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Project Homeless Connect
May. 13th, 2011 01:16 pmI 'm going to volunteer on May 23rd at Project Homeless Connect, this large, twice-yearly event that's held in Minneapolis to help homeless people connect with resources. The idea is to bring as many service providers as possible to one location so that when someone hears, "well, in order to get into our program, you need a mental health evaluation from a doctor," they can walk across the hall to where the doctors are, have the evaluation on the spot, and come back with the note.
I went to training at Southdale Library yesterday, which was interesting. I'm not a service provider (they have a different process for volunteering) but a general volunteer. As guests arrive, they're encouraged to sit down with a volunteer, who will fill out a form (if the guest is willing) and then ask about services that the guest is particularly hoping to get that day. Available services include free dental and health care, glasses, haircuts, help with employment (when these started ten years ago there were employers who would actually come looking to hire people; not so much in the current economy, but there are people who can help with resumes and other career-readiness stuff), help with housing (obviously), legal services, mental and chemical health care, State IDs, voice mail, and more. Oh, and drop-in childcare so that people with kids can leave them behind while filling out forms to get a State ID or whatever. There's a whole section for veterans services because if someone has ever served in the military there's all sorts of health care and other help that they're entitled to as a matter of course, but tons of people don't realize that (they think you have to have served in combat, for instance). There's also a whole section for youth -- people 25 and under. They warned us that dental, legal, and optical appointments tend to go really fast, so if your guest is interested in those, take them there right away.
If guests prefer to walk around by themselves they certainly can but if they want someone who will take them around, keep them company, hold their hand during the dentist appointment, etc., that's what the volunteers are for. (We arrive early and are supposed to do a self-tour before the guests arrive so that we know where everything is.) The director doing the training said that one of the main things that people have said on evaluations as they leave is that people were really kind to them.
Anyway. They do not generally hand out donated items at this event -- it's supposed to be services-oriented. The exception is that they need flash drives for people who are having resumes put together in the employment services area -- they can give people CDs, but they would prefer to have flash drives so that people can update their resumes later as needed. They do not need to be large flash drives at all -- big enough to store a couple of Word documents, basically. I know that I know people who have entire BUCKETS of flash drives, so if anyone local has some they'd like to donate, please let me know.
If you want to volunteer, it's not too late (although it's getting close). There are two more training sessions, one tomorrow and one on the 16th. Here's the website again. They want you to sign up for a training session (those are optional if you've volunteered at these before), and to commit to staying at least until 2 p.m. (the event runs until 4.)
One other note -- it is not just homeless people who are welcome to come, but also people at high risk for homelessness. They've offered legal services in the past to people whose landlord was just foreclosed on and who don't know what their rights are, and they've helped people who are spending 90% of their take-home pay on housing, or who in one way or another are really on the brink. They also have services for people dealing with domestic violence. If you or someone you know would benefit from coming, please come, or pass the information along. (There are similar events in other cities: Project Homeless Connect is the usual name, and google should find them if they exist.)
I went to training at Southdale Library yesterday, which was interesting. I'm not a service provider (they have a different process for volunteering) but a general volunteer. As guests arrive, they're encouraged to sit down with a volunteer, who will fill out a form (if the guest is willing) and then ask about services that the guest is particularly hoping to get that day. Available services include free dental and health care, glasses, haircuts, help with employment (when these started ten years ago there were employers who would actually come looking to hire people; not so much in the current economy, but there are people who can help with resumes and other career-readiness stuff), help with housing (obviously), legal services, mental and chemical health care, State IDs, voice mail, and more. Oh, and drop-in childcare so that people with kids can leave them behind while filling out forms to get a State ID or whatever. There's a whole section for veterans services because if someone has ever served in the military there's all sorts of health care and other help that they're entitled to as a matter of course, but tons of people don't realize that (they think you have to have served in combat, for instance). There's also a whole section for youth -- people 25 and under. They warned us that dental, legal, and optical appointments tend to go really fast, so if your guest is interested in those, take them there right away.
If guests prefer to walk around by themselves they certainly can but if they want someone who will take them around, keep them company, hold their hand during the dentist appointment, etc., that's what the volunteers are for. (We arrive early and are supposed to do a self-tour before the guests arrive so that we know where everything is.) The director doing the training said that one of the main things that people have said on evaluations as they leave is that people were really kind to them.
Anyway. They do not generally hand out donated items at this event -- it's supposed to be services-oriented. The exception is that they need flash drives for people who are having resumes put together in the employment services area -- they can give people CDs, but they would prefer to have flash drives so that people can update their resumes later as needed. They do not need to be large flash drives at all -- big enough to store a couple of Word documents, basically. I know that I know people who have entire BUCKETS of flash drives, so if anyone local has some they'd like to donate, please let me know.
If you want to volunteer, it's not too late (although it's getting close). There are two more training sessions, one tomorrow and one on the 16th. Here's the website again. They want you to sign up for a training session (those are optional if you've volunteered at these before), and to commit to staying at least until 2 p.m. (the event runs until 4.)
One other note -- it is not just homeless people who are welcome to come, but also people at high risk for homelessness. They've offered legal services in the past to people whose landlord was just foreclosed on and who don't know what their rights are, and they've helped people who are spending 90% of their take-home pay on housing, or who in one way or another are really on the brink. They also have services for people dealing with domestic violence. If you or someone you know would benefit from coming, please come, or pass the information along. (There are similar events in other cities: Project Homeless Connect is the usual name, and google should find them if they exist.)
