Homeless Given Chance to Get Ahead

posted 10/20/19 -- LCCAA and Neighborhood Alliance have partnered to break the cycle of poverty in a very personal way for residents of the Haven Center.

LCCAA conducted a Getting Ahead class for homeless clients of the Haven Center. Three people will complete the program with a graduation ceremony tonight, Monday, Oct. 21.

Neighborhood Alliance strives to help individuals grow beyond their current circumstances. In addition to operating a full-service, 68-bed shelter, they work to provide programs that will help clients move from poverty to self-sufficiency.

“It was a natural fit for Getting Ahead,” said facilitator Amy Steele, LCCAA’s Client Services Coordinator. “In the class we talk a lot about the tyranny of the moment – those times when you are desperate for a solution and often make an emotional decision that solves one problem but creates others. There is no more tyrannical moment than being without a home.”

In this group setting, Getting Ahead participants identify their strengths and learn skills to become financially secure and to reach your personal goals. This workshop helps individuals living in poverty build their resources for a more prosperous life for themselves, their families and their communities. Classes will meet two times a week for eight weeks.

Haven Center is Lorain County’s only 24-hour, 365-day emergency shelter for men, women and children. In addition to a safe place to sleep, residents receive meals, toiletries, laundry facilities, clothing and “just about anything our clients need to transition into independent housing.” In 2018, Haven Center provided 19,940 shelter nights to 507 individuals, 132 of whom were children.

Haven Center residents participate in programming designed to help them make that transition and make it permanent. Getting Ahead is now one of the options residents can choose to make lasting changes. Steele said a few residents began the class but found employment or housing and left Haven Center.

For more information on Getting Ahead, including upcoming classes around Lorain County, contact Steele at 440-204-3121 or [email protected]. For current information on Neighborhood Alliance and its Haven Center programs, click here.