How can he be expected to make it in the “real world” without ID, a job, or a house for 6 months?

I am thinking about this past week, and it really has been so eye opening. The one thing that I knew going into this was that everyone has an agenda- whether it be the administrators, the funding groups/providers, or the clients themselves. Still, that has been one of my favorite parts about this position because I really get to see first hand how they all interact, the communication barriers, and even the intricacies that help define the systems. Everyone has an opinion on these programs and complications that arise for this population, and I am just starting to see the whole picture.

Monday morning I met Samantha at CareerLink for the orientation program. She had already sat through it before, so I felt like I benefited from that more than she did! We talked pretty casually about her past and where she wanted to be in the future, joking around and laughing like we had known each other for awhile at that point. She wants to be a teacher eventually, but still needs her GED and associates degree to get to that point. She has the grades, the motivation, and I actually really loved talking to this woman and believe that she will be successful at some point. Despite all of Lenny’s warnings, I was really getting excited that we were finally going to see how this program works. I was pretty disappointed on Thursday when we met with Bobby Joe and I find out that Samantha is already enrolled in the WSC welfare program in CareerLink, meaning that she cannot participate in the Ready to Work program. I did end up helping her with applying for a birth certificate and got a chance to talk with her after we found out that she could not participate, and I still think that she will do well, it was just really upsetting to not be able to help with that process anymore. I think I was even more frustrated that this was now the third client who has not even made it to the first level of assessment! (Heidi apparently left her shelter without notice, and Katie needed to use another program at CareerLink, so….. not too successful so far!)

Tuesday I met with clients from another shelter to explain the Ready to Work program and find two motivated people ready for the commitment. I met with a group of ladies and tried to help in any way I could with their employment prospects. The two women that I will be working with are very different women, yet both seem pretty interested in the program and employment prospects. Megan, the first woman, has a lot of experience with housekeeping and customer service, and eventually hopes to earn her CNA and work with people in nursing homes. She definitely seems like a great candidate for this program in the sense that she definitely has the motivation and excitement needed to stick with it—she stopped me every time she saw me for the rest of the day and talked about when we were meeting up again to start her career search! The second woman, Isabel, has a background in massage therapy, a high school diploma, and experience in the food industry. She seems really interested in the herbal, natural remedies and cures for everything, and thankfully I understand a little bit of what she is talking about from my experiences last semester at Women & Health (they offer complementary therapies as a form of medical treatments—she would have LOVED this place!). I am meeting with both women next week for orientation and to get started!

Thursday was an extremely interesting day. (I know I use the word interesting a few times, but that is because I simply do not have the words to describe some of the things I saw, heard, and felt at these different places. Everything has been so eye opening!) Thursday morning started with the homelessness prevention meeting that looked primarily at the healthcare system. The meeting included representatives from the shelters and hospitals in the area, and we basically concluded that there is a problem with discharge planning we just have no idea how many people this actually includes. Everyone kept saying “there aren’t enough beds,” “there isn’t enough money,” “it isn’t our fault.” All of that is true, to some extent, because there is never enough money, beds, staff, equipment, or anything in these hospitals or shelters. I guess my job now is to construct this survey that should help these professionals keep track of how many people this type of discharge affects, and more specifically what is needed to help these people. After this meeting I really will be surprised no matter what the number ends up being, for it sounds like it could be a huge problem or just a few cases that everyone keeps recycling.

After this meeting and Samantha’s meeting I helped out at the ID clinic for the day. Like the last session, I could not believe some of the stories these people would tell me about how much they need their identification. My most upsetting case this week was a man just released from prison with no forms of identification except for a letter from his parole officer. According to him he applied for his birth certificate while he was still incarcerated, but it didn’t actually arrive until after his release so it was returned to the sender. I called the Office of Vital Records from his county to see what he could do, and unfortunately I do not know how much we will actually be able to get with this letter alone. I asked the probation officer to send us a picture to see if maybe we could send this as a form of photo identification, but the fax came in so dark that all you could see were eyes on a black silhouette. After being there for almost an hour, he ended up leaving almost no further than when he entered—with no ID and nothing actually in process. Without even one form of identification, it will be months before he is able to get all of the ID necessary to get a job or a house. How can he be expected to make it in the “real world” without ID, a job, or a house for 6 months? It is no wonder that so many people end up cycling through these systems! Overall the ID Clinic was a huge success, and almost everyone who comes through is so appreciative of everything offered through the clinic. This needs to become a regular part of CareerLink!

This morning was the last meeting with the Tabor TLC study group, and I really think that Tabor will go with the proposal to turn a floor of TLC into permanent single room occupancies (SROs), which seems like it will really help with the financial aspects, staffing, and even the housing issues that they are currently having. I am a little upset that these Friday morning meetings are over though, because I really enjoyed listening to these people talk about these issues (each with his/her own agenda, of course) and actually come to a conclusion about how we can actually approach the problems. I feel like so many times meetings go in circles and never actually conclude anything, so it felt great to sit in on a group that proposed a realistic solution and game plan, especially one that has the power to make it happen. It was also great to finally feel like I was getting to know the members of that group, to expect certain people to make certain comments and know what leads them to say or feel that way. Still, I am excited to see what happens with the proposal and if a few years from now it is actually put into effect.

I met with Esther and Bobby Joe this morning to start Esther on the Ready to Work program. Finally, we are making progress! Esther qualifies for the program in the sense that she is not obligated to complete something else in CareerLink, and while I don’t think she was necessarily motivated before the meeting she definitely left with a bit more excitement about the entire process. She has so much potential too—she has her B.S. in communications, with a minor in psychology, and has a lot of experience in this field and as a waitress. She also seems motivated if for no other reason than to take care of her son, who she talked about with such love and concern it seemed hard to imagine that this woman had just been released from prison. I enjoyed talking to her as well, and actually have two more meetings set up for next week to FINALLY start the assessments, alchemy, and the Ready to Work Program! After such a long week it felt amazing to end on such a great note!