NORWICH – Over 13 percent of families in Chenango County are living below the poverty level. Some have hard times meeting their most basic needs, but thanks to programs funded by the Chenango United Way, services are in place to help families through the hard times and help them toward achieving their goals of self sufficiency.
In March of 2005, the Chenango United Way did a community needs assessment and identified four categories of need in Chenango County: poverty issues of housing and hunger, programs for the aging population, programs for children and youth and access to healthcare.
Programs that address the basic needs of obtaining shelter and food fall into the poverty focus area.
“As one of the four main focus areas identified in the needs assessment, the issues addressed by programs funded in this focus area (poverty issues of housing and hunger) are assisting people with some of the most basic needs we have – shelter and food,” said Community Co-Chair Karen Sastri.
Following the 2006 CUW campaign, $93,746 was allocated to fund six programs that addressed the poverty issue in Chenango County.
One of those programs was the Transitional Housing Program through Opportunities for Chenango. “The Transitional Housing Program serves working families with dependent children who are homeless or at risk of becoming homeless,” said Gary Quarella of OFC. Although homelessness doesn’t seem to be as prevalent in rural areas like Chenango County, a point-in-time survey of homelessness in the county identified at least 73 homeless individuals in Chenango County on one specific date. Quarella pointed out that the face of homelessness is not what people may think. “Two years ago, over 40 percent of families at risk of becoming homeless were households where at least one of the adults was working,” Quarella said.
The Transitional Housing Program sees many individuals who are at risk of becoming homeless, identifies the barriers to success for each of them and attempts to help them find solutions. For some people, referrals to different community agencies are enough. They refer people to WIC or food stamps for help paying for food, HEAP to aid in the cost of heating fuel in the winter, and help them get assistance where they are eligible. The program has a component for financial management courses to ensure that individuals do not find themselves in the same situation again. Courses on foreclosure and eviction prevention are available, and for individuals who need more help, the program has a few transitional housing units for families to occupy.
The Transitional Housing Program identified five goals for the program and projected how many people they could help in the 2007 year as part of their application to the United Way.
They projected they would see 125 housing-insecure families come into the office, and that by following up on the referrals given by the program, 40 of those families would stabilize their situation within three months. When the United Way Mid Year reports were released, 448 customers had been seen, and 111 of those had secured their situation by utilizing the referrals they had received. Quarella and OFC projected that three families would receive transitional housing and become self sufficient enough to move on from the program. At mid year, two families had already gone through the program. Approximately 110 low to moderate income families attended the financial fitness workshops to improve their budgeting skills, and 18 renters and four mortgage holders have avoided eviction and foreclosure with the help of the program.
“We just wouldn’t be able to do this without the United Way funding,” Quarella said. “We wouldn’t be able to support the move to self sufficiency.”
Catholic Charities Roots and Wings is also funded through the CUW poverty focus area. Roots and Wings provides a food pantry, used clothing and furniture for those in need.
“Our focus is on establishing ‘roots,’ by stabilizing areas in people’s lives, and filling their initial basic needs for food, clothing and furniture,” said Catholic Charities Assistant Executive Director Dan Vala. “We work with them toward achieving self sufficiency, that gives them the ‘wings.’”
Roots and Wings addresses the basic need of hunger, not only by allowing customers to access the food pantry, but also by helping them with referrals to services they may be eligible for. “We work on the continuum from crisis to self sufficiency,” Vala said.
As of June 30, Roots and Wings served a total of 3,861 households in Chenango County, consisting of 7,459 adults, 5,451 children and 336 individuals over 65.
“Many of those 3,000 households are families living in poverty who are struggling to get along,” Vala said.
Also as of June, 1,819 households utilized the food pantry at Roots and Wings, consisting of 3,500 adults and 2,400 children.
“Without the Roots and Wings program, the connection of people from need to self sufficiency wouldn’t be occurring,” said Vala. “Without Roots and Wings there would be a lot of hungry people, and kids and adults who didn’t have adequate clothing,” Vala said.
Although Vala couldn’t say with certainty if the demand for the program was increasing, he said the demand for the program is constant. “It’s a consistent demand. Often we find that the face of poverty has taken on the look of a working family. More often than not, it’s working families who are just managing to get by.”
In addition to providing food, clothing and furniture, Vala says the program provides another important service, a place where people can feel safe and free of judgment. “They’re able to connect with the staff and other people who are in a similar situation, and it makes them really able to form supportive relationships that help them to get by in life.
Vala said Roots and Wings is always in need of donations of food and good used furniture. Donations can be dropped off Monday through Thursday from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. The food pantry is available from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Monday through Friday and the shop is open for clothing and furniture from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Monday through Friday.
“If people are hungry and/ or do not have proper housing, it is more difficult for them to work towards self-sufficiency. Outcome based programs in this focus area will assist this county in achieving the necessary self-sufficiency for these basic needs which will allow those individuals to focus on other needs in their lives leading to total self-sufficiency,” Sastri said.
To make a donation to the United Way or for more information on these or other United Way funded programs visit www.chenanguw.org.