Aftercare Matters: Rebuilding after the storm

By Aftercare Case Manager Johnae Sawyer

Working with families in our Aftercare program has truly been a humbling experience. The stories heard from families about how they became homeless are eye opening. Many families hit that one bump in the road and are unable to stabilize their finances. Unfortunately they end up in a homeless shelter with their children, feeling as if they have hit rock bottom.

The program offered here at Community LINC helps families bounce back and feel as if they have a support system that cares about their journey to become self-sufficient. The smiles that replace the tears are heart-warming and encouraging. The families that transition from our campus into their own homes and our Aftercare program feel a safety net that they would not have if traveling this journey alone. They are excited that Community LINC is now a part of their support system.

Several Aftercare participants are striving to use the tools and skills learned while in the program here at Community LINC. They know that if they continue to work hard, budget, and build a savings, they will weather their next financial storm should one arise.

Myths about homelessness

The shutdown ended and sequestration remains in effect. Because public policy is shaped by perceptions of homelessness and the homeless, it seems important to dispel some of the myths that have been around for years now.

 

Perception #1: Let’s start with the impression that homeless people are all drug addicts, winos, mentally ill or criminals.

 

Reality: In 2012, families comprised 46% of Kansas City homeless. In our experience, 2/3 of the family is children. Families have been the fastest growing segment of the homeless population for the last several years.

 

Perception #2: Homeless people don’t want to work.

 

Reality: Every adult who comes to Community LINC looks for a job. About 1/3 of our homeless families were employed when they came into our program. Unfortunately, they earned less than the federal poverty level.  In 2012, 75% of those able to exit for their own home exceeded the federal poverty level.

 

Perception #3: Anyone who works can get housing.

 

Reality: In 2012 the median monthly housing cost for a renter in Kansas City was $764. The median wage for a fast food worker was $8.69 per hour or $1,506 per month IF they are full time. At 50% of monthly income, they will be considered severely housing cost burdened. Without benefits, if anything goes wrong, a fast food worker remains at risk of homelessness. The average wage for our families upon exit in 2012 was $10.10 and $8.98 this year to date.

 

Perception #3: Homelessness is a lifestyle choice.

 

Reality: We haven’t encountered any homeless families that chose to be homeless. We’ve encountered people who were unemployed, or in low wage jobs, escaping domestic violence, etc. who just couldn’t find housing they could afford.

 

Perception #4: Services are just a handout.

 

Reality: We believe in a hand up, not a hand out. Our partnership with the families we serve includes the expectation that they are moving toward self-sufficiency. We provide job search support, mental health counseling, and life skills like budgeting and savings. In other words, we provide the tools clients need for self-sufficiency.

 

Perception #5: It’s an insurmountable problem.

 

Reality: There are programs that work. This year, about 96% of exiting our families are no longer among the homeless and about 75% left for permanent homes of their own. Nationally, the focus on housing first and then services has reduced the number of chronically homeless individuals by a third.

Aftercare Matters: Putting it all together

By Aftercare Critical Time Intervention Case Manager Sara Barrett

 

Our first eight families to work through the Aftercare Program will be graduating this month.

 

All of the families are employed, and three have increased their income or been promoted in their current jobs. Over the last nine months they have saved over $5000 and paid off over $4000 in debt, including credit cards, outstanding warrants and tickets, property tax arrearages and payday loans.   Two families have purchased vehicles and insurance.

 

Three families have accessed higher education or trade school to increase their education and knowledge base. One family has accessed Small Business Education through a partnering agency and has begun the blueprints for her already growing small business, as well as a savings account to prepare for expansion of her business.

 

Two families have enrolled in substance abuse support to deal with previous or current addictions. Four families have accessed mental health and emotional wellness services to improve the relationships within their family setting.

 

The beauty of Aftercare is seeing clients move beyond a “program mentality” and moving into their own dreams, believing they can move forward after the trauma of experiencing homelessness. Life does not stop at a roof over their heads, that is just the beginning; the first page to a new story. As the aftercare worker, I have learned to see beyond the walls of program requirements and my idea of what looks possible for a family. I am moved by the honor of walking with these families for the last nine months, and forever inspired to push beyond the difficult circumstances life can bring to something greater.  

Program Matters: So What Is Self-Sufficiency?

By Senior Director of Programs and Operations Jeannine Short

 

Many organizations serving disenfranchised populations tout as some part of their mission the goal of helping families achieve self-sufficiency.  Concordantly, such organizations have done well to implement programs and service delivery models, along with outcomes measurement processes, toward this end. 

 

Self-sufficiency, according to Webster, is 1) the ability to supply one’s own needs without external assistance; and 2) having extreme confidence in one’s own resources, powers, etc.

 

From this perspective, it stands to reason that government would invest dollars in large-scale workforce development programs and prescribe sanctions for TANF (Temporary Assistance for Needy Families) recipients who choose not to engage in workforce activities; also, that local-level agencies would invest dollars in job skills and job readiness programs. 

 

What does not stand to reason, however, is that while there seems to be vested interest in providing opportunities aimed at creating or increasing income, HUD’s outcomes measurement of the percentage of families exiting programs with increased income seems to fly in the face of self-sufficiency.  How? Because the measurement includes not only earned income, but also “income” received through TANF.

 

So what, then, is self-sufficiency? Is it the ability to supply one’s own needs, or is it the ability to meet those needs through mainstream resource systems?  If the latter, would “inter-sufficiency” be a more appropriate term?

 

Aftercare Matters: Stuff

By: Sara Barrett, Aftercare Case Manager

 

Three weeks in to Aftercare, I was excited to get to a particular home visit with a Community LINC client. She had received furniture to fill her home, due to a referral made to a partnering agency to fill this need. Feeling great about the fact that she had all of the material things that seemed necessary to make a home a home, and excited to celebrate this with her, I was greeted by a home in disarray and an upset, overwhelmed young mom.

 

Furniture was all over the living room and the kitchen was stacked to the top cabinets with cooking necessities. My client burst into tears and said, “I’m sorry, I don’t know how to do this in my own place.”

 

When I asked her what she meant, she went on to explain, this was her first experience living in her own home and owning all the furniture and materials one might put in a home.

 

She had spent the week trying to get the home ready for my arrival of our hour long home visit, hoping I would be impressed that she had put a whole home together, but grew stressed and overwhelmed with the responsibility of caring for so much. She said, “Is this what it’s like to be not homeless? Why do people think all this stuff is what creates happiness? Why did I think that?”

 

My heart sank, and I sat down on the couch, which was halfway in the dining room and halfway in the kitchen. My client sat next to me and we made plan to get the home in order.

 

As we worked to put things in their “proper place” my mind swirled. What is my job here? What is happiness? What is success in this program? I had this idea of what it looked like to move from homelessness to self-sufficiency; what I as a “social worker” would call success, what a put-together home might look like; but I’m not here to make my ideas my client’s ideas. I was humbled by the power I have as a worker-that someone would spend a week in distress to impress me with the condition of her home. 

 

My client eventually settled in to the responsibility of caring for and seeing the benefit of having the material things she has in her home - a table to eat family dinners around, a couch to plop on with her kids and watch a movie or paint nails, and a full kitchen to prepare healthy meals for her family.

 

We laugh now when we talk about that day, but our conversation on this topic always ends with the idea that all the material things we have are just stuff.

 

Self-sufficiency is about more than the roof over our heads or the things we have in our home, it starts with the belief in one’s self that he or she can become self-sufficient; that one does have the ability to maintain a home and that this ability is valuable.

 

My job as the aftercare worker is to see the strengths in the clients I serve that can be cultivated into life skills, help the client see those for him or herself, and partner with them to develop those into what self-sufficiency looks like to them. If we can do that, all the other “stuff” will fall into place.

It's complicated

The world of homelessness is complicated. Think of a collage of faces - teens living on their own, children living with their families, single moms and dads and their children, two parent families, and adults who have been living on the streets for years. The needs are very different and the solutions are just as varied. It’s a complicated picture.

We don’t pretend to be an expert in providing services to anyone but homeless families. We focus on families because the lives of the children can be changed if their parent(s) can get on their feet. And, we focus on equipping the parents to provide for themselves and their children.

We’re about to enter into a study with Dr. Jeff Ehrlich from Park University to identify the characteristics of the families who succeed and those who fail. So, I’ve been analyzing the data we already collect to find correlations that predict success (leaving for permanent housing) for our families.

The strongest correlation I’ve found isn’t with the length of time they stay in our program or even whether they are employed when they leave (think subsidized housing). The strongest correlation is with their self-sufficiency scores at entry. No big surprise really. It fits with the conclusion a friend of mine drew in her doctoral thesis studying homeless teens. Inner resiliency was a key factor for the teens who were able to exit homelessness.

That made me look at the self-sufficiency assessment scores for some of the families I know with new eyes. I have new hope for a single father who became homeless after his wife died in 2010. She had kidney disease from the time they married in 1999, but still gave birth to two daughters. He lost a good job taking care of his family during her protracted final illness.

From personal experience, I know that the loss of a spouse is one of the biggest blows in life. But, I was fortunate. My husband was older, our children were grown and helped in his care. My employer gave me family leave. He had life insurance, and I didn’t lose my job.

We all experience difficult passages in our lives, but we have different “safety nets.”  Mine was bigger and stronger than our single dad.

Please remember that you can’t paint the homeless with one brush. The lives of homeless families are complicated in ways you may never experience, but you can hopefully understand.

Hard Work and Dedication

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