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Purpose and Goal of the Program
Q: What is the size of the problem (homeless) and what
proportion does the program hope to reach?
A: In 2002, over the course of the year, there were 10,887
homeless men, women, and children who sought shelter in Louisville. This number does not include those persons who are sleeping out on the river bank, in camps, under viaducts, abandoned cars and buildings, etc., unless they also accessed specific services, such as homeless health care. Many of those sleeping out (not in shelters) come into various soup kitchens for meals, however, the kitchens do not keep records of those who visit. All told, there were probably about 12,000 - 12,500 persons in Louisville who experienced homeless over the course of the year. Wayside Christian Mission served about 3,000 unduplicated persons in our shelters over the year, so we are serving about 1/4 of the entire population. There are 28 different shelters in Louisville, according to the Coalition for the Homeless. In addition to the persons we shelter, Wayside serves three hot meals daily, every day of the year, in our dining hall. We do not keep track of those coming to eat, however, we know we serve quite a lot of people who are not staying in our shelter. Some of these people are living in nearby projects but do not have enough money for food. Others are those who sleep out. Wayside Christian Mission also operates the Samaritan Patrol: a mobile search team that scours the river banks, camps, and other places known to harbor the homeless. We encourage these folks to come into shelter during life threatening weather, however, if they choose to remain out, we will leave blankets, coffee, sandwiches, warm clothing, etc., with them.
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Q: What is the official statement of goals? If there is more than one, identify the differences in the groups' orientation to the problem?
A: Wayside Christian Mission's Mission Statement is as
follows:
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"The purpose of the Wayside Christian Mission is to respond to human need of the poor and homeless by (1) providing temporary housing/shelter, food, clothing, nurturing, spiritual and social enrichment, encouragement and referrals (2) and by providing the support services and skills that would permit and encourage a return to a state of self-sufficiency so that human dignity can be restored and the love of God can be shared."
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Q: What are the short-range and long-range goals of the program?
A: Wayside's short range goals are to provide emergency
housing, food, clothing, and crisis intervention to homeless men, women, and families. Our long range goals are to provide life-changing opportunities to homeless persons and families in order to return them to or help them achieve a life of self-sufficiency. The long range goals are accomplished through 1) a strong case management plan for each individual/family; 2) educational programs; 3) job training programs; 4) recovery education programs; 5) spiritual enrichment and life skills education.
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Implementation of the Program
Q: What are the manpower requirements of the program? How will existing manpower be utilized?
A: Wayside Christian Mission employs about 51 persons full-time, and a few part-time persons. Existing positions include: Executive Director (1); Director of Support Services (1); Program Director (1); Operations Manager (1); Case Managers (5); Recovery Program Manager (1); Shelter Managers (4); Desk Monitors (9); Child Care Director (1); Child Care Teachers (5); Grantwriter (1); Receptionist (1); Warehouse Supervisor (1); Thrift Store Supervisor (1); Thrift Store Employees (6); Accountants (2.5); Volunteer Coordinator (1); Special Events Coordinator (1); Maintenance Workers (4); Mechanic (1)
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Q: What additional manpower will be needed to be trained.
A: Volunteers are needed.
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Q: Is the program's emphasis on the utilization of traditional manpower resources, or is there utilization of leaders from other field and non-professional sources?
A: Both, Wayside uses a combination of professional staff and volunteers to accomplish its goals. In the recovery program, we also use a peer counseling model.
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Q: To date, what proportion of the target population has the program reached, and what services have they received?
A: Wayside's programs reach over 7,000 homeless and needy persons annually. We provide shelter, food, clothing, recovery education, spiritual enrichment, job training, GED and adult literacy education, computer training, case management and other support services, in addition to brokering services in
the community.
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Q: Is the delivery of services based upon a single theoretical orientation, or does it incorporate a multi-disciplined approach to the problem?
A: Wayside's program is holistic and is accomplished with a
multi-disciplined approach. In addition to professional case managers and mental health professionals, we have legal assistance on staff and bring in other professionals in collaborative settings.
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Political Influence
Q: What are the major regulatory groups which influence and control the program's activities? Which activities are most constrained by the influence of these groups?
A: Wayside is monitored by The Coalition for the Homeless, which is guided by Metro government to some extent. They particularly monitor local shelters to ensure safe, clean facilities. Other than that, our most constrainment comes from our commitment to a good neighbor policy with the surrounding businesses. They particularly try to limit any expansion in the area.
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Q: In what ways has the program's staff attempted to minimize the political influence of a group, or maximize it?
A: We basically don't take part in political action, although we allow politicians to come in and associate themselves with the mission for photo ops, etc. With our business community, we sit on several community boards and dedicate resources to being a good neighbor. For example, in addition to the board commitments, once per month we take a day out of our regular programming and focus staff and resident efforts on cleaning up the entire neighborhood, not just our own properties.
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Major constraints and Facilitating Factors
Q: What are the major constraining factors for the program's implementation and goal achievement (lack of knowledge about cause-effect relationships, the target group, political disputes, administrative factors, etc.).
A: Major constraints would be lack of funds and keeping our business neighbors happy (if we don't keep them happy, they do have the political ties to influence the government powers that be).
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Q: What factors have been most responsible for making the program (or parts of the program) successful? Were these deliberately included in the initial planning, or did they "pop up: unexpectedly?
A: Our main success factors include the following: 1) Our Executive Director's vision and leadership: 2) Strong members of our board of directors who utilize their special skills for the Mission's benefit; 3) A caring community that responds to the call for volunteerism and donations of all kinds; 4) A diverse staff from many walks of life.
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Evaluation
Q: What criteria does the program staff use to evaluate whether it is accomplishing its goals? Is the evaluation directly determined, or indirectly inferred?
A: All areas of the programs have stated goals and objectives, which are measured constantly. We keep statistics in all our programs; we do client evaluations periodically; we take feedback from an on-site monitoring team of the Coalition for the Homeless; our case managers use evaluation tools to track successes of their programs.
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