-09-03T11:31:00.000-05:00

Yesterday at our staff meeting, we had a conversation about what makes both our Transitional Housing program and our outreach programs successful.

I’m very clear about what makes our Transitional Housing program uniquely successful (8 out of 10 families will not become homeless again). It’s the selection process that identifies the people ready to do the work to break old patterns, all of the services (family coaching, mental wellness counseling, budgeting & life skills training) working in concert, and the community of support that grows within residents, staff and volunteers.

So I asked the outreach staff to tell us why their outreach is successful. It made me realize just how much outreach the staff of Transitional Housing program are doing, much less those staff in purely outreach jobs.

Our Transitional Housing Family Coaches are case managing all of the walk-ins, including an estimated 35 families per month who will never become residents of Community LINC. They refer them to services, help them face the reality of their situation and understand their options. As one of the Transitional Housing Family Coaches said, understanding what caused our residents to become homeless helps the coaches quickly identify the key issues for the walk-in families. They also case managed the 113 families who are now on our waiting list.

The staff who are exclusively doing outreach under the Community Work Support contract believe they are successful getting better outcomes for their clients for a couple of reasons. One is their tenacity and another is because they go to where the clients are – their homes. All of our outreach clients have case managers for the Temporary Aid to Needy Families and many other government agencies. Our staff teach them how to work within the system that frustrated them to the point of giving up and becoming noncompliant.

- Laura Gray

Graduation Stories

2009-08-27T11:29:00.000-05:00

Some success stories about families graduating next Tuesday from Community LINC's transitional housing program...

Kenya came to Community LINC with her 3 children. Because she had been incarcerated, it was difficult for her to find employment that would pay enough money to support her family. Having a felony eviction also kept her from applying for public housing. When she went into a homeless shelter, she was unemployed and had moved from family member to family member. Kenya was a hard worker when she was at Community LINC, but because of the felony conviction, everything she did took extra effort. Kenya got a job with Aim for Peace, a program that assists families of convicted felons. Through this program, she is able to give the services she once needed. While at Community LINC, Kenya eliminated the debt that kept her from finding housing. She and her children now have a permanent home.

Caroline, a single mother of a little girl, came to Community LINC after a long stint of substance abuse, homelessness, and chaos. While in our program, she maintained her hard won sobriety, became gainfully employed, retired a significant amount of debt and began work toward an undergraduate degree. She more than doubled her wages and no longer relies on public assistance from food stamps. Today, Caroline and her daughter live in a quaint three-bedroom home.

Shirley and her son became homeless after her health made it impossible to run her home day care. She found it difficult to get back into the work force after so many years providing childcare. When she lost her income, she and her son not only became homeless, but her foster children were removed from her care. She and her son eventually ended up at the Forest Avenue Shelter. After she came to Community LINC, she found and maintained permanent employment which prepared her to apply for a Section 8 housing voucher. She and her son now live again in permanent housing.

Desiree is a mother of three daughters who had a stable job, but didn’t earn very much working in a drugstore. She couldn’t afford to provide housing for her family, so they had lived with several relatives. She wanted something more stable for her children, but her credit problems and the legal issues they caused kept her from finding housing. During her time at Community LINC, Desiree paid off all of her legal debt and was able to move her children to permanent housing.

Mario, Ayeshia and their daughter came to Community LINC from the reStart homeless shelter. Mario and Ayeshia had lived with family members, but space was limited, so they had to go to a homeless shelter. Mario’s felony conviction and legal issues arising from traffic warrants made it very difficult for him to find a job. He couldn’t afford legal counsel, or pay the tickets and fines. Ayeshia had been downsized at her company and found it difficult to focus on finding employment without stable housing. After coming to Community LINC, both parents found permanent employment, they paid all housing related debt, they resolved all legal barriers that kept them from working and obtaining drivers licenses. Ayeshia and Mario are residing in permanent housing in South Kansas City.

Cynthia is a single mother of four children who entered our program in April of 2007. Due to complications arising from a high-risk pregnancy, she was unable to work after her short-term disability ran out. Consequently, Cynthia’s employment was terminated and the family was evicted from their apartment within two months. In addition, she had mounds of old debts, significant barriers to housing, and had been forced to postpone plans to obtain a secondary degree. In April 2009 Cynthia and her four children moved into a four bedroom ranch-style home. Adding to her success, she has more than doubled her income, retired most of her debt, amassed over $3000.00 in savings and no longer relies on any public assistance.

Virna had served in the Air Force and was honorably discharged. Like many others, she lost her job at Sprint, which eventually made it impossible to keep her apartment. She and her daughter moved from family member to family member until she was forced to go to an emergency shelter. Virna and her 15 year old daughter were referred to Community LINC by City Union Mission. While in the program, Virna found a full time job that tripled her income. She also connected to veterans benefits for herself and her daughter. She was able to remove all housing related debt, as well as some of her outstanding credit debt. Virna also achieved her goal of returning to school to finish her degree. When she left for a permanent home, she had accumulated enough savings to create a cushion for her family in case of emergencies.

More Than Ending Homelessness

2009-08-13T11:28:00.000-05:00

A couple of weeks ago I told you about an article written by Mary Beth Shinn of Vanderbilt University called Ending Homelessness for Families: The Evidence for Affordable Housing. The bottom line for the article, and my blog entry, is that families become homeless when they are extremely low income and can’t afford an apartment at the market rate rent. They end up living with relatives or in places “unsuitable for human habitation” when there isn’t enough subsidized housing.

If the goal is just to end homelessness, for the vast majority of families, all they need is a housing subsidy. However, our mission is to develop self-sufficient families.

For some families, self-sufficiency will only mean ending their homelessness. We know that among our families there are some that will never afford a home of their own without a government subsidy. Poorly educated single parents will always be challenged to independently support their families.

Many of our families are aiming for a different kind of self-sufficiency though. Myeshia finished her GED and starts college this Fall. Stephanie paid down the debt that was keeping her from getting a home. John is finishing culinary school. Virna left nearly debt-free for her own (unsubsidized) apartment. The list goes on.

For them, self-sufficiency will mean that they rise above homelessness and out of poverty.

Knowledge is Power

2009-08-06T11:27:00.000-05:00

The saying is certainly true for Vera and her family. Following layoff and a history of poor choices and financial decisions, Vera and her family were subjected to a long and painful stint of living with family members and in homeless shelters. Once she entered Community LINC and began to take advantage of the programs and classes, however, things started to turn around. Now armed with newly acquired budgeting and life skills, Vera is almost debt-free and once again living in the comforts of her own apartment.

Yes, it is true. Knowledge is power!

- Jeannine Short, Director of Programs

From Poor to Homeless

2009-07-30T11:23:00.000-05:00

The National Alliance to End Homelessness and Enterprise Community Partners commissioned a review of the existing research on family homelessness. Marybeth Shinn of Vanderbilt University wrote the brief, released on the 27th - Ending Homelessness for Families: The Evidence for Affordable Housing.

Just one of the many insights in the brief is about the differences between the families that became homeless and poor families that never became homeless.

Homeless families resemble poor families in many ways. They have limited education and work histories – only about half have a high school diploma or GED. Both groups experience high levels of depression and are exposed to high levels of community and domestic violence.

A major difference though is that the homeless families are younger. Having a baby can stretch resources even for middle class families. About a quarter of all episodes of poverty begin with the birth of a child, so it isn’t surprising that having a baby can coincide with homelessness.

As a side note, “Nationally, infancy is the age at which a person is most likely to stay in a homeless shelter. Risk of homelessness remains high in the preschool years, when parents struggle to juggle child care and jobs, but is lower during the elementary and high school years than in adulthood.”

The three most important differences between homeless families and poor families are: (1) they have extremely low incomes, which is less than 30% of area median income (2) they have less access to housing subsidies, and (3) their social networks are not able to provide sufficient help.

So what does all of this mean? First, homeless families have far too little income to both rent housing at the market rate and provide for any other needs. Second, they many never have had the resources to rent their own place. They are more likely to have doubled up, moving frequently among friends and family to avoid literal homelessness. Finally, their community of friends and family are smaller and poorer, so they are less able to help the family prevent homelessness.

A final variation in the rate of homelessness is geographic, because of varying availability of affordable housing. For example, a high rate of homelessness in California coincides with few vacancies and costly housing.

According to the National Low Income Housing Coalition, the 2009 “housing wage” in Kansas City is $15.21 per hour. That is the hourly wage a household must earn (working 40 hours per week, 52 weeks per year) to afford the fair market rent on a two-bedroom apartment at 30% of income. It requires 2.2 jobs per household at minimum wage.

In 2009 extremely low income in Kansas City meant the family made less than $21,120. Affordable housing should be no more than 30% of income, or $528 per month. Fair market rent for a two bedroom apartment in Kansas City is $791. A family needs to make $31,640 per year to afford fair market rent. Obviously, families with extremely low income can’t afford fair market rent.

Because there wasn’t enough affordable housing in Kansas City, about 14,000 people became homeless last year. We know there will be more this year.

Next time, I’ll share more from the brief about ending homelessness for families.

- Laura Gray

Changing Demographics

2009-07-23T11:20:00.000-05:00

As a staff, we discussed our midyear results on Monday. The biggest surprise was the possibility that changing demographics are impacting our transitional housing program in an unexpected way.

As I’ve mentioned before, in the first six months of this year, twice as many two parent families have been part of the program than have ever been here over a whole year. We also have had fairly rapid movement in families during the last six months. We wondered first if there was a correlation between rapid turnover and two parent families. Second, if there is, does it mean our program is not effective for fathers or two parent families?

Don’t get me wrong. There is nothing wrong with rapid turnarounds. We want families to get back on their feet as quickly as possible.

However, our program is built on life change, not just the removal of barriers to housing. A few weeks isn’t long enough to repair badly damaged credit, pay down debt or accumulate savings that will create stability after the family returns to permanent housing. It also isn’t long enough to build the supportive relationships that are key to permanent life change, to adopt life skills, and to change lifelong behaviors that contributed to homelessness.

So we were concerned that if two parent families leave more quickly than single parent families, our supportive services may be less effective for two parent families.

It turns out that a greater percentage of single parent families than two parent families left during the first six months of the year. Half of the single parent families left during the first six months and only a third of the two parent families left. However, the single parent families who left had been here for an average of nearly seven months. The two parent families that left stayed only about a month and a half and were among our least successful families.

Happily, none of the families that exited in the last six months became homeless again.

The program is clearly working well for two thirds of our two parent families. Our challenge is to keep our eyes open for signs that we need to adapt as things change.

- Laura Gray

From Curb to College

2009-07-17T11:18:00.000-05:00

One of our favorite residents, Myeshia, got some great news on Monday. She got her GED!

More than a year ago she was put out of her weekly motel when she couldn’t pay her bill anymore. She and her two year old son were literally sitting on the curb with all of their belongings in trash bags. We were already working with her through our outreach case management, so her case manager called to get her an interview for our transitional supportive housing program. She had to go to a shelter first, but she and her little boy came to live at Community LINC last February.

She’s had a tough year and a half with a bitter divorce and custody battle, but my how well she’s done.

Myeshia found a job almost immediately and has methodically tackled the barriers that made life so very difficult. She paid off or negotiated down over $5,000 in debt (in part from her marriage) and she was able to eliminate the traffic warrants hanging over her head. She learned how to budget and has a savings account now. She received a certificate to participate in the Ways to Work program (an alternative to predatory auto loans for working poor families) that will help her get a car loan at a reasonable rate. She is also applying for a Habitat for Humanity house.

She walked in with a sense of personal accountability – she said that it was her own decisions that caused her troubles (homelessness). She set her goals and took advantage of the opportunity to learn new life skills. It hasn’t been easy, but she stuck with her commitment to work her program.

Her next goal is to get a better job, so she is enrolling in college this fall.

- Laura Gray

Our Little Corner of the World

2009-07-09T11:16:00.000-05:00

A week of less than encouraging news about the slump in employment. In our little corner of the world, our supportive housing program has proven to be a microcosm of the economy when it comes to employment.

A third of our families are two parent families now. That’s a remarkable percentage for us - the highest ever in our history. Only 85% of our adults have found jobs – a requirement in different economic circumstances - and only 20% of our teens have summer jobs. In at least one two parent family only the mom had a job for several months.

In the July 7 Business Intelligence Brief from Armada Corporate Intelligence they observed that “Men have experienced this unemployment situation differently than women as two of the hardest hit sectors have been construction and manufacturing – both traditionally male dominated… There has been a sharp rise in the number of women serving as the primary wage earners in the household. This has had some social impact as well as economic…Adjusting to this new employment reality will be very hard for many people and their families.”

“The issue of youth employment will be a festering problem for years…There has been less job exposure in this group than any previous cohort as many parents have chosen to keep their kids involved in various activities while paying generous allowances. That practice has faded as the recession has deepened but now these kids are having great difficulty getting summer employment. Studies have shown that lack of exposure to the work world at an early age makes it harder to transition to the workforce later.”

“For those kids that come from lower income neighborhoods the lack of work is even more problematic. This is not discretionary money for the most part ...”

Having a home at Community LINC lessens the necessity for our kids to contribute to the household income, but we know the need is very real. The teenage son of one of our favorite graduates is deferring college to help support his family.

As bleak as all of this might sound, at Community LINC we have faith that things will get better. For the last 21 years, we’ve seen people overcome the circumstances that so many are experiencing because of the recession. In our world, personal circumstances rather than the economy pulled our families down to the bottom rung of the economic and employment ladder. Eight out of ten rebuilt their lives. Things do get better.

-Laura Gray

Hard Work and Dedication

2009-07-01T11:14:00.000-05:00

A quick success story from our Director of Programs, Jeannine Short.

Great things are happening at Community LINC. We’re moving families toward self-sufficiency!

Take the Clegg family for example. When they came to Community LINC they were both unemployed and living where ever they could find a bed (or sofa) for a night. To make matters worse, the couple had just given birth to a beautiful baby girl. Imagine, an infant daughter and no place to live.

Fortunately, they were referred to Community LINC and their progress has been phenomenal!

Not only are they gainfully employed, but they are also pursuing other educational interests that will supplement their income. Too, they are within weeks of obtaining permanent housing.

This family is a testament to what hard work and dedication can bring!

- Laura Gray

2009-06-22T11:11:00.000-05:00

Community LINC delivers an amazing program of change for our families. The thing that enables us to deliver that program is our volunteers. We have an incredibly diverse number of ways that volunteers can be involved with Community LINC. One of the best parts of my job is being able to offer a volunteer opportunity that matches almost everyone’s interest. Whether someone wants to work with children, or redecorate an apartment, we can accommodate you.

Repeatedly I witness the level of time, resources and giving that our volunteers offer to Community LINC, and it never ceases to amaze me. We had a little girl ask all of her friends to bring presents to her birthday party—not for her, but for the children in our program. Awaken KC, a participant in the Project Change Corporate Team Challenge, spent three months this spring donating their time and materials to us in order to build a new teen center, community garden, and to host a pasta night with custom made cookbooks for our families. Lee’s Summit United Methodist Church repainted all of our front doors and parking lot stripes on a muggy Saturday morning. Alcatel-Lucent landscaped the front of our buildings, planting rose bushes and donating stone benches.

These examples do not even come close to touching all of the work that our regular Tuesday and Thursday night Program volunteers put in each week, or our devoted Board, or our Apartment Teams who clean, paint and redecorate every apartment each time a family moves out.

I am reminded everyday about the power of each person’s caring and loving and how much that can impact all of our lives. I am always overwhelmed by the family of Community LINC volunteers. You truly amaze me.

Thank you.

-Cecile Denny, former volunteer coordinator

For more information on volunteering at Community LINC, please feel free to contact tmcclain@communitylinc.org

Falling Up

2009-06-12T11:07:00.000-05:00

I just came back from a great meeting with the grants committee of a corporate foundation. One of our residents came along to tell her story to the group. We thought it would help them see the person rather than the statistic.

She was amazing.

I don’t know that I could share my feelings so openly with such poise.

She was so careful in her decisions in her life. She made a conscious choice not to get pregnant growing up, although her four closest friends did. She got an education and became a teacher. She felt called to minister and began working in substance abuse counseling. When she moved to Kansas City, she continued the counseling work. She met another counselor and married after a careful, thoughtful courtship.

She did all the right things, and, yet she became homeless.

She became homeless because she decided to leave an abusive marriage saddled with the debt. She lost not only her marriage, but her support system because of her choice. The feeling of loss clearly still pains her.

She shared other feelings, too. The joy she felt when she moved into her apartment after being homeless. At seeing her little boy’s bedroom decorated with her favorite character – Winnie the Pooh. At the friends she has made, the emotional support she has received, at her success in the program.

She has paid off $5,000 in debt, which she negotiated down from $10,000. She gets up every morning at 4:30 AM to study to take her LSAT. She wants to become a lawyer and someday a judge. She’s in a home ownership program and will raise her son in a home of their own.

She is amazing.

She felt like she was falling down for a while, but, through grace, she’s falling up now.

The foundation called less than an hour after our visit to tell us that they will fund the grant.

-Laura Gray

A HEARTH For the Homeless

2009-05-29T10:49:00.000-05:00

On May 19, both houses of Congress passed S. 896, the Helping Families Save Their Homes Act, which included the HEARTH Act as an amendment. President Obama signed the legislation into law on May 20. The Homeless Emergency Assistance and Rapid Transition to Housing Act (or HEARTH Act) reauthorized HUD's McKinney-Vento Homeless Assistance programs. The importance to the families we serve is that the act:

"Increases priority on homeless families with children, by providing new resources for rapid re-housing programs, designating funding to permanently house families, and ensuring that families are included in the chronic homelessness initiative.

Significantly increases resources to prevent homelessness for people who are at risk of homelessness, doubled up, living in hotels, or in other precarious housing situations through the Emergency Solutions Grant program.
Continues to provide incentives for developing permanent supportive housing and provides dedicated funding for permanent housing renewals.

Modestly expands the definition of homelessness to include people who are losing their housing in the next 14 days and who lack resources or support networks to obtain housing, as well as families and youth who are persistently unstable and lack independent housing and will continue to do so."

from the National Alliance to End Homelessness Summary.

-Laura Gray

Gertting Past Their Breaking Point

2009-05-22T10:45:00.000-05:00

Jeannine Short, our Director of Programs, shared a story of promise for a new family making a home at Community LINC:

The Holman family came to Community LINC in April 2009. Originally from Indiana, the family moved to Kansas City after losing their jobs and eventually their home. Like so many others in their situation, the Holman’s doubled-up with relatives and began the daunting task of finding employment and regaining stability.

Discouraged by repeated rejection from potential employers and disheartened by growing tensions within the crowded household, Mr. Holman made the decision to move to Arizona in pursuit of an employment opportunity. Leaving his family behind in hopes of creating a better future for them, he was once again met with disappointment. At their breaking point, the family heard about Community LINC. When informed that they had been accepted into the program, Mr. Holman broke into tears exclaiming how happy he was to be given the opportunity to provide stability for his family.

Today, the Holmans are gainfully employed and working hard to address and remove their barriers to housing. Not only are they actively engaged in the Tuesday and Thursday night programming, but they also offer their time to help around the community on their days off. In addition, they are very positive role models and take advantage of every opportunity to perpetuate a sense of community.

It’s been tough along the way, but the Holmans are well on their way to a very bright and stable future!

-Laura Gray

A Point in Time

2009-05-14T10:42:00.000-05:00

Each year Community LINC takes part in a “point in time survey” of the homeless in Kansas City. It’s a count of homeless individuals and families both in shelters and on the streets.

The preliminary estimate was that on one day (January 27 this year) there were at least 2,655 people, including 715 children, homeless in Kansas City. In past years, before the economic downturn, about 15,000 people became homeless over the course of the year. There are an unknown number who are not counted in the survey. These are the homeless who couch surf with families and friends or stay in a weekly motel.

It makes me realize that our goal is for homelessness to be just a point in time for the families in our transitional housing program.

Right now, half of our families were raised by grandparents or other relatives. Like foster kids who age out of the foster care system, these young parents have no one left to fall back on. They didn’t have families or friends to give them a place to stay when they became homeless.

We can see the impact of the downturn in the economy in a lot of ways. Today, there are 64 families on the waiting list for an apartment. A surprising 30% of our families are two parent families. In a typical year, less than 10% of the families have two parents. We are also seeing more families from situational poverty rather than generational poverty.

We will help most of our families ensure that they don’t become homeless at any other point in time. We will provide about 36,000 bed nights this year. The average family will stay for 7 months. What they learn while they are here will ensure that, for at least our two year follow-up period, more than 8 out of 10 will not become homeless again.

-Laura Gray

What Happens to the Kids When a Family Becomes Homeless? Part 1

2009-05-07T10:33:00.000-05:00

My mother saw a news story the other day about a family that was about to lose their home. What stuck with her was how stressed the children were. The child being interviewed was worried about her mom and dad and scared because she didn't know what would happen to her family.

The 120+ children who will make their home at Community LINC this year went through that and then some. The child in the interview worried what would happen to her. It did happen to our kids.

So what is it like for the children when the family becomes homeless?

They will probably live in several places. In some cases, the family will separate or even dissolve.

First, they may “double up” and live with relatives. When the relatives get tired of having them, they may start sleeping in their cars or at campgrounds. Their parents may send them to stay with relatives to avoid shelter life. If the family is large, they will have to split up. Most emergency shelters can only handle families with a couple of kids. Once they go to a shelter, they have to adjust to an overcrowded, uncomfortable setting with no privacy.

Homeless children endure a constant barrage of stressful and traumatic experiences that have a profound effect on their development and ability to learn. They get sick more often than other children. Violence plays a bigger part in their lives.

But it gets better. The children at Community LINC are lucky relative to other homeless kids. They have a safe, stable place to stay while their parents get on their feet. They find friends and a group of adults who care about them. They get the support to catch up academically and they learn the lifeskills they need to succeed in school and eventually at work. They come to believe that they can have a better life.

In the words of some of our children:

A teenage boy: “Two years with Community LINC helped get my mother, little brother and I back on our feet and a second chance in Kansas City. While opening doors to a better life, Community LINC helped with my driver’s ed. class and my true dream career. I’m now in my last year of school, graduating as one of the top in my class. I still have my family. I work at my job of three years as a waiter and am now working towards getting a car and looking for money for college.”

Another teenager: “I am going to be a person who fights for what’s right. I am a person who believes in the law. If you have not guessed, I plan to be a lawyer.”

A girl in grade school: “Before we came to Community LINC, I struggled because I saw my mom crying because we did not have anywhere to go. I have a better life, a great life because of this program. In five years, I will be in school, a home and (will be) thinking about my past. I will live great. I (will) work all over the world.”

A boy in grade school: “Before I came to Community LINC I lived with my dad and my struggles. I didn’t have anywhere to live. Now, I am a person getting stronger and I am working on making myself better."

- Laura Gray

Giving Hearts of Project Change

2009-04-30T10:31:00.000-05:00

A beautiful thank you from our Director of Facilities, Robert Ontman, to the Awaken KC team of Project Change.

"I just wanted to share my personal gratitude and appreciation. In my many years of working with charities, churches, and volunteer groups, I have never seen such a well planned and committed effort. The team has taken the worst and roughest areas of our facility and transformed them into beautiful sanctuaries that will serve our families for years to come.

They took a dark and dismal basement with a ruined floor and completely redid the floor, walls, décor- everything at considerable time and expense. It has been masterfully crafted into our teen center and is now in use to prepare our teens for a better future as they learn job skills, work ethics, spiritual growth classes, financial management and many other life skills classes that will break their cycle of poverty.

Their other project took a muddy field and created a vibrant rain garden complete with decorative stone walk way, drainage away from our buildings that were getting flooded, and a rain garden too peaceful to describe. All of this tells our beleaguered and down-trodden families that they are loved and that there is hope- without which they can never even attempt recovery back out of homelessness.

The Awaken K.C. team took the biggest group of volunteers that I have ever seen from every walk of life and from diverse jobs and organized them into a well prepared, hard working, cohesive unit. They even smiled all the way through and enjoyed their work. They enjoyed each other and the task at hand. They literally worked through snow storms and rain storms- excelling through every challenge that emerged.

I cannot think of a more dedicated or thorough group that I have ever had the pleasure of working with. Many thanks to Kate Wind, Randy Huber, Michael Hurd, Tim Parks, Patty Kruger, Melody Meek, Kelly with A L Huber, SFS Architects, Western Fireproofing, Lafarge Cement, Wallace Engineering, the gardening companies and so many more. You all have gone well beyond anything that we could have hoped or dreamed for. Please come again."

-Laura Gray

Reaching Out - Removing Roadblocks

2009-04-17T10:27:00.000-05:00

We do an outreach to families that receive Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF), but are out of compliance with the requirements for the assistance. Our role is to help the parents remove the barriers (e.g. transportation, childcare) that keep them from keeping a job or getting the training they need to become self-sufficient.

Last year, we helped 69% of our TANF clients find a job, go to training or get off of TANF cash assistance.

Frenchie Pulluaim, who works both with our resident families and the TANF families, observes:

We see first-hand how families are being impacted by the current economic situation. Resources are not readily available, because there are too many families applying for basic services. Agencies providing services are stretched to their limits as middle income families find themselves competing with lower income families for jobs, utility assistance, career readiness classes, legal assistance, and counseling.

The work we do with homeless families is priceless training for recognizing the barriers that must be addressed to prevent these (the sanctioned TANF) clients from becoming homeless.

Although times are hard and economic issues are weighing heavily on families at all levels, it is important that case managers help families in seeing the options and opportunities that will get them through these hard times.

-Laura Gray

Graced by the Amazing People We Server

2009-04-03T10:21:00.000-05:00

Some of our residents are amazing.

Our Program Director, Jeannine Short shared this story with me yesterday ...

Cynthia is a single mother of four children who entered our program in April of 2007. Due to complications arising from a high-risk pregnancy, she was unable to work after her short-term disability ran out. Consequently, Cynthia lost her job and within two months the family became homeless - evicted from their apartment.

After she entered Community LINC’s Supportive Housing Program, Cynthia was able to get another job, although she barely made above minimum wage. She had more than $5,000 in old debts, which presented a significant barrier to getting her own housing. She also was forced to postpone plans to get a secondary degree. Undaunted and determined to put the pieces of her life back together, Cynthia held herself accountable and worked the program with unrivaled zeal and fortitude.

Cynthia has more than double her income, retired more than $4,000 in debt and amassed over $3,000 in savings. This week, Cynthia and her four children moved to permanent housing - a four bedroom ranch-style home.

If Cynthia’s performance as a resident is any indication of her determination, we can be certain that she will get that degree, as well!

-Laura Gray

Hope

2009-03-29T09:00:00.000-05:00

Driving to work one day last week, I was mulling over all of the people whose lives have been changed by the current economy - by being downsized, laid off, or just plain let go. The resemblance to what has happened to so many of our residents felt very vivid to me.

When you lose something like a job, hope is central to whether you despair over the future or believe that things will get better.

It's apparently the same for the economy. Hope is vital to our ability to recover.

Fortunately, as economic hope returns, businesses will recover and most people who have lost their jobs will find other ones. Their lives will be restored.

It strikes me that Community LINC is a microcosm of what happens at the poorest end of the economy all of the time. Our families have lost a lot. They have lost not just their jobs, but their homes, and, because they were homeless, sometimes even their children. Faith and hope are necessary. We need them both to recover from loss and rebuild lives.

-Laura Gray, March 29, 2009

One Day at a Time

2009-03-25T09:00:00.000-05:00

One of our residents, Shirelle, came into my office last week to thank me for the car she was given. A donor gave us the car and we used some emergency funds to get it inspected and licensed so that she didn't have to clean out her savings.

I obviously hadn't given it to her, but she needed someone to thank. She wanted someone to know what it means for her and her son.

Having the car cuts her two hour daily commute in half. She does home health care and she was taking the bus from one client to the next. It limited her to only a couple of clients. The car also means she can go to an AA meeting every day on her lunch now. She'll mark her two year anniversary being clean and sober this summer. She goes for herself, for her 16 year old son, and for the people that she wants to encourage at the meetings.

Her thank you was one of those inspiring moments. Shirelle is taking her life back and she's making a better life for her son. He's a talented kid who has a much better future because of what his mom is doing.

- Laura Gray, Mar 25, 2009