FifthThird Bank to help Unity Park
We were awarded a $25,000 grant for furnace replacement/repair for low- and moderate- income owner-occupied homes in Unity Park from Fifth Third Bank. C.J. Felton, Director of development, graciously accepted the funds during their Strengthening Our Community event held November 30 in Detroit. Four other local non-profits were also awarded grant funding from the bank.
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This month I'd like to introduce you to some of our staff members who will share how donations to our Critical Needs Fund assist the people we serve:
- Kimberly Bowens - housing resource coordinator, Housing Resource Center
- Roberta Jones - PATH (Projects for Assistance in Transition from Homelessness) outreach specialist, Community Programs
- Michelle Goodnough - supportive services coordinator, Housing Programs
As a friend of ours, you are familiar with how each year we help
thousands of people find safe, decent, and affordable housing.
Unfortunately, many of the people we serve encounter real barriers that prevent them from attaining and maintaining housing. There is simply no funding available to remove those barriers, all of which are essential to getting and keeping a roof over one's head.
One of our goals is to secure funds to fill more of these ongoing critical needs.
Please read on, and learn how an end-of-year contribution (please donate here) made to our Critical Needs Fund helps bridge the gap between homelessness and housing for those we serve.
Kimberly Bowens: Home furnishings
Our Critical Needs Fund provided assistance to program participates who leased up earlier this year in our Unity Park community. We were able to assist  numerous individuals and families who needed beds, dressers, dining tables and chairs. Many families in this program are either literally homeless or have disabilities; and are leasing up with just the bare necessities, or no furnishings at all. Our program participants are truly appreciative for what the Critical Needs Fund provides to them and their families once they are housed. We are able to take an empty apartment or house and make it a home.
Roberta Jones: Security deposits/moving expenses
Earlier this year, we were contacted by a lady who needed moving assistance. She had a voucher, but the unit she and her family were living in had contaminated
drinking water. The city said she needed to move out as the unit was declared unsafe. She needed to find a new, safe place to live with her small child, and needed assistance to pay a
security deposit
and the balance on the
utilities
from the unsafe unit, which were a requirement to sign a new lease. She reached out to other agencies to see if they could help and did not have any luck, until she came to us.
Once a new unit was located, we had 24 hours to move her belongings out of the previous residence or they would be thrown out.
The actual
moving expenses
ended up being more than the original quote, we were able to once again provide the help she needed.
Our Critical Needs Fund provided a way for us to be able to help this family be placed into
stable housing.
Michelle Goodnough: Home repairs and transportation
As a supportive service coordinator, I work in the field and
see first-hand how our Critical Needs Fund helps out in the community. We have people coming to us who are
in
various domestic violence situations and need help, now. We had one person who did not have income and ended up in the hospital. While she was in the hospital an abusive ex seriously damaged her home. She did not have the funds to
repair the damage;
we were able to step in, make the repairs and now she can stay in her home.
Reliable
transportation is another hurdle that often blocks people from staying housed. We had a person who qualified for Section 8 housing, however, in order to gain that housing, he needed transportation to attend mandatory meetings with MSHDA (Michigan State Housing Development Authority). The Critical Needs Fund helped with that transportation need and he's now successfully transitioned into housing.
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The stories that Kimberly, Roberta, and Michelle shared today are just a few of the many requests for these funds; they see these pressing needs every day and have seen how the Critical Needs funds can help set someone on the road to recovery, housing and employment. We graciously thank you for your end of year contribution (please donate here) to help us further carry out our mission of strengthening communities by connecting people to housing resources.
Thank you for your ongoing support!
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With support from:
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