Transformational Grants

Transforming Lives, Preventing Homelessness

by Jenny Bliley, Outreach Social Worker

Each year, thanks to the support of the St. Paul's community, the church is able to provide direct financial assistance to individuals and families. These transformational grants are a crucial part of our effort to not only help those who are homeless, but also prevent individuals from becoming homeless.

It is much better for individuals and more cost-effective to work with them before they become homeless. Since July 2009 (through May 2010), 66 clients have been assisted financially, 18 of whom were assisted a second or third time. The average amount of assistance given is $440/client/time.

Partnership with ACTS

Additionally, St. Paul's has been able to refer families in need of assistance to Area Congregations Together in Service (ACTS) since August 2006. ACTS is an interfaith organization that provides emergency financial assistance to clients in the Richmond area that are in need in order to prevent them from becoming homeless. Since August 2006, St. Paul's has given $22,500 to ACTS for client assistance. In return, we have made referrals to ACTS and ACTS has assisted 88 St. Paul's client families with a total of $72,657 in financial assistance. Over $50,000 has been for rental assistance and the other has been spent on utilities.

Grant Recipients

Below are just a few examples of those whose lives were transformed in part thanks to St. Paul's Transformational Grants ministry. Names have been withheld for privacy purposes.

Between Jobs: Mr. G was a single man who lived in an apartment. He lost his job several months ago and had started the unemployment process. He came to me in need of assistance with his rent. He had an appointment with unemployment scheduled for the end of the month. He was also going to see two agencies that he had worked with in years past who were going to help him find employment. I agreed to assist him that month. He came back to me after his unemployment meeting and they had denied him, but he had two interviews set up in the coming week so I agreed to help him a second time. He got one of the jobs but would not get his paycheck in time for the next month so I agreed to help him the third time. Paying his rent those three months provided him with the time he needed to find employment and maintain his stability and housing. I felt that because he was working so hard and going out of his way to work with other agencies to help him find employment that it was worth the investment to pay for three months of rent.

Paying It Forward: Mr. X came to see me because he was behind one month on his rent. He has been put in jail and had to use his disability income to pay his bond. He made enough money to pay his bills going forward and I felt this would help him to maintain stable housing. I paid the rent and he insisted that he would pay us back. He came back two months in a row and paid us back a portion of the rent, which went right into transformational grants for others.

Stable Housing: A couple came to see me that was staying in a rooming house. They had some problems with their landlord and the landlord wanted them to move. He received disability and she was in the process of getting disability. I told them they needed to find other housing and that I would assist them with the start up costs. They found other housing arrangements and I assisted them with the rent/deposit for the first month. They have been stable and able to pay their rent since that time.

Hope & Self Confidence: Mr. Z and his girlfriend came to see me several years ago. They were homeless but had both gotten a job and wanted to stay in a rented room. I knew they both had substance abuse problems but I was willing to give them a chance to see if their new employment would help stabilize them. I paid for their rent at that time. Two years later Mr. Z came back to see me. He had been homeless again for a while but he had gotten into a men's shelter and was sober and working on getting his life back together. He had an old debt with the DMV and needed help getting that paid off in order to get his license back and start looking for better employment. He was working for a janitorial company but has had his CDL license and used to be a truck driver. I agreed to pay off the large bill in order to give him more employment opportunities. I spoke with his case manager recently and he stated that our assistance had really given him the hope and self confidence he needed to continue to move forward. He is still working on getting all of his life together but I think our paying that bill was a good investment in his future. He comes in periodically to let me know how he is doing.

When Employment Is Not Enough: Ms. D is a single mother who is an Eastern European immigrant. She has two young daughters but no other family and very little social support. She came to me because she had gotten behind in her rent. She works at McDonalds and they had cut her hours. Her manager is hoping to be able to give her more hours and Ms. D is looking for another job but that is difficult. I agreed to pay the rent in order to keep the family stable and out of the shelter system. She came back to me 5 months later seeking assistance with her electric bill. Her electricity was off. She had not been able to get any more hours at McDonalds yet but she was caught up on her rent payments. I agreed to assist her in order to get her electric cut back on. This is a hard situation because she is always going to come up short on her bills and she is always going to have to decide. My decision to help her is not only to help her family remain in housing, but also to prevent another family from falling into the shelter system.

Published in The Epistle, June 2010