| FEBRUARY UPDATE 2017
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Family Promise of South Sarasota County Stats
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43 FAMILIES SERVED & 140 PEOPLE TOTAL TO DATE
34 families served to date in shelter program, 71 children and 117 people total
51 day average stay
9 families served to date in the emergency shelter, 12 children and 23 people total
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We have expanded our facilities and now have a Day Center for the families in our program only and an Office building for our offices and Access Point. I am completely moved in to my new digs at 722 Shamrock Blvd and it is great! The landlord, George Drury, for the offices was amazing enough to build me a bridge so I did not have to walk through the ditch when going back and forth between the Day Center and my office. Thank you George! Our buildings are next door to each other and it is working out wonderfully!
On February 10th, Venice-Nokomis Woman's Club held it's 'Mardi Gras' Bingo to support Family Promise. It was sold out and was an absolutely wonderful evening. We cannot thank them enough for the support and the fun evening out!
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- Coordinator Meeting, 2-28-2018 at Office 722 Shamrock Blvd, 5:30-6:30. Snacks and drinks will be provided. This meeting is for Host and Support Coordinators at the congregations.
- Access Point Volunteer Training, 3-8-2018 at Office 722 Shamrock Blvd, 3:30 PM - This is a training for anyone who would like to volunteer to assist us with the Access Point here at FPSSC. This volunteer position would require a 2-4 hour commitment one day a week. The volunteer would be assisting homeless families with minor children who walk in to the Access Point to find services for their family. The volunteer would gather some information and then give them referrals to resources. Right now, our Access Point is open Monday, Wednesday and Friday from 10am to 2pm.
- Access Point Volunteer Training, 3-15-2018 at Office 722 Shamrock Blvd, 2:00 PM - This is a training for anyone who would like to volunteer to assist us with the Access Point here at FPSSC. This volunteer position would require a 2-4 hour commitment one day a week. The volunteer would be assisting homeless families with minor children who walk in to the Access Point to find services for their family. The volunteer would gather some information and then give them referrals to resources. Right now, our Access Point is open Monday, Wednesday and Friday from 10am to 2pm.
- Volunteer Training, 3-15-17 at Office 722 Shamrock Blvd, 5-6:30 PM - This training is for anyone who wants to volunteer with their congregation doing meals, hosting and overnights. All volunteers must go through training. Please RSVP if you will be attending to Jennifer at [email protected] to ensure adequate space is available.
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Homeless to Home, 3-20-2018 is a grass roots luncheon designed to bring together like-minded people to network with others in their efforts to end homelessness in South Sarasota County. Participants come from agencies, government, churches, foundations, law enforcement, businesses and the private sector.
The next luncheon will be on
Tuesday, March 20, 2018 from 11:30 to 1:30
at Jacaranda West Country Club located at
1901 Jacaranda Blvd
. in Venice. Our speaker this month will be Tara Booker from Suncoast Partnership to End Homelessness.
Reminder: Bring a business card to enter the bowl drawing for a grant.
Remember there is no cost. Seating is limited. Please make your reservation to
[email protected]
by
Friday, March 16, 2018
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Sponsored by Steve and Janine Marrone.
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United Way Walk- On March 24th, 2018. All teams will receive a check for 50% of all money raised for their team cause so make sure you select Family Promise of South Sarasota County. United Way is holding their 12th Annual Community Charity Walk at Gran Paradiso! The Walk is a family, group and pet friendly community rich event that allows area organizations' to team build and raise money for any local cause, hassle free. FPSSC receives a grant each year from United Way and this is one of the ways they raise those funds so we would love to see some FPSSC support at this Walk. They are also going to give 50% of the funds raised by your walk team to us if you chose to walk for our cause. Visit www.uwssc.org for more information and to download a Walk Team Packet.
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List of Day Center needs for our families
- Kleenex and children's Tylenol and Ibuprofen
- Children's Thermometers
- Spray Lysol
- 8 oz bottled water
- Speedway $15 fuel only gas cards
- $50 Publix and WaWa gift cards *follow-up care and **support of sized items
It is very difficult with a such a small staff and small storage to always have just what a family will need so it is greatly appreciated when we receive the gift cards and are able to just go get the right size diapers or shoes or whatever when we need it. The families also greatly appreciate the added support in our follow-up program "Keeping the Promise", so that they can save their money when going to WaWa or Publix to get gas or groceries. This makes rent more affordable by allowing them to use that money to help cover rent.
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The Department of Health and Human Service, Administration for Children and Families released a report in June of 2017: "Early Childhood Homelessness in the United States: 50-State Profile", in which the following statistics were presented...
"In 2015, a third of all people who stayed in a shelter were families with children and nearly half of children served by HUD-funded emergency/transitional housing providers in 2015 were age 5 or younger."
"Children under age 1 comprise less than six percent of the overall child population in the Untied States, but more than 10 percent of the child population served by HUD-funded shelters."
The impact of homelessness on children, especially young children is extremely challenging and may lead to changes in brain architecture that can interfere with learning, social-emotional development, self-regulation and cognitive skills. In today's world, children who are healthy and receive the supports they need have a better chance of leading productive lives. Not every child, however, has that chance.
Florida is 4th in the "States with the highest percentage of low-income working families", having 31%. Only Arkansas 32%, Idaho 36% and California 45% are higher.
As far as "states with the highest percentage of children under 18 living in households with a high housing cost burden", Florida is 3rd at 40%, with only New Jersey 42% and New York 42% having a larger issue.
In America in 2015, 1 out of every 20 children experienced homelessness. In Florida in 2015, 1 out of every 19 children experienced homelessness. Of those homeless children in Florida, only 4%, or 3,035 children were served by Head Start/Early Head Start or McKinney-Vento funded ECE programs. That means that 96% of homeless children were not served or 66,290 children.
Sarasota County Schools recently shared some statistics as well.
Last school year, 2016-2017, 794 students were identified as homeless district-wide.
In a chart of "Secondary Schools Identifying Low-Income Students as Homeless", the following 3 schools had the highest percentages:
Venice Middle School = 6.3%
Riverview = 5.5%
Venice High School = 5.2%
As far as academic achievement of homeless students vs. district-wide averages based on FSA/FCAT scores, the following gaps exist:
Reading Proficiency for Homeless students = 40%
Reading Proficiency district-wide averages = 66%
Math Proficiency for Homeless students = 45%
Math Proficiency district-wide averages = 68%
Science Proficiency for Homeless students = 36%
Science Proficiency district-wide averages = 60%
We can and must do better for Sarasota County families and for Sarasota County children. Thank you so much for all the support you show our program and our families. Working together, we can make a difference and change children's lives!
Thank you for all you do!
Sincerely,
Jennifer Fagenbaum, Executive Director
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