Congratulations are in order for CSH Speak Up! Illinois Advocate Abigail Bempong. Abigail was recently awarded a $1,000 Community Building Grant Award by Advocates for Action in partnership with the Evanston Community Foundation. The grants support individuals who want to make their local communities better places to live and raise families.
Abigail founded a program called G.E.T.T U.P (Girls Empowered to Thrive Under Pressure) for girls ages 10-12 in Evanston, IL. G.E.T.T U.P focuses on supporting girls in owning their power, increasing self-love, self-esteem, positive body image, and leadership development. The grant award will support the growth of this program.
Abigail’s children, staff and board members from Connections for the Homeless, CSH Senior Program Manager Johnna Lowe and Abigail’s Speak Up! Coach Rikki Moore of Mercy Housing all came out to support and congratulate her.
Have you heard? CSH Speak Up Advocate LaRae Cantley teamed up with former CSHer Molly Rysman and Bill Pitkin, former Director of Domestic Programs for the Conrad N. Hilton Foundation, to convene the first ever Housing Justice LA Summit. Accompanying the Summit, LaRae and Molly have produced two podcast episodes that are a must listen. In the first episode Molly and LaRae interview each other on the origin of the podcast, their personal stories, and what they hope to explore in future episodes.
The second episode, Race & Homelessness, features CSH Speak Up Advocate June Cigar, who shares the story of her own brush with homelessness, then LaRae and Molly interview Monique King-Viehland about how racism in America has fueled homelessness and how LA might start to address the disproportionate impact of homelessness on black Americans. The episode closes with a poem by Michael Nelder.
CSH Speak Up advocates in Illinois traveled to the state capitol in Springfield to meet with their representatives as part of the Illinois Supportive Housing Providers Association 2019 Advocacy Day.
For many of our 2019 Speak Up advocates in training, this was their first experience with direct outreach to policymakers and their staff members. Having attended an Advocacy Day Orientation and Advocacy 101 training, our advocates were eager and well prepared to press for $39.9 million to be allocated in the FY2020 Illinois State budget.
This budget request would continue existing services to approximately 16,500 individuals in Illinois, help providers restore the programs and personnel lost during the state’s long budget impasse, and address a portion of unmet needs.
The trip to Springfield also included networking opportunities with legislators and other supportive housing residents from across the state.
Last night, Los Angeles was buzzing as new stars took to the stage for their CSH Speak Up! graduation ceremony. In front of a packed house, the 15 members of the CSH Speak Up! class of 2018 opened up about their journey from homelessness to stability to advocacy, focusing on the impact supportive housing has had on their lives. And sharing why they decided to speak up and out for those still experiencing homelessness.
The event was hosted in partnership with the Conrad N. Hilton Foundation and the United Way of Greater Los Angeles’ Everyone In coalition, a countywide initiative bringing together leaders and voices across LA County to keep the best solutions to end homelessness moving forward.
Now in its fifth year, CSH Speak Up! has produced graduates who share their stories across the country, helping to drive critical public policy. Several program advocates have gone on to speak at local, state and national events, telling their personal stories of perseverance and advocating for proven solutions like supportive housing.
Speak Up’s year-long curriculum empowers supportive housing residents to become community leaders and champions for supportive housing. Through monthly workshops, one-on-one story coaching, public speaking at community events, and advocacy with elected officials, Speak Up! graduates develop skills to reclaim their lived-experience stories as messages of hope to create change.
In addition to LA, CSH sponsors Speak Up! in Chicago, Illinois, and is planning to expand the program throughout the United States.
Watch the 2018 Speak Up! graduation ceremony in LA by clicking any of the links or video below:
CSH Summit Discussion Highlights Cross-Sector Approach to Aging in Supportive Housing
Last month, experts in healthcare, supportive housing, philanthropy, policy, systems change and research came together as part of CSH’s fourth annual national Summit to offer perspectives on the current state of an aging population in supportive housing.
Emily Martiniuk, a supportive housing resident and graduate of the CSH SpeakUp!program, kicked off a dynamic discussion by describing how, on the brink of retirement, her life suddenly turned upside down when she found herself without a home. She urged the audience to consider: “If homelessness happened to you, what would you want it to look like?”
Together with an active audience, experts in the field like Dr. Margot Kushel of University of California San Francisco (UCSF), Thomas Hart from United Health Care, Andy Perry and Pascale Leone from CSH, Erika Hartman from LA’s Downtown Women’s Center, and Colleen Bain from National Church Residences grappled with this question and sought to identify not just the major challenges facing seniors struggling with housing insecurity, but also creative solutions that leverage cross-sector resources and momentum.
Acknowledging that demographic shifts track toward an older supportive housing tenancy that faces complex behavioral and physical health challenges, the group stressed the need for new, bold approaches to serving older adults. However, effectively leveraging cross-sector resources and capitalizing on momentum will require careful, intentional attention to four key themes:
Increased Understanding of the Population
Identifying the problem is the first step to solving it. Obtaining concrete data on the size and characteristics of the population is crucial to resource management. An evidence base also will help make the case for additional resources and encourage traditionally siloed sectors, such as healthcare and housing, to quantify the overlap in their populations and the potential cost-savings of joint initiatives such as value-based payment arrangements.
Focus on Equity
Members of the audience raised the importance of not just developing new programs but carefully measuring who gets access to them and why. Are there disparities in terms of race, ability, ethnicity, age, or gender and sexual identity? Are the models designed to assist, such as Coordinated Entry, using eligibility criteria that disproportionately disfavor older adults or members of other groups? Stakeholders need to carefully evaluate not just the intent but the impact of their mission.
Staff Training and Capacity Building
Supportive housing sites face a changing tenancy, and with it, a need for staff trained in issues ranging from dementia care to limited mobility, to elder care law and end of life planning. Buildings need to be designed to accommodate the physical needs of older adults to be adaptable to promote healthy aging in place. Trainings on everything from best practices for care coordination to staffing plans and enhanced service models will be crucial in equipping supportive housing to meet older tenants’ needs.
Partnerships
Innovative partnerships are key to meeting the interrelated health, housing, social and long-term needs of aging adults. Recent partnerships tackling older adults’ health and housing needs, such as collaborations between health centers and PACE* programs and a joint initiative between the Texas Medicaid Agency and Housing Finance Agency, are a promising start.
All participants agreed recent funding initiatives and innovative projects across the country, combined with a growing determination in the healthcare community to confront social determinants of health, offer promise of a supportive housing industry better equipped to meet the growing demand for units and services.
*Program of All-Inclusive Care for the Elderly
A special thanks to the AARP Foundation for sponsoring this event.
Congratulations are in order for CSH Speak Up! Illinois Advocate Abigail Bempong. Abigail was recently awarded a $1,000 Community Building Grant Award by Advocates for Action in partnership with the Evanston Community Foundation. The grants support individuals who want to make their local communities better places to live and raise families.
