The Homeless Services Program of Interfaith Works

Level 1.  Interfaith Works (many programs)
Level 2.  The Homeless Services Program (many programs)
Level 3.  Wilkins Avenue Women’s Assessment Center
        --Community Based Shelter  (RRUUC feeds March 7-13)
        --Sophia House

Interfaith Works – a new name for Community Ministry of Montgomery County (CMMC) in 2008.  Interfaith Works (IW) is a name that better reflects the diversity of its stakeholders. IW continues to partner with other area non-profits, public agencies and elected officials, corporate, faith and philanthropic groups in Montgomery County, MD to fulfill its mission:

    “To pursue social justice with an emphasis on identifying and meeting the     needs of the poor by leading and engaging Montgomery County’s faith
    communities in service, education, and advocacy.”

IW is a non-sectarian interfaith coalition of more than 140 member and affiliated congregations representing over 65,000 families of many faiths, working together to meet the needs of the poor in Montgomery County, Maryland.  

It is a myth that rich counties don’t have poor people—and being poor in an affluent community can be particularly challenging. Montgomery County, MD is home to 50,000 people who live below the Federal Poverty Level, and in this region especially, the high cost of living forces thousands of hard-working families to struggle to keep food on the table and a roof over their heads.

IW provides a broad array of social services and advocacy programs. These programs provide direct assistance to the disadvantaged populations of Montgomery County, including the homeless, low-income adults, families and immigrants, as well as those suffering from acute or chronic poverty, those with physical or mental disabilities and others for whom economic and social realities prevent full and productive functioning in the community.  

The Homeless Services Program.  Over the past ten years, the Homeless Services Program of IW has evolved from a single emergency shelter for men (Community Based Shelter) to a multifaceted combination of housing and support services that can transition a homeless individual from the streets to an emergency shelter, to transitional housing, and finally on to permanent housing, all the while providing the training, job support and life skills necessary for them to stabilize their lives.  IW has achieved substantial efficiencies in operation by being able to provide continuity of care in progressively more independent living sites for clients.  This includes the following services:

• Resource referrals, job training, and employment services,

• Outreach, emergency housing and assessment services,

• Transitional housing and support services,  

• Permanent supportive housing and services,  

• Continuing case management support to clients after they move on to permanent housing.  

IW has assumed a leadership role in the new Housing Initiative Program (HIP), Montgomery County’s Housing First initiative, which tries to quickly move homeless persons into permanent housing.  

Wilkins Avenue Women’s Assessment Center.  In FY 2008, IW was chosen by Montgomery County as the Assessment Center for all single women interested in accessing housing through the County’s Housing Initiative Program (Housing First).  The Center consists of two shelters still using the names that many people are familiar with:  The Community Based Shelter (CBS) which provides both transitional housing and emergency housing for single adult women and Sophia House (SH) which provides emergency shelter for adult women.  

The combined program currently serves a total of 65 clients who live at the center temporarily; about 50 are in emergency beds and about 15 are in transitional beds.  Clients who are referred (generally from the County Crisis Center) to the Wilkins Avenue Center begin in one of CBS’s 20 emergency beds and the staff reviews the rules and responsibilities with a new arrival. If she agrees to the terms of the program she moves either to one of SH’s 30 emergency beds as a bed becomes available or, as appropriate, to one of the 15 transitional beds at CBS (clients in transitional beds need to be in a program or working).  The Center employs four Clinical Case Managers (4 FTEs) and the clients are assessed as they enter the Center; the clients stay with the initially assigned case manager throughout the time they are in the Center.  The Program’s main goals are to:

• Provide client assessments,

• Develop an initial treatment plan for each client that take into account the barriers to housing, and

• Implement these plans with the aim of moving clients to more permanent housing as quickly as possible.

During FY 2009, the Wilkins Avenue Center served 362 clients.  Of these, 301 moved out during the year – to better housing, to similar housing elsewhere, or to a different bed within the Wilkins Center.

The Community Based Shelter. CBS houses 20 women in emergency beds and 15 women in transitional bets.  Clients are admitted at 5:30 p.m. and expected to leave by 7 a.m. During the day women in the transitional CBS beds either work or participate in programs.  Meals are provided to the residents by volunteer groups.  At CBS, various congregations take one week per year and provide three meals a day plus related supplies for that time.  Congregational members usually bring the evening meal and stay to serve.  Breakfast and lunch items are brought along with the evening meal for use by the residents the following day.  Members and friends of RRUUC have been providing meals during to CBS during one week of the year for many years.  

Note:   At SH, the meals for the residents are provided by groups or individuals that sign up for one night at a time.  Some groups commit to the same day each month, and others for just one time.  RRUUC members and friends who cannot participate in shelter week to feed CBS but who would be interesting in providing a meal or partial meal for Sophia House women can contact Cindy Hall at netcindy(at)aol.com