| AOG News Articles and Testimonals
 Mayor Swearengin Announces Community-Wide Initiative to End Cycle of Homelessness |
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FRESNO – Saying that every City resident can be a part of ending and preventing homelessness in Fresno, Mayor Ashley Swearengin today announced the launch of Fresno First Steps Home, a comprehensive, community-wide initiative to address homelessness in our community.
Mayor Swearengin set a goal of raising $1 million a year in private donations to be used for Fresno First Steps Home, a City-sponsored nonprofit that will raise funds through individual donations, local businesses and grants. In turn, the funds raised will be granted to area nonprofits and public service providers who are working to implement Fresno’s 10-Year Plan to End Chronic Homelessness. Those organizations include the Fresno Housing Authorities, the Marjaree Mason Center, WestCare, the Fresno County Economic Opportunities Commission, the Poverello House and the Angels of Grace.
“As a city, we should expect to make reductions in the number of people living on our streets,” Mayor Swearengin said. “Doing nothing is not an option. Doing nothing is costing the public an estimated $80 million per year in unpaid medical bills, emergency room visits, public safety calls and other public services. Everyone can help. Everyone can be a part of ending and preventing homelessness in Fresno.”
Mayor Swearengin asked each City resident to donate $1 per month to the effort, which would put the initiative far above its funding goal.
“Many of our residents probably give a dollar to a homeless person on a street corner about once a month,” Mayor Swearengin said. “Instead of doing that, consider giving that dollar to a community-wide effort where you know the dollars are going to be used to provide services to our homeless population to help get them permanently off the streets.”
Anyone wishing to donate to the initiative should visit www.FresnoFirstStepsHome.org and sign up to make a monthly donation.
Mayor Swearengin said the Fresno First Steps Home plan is based on lessons learned from the City’s efforts in the past year in moving people from Fresno’s largest encampment, H Street, and the Storyland Motel on Motel Drive into appropriate transitional housing. Seven months after the effort to close H Street, 80% of the people who were moved into housing remain off the streets and are well on their way to independence and self-sufficiency.
Fresno First Steps Home will coordinate a “housing-first” model that is aimed at connecting participants with an umbrella of services, including substance abuse and mental-health programs, healthcare, benefits acquisition and medical treatment.
“It’s pretty tough for homeless people to enroll in a job training program or get a job interview because they don’t have a permanent residence,” Mayor Swearengin said. “That’s why housing makes all the difference. If you can get people off the streets and into housing, it’s much easier for them to deal with the issues in their lives that led to their homelessness in the first place.”
The “housing first” approach involves five steps to independence:
- Outreach—Case managers trained in street outreach and serving the homeless population reach out to homeless individuals to begin the process.
- Assessment—Case managers assess the needs of each individual, including health concerns, family background, criminal history and education. This provides a snapshot for future planning and support.
- Housing—Case managers find transitional housing for the individuals at reduced rates, as long as clients show measurable progress in the program for up to 18 months.
- Action Plan—Case managers create an action plan that puts individuals on a path to self-sufficiency. This plan is monitored and evaluated on a regular basis.
- Monitoring and support—Using the action plan, case managers track the progress of individuals and provide support services as needed.
Mayor Swearengin said that providing the homeless with services makes economic sense for Fresno. A recently completed cost analysis of chronic homelessness in Fresno estimates that housing one chronically homeless person saves $11,872 per person per year in public funds.
Mayor Swearengin also said that as a public/private partnership, Fresno First Steps Home’s structure allows government funding to go farther and increases the options for financial support – from donations to grants and other government assistance.
Fresno First Steps Home will be guided by a seven-member board of directors.
For more information on the initiative, please visit http://www.fresnofirststepshome.org/.
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| → Fresno Gets $4m to Aid Homeless |
| By Russell Clemings - The Fresno Bee (09/20/2009) |
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More than $4m in federal stimulus funding is about to become available to relieve and prevent homelessness in Fresno.
With the start of a new federal budget year Thursday, city and county leaders are allocated funds to 11 organizatons that will be charged with finding and helping people who are homeless or in danger of becoming so.
"We're really excited about this," said Gregory Barfield, who was in charge of the ciy's succefful shutdown earlier this year of a large homeless camp along H Street near Monterey Street bridge.
A total of 103 people in 70 households were moved in that effort. Of those, Barfield said, all but four remain in the program, generally in rent-subsidized apartments. The four exceptions include two who dropped out, one who died and one who went to prison, he said.
The task now will be more complex. Instead of focusing on a single homeless camp, worker's for the 11 agencies will seach throughout the county. Instead of limiting their efforts to people living in the open, they'll also look for people in substandard housing who are in danger of becoming homeless.
"We want to prevent people from becoming homeless if they're on the verge ," said Laura Haga-moreno, staff analysis in the county's Department of Children and Family Services.
In small towns and rural areas "you'll see pople living in a garage, renting it out," Haga-Moreno said. "We have to look outside of categories that you might typically think of as homeless."
Last Thursday, the Fresno City Council approved $3.1 millon in allocations to eight agencies. The largest share of $1 million is going city Housing Authority, which Barfield said will be in charge of finding apartments for the homeless.
On Tuesday, the county Board of Supervisors is scheduled to allocate almost $1.1 millon to another eight agencies, including five that also recieved city allocations. In addition, another $500,000 of the county's stimulus funding is to be used by county soocial services departments for direct assistance to needy households, Haga-Moreno said.
For example, Haga-Moreno said, the county this year recieved $175,239 in federal funds for emergency shelters. The new three-year program will almost triple that for the county on an annual basis.
Agencies that will get funding from one or both sources includes Central California Legal Services, Aspiranet, Marjaree Mason Center, WestCare California-Veterans, Fresno EOC Sanctuary, Angels of Grace Foster Family Agency, the city and county housing authorities, the California Association for Physically Handicapped and United Way of Fresno County.
* To read more about Angels of Grace Foster Family Agency Program serving the homeless, called the "Angels of Grace Homeless Prevention Program," please click here.
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| → Word's of Encouragement |
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→ 12 Faces of Christmas
By the Fresno Bee (12/25/2009)
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| Pics by John Walker |
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Helping others isn't a one-day-a year proposition for some Valley residents.
It can take a whole year's worth of work to get ready for the annual Kids Day benefit for Children's Hospital. Months of planning to feed and entertain thousands at a holiday dinner in Parlier. And hours of care packing goodie bags for children in Selma.
For the 15th year, The Bee is celebrating that kind of behind the scenes work with Faces of Christmas, a feature spotlighting a dozen people who help make us all better off.
There are plenty of ways to make a difference. And that's what The Bee Faces of Christmas do.
Take Alan Pirie. Each Christmas season, he raises money among friends, family, neighbors, and business associates. Then he turns it into aid for struggling Valley families through Evangelicals for Social Action/Love Inc.
"If we had 25, 50, or 100 more Alans, we would be a lot better off," says George Ordway, the agency's associate director.
Why do it? Rose Robertson, who organizes the Selma even for children in her old neighborhood, says she gets as much as she gives. "Its very rewarding to give back to the community.
The look on their faces to see Santa makes it all worthwhile, she says. "It gives them hope. They're happy because someone's thinking about them."
Read the Story for Angels of Grace Foster Family Agency, placed in the Fresno Bee below:
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The Basics: Lisa Casarez, 46, is the founder and executive director of Angels of Grace, a nonprofit foster family agency serving Fresno, Madera, and Tulare counties since 2000. She is a Fresno native and has a master's degree in social work from Fresno State.
What She Does: When children enter the foster care system, usually due to parental neglect or abuse, Casarez places them in a stable home. Some arrangements last just 48 hours; others become permanent.
The agency provides everything from diapers and baby formula to toys, books and clothing. And Casarez personally answers each call, 24 hours a day.
Angels of Grace also operates what Casarez callls "transitional homes" for troubled women ages 18 to 24, giving them stability and self-esteem.
"Kids need hope, " she said. "They need people to hold them, love them and sometimes take lice out of their hair."
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Why She Does it: When she was 18, Casarez was in an abusive relationship. She had two kids (plus another on the way) and nowhere to turn. She turned her life in around in large part due to the kindness and encouragement of others. Now, it's her turn.
"If we pour enough love into these kids, they'll maybe have enough love to pour out into the Earth," she said, "Pay it forward."
What Others Say: "I'm 89 years old and I never met a woman that I admire as much as I admire Lisa," said Ed Loeb Sr., owner of a 13-bedroom house in Fresno that Casarez is renovating for use as a transitional home. "She's for real."
How You Can Help: Angels of Grace is a 501c(3) nonprofit agency and all donations are tax deductible. Donations are accepted online at http://www.angelsofgrace.com/ or by mail at 2211 N. Fine Ave., Fresno, CA 93727.
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| → Local Group Honors Latinas (Jonasson, Casarez takes the limelight |
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By Rebecca Plevin (Vida en el Valle)
(04/14/2010)
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Fresno - As Central California Hispanic Chamber of Commerce president Jose Plascencia introduced the recipient of the first-ever 'Rising Star' award at the 14th annual Latina Woman's Conference, he said the young woman was a staple at community events across the San Joaquin Valley. "This person, you will pretty much see her at every Hispanic function in the Central Valley," Plascencia said. "I just don't know how she does it...She keeps going and going and going."
Plascencia was describing award winner Elizabeth Jonasson, 25, who works as the community outreach coordinator for the City of Fresno. She was honored during the chamber luncheon last Friday afternoon at the Radison Hotel. Plascencia wasn't exaggerating about Jonasson's degree of community involvement. Jonasson present information about the city and the 2010 U.S. Census at the chamber's Spanish-language Alianza luncheons, and is a Central california Latina Network board member.
She also interprets for Mayor Ashley Swearengin at May 5 and Sept. 16 holiday events, does outreach to minority business, and works closely with city residents. Jonasson, a 2006 graduate of the Instituto Tecnologico Autonomo de Mexico, said her relatively young age does not prevent her from striving to make a positive impact on the region's minority communities.
"That I can make a difference - that's the most important part," Jonasson said. "That the city can be reaching these people is incredibly important, to be able to serve effectively the entire population of the city." During the luncheon, Jonasson thanked her mother, Martha Elvia Rosas, the former Consul of Mexico in Fresno, and her father, Raymond Jonasson. She also acknowledged other successful Latina's who have paved the way for the next generation of Latina's. "A lot of the people in this room have paved the way for young Latina's like myself," Jonasson said. "If it wasn't for the inspiration and the mentoring, and paving the way, I would not be here."
Lisa Casarez, CEO and Executive Director of the non-profit foster family agency Angels of Grace, was honored as businesswoman of the year during the conference. In a brief speech, Casarez described the "amazing, amazing journey" she had traveled to reach this milestone. "Twenty-one years ago, I ended up in a place of darkness," Casarez said. "I was pregnant, and I had a 2-year-old and 4-year-old...It was another non-profit, the Marjorie Mason Center, that was there for me, and they gave me what i needed to get out of my pit." Since that point, Casarez has earned her bachelors and masters degrees in Social Work. She also founded the agency's Safe Haven Transitional Home and Homeless Prevention Program, and has received numerous awards for her work.
Casarez encouraged other women to live and work with purpose and passion. "The modern day Latina is not sufrida (long-suffering,)" Casarez said. "We can just walk in integrity, with love, and with dignity, and with hope."
The Latina Women's Conference featured free classes and informal booths, and a fashion show. Dr. Ana Maria Polo, star of Telemundo show 'Caso Cerrado' was the guest speaker at the luncheon, and Graciela Moreno, ABC 30 News anchor and 'Latino Life' host, was the mistress of ceremony.
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