Alpha Community Center

Background

A Homeless Task Force was created by the Mayor of Sidney, Ohio. He saw that there were homeless citizens who were suffering in the cold. He created a Task Force in order to start programming and community services for these individuals.

In early 2016, Sidney First United Methodist Church offered their facility as a warming center for those who were homeless and did not have a place to stay overnight on cold nights.

The Alpha Community Center (ACC) in Sidney, Ohio is a nonprofit that offers a hot meal everyday to those in need and also many other services including an emergency pantry, kids programming and rent and utility assistance. The Alpha Community Center is located in the heart of downtown Sidney, Ohio and within walking distance of many of the at risk housing areas. The Alpha Community Center has been asked to open it's doors and be the facility that houses the warming center for the 2016/2017 winter season.

Discussion

In 2016, the warming center at Sidney First United Methodist Church was open on nights that were 20°F. In total, the warming center was open 34 nights through January, February and March 2016. Clients were offered a place to sleep, shower and a hot meal. According to Mary Ann Smiley, Director of the Sidney First United Methodist Church Warming Center, the issues the warming center faced was not financial support from the community but support of time by volunteers.

The warming center always had at least one client on those nights and the average was four clients. Some clients were repeats while other clients were new and only used the facility on one night. Some clients were unsure about staying the night and the center needed to adjust to make the clients comfortable and to feel welcome.

The Mayor has asked the Alpha Community Center to be the place for the warming center this winter. The hope is that because ACC is not affiliated with any specific denomination, the churches throughout the city will be more willing to offer volunteer services for the warming center. The Alpha Community Center has only two employees and would not be able to staff the warming center. The President of the Board (Emily Neu) and you expressed these concerns to the Homeless Task Force. The Board has been asked to vote on whether or not to approve the facility's use as a warming center this winter.

The ACC already offers a hot breakfast every morning. This will prove to be a nice compliment to the warming center and cut down on needed donations since the breakfast is already part of the ACC budget and daily offering.

Recommendations

After reviewing the summary from Mary Ann Smiley, 2016 Warming Center Director at Sidney First United Methodist Church and you, we recommend ACC to be the warming center location, including showers, meals and emergency services as applicable to clients of the warming center.

1. ACC will not be responsible for volunteers or staffing the warming center. Homeless Task Force will be responsible for sourcing volunteers and coordinating with local churches and community volunteer organizations.

2. ACC will not be liable for any damages caused by or to clients who spend the night (there will need to be a waiver). Mayor's office will be responsible for developing the waiver.

3. The volunteer coordinator from the task force will keep Jan Geuy updated with process and availability of center.

4. Warming Center staff will coordinate with Sidney Police Department in referring clients to warming center.

5. We recommend the Homeless Task Force provide training, including basic first aid training, to all volunteer staff.

Community Outreach

• ACC should put a joint press release with the Mayor's office in the local paper and list who to contact if there are willing volunteers.
• ACC should begin to hang flyers at all meals alerting clients to the warming center offering in hopes to reach the homeless community.

Client Comfort

• Make clients feel more comfortable with staying the night by setting up petitions to give the clients a sense of privacy. Make the check in system feel warm and inviting expressing that the warming center is their to help. Open the warming center to nights the temperature drops below 32 degrees verse 20 degrees. Provide clients with information to seek health care or employment opportunities. Provide soap, towels, blankets and other needed items.

Community Volunteering

• Hold a community meeting with the local area churches to recruit volunteers. Express the need and call them into action by concisely explaining how their time and effort will help the less fortunate by providing them a warm place to stay and a hot meal to suppress their hunger. Purpose each church volunteering sign up for a rotation schedule. This will allow each church to publish the schedule in the weekly bulletin for volunteers to plan their schedule accordingly.

Additional Resources for the Homeless Community

The state of Ohio offers a Homelss Shelter Directory that can be found online at http://www.homelessshelterdirectory.org/ohio.html; this can assist those who are homeless by offering a more stable place to live while trying to get back on track. At benefits.gov there is a list of other programs from which low-income families could recieve help. One such program is the Ohio Works First program. The program provides emergency financial assistance to families for up to 36 months following a qualifying hardship (Ohio Works First, benefits.gov). This program can help to keep more families, who are on the brink of homelessness, in their own homes until the families are able to provide for themselves again.

References

Alpha Community Center. (2016). Retrieved November 26, 2016 from http://www.alphacommunitycenter.org/

E. Neu, personal communication, November 27, 2016

J. Geuy, personal communication, November 22, 2016

M.A. Smiley, personal communication, November 15, 2016

(N/A). Ohio Works First. Retrieved from: https://www.benefits.gov/benefits/benefit-details/1674

(N/A). Homeless Shelter Directory. Retrieved from: http://www.homelessshelterdirectory.org/ohio.html