A New Start

By Alicia Horton, Mobile Assessment Worker

Bree, a single, working mother and her children have lived without a home for the past 3 months, due to a few unfortunate events. When they first became homeless, the family stayed with whoever would let them. We call this house hopping or couch surfing. The family would sleep on the floor or on a couch. They lived with constant fear of being asked to leave, and any sense of freedom or privacy was lost.  After wearing out their welcome with family and friends, the family ended up sleeping in their car until they were able to find temporary housing in an emergency shelter.

After a few days at the shelter, Bree’s caseworker referred her to Community LINC.  I called to schedule an intake screening. Since she’s a full-time employee working 9 to 5pm, I agreed to meet with her at her place of employment. One of the great opportunities at Community LINC is that we can meet family’s right where they are, reducing the stress of having to make arrangements for transportation or take time off work.

The family is now in the processing of being housed with Community LINC! This is a great start to the family’s journey to being self-sufficient again.

Keep Pushing Forward

By Employment Job Coach Constance Taylor

When Ms. Joiner shared that her job was moving to another state, I searched for the right words to say.  I knew how hard this young lady had worked to secure position. The hourly wage was sufficient for permanent housing. She had just purchased a truck. The kids were all in daycare and the daycare payment fit her budget. How could this be happening? Not right now!

Ms. Joiner had just been approved for her new home. The income from her job allowed her to become self–sufficient.  She was now faced with no income. I assured her everything would be okay and reminded her that with her motivation and tenacity she would have another job very soon, “You just wait and see.” 

As we talked, I learned more about her dream job, and what type of career would inspire her. Although she never complained, she did tell me that the last job was only a stepping stone to where she wanted to be. She needed her high school diploma to move forward. She just didn’t have the time to devote to improving her education; her priority was having the income necessary to providing a home for her five children.  She also shared her desire to reinstate her Certified Nursing Assistance (CNA) license so that she could go back to taking care of people who were unable to care for themselves. At that moment I reflected back on the day she came to Community LINC.  She maneuvered with the twins in a double stroller and another young child walking alongside her. Each child was intently listening and following her instructions.  She was a natural nurturer and helping her reinstate her CNA was the way to get her back on track. We located the funds to pay for the license and she quickly registered for an upcoming test. Within a few weeks, she received her certificate and was on her way. She networked with some people in the healthcare field and was hired very quickly.

Ms. Joiner enjoys her new job and is excited about the benefits that include transportation to work if she ever needs it.  Recently, she was offered an opportunity for a paid training course to become a Certified Medical Technician. If successful, she’ll increase her salary. She works manyof her off days and just secured part-time employment with another company on the weekends.

Ms. Joiner is a perfect example of what it means to keep pushing forward.

Happy New Beginning

By Victoria Jonas, CTI Case Manager

The New Year has given me cause to reflect back on my first few months as a Case Manager at Community LINC. Once client in particular stands out for me.

In November, Community LINC helped a young mother and her beautiful baby boy move into their first apartment. This client was able to find housing before her scheduled exit date. She is now employed full time as a security guard and really enjoys her job. Her employment allows her to pay fair market value for her apartment.

This client struggled with homelessness and “couch surfing” for two years due to her poor family dynamics and her mother’s ongoing substance abuse issues. She gave birth to her son during her homelessness. However, throughout her stay at Community LINC, she displayed great connection and parenting skills toward her son.

The week that the client moved to her own apartment, she was able to take her son to get a professional photograph taken. She was so proud to show them off to all of the program staff.

It was very humbling to work with this family as a new CTI-Case Manager and watch her become self-sufficient. I look forward to working with her during aftercare and watching her continue to grow.

Hope

By Emily Lyons, CTSI Case Manager

As one of the family coaches here at Community LINC I get the privilege of walking beside our residents on their journey. Often, their paths are littered with obstacles that take time and perseverance to overcome. Because of such, one of my most important tasks as a family coach is to instill hope in our residents. Hope – something that we all need but often lack in a time of trial. It's hoping for a bigger and brighter tomorrow that is often hard for our residents to see when the hurdles seem overwhelming and unconquerable. For me, Community LINC is a community filled with hope.

Just look around our campus. Walk around the playground after evening program – you will hear sweet giggles from our residents’ children. Visit our wellness groups, and you will see residents sharing snacks while learning new life skills. Listen in on a one on one meeting with a resident – you will hear positive dialog, encouragement, and hope. Hope for our residents, hope for better days, and hope for the future where homelessness is a thing of the past – that’s what Community LINC is all about.  

Children’s Matters: Not Throwing Away Your Dreams

By Jamie Lyon KCYA artist and Community LINC Volunteer

My name is Jaime Lyon, and I am a freelance visual art teacher that celebrates the creative process while emphasizing and encouraging self-esteem, self-awareness, and confidence. I’m fortunate enough to be a teaching artist at Kansas City Young Audiences. KCYA has partnered with Community LINC where I currently teach a residency art class. These monthly classes include a variety of projects ranging from self-portraits, masks, journals to handcrafted shields and vision boards.

One of my recent vision board classes was broken up into two sessions. Our first evening included flipping through magazines in hopes of finding images that captured the student's dreams and goals. These pictures ranged from fancy cars to simple cartons of milk. Not every student was finding the perfect photos so I had them tell me specific dreams I could find online and I promised them I would print photos to bring for our second session. I loved learning the dreams of these hopeful and amazing kids aged 9-17. Some dreams included nice homes, sports cars, high school diplomas, college degrees, friendships, happy family members, careers, candy, pets and so much more. As I wrote down their dreams and images to research, we talked about the importance of a dream and how we have to set goals to achieve our dreams. We talked about hard work, resiliency and accountability.

Our second session was very productive. The students gathered all of their images and glued them to a poster board. Some had twenty items to glue some had three. We celebrated their individual creations while continuing our conversations of gratitude, worthiness, and achievements. I found myself drawn to a 17-year-old girl who had worked intently and quietly on her vision board. She laid out her pictures and wrote captions under every item. She had big dreams! She wanted to finish high school and graduate with honors and then go to college and become a very successful business woman. She would then have a beautiful home with a huge pool and guest house. She wanted happy friends in her life and a healthy family. She also wanted to maintain a good relationship with her Mom. She said her Mom was very important to her and she always wanted her in her life.

As we wrapped the class this gentle soul told me to just keep her vision board; she said she didn’t want it! It broke my heart. This sweet child had spent two full hours visualizing, dreaming, setting goals and making plans! She was so close to believing her dreams could come true. But just like that, she was willing to throw it all away… LITERALLY. She didn’t want this vision board, which represented a VERY BRIGHT FUTURE. Her shoulders and head sank as she began to walk away. I stopped her from leaving and pleaded with her to PLEASE reconsider. “Please take this vision board home and display it proudly. See your dreams every day. Share these dreams with your Mom. She’ll want to see your future!”

With slight reluctance, she kept the vision board.” I was relieved as she left with it in her hands!  After the students had been gone and the room was clear I hoped this lesson would help these amazing kids realize their potential. As I was leaving, I saw the young lady who almost threw her art away speaking with her Mom. She was showing her the very masterpiece she had almost let go. Her Mom, who had clearly been at work all day, was wiping the tears from her face. Her mom was so emotional and so very proud of her. I introduced myself and told her about our lesson and how amazing I thought her daughter was. The tears kept flowing as she complimented her daughter for her creation and me for the lesson. They embraced as they continued to review the vision board. Her mom was excited to see a bright future for her daughter. She even joked that she would love to live in her daughter’s guest house. It was a very moving moment. I think the student was glad she didn’t throw her vision board away. Her mom insisted they hang it up in the living room where they could both enjoy visualizing their future! That is Inflated JOY! Wow, I love what I get to do! Who will you encourage today?

Thank You Community LINC

Shared by a current Community LINC program participant

My name is Lachelle* and I have two children. For several years I was in a domestic violence situation that had control over my life. I reached out to different agencies to help me get re-established, and I became domestic violence free. Over the years I had moved around a lot and was in debt. We lost our place of residence, and I did not know where to turn, so I went to a local homeless shelter with my two children. I felt ashamed, embarrassed and lost. The homeless shelter sent me to Community LINC, and once my kids and I moved into the Community LINC program, our lives began to change for the better. The Community LINC staff and supporters helped my family learn how to move forward with our lives. My youngest child made new friends that had the same experiences that he did. The new friendships have helped my son feel he has peers who he can talk openly with about his experiences. The program also helped him with coping tools to deal with homelessness and an understanding of how to manage a world of uncertainty. I, too, was given several supports in the way of budgeting classes and healthy lifestyle group topics that were helpful for me. I also participated in individual therapy sessions that helped me find myself, tap into my strengths and identify the barriers that were getting in the way of my progress. While I was learning about my barriers, I also learned how to overcome them, as well as how to support my children as we journeyed to a more stable life. I will forever be grateful for this program. God has blessed this program and blessed us to be able to be a part of it. Since we have been at Community LINC, I have gained a full-time job, found permanent housing for my family, returned to church, and I now connected to helpful resources in the community. I would like to say “thank you” to the Community LINC staff for believing in us and giving us this opportunity to get our lives back on track. 

*Name have been changed to protect the identity of the program participant

Perfect World

By Holly Gardner, Intake Specialist

In a perfect world, I get an empty manila folder handed to me with only a family’s name and contact info. After checking a few details, I arrange an appointment for screening; upon acceptance into the program, I estimate a ready date; and then I provide a move-in date and time to the new family.  Again, this world is perfect, so the apartment is clean, decorated by volunteers and ready just when the family needs it.

On their move-in day, the family is given a walk-through of their apartment and a hug or two. The family and I both get emotional when I hand them the key. They accept it, and we both know this relationship - this program - will impact their life journey in a very positive way. But again, this is a perfect world. 

Moving to the real world: We recently screened and accepted a family into our program. The manila folder was on the corner of my desk next to my “to do” list.  In just a few short days the family went from strangers to the newest family preparing to move in.  The young mom was nine months pregnant and had three other youngsters.  Her situation at the shelter and other community resources were waning, and her stress levels were increasing. She left me a soft, sad message on my answering machine hoping to move up her move-in date.

I let our team know we needed to do all we could to speed up the process. Everyone pitched in, from maintenance to cleaning to decorating. As they do so often, things just fell into place.  Our maintenance team was in the middle of some pretty extensive projects, and I did get a grimace or two, but they assured me that yes they could do it for this mom and her family.  Everything was touched, improved upon, updated and personalized. I was able to call her back and let her know that what we thought would take us three days we were able to accomplish in a day.  Her apartment was ready for her and her children.  In a perfect world maybe this family would not ever need us, or maybe her barriers could be overcome without the rigors of a program but we all know perfection is hard to find.  In this instance, for this family, we got very, very close.  

Remember To Take Nothing for Granted!

By Alicia Horton, Mobile Assessment Case Manager

Each and every day most of us experience stability. We have a place to stay, food to eat and a car to drive. We have these luxuries as part of our normal daily routine.

Now picture your life without just one of the three, let alone all three at once.

The thought is SCARY to say the least; right?

Well, these are just a few of the daily struggles of the families we meet at Community LINC. It’s extremely sad and disheartening.

One of the things I enjoy most about being here at Community LINC is, right from the very start we try and meet family’s right where they are!

For example, if they’re struggling to get from place to place, we can provide on the spot intake screenings. This limits the number of times a family has to travel for services while in crisis. We can connect families with local food pantries, health care providers and other community-related services to help a family in need.  It’s truly a beautiful thing!

Seeing the daily struggles of these families in crisis makes me truly grateful for the people (family, friends and co-workers) in my life.

Community LINC is truly the most rewarding and humbling job I’ve had.  I make myself remember to take nothing for granted.

Transition

Submitted by Emily Lyons, CTI Case Manager

Transition is hard, but Community LINC is here to make it a little bit easier.

New home, new school, new neighborhood, new sounds, new routine. Transition is hard. Transition is even harder when it involves uncertainty. Families who are experiencing homelessness often struggle with knowing what comes next, and once they do find a more stable place to stay, whether that be with a friend or relative, at a shelter or a community program, most of the uncertainty remains with them: What happens when I have to leave here? When will my time be up? What will we do then? Its questions like these that make already difficult situations turn into impossible tasks. Here at Community LINC, we walk side by side with our residents to make these transitions less daunting. From the day residents enter the program, they are supported by staff to look for employment, enroll children in school, obtain permanent housing, and connect with community resources in order to make their transition to the next chapter of their lives easier. Even after our families leave the furnished apartments on Community LINC’s campus, they are still supported for nine months during our Aftercare program. Preparing our residents to embrace their new chapter is sometimes challenging, but more times than not, it is simply rewarding – especially when through good preparation, the uncertainty diminishes and the excitement regarding their next steps escalates.

When Failure is Not an Option

By Employment Services Manager Constance Taylor

Lanette’s life took a spiral turn for the worse after interviewing and waiting for 2 weeks to report to a new job and discovering that they had hired someone else. It never entered her mind that she would hear the words, we couldn’t wait and we had to hire someone else immediately.  Now she had no income and she and her three boys had to go to a homeless shelter.

In our interview she discussed her past poor choices openly and convinced our team that failure was not an option. She was definitely motivated and ready to move forward. Her barriers were overwhelming but we knew she would do well because of the   compelling discussion concerning the goals she set for herself and her family. She was honest about the past mistakes that landed her in prison and was determined to take the steps necessary to improve her future. It was not the jail stay that changed her mind but her desire to become independent and self-sufficient. She wanted to work a professional career, earn a livable wage, dwell in a nice home, and care for her family. She won the battle against alcoholism and was ready to put the pieces back together.

She told me one day, “My boys are watching me and I have no choice but to make this work.” She hit the ground running. Every morning she would come to the lab ready to go: dressed for an interview, her hair well groomed, and a big smile on her face.

We discussed that networking would be her best asset. She went to every job fair, every felon-friendly assistance program, and tons of community events. Lanette did everything possible for a person with her background to secure employment. She knew she had to work ten times harder than the next person. She came to the job lab every day and attended the life skills and budgeting classes. She meets with her Case Manager and also receives encouragement from the Mental Wellness Manager.

She was not afraid or opposed to taking baby steps but knew she needed a good job to cover her family’s monthly expenses. She went to interviews each week repeating her story of defeat and remorse. 

The day finally came when she told me that she had landed a position making $13.65 as a customer service representative. Not only is she feeling self-sufficient again, but she has regained her self-esteem and sense of purpose. Her sons and Community LINC were the motivation and support she needed to regain her independence.  

Housing Matters: Keeping Families Together

By Housing Placement Specialist Tammy Mayhue

Families who face homelessness run the risk of their families being separated. I personally am grateful for our Interim and Immediate housing programs, because without them many people would fall through the cracks for the very same reasons that caused them to lose their housing in the first place.

Our Interim and Immediate housing stabilize vulnerable families, so they have safe and healthy environments for their children. Families now have a temporary place to call home, as well as the services and support they need to stay together.  Our programs are helping our families stay together.

Though the families we serve are unaware of the behind the scenes work we do to make sure their lives are changed for the better, I do it because it is a privilege working with families who are in need. Even though there are times we may get on our soap box, we still have their best interest at heart. If you listen closely, you will hear us saying how much we want them to succeed and break the cycle of homelessness. We believe they can take control of their lives and provide their children with stable housing.

Without a doubt, working with families who come from all walks of life with many barriers can be challenging, but to see families stay together and leave together into permanent housing, makes the challenge worthwhile. 

Jobs Matter: Employment is Essential

By Employment Job Coach Constance Taylor

Employment is essential for our participants and is an immediate conversation that we have with our participants upon entering our program.  Many individuals have a scattered work history and years of sustaining just above water.

Assessments and conversations say the opposite of what many people believe about themselves.  Our job becomes pretty difficult because it may require having to convince them that they are valuable and capable of so much more than what they are experiencing.  An old proverb, believed to have been recorded as early as 1175, says,  “you can lead a horse to water, but you can't make it drink.”  The proverb is true you can’t make the horse drink, but I believe that if the horse is in heat exhaustion long enough and you keep leading it in the right direction, you can only hope that one day it will drink the cool water and be restored.

So it is with the families we serve.  We realize many of them have experienced a trail of homelessness and are pretty hopeless by the time they cross our paths.  Some want to hear the words, “ yes, you are hired” after only a few applications have been submitted.  I know that is not a reality, so I keep encouraging them to work harder and put in more applications because one day it is going to pay off.

The difficult thing is that for many job searchers,  just like the horse that needs the water to be refreshed, but  will not drink it, many of our participants need  income to survive, but will not complete the process necessary until the last hour.  We can only show them the steps and hope and pray that one day, they will extend themselves beyond where they are currently operating until they get the call and hear the words, “yes, you are hired.” 

Although, we have a large percentage of participants that do leave with employment, there is also that small percentage that leaves unemployed.  Often times, after a few months of having left Community LINC, I get a phone call and the person on the end says, “guess what Ms. Connie, I got a job”  I am always so happy to hear that they are employed and able to care for their family sufficiently, without having to search for resources from multiple agencies.

Employment Matters: "It Takes More Than A Textbook"

By Employment Services Job Coach Constance Taylor

It really means a lot when people care enough to take time from their busy schedules to help our participants become gainfully employed.

Understanding what employers need and want is a big part of landing a job. 

Several businesses in the Kansas City area volunteered to positively influence our community by participating in mock interviews. They asked interview questions concerning various positions within their organizations and critiqued our responses. They also provided answers to difficult questions concerning the candidates and how they ought to market themselves.

The employers provided an overall summary of “great interviewing skills.”  The information they provided was valuable to our participants and gave them real life applications.

One of the employers scheduled additional interviews with other human resource representatives at his company. As a result, two of our candidates have secured full time employment with benefits! They both start their new positions this week. 

That’s why I believe, “it takes more than a textbook.” Sometimes, it takes real life application to make a lasting impression.      

Intake Matters: A family's voice

By Intake and Resident Specialist Holly Gardner

This month I would like to highlight a new family.  I screened Mr. C. on February 18^th.  He was new to town and living in a motel with his girlfriend and newborn baby. They entered in to our program on Feb 24^th. They have been working with our housing specialist, other staff and are making plans for next steps. It has been a whirlwind for this family. They are so appreciative, pro-active and have great attitudes, so I wanted to share their story with you in his words.  I hope this will bless you as much as it has me.

In Mr. C.'s words:

“God is good all the time.”

“My Name is Mr C. I moved from Arkansas to KC in January 2014 to be reunited with my longtime girlfriend of 7 years.  Since arriving in KC I have found myself homeless along with my girlfriend and her newborn son."

"What started as a motel check-in for one week led to so many blessings.  On Feb 3^rd we checked into a motel for the next 3 days just as a  storm moved thru KC and we got 10 inches of snow and ice.  By the 4^th day staying in the motel I was praying for God to give us shelter and keep us together and safe.  Keep in mind the weather was really bad and cold."

"I believe God put us in contact with a father and son who offered to give us a ride to the grocery store.  He gave us a phone number to a church named The River.  I called the number and left a message saying we needed a ride to the church that Sunday."

"At this point we had been in the motel for 6 days and had to check out that Monday morning.  God blessed us and put us in contact with a woman named D who later put us in contact with another lady.  These two women met us at the motel on Monday morning, our check-out morning.  They took some information from me and my girlfriend, said a prayer with us that was so powerful I can’t even explain."

"That following Thursday we moved in to Crossroads shelter. We had our screening appointment at Community LINC and within days moved in to a furnished apt at Community LINC."

"We have only been here a little while, about 2 weeks, and Community LINC has helped us with another blessing, our first house! It feels like it is being built just for us! Everything is new!"

"The amazing part of everything is that the motel we were staying in is just across the hi-way and our new home is being built just down the street from the church that assisted us.  I must not forget that church, The River! It is just a few blocks from where we will be living. Awesome God we have. We move in to our new home April 2014.”