NEEDS ASSESSMENT/PROBLEM STATEMENT - It is virtually impossible for many homeless people by themselves to step out of their daily survival mode and work on improving their lives. The compounding of homelessness and poor health supports an indefinite term of living on the street and trying to just get along from one day to the next.   Because of poor health and necessary focus on daily survival, most of the people we serve have difficulty accessing the social service system. They are unable to keep scheduled appointments, to follow through with services, or obey program rules.  Our goal is to help homeless people, one by one, renew their lives and become self-sustaining people.

Post 9/11, new barriers confront the homeless.  Due to increased security around the country, many organizations are required to see the identification documents of all the individuals they serve.  At the same time, the government has made it more difficult to obtain these documents.  As a result, many of the homeless are prevented from utilizing the services they need simply because they do not have the proper forms of identification.   

When our homeless friends are ready to start improving their lives, we help them do so.  The Homeless Identification Project will help the Welcome Ministry solves the new problems facing the homeless in this post 9/11 world.

PROPOSAL STATEMENT – The Welcome Ministry’s Homeless Identification Project will enable volunteer chaplains to help the chronically homeless to gain the services they need to improve their quality of life. This project will enable the homeless to gain identification, a mailing address and other resources that are needed to apply before the homeless can utilize services from other health organizations and governmental programs in San Francisco in addition to providing educational and support services.

HOW THE PROJECT WORKS(one individual example) – Bobby comes to the Welcome Ministry with a desire to improve his quality of life and has an initial meeting with our director to access his needs, desired outcomes and to talk about how best to move forward.  In a follow up meeting, the Rev. Megan Rohrer becomes Bobby’s companion and begins journeying with Bobby.  Bobby and Pr. Megan begin learning about each other.  Bobby receives hope, a sense of community and a feeling that someone cares for him.  Pr. Megan gains hope, learns about compassion and gains a deeper understanding of the diversity of the kin-dom of God. 

Then, Bobby and Pr. Megan do the work needed to obtain Bobby’s identification and begin to access the services at other health care agencies that would most benefit him (including applying for Social Security Disability, rehabilitation services, obtaining permanent housing, dental care, eye care and other needed health care).  Bobby and Pr. Megan then go to the appointments together in order of emergent need.  Pr. Megan, uses her experience to help Bobby fill out all the necessary paperwork.  Bobby is unable to fill out the forms on his own, because he does not have the prescription eyewear that he needs). 

Bobby and Pr. Megan continue to stay in contact after all of Bobby’s emergent health needs have been taken care of, with an official meeting to analyze and evaluate their journeying together.  At this meeting Bobby and Pr. Megan will record a narrative of success that they experienced together and some numerical data about services that they utilized together.  The information is given to the Welcome Ministry board of directors to review and shared with other supporting organizations and churches as appropriate (respecting confidentiality of the individual and their companion).

EVALUATION PLAN ‑ The Welcome Ministry Board of Directors is responsible for evaluating ministry programs. It is difficult to evaluate in quantifiable ways the effectiveness of providing a ministry of presence with another person.  In terms of numbers, we will count the number of people we journey with and the number of ID’s obtained through the project.  We will also try to keep track of the various ways that our homeless friends’ lives are enhanced. We also count the number of people who have ongoing relationships with staff and volunteers and the number of guests who move into treatment or seek services.

However, the best way to evaluate our efforts is to examine what is happening in the lives of the people, guests and volunteers alike, and how our guests relate to one another and us while they are at the Welcome Center.  We continue to note when guests return to the Center frequently and reflect on why this is happening. We also examine the way in which guests respond to our hospitality, the number of guests who participate in operating our programs and those who turn their lives around are significant factors. We will record the narratives of those touched by the program in addition to numbers.  Additionally we will record our best practices for helping the chronically homeless obtain their identification.  Caution will be taken with all information used for evaluation to assure proper standards of confidentiality.

SHARING WITH OTHERS – Because the problem we are addressing affects the homeless throughout the country, we hope to share what we learn in this project with agencies nationwide.  We plan to publish our experiences and best practices online, in newsletters and in our networking with other agencies.  By engaging volunteers from a wide variety of churches we are able to share the program through word of mouth to the organizations and ministries that support us.  Additionally, the Welcome Ministry will share insights gained in this project through sermons, educational programs, and the newsletters of local churches and Lutheran agencies.  We also intend to share information in others organic ways as opportunities arise.