By David Eisenberger and Jenny DiTomasso
Congratulations to Shirley Flores, of Praise Tabernacle Church, who serves others by giving makeovers at the church. She also works for a program called Reaching Higher, which offers employment assistance, including help with resumes and job leads, and training in life and recovery skills. Reaching Higher runs from 9 to 1 p.m. on Wednesdays. Anyone who needs assistance can turn to the church’s in-house counseling. Flores also serves as a certified interpreter for Massachusetts. Continue reading ‘Former Addict Reaches Higher’
Published in
May, 2009 in
News.
By Mike Scarlatti
Two residents of Grace Church Apartments on Washington Street in Providence are waging a campaign for better living conditions at the building, starting with access by all residents to bathrooms on the ground floor that are locked and off-limits to some tenants after 4:30 P.M. weekdays and all weekend.
Two officers of the building’s tenants association took their complaints to the Rhode Island Commission for Human Rights and the Providence office of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) about one year ago. They say they believe the building manager, Laurel Boulanger, has retaliated in subtle ways against them and five other tenants who testified in front of the Rhode Island Commission for Human Rights in support of their complaints. A request by Street Sights to the management for its views on the allegations went unanswered. Continue reading ‘Grace Tenants Object to Locked Bathrooms’
Published in
May, 2009 in
News.
By Louisa Smith
Four identical blue tents surround a towering pine tree on a sunny but windy day in late April. Each is emblazoned with a logo of Mount Everest and the name of the first man to reach its summit, but these tents haven’t been pitched on the tallest peak in the world. Instead, they fill the courtyard of the Woonsocket campus of the River United Methodist Communities, right outside the doorway of the church’s Matthew 25 Center. Continue reading ‘Homeless People Turn to Woonsocket Church for Help’
By Frank Goodness
Name: Juan Madera
Duration of homelessness: One year
Background: Housekeeping
Interests: Getting out of the shelter system and having my own place.
What have you learned?: How to cope with life better.
Plans: To get a full-time job and buy a house to help the homeless.
Dreams: I would like to find a good woman and get married.
Published in
May, 2009 in
News.
By Erin Rachel Oliver
On a cloudy April morning in the heart of Providence’s Olneyville neighborhood, two young men stand on scaffolding, finishing up the siding work a new single-family home. Although it might appear to be a typical scene in many neighborhoods throughout the city, there is something unique about these particular workers – they are students diligently hammering away at their schoolwork.
This house, along with many others before it, is the fruit of a program called YouthBuild, created by the Providence Plan, a joint non-profit venture between municipal and state government agencies. It is a sort of alternative school that combines GED preparation with community service and job training. Continue reading ‘Youth Help Build Affordable Homes’
By David Eisenberger and Jenny DiTomasso
Congratulations to Pastor Bob Brooks, Carolina Boyle, Judy McGill, Andrew Wright, and Jeff Meyers at Grace Church for winning this month’s Humanitarian Award. These people help provide a coffee hour and various other functions to homeless and less-fortunate people.
The volunteers serve free coffee from 9 a.m. to noon on weekdays. In the winter, coffee is served from 8 a.m. to 1 p.m., and the church also provides needed warmth on days when the weather is inclement. Continue reading ‘Grace Church and its Pastor Serve Kindness by the Cup’
Published in
May, 2009 in
News.
By David Eisenberger and Jenny DiTomasso
As the final segment of this three-part piece on the detox program at Miriam Hospital, here we will summarize the organizations involved and the program’s overall goals.
To review, Drs. Nicholas Zeller and Josiah Rich, from Miriam Hospital, are working on the prototype of a new detox program.
The program is designed to both divert funds to the detox program and to bring together the efforts of many organizations that could benefit from the new protocol. Continue reading ‘Miriam Program Aims to Streamline and Focus Detox Treatment’
Published in
May, 2009 in
News.
By David Eisenberger
Housing groups sponsored a rally at the State House in April to encourage legislators to stimulate the economy by growing healthy communities. People at the rally encouraged the state to build affordable housing, stop foreclosures, create jobs, fund state homeless programs adequately, and use the stimulus money wisely.
The rain and wind didn’t dampen the spirits of the 40 people who walked from either Crossroads RI or Hope City, a tent city in Providence. The two groups of marchers joined at Burnside Park in downtown Providence before proceeding to the State House. Marchers from Hope City carried crosses with the names of homeless people who have died in the past two years. Continue reading ‘Rally Calls for Renewal’
Published in
May, 2009 in
News.
By Frank Goodness
Frank Wiley, 61, has been homeless and mostly jobless since 1973. Six months ago Wiley entered the First Step program at Crossroads of R.I., and now is living in the First Step transitional housing unit run by Oasis. It is a three-story house with three two-bedroom apartments, with at times four people living in each apartment.
“Every morning around 6 a.m., I go out and start to look for any kind of work that is available,” Wiley says. “If I do find any, it is usually only for a couple of hours and hopefully the place where I am working will give me something to eat.
“When I can’t get work, I go to the soup kitchens, food pantries, Crossroads (for cosmetics and medical needs), and occasionally the Salvation Army (for clothing).
“At around 4 p.m., I head back home to do my share of the housecleaning and to cook my dinner if I was fortunate to get food. After I clean up, I watch some television and then go to bed.
“Every day, my hopes and dreams are to find a full-time steady job, and to get an apartment so that I can finally call it my home.”
Published in
May, 2009 in
News.
By Mike Scarlatti
A former pro bono lawyer for Amos House returned there in March to continue his effort to help less-fortunate people in our society. Sen. Jack Reed announced bipartisan legislation to provide $2.2 billion for specific programs that help homeless people. This legislation is cosponsored by Sen. Kit Bond (R-MO). Their bill is the Homeless Emergency Assistance and Rapid Transition to Housing (HEARTH) Act of 2009; it has 11 original cosponsors and was endorsed by groups such as Habitat for Humanity, the U.S. Conference of Mayors, the Corporation for Supportive Housing, and the National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI).
The HEARTH Act seeks to reauthorize the McKinney-Vento Homeless Assistance Act of 1987 and federal homelessness aid programs for the first time since 1989. It would simplify and consolidate three competitive U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) homelessness assistance programs into one program and require HUD to provide incentives for communities to implement proven strategies to significantly reduce homelessness. Continue reading ‘Reed Bill Would Bolster Homeless Prevention Efforts’
By Brian Young
Mike Mogayzel lived at a tent city in Providence from February 16 until March 20. “I accomplished more here in a month than I did at the Providence Rescue Mission for three months,” Mogayzel said of his time at the tent city. The Providence Center referred Mogayzel to Lynn Saxton, a realtor for Providence Center clients.
Mogayzel now has his own apartment in Providence and feels more confident about gaining employment and being able to help others take the steps he did.
Now Mogayzel wants to give back, so he is working with the homeless, attending classes for anger management and trying to change his life around for the better. His goal is to get into college in the near future.
We fight injustice, we mourn our losses, we beg for understanding, and every so often we get to pause and celebrate.
This month there is much to celebrate in the Street Sights community. This past month staff writer Pamala Therrien was accepted into the Rhode Island College School of Social Work for her masters degree. She is committed to using her first-hand experience to help others. After one year in the Crossroads Women’s Shelter, Pamala plans to move in to her own apartment. We are sure her grandson will love to visit her in her new home! Continue reading ‘Street Sights Successes’
