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St. Martin’s Hospitality Center[wm1] Helping Albuquerque’s Homeless Help Themselves
St. Martin’s Hospitality Center (SMHC), a non-profit 501(c) 31 organization has served the Albuquerque area since 1985. Through working with the community, city, state, and federal agencies, we are able to pursue our mission “to serve homeless and near-homeless people by providing resources, opportunities, and hope”. By providing a comprehensive array of services, SMHC is able to help homeless individuals on their journey to self-sufficiency. St. Martin's Hospitality Center is unique in the Albuquerque area for the breadth of its programming offered to meet the needs of homeless individuals and families. The services and programs provided stress flexibility, accessibility, and comprehensive care. These qualities are necessary to assist individuals and families out of homelessness. St. Martin’s Hospitality Center is located at 1201 3rd St. NW, Albuquerque, NM 87125. Our mailing address is PO Box 27258, Albuquerque, NM 87125. Our telephone number is (505) 242-4399, and to visit our web site is http://www.smhc-nm.org [wm2] . We are open for tours of our shelter daily. Tours can be arranged by calling (505) 242-4399 or contact us at our e-mail address at our website http://www.smhc-nm.org/administration.org. We are requesting funding for this program that is an alternative to the long periods of time that homeless and near-homeless individuals spend incarcerated[wm3] , while awaiting court appearances. We feel that by implementing a monitored housing environment that many, if not all, of high-risk individuals will be able to avoid the perils of homelessness. Additionally the same individuals will be able to participate in the wide array of programs offered by St. Martin’s Hospitality Center. These programs are designed to help them overcome the obstacles that prevent these individuals from maintaining a stable lifestyle for any length of time[wm4] . In closing I would like to take this opportunity to thank you from all of us here at St. Martin’s Hospitality Center. We are looking forward to hearing from your organization in the near future.
Sincerely,
Lee Patison Lee Patison, Executive Director[wm5] Needs Assessment Low-income and homeless individuals are being arrested and incarcerated for minor legal infractions. Due to court backlogs, an inability to post bond, and the lack of community help, they spend long periods of time in jail, causing their situation to deteriorate, which often results in homelessness[wm6] . These at-risk individuals often have some form of severe mental illness, yet the prisons do not have the necessary treatment options to help. The lack of treatment options for homeless individuals prevents their reintegration into society as self-sufficient citizens. Approximately 22% of the single adult homeless population suffers from mental illness. This statistic has a direct relationship to the large number of homeless incarcerations resulting from petty misdemeanors, and the high rate of recidivism[wm7] . The National Coalition for the Homeless states that all people with mental disorders, including those who are homeless, require ongoing access to a full range of treatment and rehabilitation services to reduce the impairment and disruption produced by their condition. When incarcerated, these people do not get the resources necessary to treat their mental illness; consequently they are often unable to prevent their return to jail. According to the 2003 U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Report, most homeless persons with mental illness do not need to be institutionalized, but can live in the community, with appropriate supportive housing options. Goals and Objectives The project goal is to provide homeless individuals with supportive housing while awaiting their trial. In this program, they can receive treatment for mental illnesses and substance abuse, and training to help develop job skills[wm8] . Provide Housing Communities Through a partnership with the Albuquerque Mental Health Housing Coalition, SMHC has acquired three separate facilities. We expect to have these housing units by January 1, 2008, and we will begin the program in March 2008. The housing facilities will provide a shelter for these detained men while they receive treatment and skill training. We will renovate each unit with the help of The Corporation for Supportive Housing (CHS), in order to fit the specifications of a multimember facility. Each housing facility will consist of five bedrooms, each with two beds, a dining area and living room, and a kitchen[wm9] . Before the program begins, SMHC will select house members based on their fulfillment of specific criteria set forth by a committee consisting of jail medical officials, the Public Defender’s office, and a representative of the case management team from St. Martin’s Hospitality Center. Guidelines that should be considered are the applicant’s employment status, housing/residence status, financial status, number of dependents, criminal record and medical history (mental illness and substance abuse). Following these guidelines, each inmate will be assessed during the booking procedure, and upon evaluation of the inmate, it will be the duty of the court to release the inmate upon their own recognizance, into the SMHC Program[wm10] . Appoint a Case Manager Case Managers are essential because they[wm11] will act as the liaisons between the St. Martin's Hospitality Center and the detention center, ensuring an open line of communication between the two to discuss the well-being and behavior of the residents. Qualifications should include a B.A. in social work or counseling, and previous experience working with people of similar mental illness and substance abuse problems. We are looking to hire 2 Case Managers, to mentor about 15 residents each. The annual salary for Case Management through SMHC is approximately $35,000, which will be paid in part by funding from the Public Welfare Foundation and the City of Albuquerque. The responsibility of the Case Managers is to facilitate treatment of the men with mental health and substance abuse problems while also providing job training and the skills necessary to maintain a job. Utilizing the resources at SMHC, the Case Managers are able to provide access to mental health treatment. Job Training is also offered through SMHC and consists of weekly courses on Building Self-Esteem, Anger Management, Interacting with Management and Customers, Financial Planning, and Setting Attainable Goals for the Future. With these resources, each Case Manager can provide a structured, scheduled environment where individuals can improve. Assign House Manager To maintain a safe and stable community, SMHC will provide in-house management for each housing unit. The House Manager will serve as a parole officer to the men residing in the homes. Applicants for the House Management Position must have previous experience in probation parole and exhibit patience and compassion while supervising the residents. The annual salary for each House Manager will be $6,000 in addition to a place of residence within the group housing. As with the Case Manager, additional funding will be provided through the Public Welfare Foundation and the City of Albuquerque[wm12] . There will be one House Manager assigned per housing unit, totaling three Managers. Responsibilities of the House Manager include maintaining their assigned housing unit, working collaboratively with other House Managers, and acting as the probation officer for the residents of their unit. Together, the House Manager, Case Manager, and SMHC can create a set of bylaws and expectations for the residents to abide by. The House Manager must ensure that these men meet curfews and complete daily tasks assigned by SMHC. Residents are required to attend a weekly conference with their assigned House Manager to assess their situation and address any issues or concerns. The House Manager reports directly to SMHC with information regarding all of the individuals within their housing unit[wm13] .
Management Capability St. Martin’s Hospitality Center directly handles issues regarding substance abuse, anger management, self-esteem, and other behavioral problems that often prevent individuals from achieving stability. SMHC has two main aspects to their services: the Day Shelter and the Behavioral Health Services. These two programs are closely connected and show SMHC’s capability to successfully implement this project. Statistics of SMHC’s services over a 12-month period include:
Sustainability SMHC has partnered with MissionFish, an online based charity solution provider that processes over ten thousand auctions on eBay and other high ranked websites. MissionFish’s sales are 95% donated to non-profit organizations such as SMHC. Typically auctions and other related online sales from respectable merchants generate a large some of dollars that are in turn donated to organization similar to SMHC. MissionFish will be donating about 5% of their monthly sales to SMHC to help sustain a large number of our extensive services. SMHC will use the donated funds to maintain and sustain the proposed programs for years and years to come. Budget The proposed budget represents 40% of the overall cost to maintain the project. We at SMHC have requested funding from the City of Albuquerque to aid what is not currently requested in this proposal[wm15] . Our budget is aimed to help maintain services already provided by SMHC. We anticipate that our additional funding plans will sustain this project for years to come.
Evaluation Plan To assess the progress of program participants, we will gauge their enthusiasm and effort throughout the duration of the program, in addition to documenting their accomplishments. Each participant must formulate a set of goals they hope to achieve when entering the program. Evaluations of residents are conducted on a bi-weekly basis by the Case Manager, to record improvements and setbacks. Residents’ acquisition of a job and the completion of personal goals will determine their success. A summative evaluation will consist of the number of participants who have gained employment, learned to manage mental illness, and/or broken an addiction. Upon completion of the program, participants shall fill out a survey regarding feedback about the program and also engage in an interview focusing on self-evaluation. Long term data collection from before and after our program will compare the statistics of number of arrests due to non-violent offenses, the number of homeless individuals, the rate of recidivism and the number of formerly homeless men. [wm1]You’ve gathered a lot of useful information about SMHC and the problem of homelessness, and your proposal greatly improves on the original I gave you—you define the problem, state goals and objectives, and outline the program’s operations much more clearly. You make reasonable gestures in the areas of sustainability and evaluation—you can’t really know enough about this project to do much more. Your cover letter doesn’t work very well. And while I see some progress in making your sentences more dense and your paragraphs more cohesive, you still have some work to do on those things. 85 points [wm2]All of this information would be included on the letterhead. [wm3]By phrasing this way, you assume, rather than explain, the problem. [wm4]These two short paragraphs underdescribe the program; this letter should make the reader eager to read the particulars of a program that will solve a problem. [wm5]This looks more like an advertising flyer than a letter, with a headline rather than a letterhead design, no salutation, and no direct address to the reader until the final paragraph. You offer too much detail about SMHC here, rather than focus on letting the reader know what to look forward to in reading the proposal. [wm6]But they were already homeless when arrested. [wm7]Can you better explain how these are related? [wm8]Good—a solid goal statement. [wm9]I’ve highlighted the important information this paragraph carries to show how much extra verbiage you’ve used. You’ve missed several opportunities to make your sentences more information-rich. [wm10]This suggests that you have unlimited space, but in fact you can accommodate only thirty residents. [wm11]Extra words [wm12]Ordinarily, you would present the information about other sources of funding all in one place, later. This part is about the program and, as you’ve arranged it, its costs. Better still, you might focus here on the qualifications and responsibilities and address the costs in the budget only. [wm13]This paragraph would benefit from tighter organization—it’s a series of statements about house management, and the program, and the residents, but they’re not clearly tied into a single line of thought. [wm14]This paragraph addresses SMHC’s programs and track record, but doesn’t say much about its capacity as a provider of supportive housing. [wm15]This is also the sentence in which to discuss the PWF contributions mentioned above. The way to do that is probably to make a slightly more complex table, showing the total budget, the amounts to be contributed by each other funder, and (finally) the amounts requested from ACF. Bookmark Us          |
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