South East Neighborhood Dialogue
Report on Larger Group Meeting--June 25, 2012
And Small Group Meetings—July 12, 17, 18
A large group meeting was held at the Presbyterian Center on June 25, 2012. A Café
Process was used to get the group to think about the deeper questions of “Getting
Homeless People Off the Streets”. What questions have we not asked that will help
us to look deeper for solutions. The participants worked in groups of 4 and wrote
their questions and concerns on the papers provided at each table.
We looked with all of the questions and concerns and saw these five themes:
1. Need for information
2. Police protection and security
3. Neighborhood pride and progress
4. Who is responsible for the homeless people in Roanoke City
5. How is the Rescue Mission’s plan good for the South East community
Three small group meetings were held to discuss the following topics:
(Questions and concerns about police protection and security were
addressed at all three meetings.)
July 12, 2012
Neighborhood Pride and Progress toward the Safe and Healthy Community?
 A safe and secure Community
 The problem with vacant houses
 Achieving Pride and Community Spirit
 Local Businesses contributing to community
 Other
What does a safe and healthy neighborhood look like?
 Neighbors greeting each other
Live Vibrant—Know each other—Trust
 Well kept properties
Pride in ownership of homes—mowed, neat & crisp, clean, trash free
 Little crime/’Minor’ crimes
 Give each other a helping hand
 Neighborhood of choice
 Respect for one another
 Lack of ‘For Sale’ signs
 Children playing-Dogs on leashes (cleaned up after)
 Legitimate businesses part of the community
 Engagement (Active)
Neighborhood groups
Action Steps
Safety and Security
 Police ride alongs
 Community Walks—1 time per month
 Clean –up—100yards at a time
 Literature with stats and Information
 Use community survey to educate/inform
 South East Action Forum to start marketing—SE Neighborhood Grant
 SEAF to explore setting criteria and sending out letters to property owners/
collaborating with Neighborhood Watch groups
 Initiate conversations with owners of vacant properties –provide
trespass/Barment Authorization letters
 Call the City Code Enforcement about property maintenance issues
Lighting Submit application to Dept of Transportation (must include permission from
all neighbors affected) to get street light installed
 ‘Light up the Night’ Neighbors keep porch lights on
 Light bulb distribution
 Call AEP when leaves obstruct lighting
 Need Key Players/Leaders
Trim Shrubs as a group service
Social Activities with Food
Police Educating about Bath Salts and other illegal substances
P&N hired security guard
Engage successful store owners to explain their model
July 17, 2012
Who is responsible for Roanoke’s homeless and is the health and safety of
SE affected?
 Homelessness in Roanoke
 Homelessness issues
 Daytimes concerns
 Availability of Services
Homelessness in Roanoke
People come to urban areas/cities for help (over 300 Rescue Missions in US)
They come here because Know someone here
 Jobs, transportation, other services
Transitioning out of homelessness takes time and resources Deposits
 Furniture
 Cleaning up bills from the past—reducing outstanding debts
Other shelters in Roanoke-- Homeless Assistance Team (HAT), Housing 1st
Initiative (get housing-work on issues), Veterans Administration, RAM, Community
Housing Resource Center (for people about to lose their housing), Samaritan Inn
Not everyone on the streets is homeless—Panhandling is not only done when a
person has no job, sometimes people choose to panhandle to make money (as a job)
and they are not homeless or penniless
Opportunity Calls – A number is assigned to Rescue Mission guests –so an
employer can call and leave a message without knowing the person is staying at the
Rescue Mission- This increases the chance that the person will be judged on their
skills and experience rather than their living status
* They are also given a P.O. Box Number to use as their address
All programs in in Roanoke use case management to support families to build
dignity and respect.
The Rescue Mission helps guests save money (75% of their income from the job
they have while staying at the Rescue Mission) and then use the money to pay
outstanding bills, deposits, etc---Legal resources to catch up
The Rescue Mission accommodates schedules that help guests for forward---such as
allowing people to come in after the regular hours when they are working a job that
requires them to be out after curfew.
Average stay at the Rescue Mission is 43 days—5% are chronic unadvanceable
(known by Rescue Mission, Police and Social Services)
Rescue Mission is looking at Biometric program to collect data on who is being
served.
Objective is for people to feel safe and loved but to get out/transition quickly
Homelessness Issues
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Happens in all walks of life to all kinds of people and all over this and other cities
How can we, as a community, engage and support and recognize that folks are
here and in need
o Creates a connection as people (safety, ownership)
o Helps establish new and healthy norms
No city in the US is without a homeless population
Not all of Roanoke’s homeless are from other place
People make their own choices
Continuum of Care: all Roanoke agencies collaborate to address homelessness
Almost 100% of chronic have mental health issues
Homelessness contributes to mental health issues due to stress
People are responsible for themselves and cannot be forced to get help, shelter,
or change
Action Steps
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Use existing groups, clubs, etc. to spread information and correct any
misinformation
Where are the people who are voicing these concerns?
August 7th: National Night Out: opportunity to engage neighbors?
o Information Table
o Mission Myths
o Flip Charts displayed
o Speaker (5-10 min): Here because you care
Potential for Tabitha Project members to work with community residents doing
service
July18, 2012
The Rescue Mission’s plan and how it contributes to a safe and healthy SE
Community.
 Planned Changes
 Programs
 Policy
 Other
History
Gus and Lois Johnson opened the Rescue Mission on Salem Ave. in July 1948
because Roanoke was a booming railroad town in need of a shelter for men living
and dying on the streets. Beginning with the desire to provide services for everyone
regardless of race, religion, ethnicity, the Mission was incorporated and had a board
of local community members and the full support of the local ministers’ conference
within two years. Although primarily for men, the Mission began providing
emergency housing for women and children in 1956.
The Rescue Mission stayed at the Salem Ave location for 14 years. In 1958, the
property at 114 Salem Ave was purchased for a planned expansion but the building
burned to the ground on the property closing day. Roanoke City bought the property
to use for a parking lot and property on First St across from Elmwood Park was
purchased. After the plans were completed, the property was taken for the 581
Highway. A building at 732 First Street was purchased and renovated. In 1965, the
property was condemned to accommodate ‘urban renewal.”
In 1973, the Rescue Mission moved to a new building at the corner of 4th and
Tazewell Avenue. A house across the street was purchased and renovated to
accommodate families seeking emergency shelter.
The Mission has evolved as times and needs have changed. Providing services for
young men who served their country proudly and then came back destitute and
homeless from the Korean and Vietnam Wars changed to meeting the needs in the
70’s and 80’s as crack cocaine, HIV, and thousands of people with mental illness hit
the streets because of lost state funding. A recovery program was developed to help
those suffering under the yoke of addiction.
By the late 80’s, women and children who had previously been supported by their
families, neighbors and communities of faith were now in need of a place to go. In
response to the new crisis situation, an addition was built on to the original building
to accommodate approximately 40 women and children compared to the 12
available beds at that time.
The new thrift store was built across the street from the main building on 4th Street
in 2000. Its goal was to better serve the community by providing vouchers to low
income families and provide income for the Mission. The thrift store also works to
reuse and recycle too worn or soiled clothing into paper or insulation.
The Rescue Mission refocused its efforts again in 2000 by taking more formal steps
not only to identify the behaviors of addiction but also implementing a focus on
building communities of accountability outside of the Mission through families,
churches, and rooms of AA and NA for their participants. In 2002, the Mission
recognized that education and illness were significant barriers to permanent
housing so they added a learning center and medical clinic.
In 2005, the new Family Center to house 130 women and children was built,
including a learning center, reading readiness room for children, and a community
room to educate families about nutrition and budgeting. Two years ago, a new clinic
was build where the old thrift store had been.
Currently, there are three buildings on Bullitt Ave. being renovated to accommodate
graduate housing programs to better transition men and women who graduate from
the Recovery Program back into the community. Over the last five years, case
management has become a focus and 6 case managers have been hired to assist
those who find themselves homeless to get out of the shelter and into permanent
housing.
The Mission has never received City, State, or Federal funding to support their
efforts to provide services and shelter for people that are homeless and/or addicted.
They have always thrived on the support of individuals and private organizations
seeking to help hurting people in Jesus’ name.
Over the last year they have served 2890 unduplicated guests with emergency
shelter and recovery with medicine, psychiatry, dentistry, and case management not
only to find permanent housing but also find hope in today and through tomorrow.
Programs and Services/ Planned Changes
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The needs of people, companies, and organizations change over time. They
change based on seasons of life, on circumstances. “What this illustrates for me is
the fact that there is one thing in life that never changes, and that is the fact that
things change”.
As the Rescue Mission began to explore the ideas of how to address the changing
needs and concern, they recognized a gap in what was occurring with their
residents. This led them to explore the possibilities for giving them a place on
campus during the day where they could rest, especially in extreme weather and
temperature.
Additionally, allowing them to store their belongings in this space would allow
for more effective job searches and assessing of services. The space would also
allow them a place to do laundry.
The Rescue Mission already provides case management services to assist guest
with applying for disability, obtaining ID’s, obtaining affordable housing,
accessing medical and mental heath care, and any other need that will return
them to self-sufficiency. Case management is highly individualized. For example,
obtaining housing and a job requires a picture ID, which requires verification of
identity. For those who have this verification, and ID can be obtained fairly
quickly. For those who don’t have these documents they must be obtained and
the process can take as long as three months. Once ID’s are secured, finding
housing means having an income and reducing previous deb to past landlords
and utility companies. This is a quick process for some and much lengthier one
for others.
Case management is key to assessing each individual’s needs and moving guests
in the best direction so those barriers to self-sufficiency are addressed and
removed. As the Rescue Mission thought about a space for their guests during
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the day, it occurred to them that such a space could also be a location to
centralize all case management services for better access to guests.
In processing what this would look like, it seemed reasonable to relocate the
Thrift Store to the Rescue Mission’s Bullitt Ave. property for increased visibility
and traffic flow. They realized that they don’t have space as the facility is
currently set up for this needed day center, but moving the Thrift Store would
allow the possibility to create such a space. This would allow the opportunity to
keep all services and guests local and the ability to extend monitoring of guests
throughout the day.
Currently, the Rescue Mission is under the direction of Ben Motley, a local
architect, who is engaging them in a master planning process that will meet the
needs of the Rescue Mission and the community. They don’t know what the plan
will look like, but offering a space for guests to stay during the day will
contribute to a safe and healthy SE community by keeping guests on the Rescue
Mission campus for a greater period of time and allowing the staff to monitor the
guests’ behaviors for a more extended part of the day.
“We can’t fix what we don’t know is broken. We are willing to share and discuss
the rationale behind decisions. However, we need to hear feedback from the
community as well”.
The Rescue mission encourages the community to see them as a partner and to
bring up questions and suggestions as they arise.
The Rescue Mission recognizes that better flow of communication regarding
policies, procedures, and programs is necessary and important. An appropriate
place for this type of communication is the monthly neighborhood meetings.
Policy
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No one person at the Rescue Mission writes a policy. Not the mangers, not the
directors, not the CEO. It is a process that goes as follows:
o A need or concern is brought up.
o Determine who this concern affects and gather the managers and/or key
staff of each of those affect areas together to review. If it is determined that
more will be affected by the policy, another meeting may be required.
o Ideas are brainstormed and a policy is drafted.
o The draft is reviewed by the Directors and then emailed to managers for
further review.
o The draft then goes to the weekly manager’s meeting for discussion among
ALL departments.
o Final approval of a policy is reach by consensus, not by a vote.
o A communication plan is developed (how to communicate to staff and
guests) and a target date is set to make the policy effective.
Changes are not made lightly, all things are taken into consideration before
moving forward.
Even working with this process, sometimes something gets missed. The smoking
policy is a good example of this:
o Because statistics show that men and women in recovery maintain their
sobriety longer when they have also made a decision to be nicotine free, the
decision was made to make it difficult for guests to ingest tobacco. This
means there was no smoking on site.
o Furthermore, when the effects that nicotine has on recovery were truly
understood, the Rescue Mission made the decision to not allow the men and
women in recovery to use tobacco in any form. Out of respect for these men
and women who were working hard to make changes in their lives, guests
were asked to not smoke on Rescue Mission property. In fact, they were
asked to smoke out of sight of the property.
o This caused an unintended consequence that pushed guests out into the
neighborhood and caused concern among the neighbors that the incidences
of loitering were becoming a problem.
o In response to concerns, changes were made. Smoking is still not allowed on
Rescue Mission property; however, it is allowed on the public areas around
the Mission. There is no longer a need to go into the neighborhood to smoke;
they can smoke on the sidewalks in front of, and around the Mission.