Volume 13, 2015/2016
Transcription
Volume 13, 2015/2016
Info Mission Volume 13, 2015/2016 Team approach to housing the homeless Homelessness has been the focus of considerable attention in Montreal in 2015. In March, 600 volunteers were mobilized to count those living on the streets on one particular night. When the final results were announced in July, the total came to 3,016. Using this benchmark, a consortium of the city’s four major supports for the homeless – Welcome Hall Mission, Old Brewery Mission, Maison du Père and Accueil Bonneau – is launching Projet Logement Montréal to address the housing issues of the chronic homeless who take refuge in their facilities. The budget is funded over four years by the federal government and is administered provincially. Interestingly, housing the homeless comes with a much lower price tag than leaving them on the street. Tim Richter, head of the Canadian Alliance to End Homelessness, puts the cost of eliminating homelessness across Canada at Youth Services Battling the barriers facing Montreal youth When the Director of Youth Services describes the struggle faced by homeless youth to get off the streets, he likens it to the story of David and Goliath. When called upon to slay the giant, the young shepherd selected five stones as weapons. Conversely, street youth face five giants in their fight for stability and autonomy: hunger, itinerancy, poverty, addictions and a brand of ageism that discriminates against their youth. Continued on page 2. $1.7 billion – about $46 per Canadian – in contrast to the whopping 4.5 to 6 billion dollars it costs to maintain the status quo. Direct and indirect costs, including shelters, services, policing, criminal justice and increased use of health services, combine for a hefty hit on taxpayers’ pockets. Continued on page 3. A word from the CEO Dear friends of Welcome Hall Mission, Although I have given thousands of tours to visitors over the years, it remains a privilege for which I am grateful. Most often, our guests have a very narrow idea about the services we provide. They know us as a homeless shelter, or they have heard we have a food bank. But after a half-hour of touring the first floor of our multiservice center and hearing the behind-the-scene stories of what we do and how we do it, people are always amazed. Now in our 124th year of service to Montrealers, I visualize our offer as a huge front door, open wide to welcome individuals in need. Our youngest clients are the as-yet unborn babies, carried by young mothers from our Cœur à sœur program… and we are there for Montrealers in need for as long as they need us. As you will realize while reading this edition of Info Mission, our ability to help is founded on innovation and collaboration. Our power is in partnership. Throughout this newsletter, you will read examples of impact made possible by our synergistic approach. Marguerite Blais, retiring Member of the National Assembly for Saint-Henri–Sainte-Anne and long-time friend of the mission, was our guest again this year at our back-to-school event. As she reflected on our work, she commented that Welcome Hall Mission should not be considered a community that focuses on poverty, but on riches! It is a place of generosity and enthusiasm, of optimism and perseverance. I revel in the diversity of people who make up our community and the richness of their implication, whether they are currently participating in a program or helping to make it happen. Thank you for sharing in this richness with us. Our work would not be possible without the valuable contributions of our supporters. May God bless you richly. Cyril Morgan, CEO/Executive Director Youth Services Battling the barriers facing Montreal youth continued from page 1 The Beaudry St. location is open five days a week, providing the necessary services to help transition individuals aged 15 to 30 from the streets to housing and employment. And while the services are targeted at a young demographic, no one in need is ever turned away. Intervention workers work closely with engaged clients to set in place a personalized reinsertion plan. They then get the help and the support they need to find an apartment and eventually set goals for better living. Seventy percent of Youth Services clients are men and they often commit to life coaching after a first encounter in the program’s gym, or following one of the hearty weeknight meals that are available free of charge. “As our program matured,” said the Director, “we realized that an increasing number of pregnant women and new mothers had to face the reality of living on the streets. Although at first their numbers were low, we understood that our existing programs didn’t address all of their specific needs.” Today, Cœur à soeur specializes in providing the material support, monitoring and training that women need to access housing, find employment and develop the life skills needed to create healthy environments for their children. Key to providing effective solutions is Youth Services’ network of strategic partnerships. Whether it is working with landlords who don’t require credit checks for program participants, inviting members of the Montreal Police Force to meet the youth at a barbeque or liaising with local social service agencies to address needs, collaboration and a team-based approach are proving to be effective weapons in the fight against youth homelessness. An innovative micro-enterprise project is helping to fight two of the giant obstacles youth face – hunger and poverty. The project trains street youth to prepare and package healthy meals that are distributed to the women in the Cœur à sœur program. The mentorship and employability training programs equip youth to pursue viable employment opportunities and the women get the nutrition they need as new or soon-to-be mothers. Projet Logement Montréal Info Mission - 03 Team approach to housing the homeless dealing with high-risk tenants, the fact that participants’ income is administered by the consortium makes their participation in Projet Logement Montréal an attractive proposition. continued from page 1 Based on the Housing First model popularized in the 1990s in New York, the initiative is differentiated from other approaches by one key factor – support. Mirroring the individualized methodology employed within the shelters, the program will provide portable accompaniment solutions to help support the client’s success. Depending on the individual’s reinsertion needs, supports will reflect work already done by each institution. The four organizations will pool their resources to provide for the key elements of the project: a housing team will locate appropriate apartments, intervention workers will provide support and a financial manager will ensure that landlords are paid. For landlords used to Cyril Morgan is optimistic that the project will succeed in decreasing the number of homeless Montrealers now occupying beds in the emergency shelters. “Together, the four project partners already serve the target population; we have relationships with these individuals. Our approach is cohesive and consistent. By providing the key ingredients of rent subsidies and personalized support, we believe that we have the best chance of helping people to find the stability and autonomy they need and deserve.” For more information on the Housing First model, visit www.homelesshub.ca How many homeless in Montreal? Someone who is itinerant is a person who sleeps outdoors, uses homeless shelters or shelters for victims of abuse, lives in transitional housing, receives institutional care without a permanent address or resides in shelters for immigrants and refugees. HOSPITALS 76 429 SLEEPING OUTSIDE DETENTION CENTRES 51 1,066 SHELTERS THERAPY CENTRES IN MONTREAL 154 TRANSITIONAL HOUSING THERAPY CENTRES OUTSIDE OF MONTREAL MTL These figures do not include the provisionally accommodated or “hidden homeless”. TOTAL 3,016 The Montreal Alouettes team with the mission to serve up Thanksgiving meals 1,041 199 MTL Statistics courtesy of Montreal Gazette Annual tradition provides delicious turkey dinners to over 300 people Children’s Services This year’s focus is on teaching and building partnerships If you ask most people about Welcome Hall Mission’s Children’s Services core function, they will tell you that it is to equip students with the tools they need to succeed in their schoolwork. Although this is a key service provided to every five- to sixteenyear-old child who requires it, the team’s approach has grown to not only focus on the schoolwork, but also on the child’s personal development. This year sees the team working with immigrant parents to understand and navigate Montreal’s education system. Building the relationship between parents and the teacher ensures everyone is involved to help the child succeed at every step. The reality of each child’s needs extends far beyond just help with their schoolwork – it also requires integrating them into a learning routine, identifying any learning difficulties and helping to develop their self-esteem, all in an effort to offer immediate help and prevent future problems in their schooling. Although the team is focused on working with parents to help them engage with teachers and follow their children’s schooling, most of them struggle with the partnership. Imagine your child bringing home their agenda with the homework assignment written in a language What a joy to see the smiles on those faces! Children are happy, are having fun and are fully-equipped to go back to school! T HE MISSION’S 14T H ANNUAL BACK-T O-SCHOOL EVENT you barely understood! Ninety percent of clients are immigrant families, with just under half unable to speak either English or French, and who are unfamiliar with our education system, making it difficult for parents to work with teachers to support their children’s efforts. This year, the Children’s Services team is emphasizing relationshipbuilding, helping parents understand their children’s curriculum and work. This in turn allows them to support their children with their studies and general schooling. Children’s Services is proving that when children, parents and teachers work effectively as a team, the child wins! Success Story Demanding, depressed, dirty and wanting the mission team to assume full responsibility for finding him housing, Gaetan Levesque was weeks away from losing his place in a reinsertion program. His unwillingness to engage in any action to improve his condition had stymied those involved with helping him. Close collaboration between resources in- and outside the mission transformed what appeared to be a losing battle into a very satisfactory solution. The mission’s in-house psychologist suggested Mr. Levesque be accompanied to a downtown hospital where his medication was changed and he was treated for a pulmonary infection. Upon discharge, he returned to the mission and the intervention team met with his social worker to agree on a plan of action. Soon, he was meeting with a specialized educator and a mission intervention worker on a regular basis; having so many people helping him motivated Mr. Levesque. The social worker and specialized educator were invaluable links to necessary outside resources and strong partnerships evolved as meetings took place at mission offices. Food Bank Info Mission - 05 Partnering to fight hunger! Providing food to hungry families has been a core service of Welcome Hall Mission for over twenty years. Today, a keen focus on operational excellence and resource management has allowed the mission to increase its capacity and distribute food to an ever‑increasing number of clients. The food bank has become the largest in Montreal, with families making up to 4,000 appointments each month, and its services continue to evolve. One of the few food banks in Canada equipped with a real-time warehouse management system, distribution is organized according to the products’ “best before” dates and facilitates stock rotation in order to minimize food loss. Other mission resources, including newly-installed food repackaging equipment and over 14,000 sq. ft. of freezer and refrigerated space, set the mission apart as an important partner in the distribution of surplus food that would otherwise be wasted. Built on a partnership model between the Government of Canada and communities across the country, the mission has adopted a new data management system called the Homeless Individuals and Family Information System (HIFIS). The software is a component of the federal government’s Homelessness Partnering Strategy. HIFIS provides the data needed by local communities to increase their knowledge and understanding of local homelessness and family issues. After registering for food bank services, clients receive a client card with photo. This card is scanned each time they come to use the service and gives customer service staff immediate access to the client’s file. As the software is adopted by other Montreal organizations, the shared database will also help ensure that services are not duplicated. A web portal will eventually allow clients to register for appointments online, saving time and reducing the call load on food bank telephone lines. Good operating practices coupled with a renewed focus on customer service, help ensure that each and every food bank client feels welcome, respected and part of the Welcome Hall Mission community. Specialized Educator As they worked with him, the team started to notice changes in their client. He began to smile more often. He was cooperative about getting up in the morning, began to care about his personal hygiene and took responsibility for his reinsertion plan. Their perseverance paid off and Mr. Levesque was recently approved for supervised housing. Today, Gaetan Levesque is living in his new apartment and gets the care he needs – testament to an eight-month investment by a cohesive team of dedicated professionals and a client who was willing to change. WHM Intervention Team Housing Solution In-house Psychologist Client Montreal Hospital Social Worker Health Services Providing health services and guided assistance into the healthcare system The primary goal of the health services team has never changed – provide care to Montreal’s homeless and disadvantaged. However, the care itself is evolving, and in a big way. In addition to the medical care provided to clients who require it, the focus is on education about public health services available, and reinsertion back into the healthcare system. The goal is not to replace the public system, but to provide basic care as required, and then navigate clients to the appropriate public services. Think of the nurses as the frontline, with Montreal’s services as the rest of the solution. Through partnerships with local community service centres (CLSCs), clinics, pharmacies, and other community organizations, Welcome Hall Mission is working to bring a complete care experience to the men, women, children and youth who need it. Thanks to funding from the Green Shield Canada Foundation (GSCF), the health services team is expanding. Two new nurses were hired this fall, and in collaboration with the Médecins du Monde organization, a clinical psychologist is now offering counselling services to the mission’s clients. Through a continued partnership with McGill University, nursing students complete clinical training hours alongside the mission’s nurses, and help educate clients in the Education and Employability program. The head nurse, currently coordinating the health services team, is also a guest lecturer at McGill University to future medical professionals, helping to demystify the realities of people experiencing homelessness in order to promote equitable treatment of all people using health and social services. Success Story Steven is a great example of how collaborative efforts with mission partners can make an immediate impact for those in need. When he arrived at the mission’s emergency shelter door, he had minimal personal belongings and only enough medication to last one week. He was paralyzed on one side from a stroke suffered a few months earlier, and his family was no longer able to help care for him. New mission partner GSCF provides major funding The nursing team evaluated Steven’s physical and mental health, as well as his social needs. It became clear that finding a pharmacy to partner with Welcome Hall Mission and help with his medication was a priority, as Steven had no means to pay. Once his prescriptions were filled, the nurses contacted a social worker from a local CLSC who regularly collaborates on cases. The social worker was able to help Steven rapidly access welfare revenue, as well as apply for home care services, allowing him to move into an apartment and live autonomously. This past February, Welcome Hall Mission was the recipient of major funding from the Green Shield Canada Foundation. The monies will help fund the mission’s costs for the free dental clinic, as well as increase the number of nurses on staff and add a much-needed clinical psychologist to the health services team. Thanks to three weeks of interorganizational cooperation, Steven is now living on his own, has regular follow-up visits from a healthcare professional, and most importantly – he’s off the street! The mission will also collect and leverage data over the next three years, to build and present a case for government funding of these essential services. Green Shield Canada is the country’s only national not-for-profit health and dental benefits specialist. The mission of its foundation is to create innovative solutions that improve access to better health. La Boutique La Boutique: a skills training program in disguise! Shoppers at Welcome Hall Mission’s thrift store, La Boutique, comment on the quality and pricing of merchandise, the attractive displays and the friendly, welcoming atmosphere. Most don’t realize that the store is the public-facing element of the mission’s skills training program. Through companies providing brand-new goods, individuals contributing gently-used clothing and via partnerships with other charities in Montreal, the mission receives hundreds of thousands of donations of clothing and footwear each year. Program participants work with mission staff to triage and inventory donations that are then used either to stock the store, or provide free clothing to eligible clients – at all three of the city’s major homeless shelters. The skills training program is run in collaboration with Emploi-Québec and the Educational and Pedalogical Resource Center (CREP). Participants, many of whom were socially marginalized and are now striving to regain their autonomy, engage Success Story 100% of the proceeds from the PURCHASE OF THIS ARTICLE Hall BENEFIT Welcome Mission’s SKILLS TRAINING PROGRAM in several socio-professional integration platforms across the mission that help them develop skills with the goal of reinserting them into work force. The mission trains up to 40 individuals per year. In addition to working at the thrift store, their 20-hour work week can include other tasks such as food sorting or working in the cafeteria. Social integration and socioprofessional integration courses, French classes and computer training are also offered. La Boutique is open Monday to Saturday from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. and members of the public are always welcome. Want to make a difference with your shopping dollar? Get good quality, fashionable clothing at the best prices in town – with new articles arriving every day! Help Montrealers gain the new skills required on the road to meaningful employment. Volunteering Helping those in need and making a difference! Recruiting volunteers to lend their time and expertise to events and everyday operations. almost 70,000 hours of unpaid work, helping sustain key programs and services, allowing more Montrealers in need to receive care than ever before! There have been thousands of volunteers who have given their time at Welcome Hall Mission over the last year; ranging from coming alone, with friends, and as groups with their companies. The collaboration between the mission and its volunteers is incredibly important, without their help it would be impossible to run big events and day-to-day services. In the past year alone, volunteers provided Now, with the development of a formalized volunteer program, effort is being invested into recruiting and filling volunteer positions, while pairing their skills with specific needs. For example, each year the mission seeks out volunteers with current or past teaching experience to help our Children’s Services team. These skilled volunteers assist children with schoolwork, helping their parents Debra is a wonderful example of a person who came to the mission in difficulty and used the available resources to put her life back on track. As a client of the food bank, she learned about the mission’s skills training program and made the decision to begin the journey back to a more stable life and eventual employment. Nine years later, Debra is living in one of the mission’s transitional housing apartments and has been hired at a Montreal food services company. According to Debra, a great adventure began on the day she first started to make changes in her life. “I realized that it was up to me to make the effort, and that I had to keep moving forward, without looking back at my previous circumstances.” She is proud of what she has accomplished: “I have a home, I am supported by inspiring people here at the mission, I have been granted a second chance and I have found a job. I came here with nothing and now I have everything!” understand the school system, teaching English and French and assisting with other specific tasks involving academic support. By working together, the mission and its volunteers are helping to provide great care to Montrealers in need. Want to volunteer? Send an email to [email protected] Men’s Mission Major kitchen upgrade New facility provides training opportunity The mission’s broadest entry point for homeless men is often the emergency shelter that caters to their most basic needs, such as food and shelter. Going beyond a temporary solution, the subsequent programs are designed to encourage homeless men to get off the street, to put their lives back together, to fight their addictions – if necessary – and to find concrete solutions to their problems, with the goal of successfully reinserting into society. The 200-seat cafeteria is a haven of peace, far from cold and hunger. Since the 1960s when the kitchen was originally built, the needs have changed and the demand has increased substantially; 300 meals are now served every day. A recent project to renovate the kitchen was initiated to improve the flow of the area, replace obsolete equipment and provide opportunities for training. The redesigned kitchen will be used as a teaching platform where men can acquire valuable culinary skills to help them find jobs and reinsert into society. The new equipment will allow the mission to produce healthier meals faster and in larger quantities. High quality, nutritious food helps restore a sense of personal value to homeless diners and can play an important role in setting them on the road to restoration. Thank you to our major donors ALDO Group Bannerman Family Foundation Bentley C. Isabelle et Fils Champag Inc. Disney VoluntEARs Echo Foundation Felicia and Arnold Aaron Foundation Fondation J.A. DeSève Google Montreal Gosselin Family Foundation Gourmet Privilège Great-West Life, London Life and Canada Life Green Shield Canada Foundation Hasbro Canada Hydro-Québec Hylcan Foundation Intact Foundation Investissement Guy Locas J.W. McConnell Family Foundation Leahy Orchards Marcelle and Jean Coutu Foundation McDonald’s Restaurants of Canada Limited Midland Transport Nothing But Nature Inc. Oeuvres Régis-Vernet Onipro Inc. Peacock Family Foundation Premier Meat Packers (2009) Inc. R. Howard Webster Foundation Scotiabank Speroway State Street Foundation TAS Refrigerated Distribution Inc. TELUS Trottier Family Foundation Veg Pro International Viau Food Products Inc. Zeller Family Foundation Fiscal Year 2014-2015 Administration Welcome Hall Mission is a registered charity #BN 10819 5215 RR0001 606 De Courcelle Street Montreal, Quebec H4C 3L5 T : 514-523-5288 / F : 514-523-6456 [email protected] CONFIDENTIALITY POLICY: We respect your privacy and do not rent, sell or exchange our mailing lists. To protect the privacy of some of our clients, stock photography has been used for some stories; names are fictitious. Follow us welcomehallmission.com Design and production: tmdesign.ca