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.

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

China Is My Home

By Cais Monroe, Facilitator

“I want you to draw whatever you think of when you hear the word home."  Mr. Joshua, Community LINC's Children's Program Manager, was explaining an activity that I would never forget, "it can be your room, your state, your old home, your family... whatever that is I want you to draw it." Then he further explained his personal idea of home, “I moved around a lot when I was younger, so where ever my family is, it became home for me.”  Some children drew houses, others drew their bedrooms, and participating staff drew pictures of their homes and maps of the states where they lived. One person even drew an outline of California and the beaches there back in her home city, however, there were two particular children whose pictures sank deep into my mind.

Out of respect for their privacy, I won't mention their names I'll refer to them as K and J. Both boys full of so much character and personality; characters so very different but a walk of life with similar obstacles. I asked K, what he was drawing, so neatly and creatively, coloring away so care-free, no shame in his perspective of "home.” "It’s the hotel,” he said still coloring without ever looking up. Bringing back my oppressed memory of when my family lived briefly in an American Inn Motel I thought it would be the appropriate moment to share our stories. K told me about how much fun it was residing in the hotel, riding in the hotel elevators every morning and having his family so close to each other in one room. I shared with him that "we had two queen size beds in our room and my brother and I would jump from bed to bed trying not to touch the ground of imaginary lava.” K finally looked up, and we laughed.

J, who is six years old and incredibly smart and does a hilarious hillbilly impersonation (sorry, that's what he calls it), well he drew a picture of China. Completely puzzled and dying to know his thoughts, I asked him more about his drawing. He told me, "I'm going to live in China one day and it's going to be my home."  He named some historical figures from China and asked me if I knew any. Totally embarrassed that I didn't know any of these great legends but thoroughly impressed at the same time, I was blown away by his knowledge of a land that seems so far away from us. J was a young man focused on his future, not held back or confined to a definition of home, with an understanding that he could go where ever he wanted in life, even China.

These children understand that their circumstances do not define them and if they are ever doubtful, we are here to remind them. They have an unusual perspective on life that we as adults could adopt from time to time. But this is why Community LINC, is so important. The reality is there isn't always (if ever) an opportunity to have these type of conversations at school. At Community LINC these activities present so many opportunities to for us to share our stories with one another, be able to relate to each other and encourage our children that these situations aren't ever –lasting. I must say that they help us as well with their resilient ways of thinking which give us the chance to build on that foundation.

Strong Parents Help Build Stable Children

Submitted by Griselda Williams, Manager Mental Wellness Services

Recently, several coworkers and I met to discuss our annual report for the Children’s Trust Fund (CTF), Missouri’s Foundation for Child Abuse Prevention. The grant funds mental wellness services at Community LINC, for children and youth ages 6-17. Mental wellness services are provided by a Child Therapist to include individual therapy, socialization, coping group therapy and often sibling group therapy.  As we were discussing interventions for children and youth our conversation naturally moved toward mental wellness supports provided to the parents. Some of the topics shared with Community LINC parents to support stable families and safety of children include:

• Protective Factors for Strengthening Families (taken from training offered via the Children’s Trust Fund).
•  Concrete support for parents in times of need
• Parent Resilience
• Social Connections
• Social and Emotional Competence
• Knowledge of Parenting and Child Development

• Parents as Role Model (Open discussion from the, Children See, Children Do video).
• Why Does My Child Act Like That? (We discussed the four archetypes for child misbehavior).
• How Well Do You Know Your Child? (Parents were given a handout with questions about their child’s favorite color, video game, best friend, etc. Parents met with their children to discuss their responses.
• Child Development for children birth to 5 with the Ages and Stages Questionnaire and Social, emotional and cognitive development of children ages 6-17.
• How to Help Your Child after a Traumatic Event (such as homelessness).

When parents have information and feel supported there is less risk for child abuse and neglect. These “protective factors” help families succeed and increase their resiliency during stressful times; like when they are experiencing homelessness. 

Every Hour Counts!

By Daniel Barber, Volunteer Manager

The community that supports Community LINC is a very generous one!  2015 was filled with fantastic acts of kindness and dedication from our volunteers.  These volunteers are essential to Community LINC’s ability to function and impact poverty.  Often times, individual volunteers can overlook or forget about the importance of their time.  But we know every hour counts!

2015 in Review

In 2015, Community LINC volunteers donated 5,427 recorded hours.  That time is estimated to be a $135,435 value to Community LINC.  Allow me a moment to recognize just a few highlights of the overall contributions of our volunteers.

Apartment Preparations:  Our volunteers spent 332 hours cleaning, re-organizing and decorating apartments to make them feel like a place our residents can call “home”.   On average, each apartments takes about 10 – 12 volunteer hours to get ready for the next family.  Without volunteers, that work would have to be done by employees. Which would mean: 1) Less time for employees typical duties (maintenance, or resident interactions), or 2) Community LINC would have to hire more employees to handle the duties, and 3) Probably most importantly, apartment prep would take longer, and families would have to wait longer to move in.

Budgeting: Last year, our budgeters clocked 233 budgeting hours.  That is time spent, individually, with residents and aftercare participants, helping them achieve their financial goals and attain stability.   Budget counseling is a big reason 93% of our program graduates from 2008-2013 have not returned to homelessness in the last seven years.

Maintenance: Our buildings are over 100 years old.  We have all the maintenance duties any other apartment complex would have, on top of the impressive age of our buildings.  As you can imagine, every single one of the 1,387 hours donated to maintenance was greatly needed.  Without these dedicated volunteers, our facility would not look nearly as nice and would be very far behind on routine maintenance.

Youth / Children: Throughout 2015, our volunteers spent 696 hours with the children of Community LINC.  The impact of homelessness on a child can be devastating; emotionally and developmentally.  The time our volunteers spent caring for and supporting these children has greatly impacted and improved each student’s ability to deal with their stressful circumstances.

Special Events: The Rent Party is a fantastic highlight of the year for Community LINC.  It is also responsible for one-third of our operating budget! To pull off such a fantastic evening of entertainment, it takes lots of time and preparation - 258 volunteer hours to be exact!  Volunteers are crucial for acquiring donations for the auction, as well as to make sure the event runs smoothly.  Without all of these hours, the Rent Party could not be as successful as it is.

These are just a few highlights of the overall impact our volunteers make at Community LINC.  Each hour donated means we can do a better job at ending homelessness, impacting poverty and removing barriers to self-sufficiency for the families we serve.  The volunteers at Community LINC clearly understand just how much community matters. We appreciate every one of our volunteers and every hour donated!

Children Matters: Mindful Presence

By Children’s Program Coordinator Josh Chittum

For the purposes of this blog I’m always scanning my surroundings for stories. Sometimes it’s a struggle for me to find them. Sometimes I don’t. Sometimes I can’t. Personal eccentricities can obscure the eye. Other times I see it as valuable to recognize the reality of our residents. To accept where they are in their story as opposed to me trying to shoehorn them into three succinct acts.

The following is a sampling of dialogue I’ve heard spoken from residents in the last two weeks. From these lines, if we stop and listen and are present, we can infer where they are within their personal narrative.

“The teacher is worried that the problems are more than just speech,” said the Mother of the three year old who is falling behind his peers developmentally.

“The world is full of idiots who need to get their (expletive) together,” said the teenager whose father is not living at home anymore and is trying to rebound from slipping grades at school.

“Sometimes when I’m mad at myself I bang my head against the wall and tell myself I’m stupid,” said the articulate and kind 2nd grader who is having behavior issues at school.

“He can’t see his Dad because I filed a restraining order against him,” said the single Mother of three children.  

“I’m worried I might get jumped tomorrow, but I can’t tell anyone at school about it,” said the high school sophomore.

“We weren’t in program last night because his Dad went to jail,” said the Mother of a child with special needs when asked if everything was okay.

Again, this is just a sampling. Over the next several weeks I will hear different words spoken from different residents, but the emotions and thoughts will stay similar. Words of stress. The emotion of pain. Thoughts of fear. As time progresses some of the residents quoted above will transition to new stages of acceptance or to stages of resolution. Some of the residents will find new crises at the door. Others will remain where they currently are.

But as we work towards helping families find permanent housing, one of the most poignant, effective, and powerful things we can do is walk beside them no matter what stage of change they’re in, no matter how far away from resolution they find themselves. The reality is that this doesn’t always provide us with a natural place to roll the credits, but it does provide us with an opportunity to be present.

In a frenetically paced world where the moment of now is often stomped on and trampled upon, I see tremendous value in this state of mindful presence. And while presence itself is hard to measure, I contend that it leads to successful measurable outcomes. May we continue to work with our residents in this mindfully present state as they wade through the difficulties before them. And may the safety and security of permanent housing allow former Community LINC residents find the present-ness of their lives containing less stress, less pain, and less fear.

 

Children Matter: The Impactful Christmas Present

By Children’s Program Coordinator, Josh Chittum

Many toothy grins spread across the faces of children staying at Community LINC over the holidays due to generous donors dropping off bag after bag of wrapped Christmas presents. The gifts gave birth to palpable excitement for our youngest residents, who remind me every day that they are not homeless children, but children. What child doesn’t go wild with glee when they see handfuls of presents brought into their living space?

Perhaps one of the most impactful Christmas gifts that not just current, but future residents received this holiday season, however, didn’t come in a wrapped package that fit underneath a tree. It came in the form of a monetary donation from a fantastic Community LINC supporter and the company she works for.

This donation will allow Community LINC to purchase a developmental screening tool called the Ages and Stages Questionnaire. The tool will identify the developmental and emotional strengths of our children from birth to age 5 ½ as well as areas in which they need to grow.

With this tool we can now provide data to Melanie about her 10-month old son, Trevor, who has not received enough tummy time and struggles with gross motor movement. Melanie is not a bad parent. She needs someone to partner with her to provide the best environment for her child whom she absolutely adores and loves. 

The tool will also provide strategies that Sheryl can use in the home to help her four year old son improve his language acquisition because he is currently behind his peers. And it creates the internal infrastructure for Children’s Program staff to refer parents to a specialist for children like Mikey who struggles to control his emotions on program night and soothes himself in developmentally inappropriate ways.

This tool will ultimately have lifelong impacts on many, many families that stay at Community LINC. It will provide parents with knowledge they may not have otherwise received. It will give parents strategies they can use when they exit into permanent housing. And it will help provide a strong foundation for children to grow and develop in a healthy way.

The books, the clothes, and the games given over the holidays were wonderful and greatly appreciated. I do not aim to take anything away from that generosity when I express how excited I am that Children’s Program received the donation to purchase this screening tool. It is a present that will continue to give next Christmas and beyond. That type of impact is what we hope to have on all of our residents, no matter their age.

Children Matter: The Effect of Collaboration

By Children’s Program Coordinator Josh Chittum

As a teacher I often worked in close collaboration with my school’s counselors. In fact, I would not have survived without them! I was quite fortunate to have worked with many highly skilled individuals as we addressed the social and emotional needs of my students, which helped improve their academic performance.

It’s not surprising that in my role as Children’s Program Coordinator, a close relationship has been forged with the counselors in our Mental Health Department as well. In fact, I would not survive without them!

The mental health services provided by Community LINC has positively impacted many of the children and teens we work with. A perfect example is how we recently worked together to meet the needs of a young resident I’ll call Nora.

With an effervescent and infectious personality, Nora was tremendously fun to be around. As an effective self-advocate and a spectacular conversationalist, she often showed up early to program and stayed until program staff were turning out the lights and locking the door behind them. It didn’t take much time around Nora, though, to pick up on the fact that she had internalized some negative perceptions of herself.

We knew that she was doing the absolute best she could in her situation, but even with her level of resiliency, it sometimes was a challenge for her to manage her emotions, particularly her anger. In fact, one time after tutoring, in a fit of rage directed towards me, she closed her fist, pulled her arm back and was ready to sock me in the nose if I didn’t comply with her demands.

In her eyes, past the anger, I couldn’t help but see her struggle and pain. I was not at risk for suffering any real harm due to her size, but she was in danger of doing this to the wrong person – a bigger kid, a teacher at school, even a friend. Repercussions from that would certainly add more hurdles to her path, which was already riddled with far too many.

Nora also struggled to maintain consistent relationships with her peers, loving them one day, and doing something cruel to them the next. This often left her feeling isolated and lonely, which only exacerbated the difficulties in regulating her emotions. Additionally, in an effort to seek attention, positive or negative, Nora would sometimes write inappropriate words on surfaces around campus. But most troubling was when a resident reported seeing Nora engage in a type of behavior that is often the sign of past or current mistreatment in a child’s life.

I visited with Nora’s Mother about some of these issues, and for her part, she was not quite sure what to do. But I let her know that we were here to provide support and offer referrals if interested. After bringing my supervisor into the loop and working with the Mental Health Department who successfully got Nora to open up and talk about things happening in her life, it was decided that she would continue to work with her counselor in the home after her family exited for permanent housing, which they did in fact successfully do a few weeks ago.

            This continuation of mental health services into the home seems like such a small decision when I put it in writing. But it’s something that can have a profound and lasting influence on Nora’s life. It would not have happened without our amazing counseling staff, our awesome leadership, and the solid collaborative relationship we have with one another.

Volunteers Matter: Children with so much potential

By Volunteer Coordinator Lonny Cohen

On a recent Children’s Programming night, I watched our toddler-aged children as they played, created and interacted with other children. These kids were having such a great time doing what they do best at that age - being kids.

 

Then, something not only brought tears to my eyes, but made me realize the importance of what we’re doing for our families. One three-year old finished drawing her special picture which, she proudly told all, was a present for her mother. She looked at the picture of one of the boys sitting next to her and said, “Good job” and with an upward hand motion said, “high five.”  His smile, because of the compliment, could not have gotten any bigger.

These children are the future of tomorrow and we’re so fortunate to be a small part of how she and our other residents tiny lives are shaped.  While this young three-year-old obviously had some great training at home, on a daily basis, children at Community LINC are being taught life lessons like the basics of giving a compliment and making someone else feel good. This and the many other life-lessons they are taught will be so important in their lives for years to come. 

From the talented and caring staff at Community LINC to our volunteers, and from our monetary to our in-kind supporters, we all have a part in touching this three-year-old’s life and the many other children in the community. How lucky are we….how lucky are they!!

Volunteers Matter: Giving Children a Time to be Kids

By Volunteer Coordinator Lonnie Cohen

Each Tuesday and Thursday night, I watch mothers and fathers bring their children to Children’s Programming where the kids get a chance to spend time interacting with both adults and other kids and taking advantage of the opportunity to “just be kids.”  While many of them face issues at home, coming to programming for these children is a special treat where they either learned new information or a new skill.

 

In recent months, we’ve been fortunate to add a group of new volunteers to a special group of long-time volunteers in our children’s programing area. With a passion for children, the ability to listen to them and knowing how to let kids be kids are new volunteers Britnee Moore, Myra Jenkins, Sainy Hussan, Alex Sells, Jason Fulp  and Kelvin Walls.  They join long-time children’s program volunteers Stephanie and Gerald Ostapko, Kathy Jarvin, Carolyn Kusman and Tina and Keith McHudson. Our heartfelt appreciation goes to these volunteers who give several hours each week out of these busy schedules to not just do the work, but make our program work while letting the kids in the community have the opportunity to be kids.

  

A huge thank-you goes to the Children’s Programming volunteers along with the many other Community LINC volunteers for their time, passion and commitment to our mission of ending homelessness, impact poverty and remove the barriers that our families face in achieving self-sufficiency. 

Children Matter: Building a Base Camp

By Children’s Program Coordinator Josh Chittum

As I’ve entered the phase of life where I begin thinking about having my own children, I spend considerable time reflecting upon the goalposts I will use to measure my success as a parent. A primary aspiration is for my child to live the kind of life he or she wants to live with as little restraint as possible. This has caused me to wonder how much restraint and resistance Community LINC youth will face through the rest of their growing up years after they leave our program. Will they enjoy as friction free a journey as I hope for my offspring? In all likelihood they will not.

Instead, a more likely scenario is that Community LINC children and youth will face a perilous journey, akin to climbing a mountain, as they attempt to reach the summit of their dreams. In the process they will struggle against unrelenting winds that will howl in their ears and tell them to turn around and stop trying. Their growing hands will shake as they hold ropes and ladders. And familial troubles will weigh down their packs so much that they may abandon their tents in order to lighten their load and place faith in a God or some other power to shield them from avalanche and sub-zero chill.

It would be fantastic if society whittled down the height of the mountain. It would be fantastic if the climb’s technical difficulties were not largely determined by zip code, race, and/or class. But the reality is the hill is too steep and complaining about it while doing nothing will never get anyone up the mountain side.

Instead of being overwhelmed by the looming mass of rock before our youth, what can we do?

We’re already doing it to some extent. We’ve essentially built a base camp for our children and youth. It’s a little city of tents for respite, for care, and for the teaching of necessary skills. But I want our base camp to become the best base camp a climber could ever want or need. I want our base camp to help lighten the load of our young one’s packs so they never have to abandon their tent. I want our base camp to give them the skills to steady their hands and give the confidence to silence the negativity of the wind.

I cannot make this dream tent city by myself. That’s why I’m looking for help. I am seeking teachers, social workers, mental health experts and anyone else with applicable insight and passion to join a planning group to determine what academic, social, and life skills we can teach our children and youth before they continue their travels. Once the canvass is fully painted, we will begin the work of turning the vision into something tangible. And who knows, maybe the base camp is just the beginning of something even bigger and something with even more impact. But let's build the base camp first and then go from there.

We already have some fantastic Community LINC staff and volunteers who have agreed to be part of this planning group. If you love to think big and love to plan I would be appreciative if you considered joining us. You may contact me anytime to let me know that you’re interested or to ask me question. My number 816-531-6725 and my e-mail is jchittum@communitylinc.org. I hope to hear from you.

Children Matter: First Days of School

By Children’s Program Coordinator Josh Chittum

The first week of school is crucial for creating a positive classroom culture. This is when friendships form, behavior expectations are introduced, and students learn important classroom procedures. When this first week goes smoothly, the rest of the school year is likely to have a solid footing.

When I taught for three years in high poverty schools, it was inevitable that not all of my students would arrive on the first day. Some would arrive later in the week. Some wouldn’t arrive until after the second week.  I rarely knew why some of my students were late; I simply adjusted to their presence and made them feel as welcome as possible. But I often felt disappointed, not at the child, of course, but at the fact that they had already missed so much!

I wanted each and every student to be in class when I shared about my life and why I became a teacher. I wanted them to be in class when we laughed at the silly name games we played, or when we had so much fun learning how to cooperate and communicate with each other during our get to know you activities.

I am now in a position to more clearly see the barriers that prohibit children from arriving the first day of school. The result of those barriers still disappoints me, but seeing behind this side of the curtain grows my empathy.

Ultimately, however, my empathy doesn’t change the fact that too many students miss the beginning of school and in some parts of the country, economically disadvantaged students are more likely to be chronically absent through the year than their peers. (See Chart 4 in The Important of Being in School published by John Hopkins University.)

So beyond empathy, what do we do? It’s easy to point fingers, but I don’t think children expect adults to point fingers at each other. I believe children expect their basic needs to be met and expect an opportunity to develop the skills that will allow them to create the largest life they can create, rather than be constrained by external factors. Again, just like empathy, rhetoric doesn’t solve the problem, but it’s a problem I will continue to seek a solution for.

Housing Matters: What Children Carry in their Backpacks

By Housing Coordinator Tammy Mayhue

Today I watched three children, dressed for school, backpacks on their backs, waiting for their school bus, while their mother was facing arrest for injuring someone during an incident of domestic violence.

As I stood watching, it appeared as though the children were not at all disturbed by the presence of the police, nor of the ambulance worker bandaging the wounds, perhaps because this was all too familiar. One of them even stated “I want to go to school”.

How do situations like these affect our children? They can become aggressive, disobedient, depressed, have low self-esteem, fears and even worse become abusers themselves.

It saddens me when I think about the children who outwardly appear to be fine just being children, but on the inside they are rippled with fears and insecurities of the unknown.

Our children carry more than school supplies in their backpacks.

Program matters: Families are like puzzles

By Family Coach Frenchie Pulluaim

It is true families are like puzzles. The pieces can be different shapes, colors and texture, but all the pieces are needed to complete the puzzle.  This can also be said about our agency. It is also like a big puzzle.

To provide much needed service to our families we need the collective work of our staff, board,  donors, volunteers, and partnering agencies.  Although we have different skills and gifts , we all are important pieces of the puzzle. 

I want to highlight one of our puzzle pieces, Mr. and Mrs. McH.

This husband and wife duo are some of our faithful volunteers in our children’s program.  They have a camping ministry that allows our children as well as other children to experience the great outdoors with caring  adults who love children/youth.  They provide this ministry with little or no assistance,  always eager to give good advice and lots of love. 

 

The gift of time and patience is something our children are hungry for - just someone to validate that they are here and worthy to be heard, as well as loved. 

This couple has volunteered for years, and we are so grateful. Community LINC knows that Mr. and Mrs. McH are important pieces of our puzzle.

Children Matter: Relationships and Assumptions

By Children’s Program Director Ryan Blake

A core belief that we have with the Children’s Program is that children won’t care how much we know until they know how much we care. As our families transition from Community Linc to their own housing so fast we are constantly trying to build relationships with the children that attend our program classes. Over the last two years I have seen how assumptions can destroy these relationships.

I recently spoke with a young man about why he is failing his language arts class. I told him I have seen him read and write how could he be failing? He explained to me that when he moved to his school they placed him in English as a Second Language class because he looked Mexican. When he finally got transferred to the right English class he thought “why should I try? They don’t even think I speak English”.

Last month I worked with a very intelligent high school student who changed schools several times due to her chronic homelessness. She described how she was always placed in classes that were too easy for her. At each school she had to request advanced placement classes and take tests to prove she deserved to be in them.  She told me she wished they didn’t make assumptions about her ability based on the way she looked or the clothes she wore.

Not long ago we had new cameras installed all over our campus. When I heard that a young man had vandalized one of the cameras I thought I knew for sure who had done it. I approached the young man and falsely accused him based on his past criminal history.  When I found out it wasn’t him, he told me he wished I wouldn’t have guessed it was him because of his background. I was never able to fully repair this relationship.

These stories help me to remember how damaging assumptions can be to the relationships we are trying to form with the children at Community Linc. We always want the children who attend program to feel accepted and respected. On Thursday a young man made me smile when he told me that he liked coming to program because it was a place where he could be himself and he could have fun with his teachers.

Children Matter: The Gift of Reading

By Children’s Program Director Ryan Blake

Often when children move into Community LINC they don’t have very many possessions of their own, including books to read.

Providing children with books in their home is a key component for them learning to read and developing a love for reading.  

Through generous donations and book drives, Community LINC was able to start a “free library”.  The library gives children the opportunity to pick out as many books as they want to take home and keep. 

Over the two years, we have given away over 1,300 books to children in our program.  

Providing children with books gives me an opportunity to talk with parents about reading with their children.   It also gives me a chance to work one on one with struggling readers. The books also serve as an incentive for our children to come to program classes and tutoring.  

All of the kids know that at the end of the class night they can pick out a book or two to take home with them. 

However, lately we have been slowly running out of books. That being said, any donations of new or gently used books for children and teens are greatly appreciated!

Children Matter: And So Does School

By Children’s Program Director Ryan Blake

A few months ago I met two brothers who were struggling academically.  Their homelessness and transportation issues had caused them to miss numerous school days.  Their falling grades didn’t reflect how intelligent they both were.  I explained to them how our after school program could help them with their homework.  Along with the falling grades came behavioral problems at school.  The boy’s parents made it very clear to them that grades and behavior at school were important and needed to improve.

Since our original meeting they have never missed a day of after school programming or our life skills classes.  Both of them consistently bring their homework and their questions.  We continue to work on fractions and reading comprehension as well as perseverance and self-esteem.   It has been a pleasure seeing how supportive their parents continue to be and how much their children have grown academically.

Programs Matter: A Short-Term Sacrifice for a Long-Term Benefit

By Sr. Director of Programs & Operations Jeannine Short

 

Having recently attended the 2014 Housing Partners Conference that focused on the new Housing First and Rapid Re-Housing Models, it is becoming increasingly evident that the new models are having a significant impact on homelessness around the country.  With agencies touting outcomes as high as 87% in housing placement and retention, it is clear that the models work. The question that begs an answer, however, is the short-term affect that such rapid movement has on the children.

 

Case-in-point, I had a conversation with our Children’s Program therapists to get their perspectives on the new models.  Though they have a firm grasp of the positive long-term benefit of permanently housing families as quickly as possible, they are also keenly aware of the short-term and perhaps not so positive impact on the kids.

 

Asking the very pointed question, “have you noticed any changes in the kid’s behaviors since we’ve moved from a one-year stay to 120 days?” resulted in a resounding “Yes”. They are observably more detached, disruptive, and likely to engage in behaviors that could result in dismissal from the evening activities.

 

Being careful not to imply that these behaviors are characteristic of homeless children in general, suffice it to say that the underlying issue fueling the changes in behavior (in this case) is the fear of creating emotional bonds and building new relationships, only to have them broken… once again.

 

Can this be classified a short-term sacrifice for a long-term benefit? I would say.

 

Volunteers Matter: Words from a Community LINC Volunteer

By Mental Wellness Intern (and temporary Volunteer Coordinator) Aurora Barker

 

22-year-old Ashley Williams has quite the busy schedule these days. She is a first semester nursing student at Penn Valley Community College, as well as a nurse’s assistant at North Kansas City Hospital. Although her days are hectic, she is still able to find time to volunteer in Community LINC’s beloved children’s program, where she spends her Thursday nights with our infants and toddlers.

 

Q: How did you find out about Community LINC? And how long have you been volunteering here?

 

A: I found out about Community LINC on VolunteerMatch.com. There were a lot of volunteer opportunities listed in the Kansas City area, but Community LINC stood out to me the most. I have been volunteering at Community LINC for six months now.

 

Q: What is your favorite part about volunteering?

 

A: I love watching the kids work together and play nicely with each other. It doesn’t always happen, but it’s really great to see when it does.

 

Q: Any special memories you would like to share?

 

A: There’s an adorable one year old that used to always cry when his mom first started dropping him off here, but now he has completely adjusted and is always happy to be here. His hair grows in a natural curly Mohawk, which is so funny, and he eats so much! I have no idea where all the food goes. I’ve definitely formed a special bond with him and will be sad to see him go.