A Message from the Board President and CEO |
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This issue focuses on our fourth core value at Reach for Home: Hope.
In the last few months, Reach for Home and the entire Healdsburg community have been able to witness what having hope and pushing through to achieve meaningful, lasting solutions to ending homelessness can look like. In January we celebrated the ribbon cutting of the L & M Village with over 80 people in attendance!
Reach for Home was honored to have California Director of Housing and Community Development Gustavo Velasquez in attendance. In addition, we are grateful for the support of Supervisor James Gore, Healdsburg Mayor Ariel Kelley and City Manager Jeff Kay who gave words of support and encouragement for the project. Other members of Healdsburg City Council were also in attendance.
With construction finished we are moving forward with new programs and partnerships, including the installation of a small greenhouse and beautiful redwood planter boxes that will grow fruits, vegetables and flowers for both participants and the community. Thank you to Farm to Fight Hunger and Farm to Pantry for your generosity and inspiration. |
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From left: California Director of Housing and Community Development Gustavo Velasquez, Healdsburg Councilman David Hagele, Reach for Home CEO Margaret Sluyk, Healdsburg Councilman Chris Herrod, Healdsburg Councilman Ron Edwards, Healdsburg Mayor Ariel Kelley, Sonoma County Supervisor James Gore, Healdsburg Housing Director Steven Sotomayor, and Healdsburg City Manager Jeff Kay |
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We are also excited to welcome eight new participants into the L & M over the next week. With the addition of the Wallace House (more on this below) this means 14 more unsheltered individuals will begin their journey to
permanent housing in a few short weeks. Also, three individuals at the L & M will be moving into more permanent housing in the coming month. Continue reading this issue to see our proudest moments of 2022 as well as all we have accomplished so far this year! We truly appreciate all of your support, volunteerism and donations to continue to make an impact on homelessness in Northern Sonoma County. Tom and Margaret
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2022 was an incredible year of growth and service at Reach for Home. The long-awaited opening of the L & M Village provided hope to many members of the unsheltered community in Healdsburg. In addition, 2022 saw: - A doubling of staff size
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The five-year anniversary of Winter Shelter in partnership with St. Paul's Episcopal Church in Healdsburg (more on that below)
- Growing partnerships with Hansel Auto Group, Farm to Pantry, and Farm to Fight Hunger
- Expanding care for program participants' dogs through the Carl Jud Dog Assistance Program
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The launch of our first official volunteer program
- The launch of this newsletter!
Your support makes these increased services possible, and we thank you from the bottom of our hearts. Click here to view our 2022 highlights. |
| L & M Participant Sandra with her dog, Tito |
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2022-2023 Winter Shelter Season |
Winter Shelter, held in partnership with St. Paul's Episcopal Church and the City of Healdsburg, officially ended for the season on March 1 (and then reopened from 3/10-3/13 due to potential flooding). In this especially rainy and harsh winter season, a safe, warm, dry place to sleep made a big difference to the many people who used the shelter for the night. We were open a record-setting 90 of 99 nights from November 1 to February 28 (91% of nights)! A few more numbers:
- We served over 40 unduplicated individuals.
- Between 10 and 15 people stayed each night, which works out to around 1,170 beds provided.
- Between 15 and 20 people ate dinner each night, which means Winter Shelter served approximately 1,620 meals!
- Volunteers and St. Paul's Church provided 1,350 of those meals (76%), which allowed Reach for Home to use at least $13,500 for other pressing needs.
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We are very grateful to the following people for preparing or arranging meals (many of whom prepared meals on multiple nights): Marci Alvey, Roger and Barbara Bekker, Pamela Berman, Dundee Butcher, Marie Butler, Tricia Coxhead and Jerry Anderson, Mary Fitzgerald, Karen Fraire, Mona Hanes and Kevin Gay, Mary Kelley, Emily Krispin, Laura and Matt O'Connor, Nancy Palumbo, Jeannine Pendleton, The Puckett Family, Jane Sbragia, Ann Wallace, Wendy Whipp and Stewart Vandenberg, Tim and Dani Wilcox, and Sandy Young.
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In the Know About Homelessness & Housing: Point-in-Time Count |
On Friday, January 27, Reach for Home participated in Sonoma County's Point-in-Time (PIT) Street Count from 6 a.m. to 10 a.m. The PIT is a count of sheltered and unsheltered people who are experiencing homelessness on a single night in a given community. In the early 2000s, the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) began requiring an annual Point in Time count as a means of collecting vital data in individual communities.
The PIT is a requirement for local governments in order to receive federal homeless assistance funds. It provides critical data used to understand homelessness locally and to support strategic decisions. The PIT allows counties and agencies to review data year-over-year with the understanding that despite everyone's' best efforts, there will always be some people uncounted. Full reports are released in late summer or early fall. Staff and volunteers conduct the count, usually in conjunction with a guide who has lived experience of homelessness in a specific geographic sector. They take a training before the PIT to learn to use the survey |
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app to capture information and are specifically instructed to avoid interrupting unsheltered individuals' lives with questions, yelling, or knocking. Street Outreach case workers follow up the survey by asking additional questions of willing participants so they can express their specific needs and housing status. Last year, Supervisor James Gore attended the PIT in Cloverdale with Mayor Todd Lands and Reach for Home CEO Margaret Sluyk. Supervisor Gore's office produced a great video that provides a window into the PIT Count process. Please click the picture at right to view the video! |
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| Wallace House
We are thrilled to announce that Good Shepherd Episcopal Church has chosen Reach for Home to administer programs at the 6-unit Wallace House in Cloverdale. Wallace House is owned by the Church and has long been a refuge for the unsheltered community in Northern Sonoma County. Wallace House adds critically needed permanent supportive housing for Reach for Home program participants of all ages and genders. We look forward to growing our partnership with the Church and the City of Cloverdale and are so grateful we are able to add this option for participants. Our newest staff member, Housing Case Manager Bella Ortega, started last week. She will manage several programs, including Wallace House.
The L & M Village
We are nearing completion of construction at the L & M! As we mark this milestone, we are excited to share some data with you. Since participants began living at the L & M in late November: - 100% have acquired all of their documentation (birth certificates, identification cards, and Social Security cards)
- 93% have increased their income (job, Social Security, disability, CalFresh)
- 4 have started jobs
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2 have signed up for schooling
- 2 have received housing vouchers
Mental Health
In February, we began a five-month trial to provide increased mental health access to program participants. A licensed clinical social worker (LCSW) will spend 15 hours per week building relationships with participants in the Street Outreach, L & M and Housing Programs. She will also see participants in her private practice. Progress updates to come! |
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Reach for Home is looking for a facilities truck. Facilities Technician Tor Hansen takes care of all of the properties we own or for which we administer programs - 5 properties with 33 units in two cities! He really needs a truck for transportation and to store tools and other equipment. If you can help, please contact Director of Development Angie Escudero at 707-971-5761 or angie@reachforhome.org.
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Are you looking for a way to make an impact each month? Consider joining our Sustainers of Hope monthly giving program! Your monthly gift of any size will help maintain and grow our programs by giving us regular income we can count on. Just select a donation frequency of "monthly" when you visit our donation page.
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Are you a current volunteer? Interested in being a volunteer? Please sign up with us through Volgistics! We are moving to this system to better serve volunteers. It will allow us to track applications, forms, and training and communicate opportunities to the volunteer community. It will allow volunteers to easily sign up for volunteer opportunities and trainings. Join us!
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Copyright ©2022 Reach for Home, All rights reserved. Our mailing address is: 443 Hudson Street Healdsburg, CA 95448
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