Characterizing Housing Instability

Do you ever wonder if there is a difference between low income families who maintain stable housing and those who become homeless? ICPH is asking this very question. Click here to read about what their research has uncovered.

Meet Our Staff: Shon Brown, Case Manager

“This is not a job for me, it is a mission.”  These are the words Shon Brown, our case manager who works with our Pickens, Bartow and Gordon county houses, closed our interview with.  The stories she told me one afternoon are both touching and illustrate how committed Shon is to helping her families become self sufficient. 

Shon joined the Action Ministries Transitional Housing team after working for DFACS.  She made the change because her passion is working with people, not numbers.  So her answer to the question “What is the best part of being a case manager?” is no surprise.  It is working with her families and seeing them change right before her eyes.  Her favorite story of change was working with Vanessa and her family.  She described Vanessa as “tough”.  She had tattoos and her English was laced with curse words.  Vanessa’s dad was in prison and her mom was in a gang.  When she entered the program she had not graduated from high school, she had no job, she had no car, she had no furniture and she brought a lot of drama from her “baby daddy”.  Vanessa’s grandma was trying to support all of her grandkids, but there wasn’t room for everyone in her two bedroom apartment.  Vanessa became homeless with her three kids. 

Vanessa’s journey towards self sufficiency was long.  Shon remembers that when Vanessa first entered the program, Vanessa even resisted getting on TANF because she didn’t want her children’s father to have to pay child support.  Nothing seemed to be getting through to her. So Shon told her the truth:  “You’re broke; you’ve got no place to go; no job; no GED.  Your mom is in a gang and your dad is in prison.  Are your three kids important to you?  Do you love them?  Because you are going to have to turn things around.  Having your ex-boyfriend pay child support is just the first step.”  Vanessa listened to Shon and began to make changes.

At first, Vanessa had no transportation.  Shon remembers Vanessa putting all three kids in the stroller and walking to “do what she needed to do”.  She got a job at DFACS and began to study for her GED.  Shon remembers that Vanessa was the first person in her family to receive her GED. “There had been other family members who tried, but Vanessa was the first to succeed.”  After she got her GED, Vanessa even started at Dalton College.  When she graduated from our program, she used her savings to move into her own place and Action Ministries was able to get her a donated car. Shon still keeps up with Vanessa and is proud to report that she is still working and is now engaged.  Shon remarked, “I saw the whole change and it was beautiful.  Mom was there to do homework with her kids.  Mom had a schedule, a job, her relationships improved.  She flipped it around.” 

Sometimes it is hard to get a sense of how much our case managers do.  Vanessa’s first language was not English.  Shon knows how important good communication skills are, so Shon had Vanessa write her letters every week so that she could practice her English. Shon would then correct them so that Vanessa would learn from her mistakes.  Vanessa also didn’t have conflict resolution skills. Shon remembers practicing with her how to deal with conflict at her job.  Shon taught her to “think with her brain” and not let her emotion get out of hand.  These skills have enabled Vanessa to stay employed.

Thank you River of Life!

River of Life painted and repaired two houses in Augusta and now the houses are ready for a family in need!  Thank you so much for your hard work!

Georgia Brief on Homlessness

Georgia had an estimated 1,812 homeless families on a single night in 2010, with providers serving nearly three times their bed capacity over the course of the year.  This brief summarizes some of the state’s public and private initiatives to assist these families.  Click here to read further.

Thank you Dunwoody UMC!

Thank you to Dunwoody United Methodist Church for putting together a donation drive for household items for our families.  We and our families appreciate it!

Homeless Students Find Hope in their Principal

At a Las Vegas school where 85% of students are homeless, the principal works to line up donations of clothes, food and haircuts.

Click here to read more

Augusta House Project Update!

Transitional Housing is THRILLED to welcome the River of Life volunteers to our Augusta houses today. Action Ministries owns two houses in Augusta that are in desperate need of some TLC in order for two homeless families to move into them. Our River of Life volunteers are sanding and painting the floors, painting cabinets, putting lattice work on the bottom of the houses to keep out critters, painting the porch steps, and cleaning the two houses. These young people and the adults who are working with them are serving for the next three days to help us move closer to getting these houses ready to open in the fall. Yesterday, we realized that sometime between 9 p.m. the night before and 3 p.m. the following day, the copper piping under one of our houses was stolen. In addition to the expense of replacing this piping, this also meant that our River of Life volunteers would have to work in 90 degree weather without any air conditioning. We called Kent, super volunteer and our River of Life project leader, and gave him the news. He took it all in stride and we rounded up a bunch of box fans from Action Ministries – Augusta to help keep the heat at bay. We are so grateful for the work that these volunteers will do over the next three days and their desire to put their faith into action through service. We are also grateful for their flexibility and good spirits in the midst of stolen piping! Stay tuned for before and after pictures.

The renovation of these houses is the first step towards adding two more transitional houses in Augusta. But without financial support of $16,000 we will not be able to open as scheduled in the fall. Funds designated to our Augusta houses will provide for utilities and other house expenses, case management, and supportive services such as transportation and child care. Our Augusta area case manager works with each family to create a self-sufficiency plan. She then helps the parent(s) address all of their barriers to self sufficiency (such as obtaining and maintaining employment, paying down debt, addressing health issues, learning how to budget, etc.) and helps them leave homelessness… permanently. Please consider donating today to support our two new Augusta houses. Together, we can end homelessness…one family at a time.