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. 

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.

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.

A Surprising Take on Wealth Inequality

By CEO/Executive Director Laura Gray

In July I went to the Kansas conference on poverty. For the most part, the point of view was what you would expect – most of the presentations were about poverty from a social justice point of view. The pleasant surprise was at least one session that was realistic about winning an argument when it’s purely about social justice. To quote Nick Hanauer from “The Pitchforks are Coming…for Us Plutocrats” the July issue of Politico, “Republicans say growth. Democrats say fairness – and lose every time.”

Hanauer’s article and much of the conference was about wealth inequality in America.

There is a marvelous illustration of the changes in the distribution of wealth in a YouTube video at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QPKKQnijnsM.

What’s just as interesting to me is a talk given by Arthur Brooks, President of the American Enterprise Institute called “America’s Future in Focus: A Conservative Vision for Social Justice.” I’ve excerpted several sections below. I’m not doing it justice, because I left out so much. Hopefully, what I am sharing is the common ground of social justice.

“I want to talk about Two Americas. I want to tell you, first, the poor are being left behind.”…

“Now, I said that the poor in America are being left behind and that’s just a fact. If you look at the data, it’s actually one of the most striking things about the non-recovery in the bottom half of the economy. Economists like me like to tell you that in 2014, we’re going to see a slow but steady increase in GDP, about 2.5 percent growth. Now, that’s true as far as it goes.”

“The problem is there are actually going to be two growth rates in 2014. The top half of the American economy: 5 percent. It’s terrific, fast growth. … Now, the problem is that the bottom half is going to see 0 percent economic growth. If you look at the data on economic growth over the past seven years, you’ll find that the bottom half of the American economy has stayed stagnant or has lost purchasing power in inflation-adjusted terms every year for the past seven years. Imagine how exhausting this is for the bottom-half. We haven’t seen anything like that since the Great Depression.” …

“I do not begrudge the rich one dollar of their gains because this is America. But we’ve got to do something about people in the bottom half,”…

…”Listen to conservatives arguing about poverty. … You’ve heard it a million times, right? You’re poor, what do you hear? You hear, I care about money. I don’t care about poverty. I don’t care about you. I care about money. Right?”

“It’s time for conservative politicians and people of good faith to say, I’m going to fight for you and your family with conservative policies whether you vote for me or not, and actually mean it.”

…” I started doing a lot of reading about what actually helps poor people. And what did I find? I found that the free enterprise system has lifted more people out of poverty than any other system in history, Billions of people are not poor today because of your American free enterprise system that spread around the world after 1970. I want to fight for that. I want to do more of that. … Forget bringing down the top. Let’s lift up the bottom.”...

“So where are we? The first thing I told you is the poor are being left behind.” …

“The question is not if you’re mad enough to fight for change. The question is do you have enough love on your heart for everybody to fight for change. See, what leaders and patriots do is they fight for the weak, no matter how the weak vote. It doesn’t matter if they like the other guys. You’ve got to fight for them because that’s what leaders do. Do you have enough love written on your heart for everybody to get in the fight?”

“If you do, this country can win for the poor. This country can deliver on its promises. This country once again can be a beacon of hope for everybody, whether they’re coming here as immigrants or they’re not even here yet, but they’re Americans in their hearts. Or whether they’ve been here for a long time and they’ve been left behind. We are the generation that can make this occur. We can pass this on to people who are younger than us and they can be the heroes. They can be deputized to the heroic activity that is the patrimony left to us by the great founders of this nation.”

Volunteers Matter: Value of Consistency

By Facilities Supervisor Michael Kizzee

One of my favorite spiritual writers wrote that “consistency” is the virtue lacking most with modern Americans.  The volunteer Floyd Larson is definitely the exception.  Floyd has volunteered at Community LINC for around 15 years.  I say “around” on account he has been telling me for at least 3 years that he has volunteered for around 10 years.

Floyd started with a group of men from his church, who came every week to volunteer.  When I started at Community LINC, some of these men had passed away others had to stop coming on account of medical issues; only Floyd remained.  

Floyd still faithfully comes every Wed. at 9:00 a.m. sharp.  If Floyd is going to be late or out of town he calls to let me know, although I tell him it is unnecessary.  Floyd has been a constant in an ever changing organization and environment.  As our organization has flexed and grown, he has been asked to build walls only later to have been asked to tear them down again.  Never with complaint, never with resentment have I seen him.  Although he can’t say the same of me, I’m sure.

When we are working on construction projects many times I will point Floyd out to our families and tell them, “that man has consistently volunteered here for almost 15 years.”  When they see his age and hard work they are astonished.  This type of consistency is a model not only for our families but to all of us lacking such virtue.  Floyd helps me to keep going-on with this work when I feel overwhelmed and lost with the continual need.

Therapy Matters: Mental Health Matters

By Director of Mental Health Services Griselda Williams

As I read what Ms. Frenchie Pulluaim wrote about the many layers of pain, challenges and hurdles our families have endured and must try to move past to move into permanent housing, I thought about the mental health aspects that are connected to those “broken hearts”.  She wrote about “matters of the heart” being complicated and how they can lead to physical and medical issues. 

I see so often what Ms. Frenchie wrote about as it relates to mental health challenges. Those mental health challenges can work against the goals, hopes and dreams that our families have and the efforts those of us in the helping field extend to them. 

A current topic of discussion in mental health is depression, given the media focus on Robin Williams and other well-known people who struggle with this issue. While much of the media focus is on the famous we on the mental wellness team plan to focus on our families and the impact that depression has on them. 

We have planned upcoming program group topics on the subject as we often see that beginning this time of year through the end of the year depression increases greatly. 

As depression increases so does those who are so broken hearted often contemplate taking their own lives. Given all that our families have endured it is important to give them an opportunity to openly discuss the impact of depression as well as provide them resources for support and decrease the stigma related to seeking help for mental health challenges. 

Jobs Matter: A Refresing Sight

By Employment Coach Connie Taylor 

The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported in June that the total nonfarm employment for the Kansas City, Mo.-Kan., Metropolitan Statistical Area stood at 1,017,000 in May 2014, up 1,900 or 0.2 percent, from May 2013.  This is great news for the participants of our job readiness program at Community LINC. 

More than 50% of our families are unemployed upon arrival.

It was refreshing a few days ago to see one of our aftercare participants still employed 10 months after she secured a job while living at Community LINC.  She had limited opportunities due to her prior criminal record. She was terminated for her participation in a public disturbance on her last job and convicted of assault. 

Although, it was not a pretty picture, we had to encourage her to continue to press forward.  She located a company that needed her ability to speak Spanish and applied for the position. She explained her poor choices and expressed regret and was afforded another chance at employment. She has proven herself to be trustworthy again and is looking forward to promotion to management one day.