| Up until last year, Kim
(not her real name) was living the American dream. She was married,
she had three great kids, and she lived in a nice house in a quiet
suburb of Chicago. But last year that dream started to fall apart.
Kim's husband had become abusive and
controlling and, at some point last summer, she decided enough was
enough. She decided to take her kids to a new city and make a new
start. She knew a few people in Minneapolis so, one day, she packed
up her kids and got on a bus. It was the beginning of a difficult
time.
With no job waiting for her, Kim and
her children were forced to live in a shelter for seven months. "At
the shelter, you are surrounded by people, but it's very lonely,"
she said. "I kept my kids in our room like prisoners because bad
things can happen in a place like that. I bought cheap games and
puzzles to keep them occupied." She now jokingly refers to the
shelter as the "correctional facility."
Her jokes aside, Kim's desire for
things to be better for her kids has put her under tremendous
pressure. Outwardly, she is a strong and positive role model with a
great sense of humor but, inwardly, she suffers from clinical
depression, sees a therapist and takes medication regularly.
Finally, her housing situation took a
turn for the better in March. In a phone conversation, a school
social worker found out that Kim and her kids were living in a
shelter, and referred her to a program called It's All About the
Kids. The program, which started in the fall of 2001, is a
collaborative program of Lutheran Social Service of Minnesota, the
Minneapolis Public Schools, and the Minneapolis Public Housing
Authority.
It's All About the Kids tries to
improve the academic success of children whose housing instability
makes that difficult. The program identifies eligible low-income
families in unstable or inadequate housing in neighborhoods with
high concentrations of poverty, and helps them get and keep better
housing in less poor neighborhoods, while keeping their kids in the
same elementary school attendance area.
"I didn't even write down the phone
number when she told me about the program," she said. " I just hung
up, dialed the number from memory, and made my appointment as fast
as I could."
Just like Kim, most families are
referred to the program by social workers from a group of elementary
schools around the city. "High mobility is an enormous problem for a
lot of our families," said Karen Shannon, a social worker for
Minneapolis Public Schools. "A lot of students who are mobile have
erratic test scores and aren't performing up to their ability. When
we see students having academic of social problems, we can perform
what we call an 'intervention,' but often these kids move again
before we have time to truly help them."
After the referral from the school is
made, LSS handles the family orientation, assists them as they find
their own housing, and LSS case managers support the family during
and after the move.
"Our philosophy of case management is
'family strength,'" said Shari DeZelar, an LSS case manager who
works with Kim. "Families find their own housing and set their own
goals. We help facilitate the process, but I think the fact that the
program is self-directed is why it has been so successful." |
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It's All About The Kids: At a
Glance
It's All About the Kids is a
collaborative program of Lutheran Social Service, the Minneapolis
Public Schools, and the Minneapolis Public Housing Authority. The
program helps families in unstable or inadequate housing to get and
keep better housing while allowing their kids to stay in the same
elementary school. Kids who move around less are better off
academically and socially. The program started in the fall of 2001,
and has served 94 families to date.
A typical family entering the
program:
- 69% headed by a single parent
- 43% of the adults have criminal
records
- 49% of the adults are unemployed
- 77% have an account in collection
- 49% just left an emergency shelter
or transitional housing program
The program works: Of the families
who had found better housing through the program more than a year
ago, the Wilder Research Center determined that 96% were still
living in the same place, allowing the children to remain in the
same schools. |
Support through the program is both psychological and financial. The
program helps low-income families pay the rent with Section 8
housing vouchers from the Minneapolis Public Housing Authority.
"When I entered the program, I wasn't sure how I was going to pay my
rent, but sometimes you have to take a leap of faith," Kim said.
Fortunately, Kim's work situation was
improving just like her housing situation. In March, she attended a
job fair at Wells Fargo Home Mortgage, and was hired in their
collections department. After six weeks of training and only a few
weeks on the job, she is already being encouraged to apply for a
supervisor position because of her cool and calm demeanor on the
phone. She also has a habit of showing up to work early so she can
greet everyone and read her e-mail on her own time, perhaps a reason
she is being considered for management positions.
"I don't take it personally when
people are angry on the phone. They didn't want to miss their
payment. There must be something going on in their life that is
making it difficult. I can identify with that," she said.
LSS also handles the landlord
recruitment portion of the program. Because clients are finding
their own housing, many of the prospective landlords are not
familiar with Section 8 housing vouchers. LSS shows the landlords
how the program works, and can also act as an advocate for both the
clients and landlord if issues arise. Landlords who do participate
can qualify for grants toward the renovation of their properties as
well.
"This is my first time being involved
in the program," said Nicole Lais, who is Kim's landlord. " Our
daughters were in the same school, so that's how I met Kim and how I
found out about the program. It seems very helpful for single
mothers, more so than the programs that were around before I was
married. At one time I was having a hard time finding housing, and I
really wanted to help her out."
It's All About The Kids is modeled on
the "housing first" philosophy, which strives to get people into
permanent housing before starting to work on the problems that might
exist within the family. Stability at home leads to stability and
achievement for children at school. Once families find stable
housing through the program, LSS supports each tenant family with
education and problem resolution to help them remain in good
housing.
In December of 2003, the Wilder
Research Center released a report showing that the program in doing
just that. Of the 116 families who had participated in the program
when the report was being written, over 90% had remained in the
housing they had found through the program. Of those families who
had been in their housing for at least one year, the program was 96%
successful, with only one family having moved since.
"It's really bad to worry about where
you're going to sleep," Kim said. "Now I get to stress about little
things like fixing a kitchen table."
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