By: Michele Steeb, CEO
The good news is that both locally and nationally, according to the 2011 Homeless Street Counts, the numbers of single men and single women who experience homelessness are down.
The bad news is that the numbers of mothers with children who experience homelessness are on a rapid rise, both nationally and locally. At St. John’s, we are now turning away over 300 women and children each day… up from 150 each day last year. With 28% of Sacramento County residents receiving aid through the County’s Department of Human Assistance, our community is facing an epidemic. We are only as strong as our weakest link, and the number of weakest links is quickly expanding.
When a family falls into homelessness, we need to give them a hand-up. We simply cannot have women and their children sleeping on our streets. At the same time, we need to provide them with a roadmap and the tools to become self-sustaining to exit the system as quickly as possible… which is not happening through the system today. Instead, the system takes them in and does little, if anything, to encourage an exit.
Just looking through the lens of St. John’s over the last four years, we have served over 2,200 mothers and over 2,000 children. Of these 2,200 mothers, we can count less than 50 who may not be capable of sustaining their families due to conditions that cannot be changed in their lives. Approximately 75 of the remaining 2,150 are working and sustaining their families independently. The remaining 2,075 mothers continue to rely on the system and have little incentive to exit it.
We know these mothers. We know their potential. We know they are capable of more. Unfortunately, our system expects so little of them that they expect that little of themselves. They will remain dependent until the expectations are changed and until the system gives them the roadmap, the encouragement and the tools to become self- sustaining. This problem is not as overwhelming as it may seem. In the last two years, St. John’s has developed a continuum that begins with temporary shelter and continues through the development of foundational skills and employment-training. The result – mothers are able to sustain their families.
Consider Shalonda, a mother of five, who came into our shelter in early 2010 and is now the lead cashier at the Crocker Cafe. Through St. John’s continuum, she has become an independent provider of her family. Consider Amanda, a mother of three who entered our shelter in 2009. She is in her second year of employment at Shriners and is an independent provider for her family. Consider the social and financial impact of just these two families and their generations of future children building independent lives. Through St. John’s continuum, they accessed the links to success from which they were disconnected from before.
Having faced significant cuts in government funding this year, and with community donations down, we need your support to continue this very important work, helping formerly homeless women and children become self-sustaining. The need is great, and moreover, it’s a blessing that will return back to you many times over.
We wish you and your family a wonderful holiday season…
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