Read. Think. Act.

Catherine Read

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Family PASS – Patricia Kearns – Your Need to Know

(Aug. 29, 2018) Catherine Read interviews Patricia Kearns, Executive Director of Family PASS (Preservation And Strengthening Services). The mission of Family PASS is to help families who are homeless, or are at risk of homelessness, in Fairfax County connect with the support services that they need to become self-sufficient. The work of Family PASS is an integral part of Fairfax County’s 10-year plan to prevent and end homelessness in the community.

Patricia Kearns Family PASSFamily PASS was founded in 2006 and has served 120 families, including over 250 children since inception. Kearns shares that 33% of the homeless population in Fairfax County is under the age of 18. Keeping families in their homes is among some of the most important aspects of the work that Family PASS does, as this ensures stability in education for the children. They provide access to emergency funding in order to reduce the rate of evictions, and provide the needed wrap-around social services to address issues that are at the root of the problem. This includes education, job training, medical and dental care, transportation assistance and help with childcare. These services are designed to help people get employed, or stay employed, so that they can afford to support themselves.

Kearns explains how the system works for a person or family who is at risk of homelessness in Fairfax County. The Coordinated Services planning office will assess the needs of a family, and then refer them to a partner organization that can help. When a family is identified as needing emergency assistance in order to remain in their home, they are directed to Family PASS.

Family PASS also receive referrals from organizations like Northern Virginia Family Services, who embrace the “housing first” philosophy. After a family gets settled with housing, they might be referred to Family Pass for additional support services, so that they can acquire the skills that they need to remain in their home. For example, they may need help with financial literacy skills so they understand how to budget the money that they do have in order to ensure that they do not lose their home.

Although Kearns notes that there are 987 homeless individuals who are identified in Fairfax County today (a reduction in half of what it was in 2008), there are still many more people living on the edge who are at extreme risk of losing their homes. Approximately 20,000 people fall into this category, while another 63,000 people are living at or just below the poverty line.

These are the working poor, those who make minimum wage in low skill service jobs. Many of these people are in shared housing arrangements because of the lack of affordable housing here in Fairfax County. She also points out that the minimum wage of $7.25/hour, is not a living wage. These individuals cannot support themselves, let alone a family, on this meager income. This situation leads to people trying to hold down multiple jobs in order to make ends meet. Kearns encourages all who are watching to bring up the issue of affordable housing and a living wage to their local elected officials.  People can appeal to their local supervisors, town councils and state legislators to urge them to support these important initiatives.

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FACETS with Executive Director Joe Fay – Your Need to Know

(Apr. 4 2018) Catherine Read interviews Joe Fay, Executive Director of FACETS, a local nonprofit that touches and improves the lives of thousands of families every year. Founded in 1988 by Linda Wimpey it was orginally known as Fairfax Area Christian Emergency & Transitional Services, Inc, (FACETS). For the past 30 years, and with the help of numerous local faith communities,  FACETS has helped some of the most vulnerable in Fairfax County meet their emergency shelter, food and medical needs. By opening doors and helping people gain safe, sustainable and permanent housing, FACETS aims to break the cycle of poverty through educational, life skills and career counseling programs. Fay notes that their multi-disciplinary professional staff manages a comprehensive range of programs, and a volunteer base of several thousand people.   As a founding member of the Fairfax-Falls Church Community Partnership to Prevent and End Homelessness, FACETS is committed to working collaboratively in a countywide effort to expand safe and affordable housing.

The Fairfax County Office to Prevent and End Homelessness, run by Dean Klein, is a public-private partnership that leverages the good work being done by local non-profits and aims to have these groups effectively work together to tackle a variety of issues that surround poverty and homelessness. Klein meets monthly with the groups that are affiliated with this network to help coordinate efforts, and the county provides funds to these groups to manage the work being done. In addition to county funds, each of these nonprofits conducts fundraising to support their own work. For every dollar that the county provides, these private groups at least match the funds, which makes this a very effective way to manage the support services needed by so many in our county of over 1.2 million people. Currently, it is estimated that approximately 6% of county residents live below the poverty level, leaving over 300,000 vulnerable county residents.

Joe Fay FACETSFACETS runs a wide variety of programming to meet the needs of county residents. Fay spoke passionately about their hot meals program that delivers meals 7 days a week, and two times on Sunday, to three different spots along the Rt. 50 corridor in Fairfax. Volunteers through faith-based partnerships fuel this program, like many under their purview. Fay also talked about their hypothermia programs that they run during the cold winter months. These programs are often operated by a house of worship, whose community agrees to open their doors for the night to provide warmth and food to those on the street. Often times, FACETS will use the vans that are delivering hot meals during the day to pickup people who use the day centers for the homeless and transport them to the hypothermia shelters in the evening. All of this work takes great coordination and many hands to keep the operations running.

In addition to feeding the hungry and providing emergency shelter programs, FACETS works in low-income communities to provide support to families, through after school programming, adult education and career counseling services. These services are aimed to help engage families, provide much needed support so children in these families have a fair shot at success, and offer families the opportunities to become self sufficient.

A key component to the success of FACETS is the extensive volunteer network they have built over the past 30 years. Even though the network is strong and effective, Fay notes that they are always looking to establish new relationships with individuals and organizations. If you are part of a service group or faith organization looking to take on a new project, FACETS is constantly welcoming new members to their network. You can reach them directly to let them know how you can help.

FACETS will be holding their 30th Anniversary Benefit Breakfast on April 19th at the Fairview Park Marriott. There is no cost to attend, as they welcome all who want to who share their vision of a Fairfax County where everyone has a place to call “home”.  They are actively looking for table captains, if you are looking to support the organization with a financial contribution. Find more information at www.FACETSCares.org

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Community Lodgings of Alexandria, VA

(July 11, 2016) Catherine Read talks with the Executive Director of Community Lodgings, Lynn Thomas. This organization was established in 1987 in the City of Alexandria to provide transitional housing. Today, Community Lodgings’ mission is to lift families from homelessness and instability to independence and self-sufficiency through Transitional Housing, Affordable Housing and Youth Education Programs.

Community Lodgings offers youth education programs that include an after school/summer program in three locations. Cindy Lopez, a Family Support Worker, joins the program in the second segment to talk about how she came through the youth education program herself at the age of 9, joined AmeriCorps and returned to the organization as a staffer. In segment three, Rudy Mendoza, a 7th grader at GW Middle School, talks about the after school program and what he likes best about the program.

There are donor and volunteer opportunities at Community Lodgings and more information can be found at http://www.communitylodgings.org

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The Fight for Affordable Housing in Fairfax

Catherine Read discusses Affordable Housing with Lisa Whetzel, the Executive Director of the non-profit Our Daily Bread, and with Ken McMillon of the Copmmunity Action Advisory Board. With numerous redevelopment projects in Fairfax City being presented for City Council approval, the issue of those displaced must be addressed.