500-A Spratt Street
Charlotte, NC 28206
ph: 704-371-3001 ext 197
fax: 704-333-4310
alt: 704-371-3000
hope
Federal Stimulus Program for Housing and Utilities
August 26, 2009
HPRP becomes Project Hope:
On Monday August 24, 2009 the Charlotte City Council allocated $1,930,217 under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act through the Homeless Prevention and Rapid Re-Housing Program. This came after months of collaborative and inclusive leadership under the direction of the Mecklenburg County Homeless Service Network (HSN) chairman Roxianna Johnson and in conjunction with Rebecca Pfeiffer, City of Charlotte. Their leadership through the application process has created a new collaborative effort to assist homeless and at-risk individuals and families with housing and supportive services.
As no single agency or program is equipped to guide this program, a collaborative has been identified and, to make it clear that it is not a program of any existing agency or government entity, it will be given its own name: Project Hope. Project HOPE (Housing Opportunities Plus Empowerment) will follow all stimulus package legislative requirements plus it will be leveraged with private agency support, volunteer time and community financial donations to allow more people to be served over time. Identified entities will select homeless and at-risk individuals and families to be matched with housing assistance and supportive services. Project HOPE will locate housing, identify social workers and train volunteers in addition to providing up to 18 months of temporary rent and utility assistance. Project HOPE will be financially managed and tracked by Crisis Assistance Ministry and the Workforce Initiative for Supportive Housing (W.I.S.H.) Program. All staff associated with the project will be housed at Crisis Assistance Ministry (three people to an office as space is tight!) Partnerships with the Workforce Development Board, the Department of Social Services, Legal Aid/Legal Services and the Greater Charlotte Apartment Association will be formed to ensure the best possible “hope” for the families referred from the community homeless shelters.
For the past few weeks, Gina Esquivel has been in the planning stages of the project working closely with the president of Homeless Service Network and the City of Charlotte Neighborhood & Business Services Department. Mrs. Esquivel brings 16 years of experience in servicing high-risk groups in a variety of community efforts. She has led and participated in multiple initiatives to improve the quality of life for the residents of Charlotte/Mecklenburg. She holds a Master's Degree in Change Management and Leadership from Pfeiffer University and a Bachelor's Degree in Education and Counseling. Her work experience ranges from Case Management, Community Outreach, Community Development, Cultural Competency, Arts Administration and Civic Engagement. Mrs. Esquivel will ensure overall guidance and movement on the project as it is developed, in effect, she’ll start out as the Project Hope Coordinator. Project roles and responsibilities need to be defined, job descriptions formed and jobs posted.
Gina will be supervised by Raquel Lynch of Crisis Assistance Ministry. Raquel is our IT, Projects and Advocacy Director, and this year, we are donating her time to this project. The WISH Program will be donating Volunteer Recruitment and Training to the project, a key ingredient to success for many families. No administrative costs are being taken by Crisis Assistance Ministry or WISH from this project. We will sustain this as long as possible so that more funds can go to housing and support services.
So how do we get people in housing and when?
Some key decisions were made prior to the City Council vote. The most recent decision is that there will be three entry points for people seeking to enroll their clients:
- Salvation Army --- 60% of the first 100 clients will come directly from local homeless shelters
- Center for Community Transitions --- 20% of the first 100 clients will come from existing institutions like prisons or transitional programs
- Mecklenburg County Homeless Support Services --- 20% will come from unsheltered circumstances
Each group will form a committee of providers to review people who are recommended for the program. The committee will make recommendations and Project HOPE will confirm information (criminal records, credit, etc), determine housing options and approve acceptance.
Ongoing updates and communications will be provided via www.ProjectHopeCharlotte.org.
On a personal note:
This is unique for Crisis Assistance Ministry to be involved with a project that is geared towards providing rent and utilities for families who are not currently housed. I am thrilled to have this opportunity to be engaged at a new level of support for our community’s most fragile neighbors.
Our Board of Directors is clear about our focus and mission and we do not stray from it. Project Hope ties to one of our agency’s five strategic goals adopted in 2008.
- Provide the best possible service in preventing evictions and utility disconnections
- Expand the impact of the Free Store on customers, donors and volunteers
- Provide furniture and appliances to meet the urgent needs of low-income households
- Be a community leader that develops partnerships to help families achieve financial stability
- Lead efforts to inform, educate and inspire our community to action
Thank you again to Roxi and the Rebecca for getting us to this place. Now, let’s get started!
There are many unknowns and numerous decisions to make. There are many policy and process questions swirling. Your help, prayers, honesty and openness will be greatly needed as this process unfolds.
Crisis Assistance Ministry had a record 351 people in line facing eviction and utility disconnection this past Monday. The previous record was 299 set last month. Two years ago this number was barely 100. We don’t want another lobby expansion! As our strategic goal says, we want to “build partnerships to help families achieve financial stability”.
Thanks,
Carol Hardison
Crisis Assistance Ministry
If approved, organizers say Project Hope will fund new ways to help the homeless, including the Workforce Initiative for Supportive Housing (WISH) program. Through WISH, Sarah Covington, 28 (above with daughter Carman, 10), found a job and a home and learned how to save for a down payment on a car.Project Hope – a groundbreaking program that could change the way Charlotte deals with homelessness – is expected to be unveiled tonight as part of a Charlotte City Council vote to back the project with nearly $2 million in federal stimulus money.
Crafted to be a long-term solution rather than a quick fix, the program calls for pulling families and individuals from local shelters, putting them in rental apartments, and stabilizing their lives over 18 months with education, job skills, counseling and support from social workers and teams of volunteers.
The start-up plan calls for 100 families to be helped over the next three years. However, organizers predict hundreds more could be recruited if plans for another $2 million in stimulus money from the state fall into place in the coming months. Steps are also being finalized for a campaign to raise further money from local donors.
“It's a very exciting time,” says Roxianna Johnson, head of the Homeless Services Network, a coalition of 37 nonprofit, government and faith-based programs devoted to ending homelessness in Mecklenburg County.
“These dollars have created an opportunity to try things that we've talked about for years, things that we know work, but we never had the funding to implement on this kind of scale.”
The council will vote to contract with Crisis Assistance Ministry and the Workforce Initiative for Supportive Housing (WISH). Those groups will manage Project Hope on behalf of the Homeless Services Network. A small portion of the stimulus money will also go toward short-term homeless prevention, including help with rent.
How the participants will be chosen is still being worked out. But the goal is reaching the most vulnerable of the homeless.
“Lives will be changed,” says Carol Hardison, director of Crisis Assistance Ministry. “They'll move from the fear of sleeping in a car or on a cot, to having an opportunity for financial stability.”
The ultimate goal, she says, is to keep participants from returning to homelessness once their time in the program ends.
That is the basic philosophy of WISH, which has helped 70 homeless families (including 130 children) work toward financial stability since being launched 18 months ago.
Sarah Covington, 28, is among them – and an example of what WISH hopes to accomplish in Project Hope. She lost her job last year as a certified nurse's assistant and spent the winter in a homeless shelter with her daughter. WISH found her a home, helped her find a job, and gave her a chance to enroll in college to become a registered nurse.
Better still, she says, the program showed her how to save for a down payment on a car, eliminating six hours a day riding the bus to work and school.
“If I keep working hard, everything is going to come through for me,” she says. “I was at a low point, worrying about where my child would lay her head at night. But I was truly blessed to get into this program.”
The Salvation Army's Center of Hope, a homeless shelter near uptown, will direct families and individuals to Project Hope. Center director Deronda Metz has already identified a few dozen families that she hopes will qualify. The center currently has 310 women and children, some of whom have been homeless for more than a year.
“We had a resident meeting on Wednesday and I grabbed the mic and I surprised them with the news on Project Hope, and they cheered and applauded,” said Metz. “One lady started crying. She said, ‘I didn't think anybody was listening.'”
Organizers say one of the most innovative parts of the project is the partnerships from all segments of the community. In addition to Crisis Assistance and WISH, Mecklenburg County Department of Social Services will assign three social workers to the project, more if the additional money comes through. The nonprofit Foundation for the Carolinas has worked behind the scenes to organize regular meetings of the partners.
Also key is an endorsement by the Greater Charlotte Apartment Association, which is encouraging apartment companies to participate on a case-by-case basis.
WISH Director Darren Ash believes a key to the program's success will be in matching homeless people with teams of volunteers.
“Social workers are there to lay out a path and hold people accountable, but what creates significant change is … when these families bond with people who have a different past,” Ash says. “They break away from other role models to a new set of role models.
“One of the biggest gifts Charlotte has is a sense of volunteerism, and this is a model that takes advantage of that.”
500-A Spratt Street
Charlotte, NC 28206
ph: 704-371-3001 ext 197
fax: 704-333-4310
alt: 704-371-3000
hope
