Program:
Women's Hearth
- Budget:
-
$671,538
- Category:
-
Human Services
- Population Served:
-
Female Adults
-
Homeless
-
Mentally/Emotionally Disabled
Program Description:
The Women’s Hearth is a day center in Spokane, Washington that serves 100--150 homeless and low income women per day. At the heart of the services is a safe welcoming community. Multiple services are offered in this hospitable environment:
showers, food, clothing, 1-1 individual attention, and access to resources and referrals;
12 step groups, life skills classes, and art activities .
Renter Responsibility classes
Legal Preparedness project ;
three transitional apartments off site where women receive ongoing case management
A job training program in the food service industry
Program Long-Term Success:
In 2009, Women’s Hearth welcomed 301 participants (unduplicated) per month with 25,120 total visits averaging 2,093 visits per month. Total enrollment in the over 100 groups and classes at the Hearth was 859; that is an average of 1,428 participants per month. Each month, over 64 individuals volunteer with a total of over 8,282 hours given each year!
The Women's Hearth has been in operation since 1991. The program has grown over the years in both services offered and number of women served. Successes are seen in the numbers of women who move to permanent housing, access treatment programs, learn computer skills, gain self esteem and discover their inner resources and talents
Program Short-Term Success:
Short term success is measured by the number of referrals made to various social services and the success and pride that women have in their accomplishments They share their stories on a daily basis. For many women, success is being able to take a shower, access food and hygiene products, and attend to other basic human needs.
Program Success Monitored by:
Gathering anecdotal evidence per women's experience.
Tracking the number of women who use the Center
Tracking the number of women in groups and classes
Tracking the number of referrals made
Following through with individual women on case management and supportive services.
Program Success Examples:
One woman with a diagnosable mental illness has been coming to the Hearth for over 16 years. She credits part of her success due to the unconditional acceptance and help she has found at the Women's Hearth.
In 2008, 16 women who were chronically homeless have found and maintained permanent housing through the advocacy of the social worker.
In 2008, the Women's Hearth received the Bold Strokes Award from the Spokane Arts Commission for its use of the arts in working with homeless women.
Program:
Miryam's House
- Budget:
-
$288,891
- Category:
-
Human Services
- Population Served:
-
Female Adults
-
Homeless
Program Description:
Miryam's House is a residential program for homeless women without children or a pregnant woman recovering from a variety of life crisis such as addiction, abuse, poverty, and mental illness. Here in a caring supportive community they can work on their issues in a safe and nurturing environment. Each woman receives intensive supportive services including one on one counseling, support recovery group, responsible renter's program among other life skills classes and events. Women can live at Miryam's House for up to one year.
Program Long-Term Success:
The year 2009 has been a successful one for Miryam's House. The residents have remained stable and strong. We measure success by having no relapses, all of our rooms filled, longer residencies, women working or receiving training during their residency, emphasis on supporting our alumni's with increased involvement in MH activities and supportive services including Recovery Support Groups, alum volunteers mentoring residents and providing office support, and our alums remaining in permanent housing after they complete our program and following their treatment plan enabling each resident to move through her crisis and into a new life.
Program Short-Term Success:
Short term success is measured by each resident taking steps in accomplishing their goals. Outcomes are measured and collected by case managers to ensure each resident is moving through the barriers in their lives while experiencing respect for human dignity, community, growth and wholeness and justice.
Program Success Monitored by:
Program success is monitored by staff including residential counselors, social workers, administrative staff, house coordinator and program manager. Outcome measures planning and data collection is in place analyzing case management hours, keeping logs of hours spent in one on one counseling, life skill programs, financial readiness, therapeutic support, social networks established and personal goals reached. Each plan-of-action is individualized according to the needs and skills of each resident and careful residential logs are kept.
Program Success Examples:
Miryam's House offers a safe, supportive environment where women are empowered to manage the challenges of personal transitions to a more productive life. One of our residents recently left our program, started classes at the Community College, started a program in Chemical Dependency, has stayed clean and sober for more than a year and has maintained a grade point average of 3.9. She has stayed connected to her residential counselor and receives support from her. Success includes a continued progress toward integration of mind, body and spirit with the movement toward emotional, physical, and spiritual peace. Remaining in permanent housing, staying clean and sober, and learning to live a productive life are what we see as success in our alumnus.
Program:
EduCare
- Budget:
-
$294,297
- Category:
-
Human Services
- Population Served:
-
Children and Youth (infants - 19 years.)
-
Homeless
Program Description:
EduCare provides an onsite licensed day care for the children that reside or are Alumni of the Transitional Living Center. This childcare consists of a nurturing environment of an infant toddler program, preschool program, afterschool/ summer program for school aged children and a USDA funded food program to the children in our care. It allows the parents to pursue work, school or other needed services while living at the Transitional Living Center.
Program Long-Term Success:
EduCare works in conjunction with the Transitional Living Center to provide a safe, stabilizing force in the lives of the children we serve. All of our programming is dedicated to working with each individual child to develop trust in adults and to show them there is a larger community which cares for them. EduCare offers infant/toddler, preschool, and after school programs with lead staff who are dedicated to providing a positive learning experiences that will help the children succeed in school. EduCare staff is trained in dealing with the special issues that our unique, at-risk population brings with them. This includes the ability to deal with very difficult children's behaviors in a caring and nurturing way. Our goal is that each child feels loved and cared for.
Program Short-Term Success:
Often when children first come into the EduCare programs we are struck by how quickly they are able to join in the routine and structure of our environment. Short term success at EduCare looks like a child participating in circle time consistently, an infant finally feeling safe enough in our care to take a nap consistently. Each program under EduCare has different short term successes but each individual moment where the children show that we are a place where they feel safe and secure is a moment that we as a staff celebrate and build from towards our long term goal of them feeling loved and secure.
Program Success Monitored by:
In EduCare's infant toddler, preschool and after school program we have daily tracking tools that we use to monitor changes in the children's behaviors, peer relationships, hygiene and attendance. All of these domains are then reviewed at a team monthly and shared with the larger team (the Transitional Living Center Staff) so that we may work with the family as a whole on any significant concerns.
Program Success Examples:
An example of program success is a little boy who came to us having been asked to leave five previous daycare programs. He had some pretty violent tendencies (ie hitting, kicking staff and other children). The staff set about learning about his likes and dislikes. We talked with his family and found out how they work with him at home. Then as a team we came up with a treatment plan all around helping him to learn to monitor and control his emotions and impulses. We taught him some very specific calming techniques as well as the ability to learn to ask for help when he felt he could not solve a "problem" on his own. After almost a year of working with our staff and his parents he was able to move on to Kindergarten in a "mainstream" classroom.
Program:
The Transitional Living Center
- Budget:
-
$424,087
- Category:
-
Housing
- Population Served:
-
Female Adults
-
Children and Youth (infants - 19 years.)
-
Homeless
Program Description:
The Transitional Living Center is dedicated to providing transitional housing and supportive services for homeless women and children. In the spirit of justice and love, TLC promotes the growth and development of those it serves by empowering them to break the cycle of poverty and homelessness in their lives enabling them to experience healing and wholeness. The Transitional Living Center provides sixteen units, of differing sizes, for up to two years to these women with children. While providing these families with housing they are also provided with supportive services all geared towards breaking down the barriers of poverty they have experienced in their lives. These services include one on one case management, life skills training, parenting support and training and onsite childcare (our other program EduCare).
Program Long-Term Success:
At the Transitional Living Center long term success is measured by how stable a family is after leaving the program. This includes many factors such as do they have employment, going to school, have they finished treatment programs, gained their GED, have they found permanent stable housing. The staff's goal is that after their time with us families are able to maintain permanent stable housing and be a contributing member of the larger community. This includes positive family interactions, healthy relationships, financial stability and the ability to seek and access support when needed.
Program Short-Term Success:
At the Transitional Living Center our short term goals with our families is to get them stabilized into a scheduled routine. This includes getting them signed up for services needed, stabilized in the program at TLC (groups, meetings, life skills trainings, payment of program fees on time). We create an initial "action" plan with the families with includes creation of routine for their children. Overall in the short term we deem the family successful if they are able to participate in all of the programming in timely manner, including making it to all out side appointments and requirements.
Program Success Monitored by:
Success in monitored by completion of stated goals. This is individualized according to each families unique needs and background. The families create a 90 day action plan which includes longer term and shorter term goals. When these goals have been met they are revised. When a family leaves TLC it is our hope that they have created positive social supports, a family that is stable and have the ability to problem solve issues that come up. We want them to have the ability to maintain permanent housing and the skills and knowledge needed to become a contributing member of the larger community. All of these things are measured by how they manage day to day life while in the program and how they succeed in meeting their stated goals.
Program Success Examples:
A recent example of program success is a mother of two children. She came to TLC having just completed drug treatment. She was involved with child protective services and reuniting with her children. When she first got here she struggled with how to parent her children, how to manage her household and what she was going to do next with her life. We worked with her to build up her self esteem, taught her some parenting strategies, and talked about where she wanted to go with her life. After working very hard for over a year she now has a healthy positive relationship with her children. She went to school to finish her GED. Now has a job and is living in an apartment with her children. This is a family that continues to access us for support as well as have a good positive social support system beyond TLC. Child protective services is no longer involved and there is an extremely tight bond between mom and her children. This family is happy healthy and stable.