Homelessness is on the rise in America. With the recent increase of homeless encampments throughout communities, local municipalities are under increased scrutiny on how to address the issue. To promote greater social order and improve public safety – for those in the encampments and the broader community – the recent Supreme Court decision in City of Grants Pass, Oregon v. Johnson will greatly impact local policies.  

We believe this decision will allow local governments and law enforcement agencies to determine how best to respond to homelessness in their own communities, allowing greater local autonomy in policy decision-making and implementation.  

Esther Larson, Philanthropy Roundtable’s senior director of programs, interviewed Devon Kurtz, public safety policy director at Cicero Institute, to better understand this issue. The Cicero Institute is a nonpartisan public policy organization with deep experience in public policy and technology, law and entrepreneurship.  

Q: Homeless rates across America are only increasing. What do you see as the key contributing factors to this reality? 

Kurtz: When we talk about homelessness, we often refer to it casually as a monolith. But that’s exactly the same problem with the policies most states use to respond to it. Homelessness is very complex with distinct subpopulations with varied needs and challenges. For example, it is important to distinguish between sheltered and unsheltered homeless populations, the latter of which refers to people who live in tents and sleeping bags on the street.  

America is not experiencing a homelessness crisis as much as an unsheltered homelessness crisis. All but 12 states have seen the proportion of their homeless population without shelter increase over the last five years, and 22 states have seen unsheltered homelessness increase by more than 50%. 

The imprecision of how we talk about homelessness and in how we make policy means that most states are missing the mark. Federal homelessness policies take a one-size-fits-all approach known as Housing First, which prioritizes low-barrier housing interventions that offer people apartments without any requirements for behavioral health treatment or sobriety.  

But more importantly, Housing First explicitly moves funding away from other types of programs that might be better suited to help high-risk, high-need individuals. The vast majority of states have moved in this direction, as federal funding decisions tend to drive local policies in the homelessness space. The result has been a growing gap between the capacity of communities to respond to different types of homelessness and the increasingly complex needs of those individuals living on the street. 

Q: Policies at the federal, state and local levels have contributed both positively and negatively to homelessness in America today. What policies have had the greatest impact on homelessness – for good or bad? 

Kurtz: Federal Housing First policies are at the root of most of the decisions made at every level of government in regard to homelessness. In addition to changing how resources are allocated, Housing First’s philosophy also de-emphasizes any sort of mandatory or coerced interventions, such as involuntary mental health treatment or legal prohibitions against street camping.  

Cities well outside of California have followed along the same path in allowing sprawling street encampments to take hold of their downtowns. Austin is a notable example. These policies have good intentions—draw people into services and shelter with care and compassion rather than coercion. The problem is that they neglect service-resistant individuals or people whose conditions improve with personal accountability alongside compassion.  

The line between “meeting people where they are at” and enablement is fine. But many homelessness policies lack that nuance out of an aversion to approaches that might be uncomfortable and involve penalties for failure. The results, however, speak for themselves—homeless encampments are toxic environments filled with waste and trash, and are often hotbeds of crime. Unsheltered homeless people have 2.5 times the premature mortality rate of sheltered homeless. The road to desperation was paved with good intentions. 

A few states are taking a more nuanced approach with state resources. Florida, Georgia and Utah have all committed millions of dollars in state funding to fill the gaps for high-need individuals created by Housing First. They also take a more proactive approach with street camping that empowers law enforcement to intervene in dangerous encampments.  

These policies are often criticized as lacking in compassion. But in many ways, they more effectively approach the situations of the street and the dangers faced by unsheltered homeless people and the communities around them. Most importantly, they take seriously the reality of the human condition in that they present an actionable response to severely addicted or mentally ill individuals who are “service-resistant.”  

The policy discussion here is very, very challenging because we are ultimately discussing our society’s level of tolerance for squalor and human suffering.  

Q: For those who are newer to the recent SCOTUS decision City of Grants Pass, Oregon v. Johnson, could you explain how the case went to the Supreme Court and what its impact will be? 

Kurtz: The fundamental question before the Supreme Court was whether or not laws that prohibit people from sleeping on the street or in parks punish individuals for qualities inherent to their condition. In fewer words, whether they punish people for passively “being homeless” or for specific illicit actions. In 2018, the Ninth Circuit prohibited enforcement of bans on street sleeping or camping, with few exceptions, out of a belief that it punished people for their condition as “homeless” and was thus cruel and unusual. This decision fettered how communities could respond to unsheltered homelessness and street encampments.  

Ultimately, SCOTUS saw that street sleeping could be committed by people who were not homeless, which broke down the argument that the law prohibited a condition rather than an action. But more importantly, the Court found that the federal judiciary was playing far too large a role in setting homeless policies for communities. Thus, it affirmed in part this theme of ‘multifaceted and tailored local solutions’ that I have discussed.   

In most of the U.S., this decision will affirm communities’ power and responsibility over responding to homelessness. In the Ninth Circuit, the decision will help smaller communities the most. Big cities were already forced to deal with the undeniable public safety and public health crises in encampments, even if they tend not to be proactive. Smaller communities, however, see encampments a fraction of the size of those in L.A. The problems in those camps are still pressing, but law enforcement may have felt restrained in their ability to respond to smaller camps until they grew sufficiently dangerous to warrant action. Now, communities can respond earlier. 

Q: Though your focus at Cicero is public safety, you also focus on homeless-related issues. How do you see homelessness relating to other issues – public safety, mental illness, addiction, incarceration, access to affordable housing, etc.? 

Kurtz: Street homelessness is the great public safety crisis of our time. Visible public disorder is tied directly to street homelessness, and by some measures, a significant portion of violent crime is associated with homeless victims, offenders, or both. Yet, the relationship between criminal justice and homelessness isn’t simple. Roughly one-third of homeless people in California had left prison or long-term jail stays within six months of becoming homeless.  

Rates of substance abuse and mental illness among prison populations and unsheltered homeless individuals are high and increasing rapidly. About 50% of America’s psychiatric beds are in prisons. These systems are highly interrelated and, in my view, inextricable. 

Eleven states have seen the number of unsheltered homeless people with severe mental illness more than double since 2018. Thirteen states have seen the number with chronic substance abuse at least double. To deny the public health and public safety implications of this crisis is misguided. 

Q: Is there a state or city you point to as a guiding light in this work, in terms of their effective approach to homelessness and curbing its impact on individuals and communities? 

Kurtz: It is a difficult question to answer because no two communities are the same. So what works in Detroit might not work in Austin, and what works in a rural state like Vermont certainly won’t work even in Boston. We will not find a silver bullet. There are great organizations like Haven for Hope that are often cited. And cities like Miami and Houston are often shown off for their reductions in homelessness.  

But instead of trying to copy what other people do, policymakers and the philanthropic community should look to social entrepreneurs and innovators to help build new solutions and push the borders of what we think is possible. We need to build systems that reward innovation and challenge incumbent programs to improve and grow. Experimentation and dislodging barriers to entry and innovation are essential to effectively responding to homelessness.  

We also need to look in unlikely places. For example, Nomadik AI, a start-up in Austin, Texas, is bringing a whole new approach to data collection in relation to homelessness. Organizations like theirs are so important to evaluating interventions and tracking how complex social problems like homelessness evolve over time and in different communities. 

If you want to learn more about how Philanthropy Roundtable supports donors committed to addressing our nation’s homeless communities, please contact Esther Larson, senior director of Programs at Philanthropy Roundtable here. 

The post “Street Homelessness is the Great Public Safety Crisis of Our Time”: An Interview with Cicero Institute  appeared first on Philanthropy Roundtable.

Citygate Network is North America’s oldest and largest community of independent, faith-based crisis shelters and life-transformation centers. Started in 1906, the organization has grown to partner, educate, train and guide a network of 300 member organizations. Each organization works to move people in desperate situations and destitute conditions (i.e., hungry, homeless, abused and addicted) from human suffering to human flourishing through the process of gospel-powered life transformation. 

The Citygate Network focuses on breaking the bonds of destructive habits, bad decisions (made by or forced upon the person) and enslaving conditions. By providing services and care in the context of community, Citygate Network’s tagline “Enter here. Start anew.” underscores the network’s focus on life transforming change.  

Philanthropic investment into Citygate Network’s work is making life transformation possible in communities across America. To get a better sense of their work and impact throughout the country, Esther Larson, senior director of Programs, recently interviewed Tom DeVries, CEO of Citygate Network. 

Q: Rates of addiction and homelessness are drastically increasing across American communities. What are you seeing in terms of the evolving needs for those who are homeless, struggling with addiction or facing other life crises? 

DeVries: Numbers tell a story, and the reality is that more and more people are finding themselves without help, in need of support and looking for those who will offer assistance and services that can address the challenges they are currently facing.  

Between 2022 and 2023, the number of people experiencing homelessness on any given night in the United States rose by 12%, reaching 653,100 – the highest number recorded since tracking began in 2007. The challenges are increasingly complex, with a growing demand for holistic support. Immediate needs include access to shelter, food and health care services alongside long-term, sustainable solutions addressing mental health, addiction recovery and affordable housing.  

Homelessness is more often the symptom of a greater pervasive problem: broken relationships. This lack of supportive community leads to so many of the issues contributing to rising rates of homelessness and intersecting problems of mental illness, addiction, ability to remain in employment and limited access to affordable housing. At Citygate Network, our missions and ministries reach out to people where they are, in whatever situation they are in and offer solutions that can move them from a place of individual suffering to a place of flourishing in the context of a caring community.  
 

Q: What is Citygate Network’s unique approach to address these needs? 

DeVries: The unique approach of the missions and ministries within Citygate Network is that each approach is unique. With more than 320 missions and ministries in our network, each one helps, loves and serves differently, in response to their unique context. 

For example, in Baltimore, Helping Up Mission partners with Johns Hopkins Hospital to provide health care for moms with children who are experiencing homelessness as well as mothers who are expecting. In Colorado, the Denver Rescue Mission has a contract with the city of Denver to provide emergency shelter and housing for the unhoused in that community. In Southern California, Hope: The Mission has multiple sites of tiny homes that offer safety and security as an alternative to the challenge of living on the streets. 

Our ministries offer professional mental health services, Christ-centered recovery programs, trauma-informed case management, workforce development and spiritual support, ensuring individuals receive the resources and relationships needed to rebuild their lives and achieve long-term stability. 

Q: What is the impact of Citygate’s programs and what makes your program model unique?  

DeVries: The programs of the missions and ministries of Citygate Network have profound impact, transforming lives and future generations as people are restored. As one of the largest providers of homeless services in the United States, we collectively provide nearly 80,000 beds. In conversation with Dr. Robert Marbut, former director of the U.S. Interagency Council on Homelessness, between Citygate Network and The Salvation Army, we provide 75% of the nation’s emergency shelter services. The fact that 75% of emergency shelter beds are being provided by faith-based organizations demonstrates the significant role faith-based providers play in serving those who are most vulnerable in our country. 

Though vitally important, providing emergency housing is only one aspect of our work. We aim to transform the lives of those who are hungry, homeless, abused and/or addicted. We do this by providing recovery and restoration through God’s message of hope and help to people in the most difficult and challenging places. 

Q: Speaking of life transformation, could you share a story of someone who has benefited from Citygate’s ministries? 

DeVries: Citygate Network partners with missions and ministries across North America and the Caribbean and the impact of our programs is vast. For example, in Seattle, Sarah, a young mother, overcame homelessness and addiction through mental health support, Christ-centered recovery and job training with help from Union Gospel Mission. Now employed and volunteering, she helps others on their recovery journey. In Washington D.C., James, a veteran with PTSD, found refuge and stability through similar comprehensive services with Central Union Mission. He now serves as a mentor to other veterans, exemplifying the transformative power of Citygate Network’s comprehensive approach.  

These stories highlight the life-changing impact of our programs, demonstrating how we empower these missions to carry out this vital life-transforming work. 

Q: In the midst of oftentimes flawed policies to address community needs, what are some of critiques you have on the Housing First policy and the recent SCOTUS decision addressing homeless encampments?  

DeVries: While Housing First is a valuable approach, it often overlooks the need for comprehensive support like incorporating mental health and addiction services, which are crucial for sustainable recovery. Providing housing alone, especially to those deemed most in need, without addressing underlying issues, can result in repeated and prolonged homelessness. 

The recent SCOTUS decision on homeless encampments underscores the urgency for humane and lasting solutions. Criminalizing homelessness without offering viable alternatives does not address root causes and can exacerbate the situation. Effective policies should integrate housing with robust support services to foster long-term stability and well-being. 

Q: Could you describe how Citygate Network’s mission is funded? How does philanthropy propel your mission? 

DeVries: Citygate Network’s mission is funded through three streams: annual dues from our members, revenue from annual events we provide and the generous support from donors and foundations. Of those three streams, philanthropy is currently the smallest. Historically, we have viewed ourselves more as an association than as a missional movement. While this model has sustained us thus far, we are now poised for growth and require additional financial support to accomplish goals focused on bringing long-term solutions to people’s lives and to how we address homelessness overall. 

Increased philanthropic contributions would significantly expand the reach and impact of Citygate Network by enhancing our leadership development equipping and training. These contributions would also empower us to drive systematic change and raise awareness about the intersection of homelessness and addiction and/or mental health through advocacy to key policymakers. 

Q: Are there any specific donor partnerships that have been pivotal in the organization’s impact? If so, what made the partnership so compelling? 

DeVries: Citygate Network’s Hope in the Gate initiative, in partnership with the Maclellan Foundation, Unwavering Resolve plus Willow Bend Creative, offers transformative three-day retreats for individuals nearing the end of their rescue mission recovery programs. Set in the serene hills of Tennessee, participants work with singer-songwriters, life coaches and other professionals to discover their unique gifts, hear God’s voice and celebrate their journeys. The retreats include original music, outdoor activities, counseling support and community building, providing a powerful capstone to their recovery process. You can watch Hope in the Gate: Krystal’s Story to see a story from one of our Hope in the Gate events. 

We also partner with the M.J. Murdock Charitable Trust to host Ripple Effect, a leadership and board governance development program, enhancing our member missions’ ability and capacity to grow leadership, determine ministry direction and raise the level of kingdom impact and ministry effectiveness. 

Q: Are there any specific initiatives you’d like to highlight for donors who might be interested in your work? 

DeVries: One major initiative we are working on is better tracking (of) our outcomes and impact across the country. To do this, we have entered a new relationship with MissionTracker, which offers a customer relationship management system to members, enabling us to create a national dashboard that reflects our collective impact, enhancing our ability to measure impact and showcase the significant work our members are doing.   

This will ultimately improve scalability and strengthen our collective voice, offering a comprehensive view of emergency service beds, addiction recovery programs, meals served and key demographics. Although launching this system is a significant and costly endeavor, it will offer invaluable insights into the role of Christians and faith-based ministries in addressing homelessness across the U.S. and Canada. 

Another initiative is our new leadership development track focused on learning communities and coaching. Through connection and content, the program will provide learning, support and accountability for leaders to grow and develop to ultimately see increased missional impact. 

Finally, we have a strategic partnership with Adult & Teen Challenge, The Salvation Army and Duke University, where we are actively working to measure the impact of faith on recovery. This collaboration is crucial to our mission, especially in light of the HUD survey revealing that one in five individuals experiencing homelessness struggle with substance abuse, with Citygate Network members and other studies estimating this figure to be significantly higher.  

With the economic impact of substance abuse in the U.S. estimated at $740 billion annually, our partnership aims to provide valuable insights into how faith-based support influences recovery outcomes. By studying these effects, we hope to enhance treatment and support strategies for those affected by addiction, with the goal of life transformation impacting communities for generations to come. 

If you are interested in learning more about how Philanthropy Roundtable supports donors committed to addressing our nation’s homeless communities, please contact Esther Larson, senior director of Programs at Philanthropy Roundtable here.  

The post “Enter here. Start anew.”: A Conversation with Citygate Network appeared first on Philanthropy Roundtable.

A recent Wall Street Journal piece, “The Mental-Health Benefits Linked to Going to Church” highlights the significant role houses of worship play in providing a greater sense of community and belonging for individuals. The unique role spiritual leaders have in the lives of so many Americans highlights the opportunity these faith leaders and communities have to improve the overall well-being of Americans struggling to find their sense of purpose, identity and calling. 

To foster greater attention on approaching mental health-related issues within houses of worship, a collaboration among Sanctuary Mental Health Services, The Porter’s Gate Worship Project and Duke Divinity School recently partnered to launch a curriculum called “Sanctuary Course,” and “Sanctuary Songs.” The Sanctuary Course equips the church as they learn to support those with mental health challenges while the Sanctuary Songs is a complementing worship album that focuses on themes related to mental health and faith.  

There are currently around 2,000 churches throughout the United States, Canada and the United Kingdom benefiting from this resource and around 300,000 individuals completing the course in small groups of Sunday school class formats. 

Esther Larson, senior director of programs at Philanthropy Roundtable, recently spoke with Isaac Wardell, the director of The Porter’s Gate, and Daniel Whitehead, CEO of Sanctuary Mental Health Services, to learn more about the collaboration and how philanthropy can help further fuel their impact.  

The following interview has been edited for length and clarity. 

 Q: Tell us about your collaborative project “Sanctuary Course” and “Sanctuary Songs.” 

Wardell: One of the places where the most regular and consistent spiritual formation takes place for Christians is in their experience of weekly worship. It’s in worship that we get the language and the tools for talking about the struggles we face – through preaching, through corporate prayer and also through singing together.  

Many of us have even had the experience of calling to mind the lyrics to a song or a hymn that has really spoken to our hearts during a difficult season. It strikes me that many churches don’t feel like they have the language or the tools for how to talk about mental health in worship. The hope of the Sanctuary Course and this new suite of worship resources called Sanctuary Songs is that we can provide churches with the language for how to talk about mental health journeys in a way that’s biblical faithful and also emotionally powerful. 

Whitehead: For us at Sanctuary, we see the power of music and art in helping people make connections in the mental health conversation. Sometimes when we can’t find words to explain how we’re feeling or what we’re going through or what we’re experiencing, it is art and music that help us.  

It’s also a goal of Sanctuary to change the culture of the church to be more hospitable to people amid crisis, and music is one of the most powerful discipleship tools that the church has. For us, to help create music that better reflects all of human experience by re-establishing a more biblical vision for worship through lament and honestly bringing our troubles to God in the community, strikes us as a vital task, especially in this historic moment when so many people are looking for hope. 

Q: How do you see the intersection of faith engagement and mental health?  

Wardell: There are so many stories of individuals approaching a pastor or youth pastor with a mental health challenge as their first point of entry for talking about this issue. In that crucial moment, there are really different outcomes that can take place. In the worst-case scenario, a pastor might be in error or ill-informed and cause a person to feel like their mental health challenge is a sign of spiritual deficiency or even personal sin. In other cases, a pastor might just not know how to talk about it, which might make the parishioner feel isolated and unknown. 

But, I’ve also heard really beautiful stories of how talking to a pastor has been the first step in a journey of healing when the pastor has helped destigmatize mental illness and been able to point the person in the right direction. We want to equip more pastors and church leaders to help reach these kinds of outcomes. 

Whitehead: Sanctuary Mental Health Ministries began 13 years ago because of research that shows that at a point of mental health crisis, people are more likely to turn to the church than they are to a doctor. The challenge is that very often the kind of support people get in the church is at best non-existent, and at worst unhelpful, or damaging. Faith and mental health belong together because at the heart of our faith is a belief we can bring all things before God and God has a redemptive plan for all human experiences, including difficult ones. 

Q: You successfully launched the first iteration of this project and it was well received by faith communities. Describe what the initial project for “Sanctuary Course” and “Sanctuary Songs” entailed and what impact it has had. 

Wardell: We’ve already seen these songs and prayers used in at least 2,000 churches over the past two years. We’ve been receiving emails and notes every week from individuals and from church leaders expressing gratitude for these worship resources. 

Whitehead: In our recent annual review, we detail some of the feedback we’ve received from people who have listened to Sanctuary Songs. We could also report on a great number of churches across a large geographical space that have incorporated the songs into their song worship. 

It is through this project that I believe there is so much more to be leveraged in the Christian music space, I believe it’s possible Sanctuary Songs will be looked back upon as a seminal moment that helped to move forward a re-emergence of lament and brutal honesty in sung worship. This will be a good thing for so many people in our congregations who often have to suffer in silence because of stigma, to hear their experiences sung about in community as the Jewish people did when hearing the Psalms of Lament sung in community. 

Q: What does success look like for this project working with youth around mental health? How does the collaborative think about success metrics and impact? 

Wardell: One of the goals of this project is to see more churches around the country take on conversations about mental health in small groups, in worship and through counseling ministries. We’ve seen so many individual churches start this journey, but we’re also focusing more in the coming year on conversations with whole denominations and larger groups of churches to help whole organizations of churches feel well-resourced. With our partnership with Duke Divinity professors Warren Kayhorn and John Swinton, we are hosting a gathering this coming fall with scholars, mental health professionals and musicians as we continue to increase awareness about this project together. 

Whitehead: An exciting part of the upcoming youth series that we are launching is that for the first time ever we will be doing an in-depth pre- and post-study to track and report on changes in attitudes and practices in response to the Sanctuary Youth Series. This will be a conclusive and publishable study working with a third-party research institution. At the base level, success will look like young people, and the people who serve those young people, gaining a shared framework and language to understand faith and mental health, so young people can bring their whole authentic selves to the church, and take their faith authentically into their mental health journeys. We are also excited about the prospect of cross-generational conversations happening around faith and mental health because we will have collaborative resources for young people and their parents. 

 Q: How has this work been funded? Any specific funding needs to make this project a reality?  

Wardell: Funding so far has come in the form of individual gifts as well as several grants. Many of the individual donors and family foundations that have become passionate about this work have been families touched in a personal way by mental health challenges. I think the more families come to recognize the great need in this area that they become more interested in working toward solutions that address mental health, especially in a way that’s consistent with their Christian faith and biblical values. 

Whitehead: All of Sanctuary’s work relies on the generosity of donors and foundations. We are close to achieving our fundraising goal for the youth series, but we are always looking for support to help us create new resources and raise awareness of existing resources to communities of faith across all denominations, cultural settings and geographic locations. 

 Q: Anything else you’d like to share with donors about why they should consider funding mental health as part of their portfolio of giving? 

Whitehead: When I look back at history and see the role the church has played in meeting very real needs in society, I am left wondering what history will say of this moment, and the church’s response to this overwhelming challenge in our society. I for one believe the church should be at the forefront of mental health conversations, helping the world to see a different way to hold this subject, in a way that is informed by psychology, by faith and always elevating the value and voice of those who are suffering.  

The church has all it needs to hold this space in society. But sadly the church is often too afraid, or lacking the right framework and terminology to lead the way in rehumanizing people amid crises, and reassuring people that God is still near to those who are struggling in their mental health. I can foresee a day when the church is famous for its deeply compassionate love and care of those in the midst of mental health crises. But we have a long way to go to make that a reality, so we need all the help we can get. 

If you are interested in learning more about how Philanthropy Roundtable supports donors committed to addressing our nation’s mental health crisis, please contact Esther Larson, senior director of programs at Philanthropy Roundtable here. 

The post How Houses of Worship Could Play a Greater Role Improving America’s Mental Health Epidemic  appeared first on Philanthropy Roundtable.

With books such as “Bad Therapy: Why the Kids Aren’t Growing Up” by Abigail Shrier and “The Anxious Generation: How the Great Rewiring of Childhood Is Causing an Epidemic of Mental Illness” by Jonathan Haidt, there is much discussion about how philanthropy and direct service providers can effectively increase the overall well-being of our youth. Others such as Lenore Skenazy and Camilo Ortiz are gaining traction with research backing up the need for greater independence and freedom for kids to prove their resilience and prevent mental health related challenges.

Philanthropic efforts in the area of youth mental health take varied paths and a foundation that has successfully funded youth mental health efforts for over 25 years is the Sidney A. Swensrud Foundation. Esther Larson, senior director of programs at Philanthropy Roundtable, recently discussed the foundation’s funding strategy behind their youth mental health focus with Trustee Nancy Anthony, who is also a board member for several other organizations, and Bob Anthony, executive director of Adolescent Wellness, Inc., who also chairs the Mental Health Initiatives Rotary Action Group.

The following interview has been edited for length and clarity.

Q: How did the foundation decide to invest in youth mental health?

Nancy and Bob: Over the years our extended family and friends’ families experienced challenges related to mental health at all ages, for which we were unprepared. The resources we found were unsatisfactory. It was obvious that access to help and affordability did not exist, much less early treatment and prevention.

Q: What are your funding priorities in mental health – and why?

Nancy and Bob: Our priority is affordability and access to early mental health treatment and prevention for youth. But we now know that the path to achieving that includes parent education and community support.

Over the past 25 years, we’ve funded resources and curricula to provide specific support for parents, families and providers as well as workshops for parents, clergy, teachers and school staff and nurses. The wide selection of curricula we funded include a starter kit for schools focusing on adolescent mental health and wellness, depression prevention, peer mentoring and more.

Most recently, the Building Bridges of Understanding program, which bundles both patient and parent education with continuing medical education for pediatricians, has proven to provide affordable access to early treatment and preventive behavioral health care.

Q:  How did you come to know about the Building Bridges of Understanding program, and what makes the project so compelling for you?

Nancy and Bob: We participated in the concept discussions for the Building Bridges of Understanding program and facilitated its pilot in Naples, Florida. The previous pilot sites of Boston Children’s Hospital, Children’s Hospital Los Angeles and Connecticut Children’s Hospital were documented in peer reviewed articles so we knew it worked well in urban areas and could be replicated. We wanted to see it proven in a more rural setting. Here in Naples, the family doctors joke that unicorns are more common than child psychiatrists. The nearest pediatric psychiatric inpatient facility is across the state in Miami or four hours north in Tampa.

The pilot implementation in Naples delivered:

• Continuing medical education to manage all mild and moderate cases of anxiety, ADHD, depression or disruptive behavior disorders
• Patient and parent education in the form of Guided Self-Management Toolkit for Families that allow treatment with minimal time demands on the doctor

The project is compelling because it effectively ends the waitlist for care before starting treatment. Before this project, the average delay between first symptom and first treatment was 10 years. No staff additions to the existing pediatric primary care providers were needed but youth in Collier County can now start treatment the same day they screen positive for behavioral health challenges. This three-minute video summarizes one family’s experience with the program.

Q: How do you consider impact and success metrics in your mental health-related funding strategy?

Nancy and Bob: The various program resources we fund tend to be pilot programs with great promise for effective results. They have projected outcomes, and several have met or surpassed the projected success metrics. For example, one school-based mental health pilot reduced emergency pediatric psychiatric evaluations by more than half.

The related depression awareness curriculum routinely improved – for all students in a grade – knowledge of depression, confidence in seeking help and reduced negative attitudes. However, the impact was limited because it was not widely adopted. Most school programs designed to scale simply require too much staff time to be realistic.

Building Bridges of Understanding was different. It was not a pilot but an improvement in implementation. Training primary care doctors with the basic skills of psychiatry has been available for a decade but that alone did not end the wait list to begin treatment. Doctors still made referrals out of their schedule onto a third-party waitlist because they did not have adequate time to provide the elements of ‘talk therapy’ for mild mental health cases. This program translated evidence-based treatments into convenient training not only for the doctor but also for the patient and, importantly, for the parent.

Education for the parents allows them to partner in treatment, reducing the time burden for the doctor. This allows for implementation to now be practical without adding staff. Roughly 1,500 primary care providers have implemented the program to date, which has improved care for 1.5 million youth. Peer-reviewed articles document the metrics through the pilot phases, and the program is now released nationally.

Collier is the first county in Florida where the majority of primary care providers have completed the training. The percentage of primary care providers feeling competent and confident in treating all mild and moderate mental health cases increased from 49% to 99%. They routinely prescribe the indicated ‘Guided Self-Management Toolkits for Families’and the relative volume of medications they prescribe has shifted lower for ADHD and higher for both anxiety and depression. With this success about 10,000 youth in the county will be receiving behavioral health care by the end of the year.

Q: Are there any foundations or donors who have been instrumental in impacting your approach and thinking in mental health giving?

Nancy and Bob: Over the course of our 25-year journey of funding in the mental health-related space, we often feel frustrated to find few foundations effectively supporting affordability and access to mental health-related care and find even fewer foundations that are targeting early treatment and prevention. With increased mental health awareness and discussion, we believe there is a lot of opportunity for philanthropy to provide leadership and support to the growing conversation around mental health.

Q: What lessons have you learned in your journey of giving in the mental health area and what recommendations would you give to other funders considering donating in this area?

Nancy and Bob: We find that without intentionality, hospitals and other organizations tend to reinvent the wheel if you let them. Factors ranging from the pride of ownership to basic budget protection can spark more competition than collaboration among nonprofits. Therefore, it is up to the funder to identify which effective solutions already exist and to determine whether they can be scaled, replicated or localized to their specific context.

Based on our 25 years of funding in this area, we recommend focusing on accelerating implementation. We have found that medical innovations languish for 15 years before they are widely adopted. Over the past two decades, many evidence-based interventions have been created for early intervention and treatment, yet few are widely adopted. We also recommend that funders specifically identify and outline what they want to accomplish, define very clear deliverables for those goals and delineate a timeline and a fixed communication schedule with the provider.

Q: Anything else you’d like to share with the Roundtable community?

Nancy and Bob: If your funding strategy involves youth, we highly recommend that mental health-related programs prioritize parent or caretaker involvement. These individuals are so vital to the mental health equation that to ignore them is detrimental to the overall care and well-being of the youth involved. If any donor is interested in connecting with us to share notes or best practices in the area of mental health, we welcome the opportunity to learn from and share our experiences.

If you are interested in learning more about how Philanthropy Roundtable supports donors committed to addressing our nation’s mental health crisis, please contact Esther Larson, senior director of programs at Philanthropy Roundtable here.

The post A Funding Strategy for Youth Mental Health: An Interview with The Sidney A. Swensrud Foundation appeared first on Philanthropy Roundtable.

Below are excerpts from the article: 

“Fortunately, Americans have a secret weapon in fighting this battle — private philanthropy. Philanthropy has historically played a life-saving role in the medical field from helping us to eradicate polio to the more recent development of the COVID-19 vaccine. And, today, philanthropy is supporting numerous nonprofits that serve those living with mental illness, advance vital research and train mental health practitioners who can provide quality care. 

One organization making great strides in early intervention and leading the nation in grief and trauma counseling for children and teens is the Hackett Center for Mental Health. Based in Houston, the Hackett Center’s inaugural effort was launched to help heal communities traumatized by Hurricane Harvey. The center has since advanced a range of regional mental health initiatives that focus primarily on children, youth and families — such as helping children cope with the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic. 

Another vulnerable population that consistently struggles with mental health issues is our nation’s veterans. According to the Wounded Warrior Project, “1 in 3 veterans live with post-traumatic stress disorder” and “1 in 3 veterans also feel they don’t get the mental health services they need.” 

After learning about problems with the care some veterans were receiving from the Veterans Health Administration, Home Depot co-founder Bernie Marcus decided he needed to get involved. Today, the Marcus Foundation helps care for as many as 20,000 veterans diagnosed with conditions like traumatic brain injury and post-traumatic stress annually by partnering with local hospitals to create a network of mental health support. Its innovative Atlanta-based SHARE Military Initiative rehabilitation program, for instance, has gained national renown for the education, care and support it provides to veterans and service members — at no cost to them. 

… 

The lack of access to quality mental health care is indeed a crisis in this country, but solutions are out there. Public education, reducing stigma, supporting mental health research and engaging families and faith communities in solutions are all ways that we can contribute to addressing this crisis — and private philanthropy is leading the way in supporting them.” 

To read the complete article, please visit The Dallas Morning News.  

Editor’s Note: The original piece misstated the location of The Hackett Center, which is an affiliate of the Dallas-based Meadows Mental Health Policy Institute. The Hackett Center is physically located in Houston, Texas.  

The post Herrera in The Dallas Morning News: America Faces a Mental Health Crisis. Philanthropy Can Help Solve It.  appeared first on Philanthropy Roundtable.

“Most of our funds and most of our attention go to people sort of in the middle of that spectrum, and we need to make sure our focus includes the entire spectrum, but certainly it needs to include people who have the most severe and the most acute illnesses,” she continues. “If we’re able to do that, we’re also going to have a system that serves everyone else.”

Based out of Arlington, Virginia, Treatment Advocacy Center does this on both the state and federal level, examining laws on civil commitment, emergency treatment and evaluation and police response. It also advocates for more funding and research that adequately includes those with severe mental illness to ensure that policies don’t ignore their needs.

The Head and the Heart

Another organization that focuses on patients with serious needs is the Shepherd Center in Atlanta, a nonprofit hospital that focuses on those who’ve suffered traumatic brain injuries or other neuromuscular conditions.

Michelle Jackson, a clinical neuropsychologist at the Shepherd Center, says the center takes a “holistic” approach to mental health care. It offers a multitude of psychological resources — such as providing access to neuropsychological assessments, individual and group counseling and family support. It also offers other services supporting mental health that may not be traditionally associated with it, such as access to chaplains, recreational therapy, adaptive sports, fitness training and wellness programs

When people think of mental health care, they often picture therapy, counseling and medication. But that’s not the whole picture.

“Here at Shepherd Center we definitely intertwine mental health into our day-to-day activities,” Jackson says.

One recent patient at the Shepherd Center had suffered a stroke. This young patient had lived an independent, physically active life but suddenly couldn’t move one side of their body. The patient struggled with anxiety, both mental and physical. Shepherd Center psychologists worked with the patient on deep breathing and mindfulness to focus on the physical level of anxiety, but they didn’t stop there. They also helped the patient identify core values, exploring what the patient loved about their physically active life and how to achieve those values in a new way.

“We’re social beings,” Jackson says. “As humans, we seek productivity, we seek to make connections, to have enjoyment and independence.”

Finding ways to achieve each of those goals, perhaps in a new or untraditional way, is important. “We’re trying to empower our patients and their family members to re-engage with their community.”

Helping Veterans Help Each Other

The Shepherd Center is able to do the work it does for its patients thanks in part to The Marcus Foundation. Among the Shepherd Center’s offerings is the SHARE Military Initiative, a program started in 2007 with a $2 million grant from the foundation.

“We’ve sent hundreds of veterans through there since they opened their doors,” says Marcus Ruzek, senior program director at The Marcus Foundation. “Really what we found was that this was a big problem that was impacting a massive amount of the population.”

The Marcus Foundation got involved in the mental health space because of its focus on veterans and the tragic epidemic of veteran suicide, which takes the lives of over 20 veterans every day, according to Ruzek. On top of that, nearly 30% of veterans who served in Operations Iraqi Freedom and Enduring Freedom will experience PTSD at some point in their lives. 

Through the Avalon Action Alliance, The Marcus Foundation supports not just the Shepherd Center’s work with veterans but also seven traumatic brain injury clinics around the country — and counting. The alliance is an initiative to bring traumatic brain injury programs to rehab hospitals or academic medical centers around the country. In Milwaukee, Avalon just opened its seventh location, and it’s looking to potentially expand to Houston, a move for which The Marcus Foundation has sought the Texas-based Hackett Family Foundation’s expertise.

There are tens of thousands of veterans’ charities in the U.S. So how does The Marcus Foundation decide who’s really moving the needle for veterans? In a word: results.

One organization the foundation supports is Boulder Crest, a Virginia-based group that trains combat veterans in the science of “post-traumatic growth” through a peer-based training program, Warrior PATHH. Boulder Crest also provides other programs, such as stays for veterans and their families in the Blue Ridge Mountains.

In 2016, The Marcus Foundation funded an evaluation to follow veterans over a period of 18 months and measure traditional mental health metrics as well as “post-traumatic growth inventory,” a quality-of-life scale. Veterans went through a seven-day, peer-to-peer training program including 20 different wellness practices, from meditation to gratitude to physical fitness.

“What we learned is, by the end of that 18 months, we had an average of 50-60% decreases in post-traumatic stress scores, depression, anxiety, stress, insomnia,” Ruzek says. “All just drastic improvements that are three to four times better than what traditional mental health can offer.”

Now, The Marcus Foundation has replicated that program across the country, with 12 initiatives and counting. “We’re interested in continuing to grow this around the country and find how it can be effective for everybody, not just veterans and first responders,” Ruzek says.

A Perfect Fit

“Be creative,” Ruzek says when asked to give advice to donors interested in addressing the mental health crisis. “Really understand the population you’re gonna serve. Veterans are unique in many ways, and in the same breath, they’re America.”

Lynn Gibson, senior program officer at The Rees-Jones Foundation, says an important part of the foundation’s goal is to focus on the Dallas-Fort Worth community. “We are DFW-area funders as opposed to national funders,” Gibson says.

When making funding decisions, the foundation also looks for quality of leadership and staff, evidence-based practices, measurement-based care, trauma-informed care, and ease of access for clients (both in-person and telehealth services).

In 2019, The Rees-Jones Foundation commissioned Meadows Mental Health Policy Institute to study the assets and gaps in mental health services for young people in Dallas county.

The foundation then used this to guide their grantmaking, particularly in a recent $5 million donation to Parkland Health, a public hospital serving a primarily low-income population in its community.

Gibson emphasizes the importance of listening to the needs of grantees and trusted partners in the mental health space to know what to focus on next. The foundation has been involved with MMHPI since its inception in 2014. Since then, leaders at the institute have become “thought partners” in the mental health space, says Gibson.

“We’re lucky to have Meadows Mental Health in our backyard,” she says. “We don’t know what we don’t know.”

The foundation has also partnered with MMHPI in a “learning collaborative” in which Meadows, with help from Rees-Jones, picked six agencies to share best practices, “magnify” the work of the mental health community and more.

The Shepherd Center’s Jackson stresses that mental health initiatives should tackle the issue from a variety of angles, whether that be direct service, advocacy or research.

“Donors can be creative in what a mental health initiative is,” Jackson says.

Many successful organizations in the mental health space, from those that focus on traumatic brain injuries or veterans to those that serve people in their backyard, know exactly what they’re good at — and don’t try to do too much.

“We are very small, but we accomplish a lot for our size,” says Treatment Advocacy Center’s Lisa Dailey. “We are very narrow in our focus. We don’t have any intention of broadening our focus. Our focus is always going to be that population [with serious mental illness] because that need is always going to be there.”

Maureen Hackett’s daughter and vice president at the Hackett Family Foundation, Kelly Hackett, brings up a piece of advice from her grandfather: “My mom’s dad used to say all the time, ‘Don’t feed all of the squirrels. Because doing that will just create more squirrels.’ You have to feed the right squirrels if you’re going to move the needle.”

Whether donors and nonprofits localize their efforts geographically or topically, it is possible to move the needle on mental health.

“When you talk about wanting to focus on mental health, it can seem like a really big issue, like throwing a raindrop into the ocean,” says Dailey. “But there’s a lot of really practical and concrete work that is being done that is radically improving people’s lives. There’s the ability to see major change for individuals who are struggling and who are doing about as poorly as a person can be doing. You can turn things around for that individual, and it is really through the generosity of donors that that’s possible.”

Madeline Fry Schultz is the contributors editor at the Washington Examiner. She previously worked at Philanthropy Roundtable and as the culture commentary writer at the Washington Examiner.

The post How Philanthropy Can Support Solutions to America’s Complex Mental Health Crisis appeared first on Philanthropy Roundtable.

• 46% of Americans will meet the criteria for a diagnosable mental health condition sometime in their life, and half of those people will develop conditions by the age of 14.
• About 3-5% of the U.S. adult population has severe or serious mental illness.
• 30% of adult Americans with serious mental illness receive no treatment (medication or therapy).
• 10% of Americans with a mental illness are uninsured, with limited access to treatment.
• Between 11-20% of veterans who served in Operations Iraqi Freedom and Enduring Freedom experience PTSD and/or other mental health conditions.
• 1 in 5 kids has a diagnosable mental health condition.

The above realities are even more nuanced when considering that mental health issues contribute to higher rates of homelessness, hunger, substance abuse, domestic violence and other societal issues, including lower education outcomes for the next generation.

The Roundtable supports philanthropists committed to fostering overall health and well-being, including those working to address the impact mental health issues are having on individuals and communities. We work to connect funders with organizations that provide vulnerable populations access to care and other resources. From foundations such as the Hackett Family Foundation, the Rees-Jones Foundation, the Marcus Foundation and others, philanthropists are approaching mental illness in ways that are having a positive tangible impact on people’s lives.

While the mental health initiatives philanthropy supports are vast, below is a sampling of the innovative nonprofits and thought leaders who are making a difference in people’s lives all over the country:

• Headstrong Project: The Headstrong Project is a nonprofit mental health organization providing confidential, barrier-free and stigma-free PTSD treatment to veterans, service members and family connected to their care. Headstrong’s growing clinical network focuses its capabilities across states where unmet mental health needs are highest. On average, Headstrong treats 1,400 clients per month through 275 clinicians in 15 states and Washington, D.C.
• Meadows Mental Health Policy Institute: The Meadows Mental Health Policy Institute provides independent, nonpartisan, data-driven and trusted policy and program guidance to ensure all Texans can obtain effective, efficient behavioral health care when and where they need it. Their vision is to be the national leader in treating all people with mental health needs.
• Stop Soldier Suicide: Stop Soldier Suicide’s mission is to reduce service member and veteran suicide using enhanced data insights, focused client acquisition and suicide-specific intervention services. Their vision is a nation where service members and veterans have no greater risk for suicide than any other American. In 2020, they served more than 700 service members and veterans and their work has reduced clients’ suicide risk by an average of 27%.
• Treatment Advocacy Center: The Treatment Advocacy Center is a nonprofit dedicated to eliminating legal and other barriers to the timely and effective treatment of severe mental illness. The organization promotes laws, policies and practices for the delivery of psychiatric care and supports the development of innovative treatments for and research into the causes of severe and persistent psychiatric illnesses, such as schizophrenia and bipolar disorder. In the past year, the organization was involved in passing 12 priority bills related to mental illness, including a federal bill and bills in Alabama, Arizona, California, Colorado, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maine, Missouri, Virginia and Washington.

Thought leaders and other resources related to approaches to mental health:

• Dr. Sally Satel reviews Dr. Thomas Insel’s book “Healing: Out Path From Mental Illness to Mental Health” for The Wall Street Journal, discussing how few patients get the care they need.
• Naomi Schaefer Riley’s op-ed in New York Post entitled “Too Many Children Are at Risk Because of Their Parents’ Mental Illness” discusses mental trauma passed on through generations.
• DJ Jaffe’s TED Talk at the National Council for Mental Wellbeing evaluates how society may be responsible for misleading government officials into denying violence, rather than taking steps to reduce it with those who are severely mentally ill.
• The New York Times highlighted the influence of psychiatrist E. Fuller Torrey and his research over the past 40 years into involuntary psychiatric treatment policies for people with schizophrenia and other mental illnesses
• A report published by Manhattan Institute Senior Fellow Stephen Eide and Adjunct Fellow Carolyn D. Gorman articulates a concept to help those with serious mental health issues before, during and after crisis by focusing on a “Continuum of Care.”
• Philanthropy Roundtable hosted a webinar discussing the effects of COVID-19 on the national economy and its relation to rising rates of diseases and deaths of despair.
• Manhattan Institute Senior Fellow Stephen Eide wrote a New York Post op-ed entitled “NYC can be a pioneer in the treatment of the seriously mentally ill,” which considers New York City Mayor Eric Adam’s plan for the city to be more proactive in dealing with psychotic individuals.
• A Manhattan Institute report by Isabel McDevitt, co-founder of Work Works America, writes about the homeless in America who are able and willing to work, but policy fails to address the employment-based solutions that could better serve them.

If you are interested in learning more about how Philanthropy Roundtable supports donors committed to addressing our nation’s mental health crisis, please contact Esther Larson, program director at Philanthropy Roundtable here.

The post Mental Health Awareness Month: How Nonprofits Are Helping Individuals in Need appeared first on Philanthropy Roundtable.

Philanthropy Roundtable recently spoke with Josiah Haken, CEO of City Relief, on the ways his nonprofit provides meals and essential supplies to homeless communities in New York and New Jersey. Each year, City Relief serves around 60,000 individuals in these urban centers with services that go far beyond a warm meal and a place to sleep. The nonprofit takes a holistic approach that incorporates mental health needs, addiction treatment, job programs and more.

Q: Please introduce us to City Relief. What’s your mission, history and focus?

City Relief is a nonprofit organization that creates pop-up outreach events in New York City and New Jersey where folks who are experiencing homelessness can share and receive a meal with dignity. They receive emergency supplies like socks and toiletries, masks, cell phones (in some cases) and other essentials that will hopefully allow them to survive the day. City Relief also provides connections and access to direct service providers and other organizations that can help them, hopefully, imagine and experience a better tomorrow and a future.

We started back in 1989. Our founders, Richard and Dixie Galloway, got this vision for taking a bus into the streets where people are struggling with homelessness and then creating access and connection points to direct service providers that they may otherwise not have been able to get to for help. As an organization, we’ve always been mobile and consistent, and we are ultimately trying to address homelessness in a holistic way so that we’re not just providing a transactional experience, but also creating a long-term solution. In a nutshell, that’s who we are and what we’re trying to do.

Q: Please give us a rundown of who your typical client is.

Homelessness, in general, is a very complex issue. I describe it as the ocean, where all rivers and streams of injustice tend to pool when they’re left unchecked. There isn’t really a typical client, in the sense that everybody gets to us through a different path.

Since the surge of asylum seekers to the United States, we’ve been seeing more kids, unfortunately. But typically, we see adults dealing with mental illness, substance use disorders, job loss or relational trauma, and their struggle has gotten them stuck. We see a pretty diverse range of people from all over the country and the world who have just had a run of bad luck. 

Q: How do you create a community response to the problem of homelessness?

City Relief is just a facilitator. We believe we can have a bigger impact by bringing other people along with us than we can by going it alone.

By ourselves, City Relief is not going to be an effective solution for homelessness on a large scale, just because of the limitations of time, space and money. We want to go all in on this idea of collaboration. We have invited other organizations, other direct service providers and other agencies to serve with us at our pop-up outreach events. 

We do eight of these events throughout the week, and invite other organizations to set up tables and tents, almost like a job fair. We offer legal services, mental health services, benefits and entitlements services, even haircuts — and we invite anyone who provides a direct service that the people we serve would benefit from.

We also invite volunteers to serve with us, and we train them to engage with compassion. The event is not just a service or a transactional exchange — it creates conversations so people can actually learn from each other. We’re trying to help shift the narrative from judgment and criticism to empathy and solutions.

By facilitating those conversations, creating a dignifying experience for our guests and inviting other organizations to come alongside us, we’re able to create this communal experience where it’s actually the community addressing the needs of homeless people and homelessness.

Q: Can you share one or two compelling stories of clients you’ve served?

One story that sticks out to me is about a gentleman I met in the South Bronx at our Saturday outreach event. He was wearing snakeskin shoes and a women’s cardigan. He was 6’5″, 250 pounds, and he just looked out of place. I ended up chatting with him for a little bit and found out that he had been released from prison the day before. He had nowhere to go, so he went right to the shelter system.

Before he got there, he spent the only remaining money he had in the world on a pair of boots, a hoodie, and some jeans. But when he slept, he took those clothes off so he’d be more comfortable and folded them under his bed. When he woke up, they were gone. 

He went to report the theft to the security guard, and the security guard was actually wearing his shoes. So he ended up being forced to collect whatever he could find in this downstairs dump of a room. That’s how he ended up dressed like he did. We were able to get him some new clothes and shoes, and then he actually volunteered with us for a few weeks and offered translation services. 

We try to invite our guests to not just be recipients of what we give, but also to be partners and collaborators with us. He served with us for a while, then disappeared. A month or two later, I heard someone honking, and it was him. He was in a utility truck — he’d found a job that was paying a living wage. 

He was just so grateful. He said, “You’re the reason I got this job. By meeting me where I was and giving me what I needed that day, you gave me the dignity and the belief that I wasn’t alone and I could pursue a better future.” 

Another story is about a guy named Willie, who was homeless for 40 years. From 17 to 57 years old, he was in the street. He didn’t start out addicted, but ended up addicted. People don’t realize that, sometimes, homelessness is actually the cause of addiction.

He was really tough. He’d get his soup from our outreach, then not talk to anybody. But eventually, one of our volunteers built a relationship with him. 

Willie ended up in the hospital one week, and the volunteer noticed he was missing and found out where he was. She went to visit him with balloons and a card, and her visit sparked something in him that made him believe he was worth loving, and it was worth pursuing a better life. He was motivated to get into rehab and rebuild his life. 

We got him a job at a local church, and he got an apartment, and the rest is history. He’s been doing great ever since, living a stable life.

Q: What motivates you, personally, in your work?

I started out taking teams into the streets and hanging out with people who were experiencing homelessness. A homeless gentleman from Argentina lived with my family for two years, and he was like a grandfather to my kids. What motivates me is when I think about folks like him, and others too. 

I realized there’s nothing intrinsically broken or wrong with people who have experienced homelessness — they’re just people. I’d like to help shift the narrative about homelessness so it’s no longer this ugly problem that needs to be fixed, but it’s actually an opportunity for us to encounter a human being with intrinsic value. That’s what motivates me to see macro-level change through micro-level impact.

Q: Can you share some of your outcomes?

We track all kinds of key performance indicators. For example, over the last 12 months, we’ve served almost 60,000 people, which is a 14% increase from 2021. We’ve given away 190,000 meals, socks, toiletries and masks. And the biggest thing for us is tracking the almost 5,000 people we’ve had one-on-one conversations with and developed action plans to help them navigate the bureaucracy of social services. 

We’ve made almost 9,000 direct connections for guests to specific community services over the last year, which includes things like housing placements, replacement of an ID, health services, employment, training and connections and legal support. The four buckets of impact that we’re trying to address are our guests’ income, overall health, housing situation and food and security.

Q: If money were no object, what would you imagine for your organization?

We understand that homelessness is a national crisis, not just a localized one. So we want to be a mobilizing force in addressing homelessness on a national scale.

If money were no object, we would be reaching a larger percentage of the people who are experiencing homelessness in New York City. We would be at additional locations, providing a much deeper and more comprehensive level of care coordination. 

The biggest gap that I see, in addition to access to low-income housing, is having specific, targeted care coordinators who are able to walk people through the process of meeting their needs. 

Our ratio is about 30 full-time staff to 60,000 people. The need far outpaces the supply of people who are there to help. I would love to see City Relief known as the most accessible service for people who are experiencing homelessness. 

For example, any pedestrian in New York will see homeless people. The question is, who do you contact to help those individuals? Right now, it’s the city. You call 311. They dispatch an outreach team. I would love to get to a place where City Relief is either participating alongside the organizations that are responding to those calls, or actually providing an alternative for people to call.

From a training and equipping standpoint, I would love to look at mobilizing across the country to respond to the needs of the homeless. We’d get in front of organizations in different places where homelessness is growing so that we can be a resource for those cities. If money was no object, we would be all over the place in terms of the geographic areas we’re serving.

City Relief is included in Philanthropy Roundtable’s Opportunity Playbook, where you can find more information about their impact and programming. If you are interested in helping to accelerate this organization’s impact, please contact Philanthropy Roundtable Program Director Esther Larson.

The post City Relief: Providing Dignity to the Homeless in New York and New Jersey appeared first on Philanthropy Roundtable.

To highlight organizations leading efforts in propelling strong communities, Philanthropy Roundtable is highlighting Hope Women’s Center. Philanthropy Roundtable believes the American spirit is generous, with neighbor helping neighbor to uplift entire communities. To propel further investment in entrepreneurial approaches that strengthen communities, we are highlighting leaders and initiatives that cultivate local civil society and support the values that transform lives.  

Philanthropy Roundtable recently sat down with Tammy Abernethy, CEO of Hope Women’s Center. Hope Women’s Center takes a holistic approach to helping at-risk teens and women throughout Arizona. In addition to pregnancy resource centers and maternity homes, Hope Women’s Center offers skills classes, mentoring, career development support, counseling and much more.

Q: Tell us about Hope Women’s Center, your mission, history and focus.

Our mission is to engage, encourage and equip women and teen girls facing any difficult life situation. We do that very holistically through programs that really seek to meet her physical, emotional and spiritual needs. We serve roughly 1,500 women a year.

We started in the mid-80s as a standalone pregnancy resource center in Apache Junction, Arizona. As the organization grew, the women who were leading it saw the same girls coming back in for pregnancy tests and options counseling, which is what we initially focused our services on. But they were also dealing with abuse, poverty, addiction and many other issues.

That’s why they expanded the mission to be what it is today, with a focus on holistic care. Since 2013, when I joined the organization, we’ve gone from one to six day centers throughout Arizona. We also have a maternity home in our Camp Verde location.

We do a lot of collaboration with different nonprofit organizations throughout the state on anything from housing, jobs, food banks or clothing resources. We want to work collaboratively to better serve the communities where we’re located.

Over the last year, we’ve offered over 9,000 client visits, almost 14,000 hours of job training and classes and about 3,000 hours of mental and emotional support. We’ve given out 31,000 pounds of food and almost $11,000 in utility assistance.

Q: What motivates you and your work for the organization? What’s driving you?

I raised my kids as a single mom, so I know how hard it is. I had a college education and support from my family, church and the community, but still found myself in an abusive relationship. There were days when I thought, “I can’t do this. I don’t know how to do this.”

I felt that way even with tools and resources at my disposal. These women are coming out of abusive families, with no support, no education. And so that’s really what drove me as I joined Hope Women’s Center.

I have an awesome team. Most of us come into this with our own stories, and that I think gives us such compassion and passion for what we’re doing. It’s amazing to watch women really succeed and thrive.

Q: Tell us who your typical client is. What does she look like?

We have clients from their teens all the way up to their 70s. The majority of our single moms though are in the 20- to 30-year-old age range with multiple kids, living at or below the poverty line. They’re struggling to provide basic needs for their kids.

Most of these women have come from some kind of abuse — either domestic violence or sexual abuse, so there’s a lot of trauma. We’re constantly working to understand trauma and how it impacts the women we serve long-term.

We see teen girls who are struggling, as well as women in their 60s or 70s who don’t have any family or resources. They find themselves homeless or grappling with emotional or mental health challenges.

Q: What are some of the main obstacles they’re facing?

Women in crisis are usually very isolated. They don’t even know which resources are available — they’re just trying to survive. In addition to isolation, trauma and abuse are very common obstacles.

As a trauma-informed center, we make it easy for a woman to walk in the door. She doesn’t need an appointment. We try to meet her exactly where she’s at and address her immediate needs. Then we work to get her engaged so we can tackle some of those deeper needs, like emotional healing and the spiritual component as well.

Lack of education is also a big barrier. A lot of the women who apply to our maternity home dropped out of school and have never been able to sustain a job. We now have resources to help them finish their education and develop the skills they need to provide for their families.

Q: What are some specific ways you support their physical, emotional and spiritual needs?

All of our services are free. In our day centers, we offer life skills classes – and women can come in with no barriers or requirements.

Classes range from cooking, exercise and art to addressing trauma, abuse, parenting and healing from conflict. Our clients want to learn healthy parenting, and practical job and communication skills. Some need to learn English and the basics of reading, writing and literacy.

A client earns points every time she takes a class or talks with a mentor. Then she can shop for necessities with those points in our on-site boutiques. As she invests in taking classes, works on healing her own trauma or learns the skills to be more independent, she’s able to use the points to provide for her family.

We also provide cash utility assistance. She can take some of those points and apply them toward her utility bill.

In addition to this, we offer a mentoring program. Women are paired with a mentor, who acts as a life coach to help them one-on-one. Mentors help them meet their needs, define their goals and help them feel empowered. We have a support group as part of that.

During the pandemic, we launched our Hope Heals counseling program because we were seeing mental health needs go through the roof, as well as an increase in abuse during that time. We have a licensed psychologist on staff. If a mentor sees that her client needs deeper help than life skills and life coaching, we can refer her to Hope Heals.

We also offer faith-based classes, especially as they relate to knowing one’s value, her identity and her worth. Many women coming out of abuse have never had someone to tell them they have value, purpose and dignity. The spiritual aspect is introducing them to that.

We’re a Christian organization, so we offer Bible studies and other instruction we think would be helpful from a spiritual standpoint. But everything is a want-to, not a have-to. We want each woman to determine what she wants, which parts of our program to participate in and which areas of her life she wants to work on.

What matters to us is that she knows that she has worth, value, dignity, that she’s loved, she’s never judged and there will always be a safe place for her.

Q: Can you share one or two success stories of clients you have served?

Recently, a woman from the Phoenix area reached out to our day center. She was pregnant, in recovery from substance abuse and desperate for somewhere to live. She had a long history of struggle and a lot of trauma and abuse in her past, but she wanted to turn things around.

She applied to our maternity home. I remember the first time I hugged her. She had been on the street, and she probably weighed 100 pounds, pregnant. Now she’s been with us for a year. She’s thriving.

Our Department of Child Safety did get involved because when the baby was born, she showed signs that her mother had been using. But they let our client keep the baby and stay in our maternity home under our supervision. They just closed her case because she’s doing so well. The baby is healthy. In another couple of weeks, she’ll be a year old.

We have a thrift store in Camp Verde, so we employ women there as part of their job training. She’s done so well that, as she’s graduating, I asked her if she would reapply as a regular staff member.

When the women graduate from our year-one program, they have saved 80% of what they earned that year. She’s graduating with several thousand dollars — a really nice cushion for her. In our next step program, she will rent an RV from us and stay on our property for more affordable housing.

She’s paying graduated rent and she’s learning. Another year from now, she’ll be able to pay regular rent somewhere else. She’s really become a leader with some of the other moms who are struggling. How far she’s come in a year just blows my mind.

Another woman who has been with us in our day center for a couple of years initially came in as a struggling single mom with abuse in her past. She went through our classes and mentorship program, but she was still struggling with grief, so she entered our Hope Heals counseling program.

That’s when she finally got help for some of the deeper trauma, and now she’s thriving. She has a job and feels so confident in her parenting abilities. We were even able to get her daughter into a private school through some scholarships. Now, the mom works at the school part time as well. It has been really neat to see her grow over the last few years.

Q: What do you see for the future of the organization? Where are things headed?

We’ve seen a 31% increase in women coming to us in one year. They’re coming out of the COVID-19 pandemic and finding themselves in so much crisis, with inflation and housing costs. We’re seeing a huge need for more staff and day centers.

We’re looking into future day centers, innovations for housing and more help for women. Even if we’re able to get them into a shelter with a partner organization, our clients still come out needing affordable housing. So we are looking at some creative ways to help with that.

Q: If money were no object, where would you want to take the organization?

We would definitely hire more staff. We need more staff members to continue to offer free child care at all of our centers, do more case management and offer more crisis counseling.

We would also open more day centers, because we have that model really well developed. It’s easy, and we can open them pretty inexpensively. In that manner, we could reach more women in rural communities and help with housing gaps, even for single moms who are working but can’t afford rent.

Hope Women’s Center is included in Philanthropy Roundtable’s Opportunity Playbook, where you can find more information about their impact and programming. If you are interested in helping to accelerate this organization’s impact, please contact Philanthropy Roundtable Program Director Esther Larson.

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This spring, the United States officially surpassed one million COVID-19 deaths, and that number continues to rise. As we reflect on that grim milestone, Philanthropy Roundtable recently spoke with Dr. Cheryl Maurana, senior vice president for Strategic Academic Partnerships, professor of population health at the Medical College of Wisconsin and founding director of the Kern National Network (KNN) for Caring and Character in Medicine. During this discussion, Maurana shared some of the challenges and opportunities the pandemic has presented for the medical and philanthropic sectors, including record numbers of professionals opting for early retirement or leaving the sector prematurely due to burnout. To respond to these and other obstacles facing the medical community, KNN and its partners, including medical schools and stakeholders nationwide, are working to “transform health care’s educational and practice settings and create the conditions of possibility for flourishing within health care.” Through its engagement with experts and thought leaders, KNN has developed an integrated framework that promotes caring, character, practical wisdom and human flourishing to influence the health care ecosystem, engage broader society and transform medical education.

Q: How has the COVID-19 pandemic affected the medical community at large?

The COVID-19 pandemic has demonstrated the altruism and perseverance of health care professionals. However, it has also posed unique challenges at all stages of the medical profession, affecting students and frontline caregivers alike. It has challenged well-being and resilience and has increased uncertainty and complexity in the field. This crisis has also highlighted the acute needs of health care workers facing burnout. 

As such, it is essential to foster more positive clinical learning and practice environments that support lifelong education and wellness for practitioners. Accordingly, the pandemic has heightened the need to focus on ways to help the medical community flourish, including rebuilding trust between health experts and the public, and reexamining the social contract and concepts of professionalism in medicine.

Q: The generosity of the Kern Family Foundation and Kern Family Trust led to the development and continued work of the Kern National Network for Caring and Character in Medicine. How did the Kern National Network get its start and what is its mission?

A transformational philanthropic investment from the Kern Family Foundation and Kern Family Trust in 2017 enabled the Medical College of Wisconsin to establish the Kern National Network for Caring and Character in Medicine. The Kern Family Foundation has been a thoughtful partner, sharing wisdom and connecting us with an extensive network of experts from whom we have learned so much. This partnership has been essential to our success. The network was designed to demonstrate how medical schools with a shared commitment to character and caring could create best practices across different school structures and cultures, accelerate innovation and collaboration and drive national change in medical education.

The KNN is now a growing national movement whose work is focused on the integration of four foundational elements within the profession of medicine: caring, character, practical wisdom and human flourishing. The KNN’s integrated framework brings these elements together and serves as a cornerstone of our efforts to connect and convene stakeholders across the health care ecosystem, catalyze transformative initiatives and influence policy and systems change. When clinical learning environments, practice settings and health systems cultivate wholeness of being, meaning and purpose — along with competence and continuous improvement — then practitioners, their patients and humanity can truly flourish. That is our aspirational goal: advancing caring and character in medicine to ignite a positive culture change that helps individuals, community and society.

With the KNN’s seven founding member schools and their 3,500+ medical students, we are influencing high-impact touchpoints across the health care landscape, including holistic admissions; learner engagement, wellness and leadership; faculty development; clinical learning environments and care teams and system leaders.

We’re excited for our next phase, during which we’ll expand membership and work to incorporate our integrated framework into a significant portion of new and existing medical schools, as well as academic health systems in the United States. 

Q: In response to growing polarization within the medical community, KNN recently launched the KNN Bridging Initiative. Can you tell us more about this new initiative?

In health care, as in the U.S. today, polarization and a lack of respect for diversity of thought have become unprecedented challenges for human flourishing.

In the last several years, the pandemic and its impact on health and health care, culture and society have brought an especially sharp focus on issues that are deeply personal for many and difficult to discuss under the best of circumstances. In this turbulent environment, it has become more challenging to hold sustained, rigorous and vitally important discussions about which actions to take and when. Without seeking to understand diverse perspectives, it is more common to retreat to “echo chambers” of like-minded viewpoints and avoid or even oppose dialogue. The recently launched KNN Bridging Across Differences initiative (Bridging) will provide a framework for engagement across groups and individuals with different views on topics, including those impacting the health care ecosystem. Our goal is to increase understanding in medical and health professions education as well as health care, and find common ground, a foundation for creating value. The Bridging initiative will be developing three components: collaborative thought leadership, a community of practice and a fellowship program for generational impact.

The objective of the KNN Bridging initiative is to create space for discussions and learning critical to the health ecosystem and to human flourishing as a whole. The KNN is uniquely positioned to lead the effort to define bridging and develop an approach to spread bridging practices, such as by developing, testing and disseminating various tools. The KNN’s movement will be grounded in open inquiry and civil discourse. The network will support viewpoint diversity that bridges across differences, building a culture strengthened by those differences and connected by trust.

Q: As you consider the Kern Family Foundation’s vital support for your work, how can other philanthropists engage with you?

The KNN is deeply grateful for the longstanding partnership with the Kern Family Foundation, which recently renewed its support for advancing caring and character in medicine. (See remarks by Cheryl Maurana regarding the announcement of a $50 million investment by the Kern Family Foundation.)

As our work continues to grow, including the KNN Bridging initiative and our expansion to include other members in the network, we are actively looking to philanthropy to help us further our goals. We welcome additional partners who seek to transform medical education and clinical care, infuse caring and character in the national health care landscape and advance broader policy and systems change, and are committed to bridging across differences toward flourishing.If you are interested in learning more about Kern National Network’s initiatives, please contact Philanthropy Roundtable Program Director Esther Larson.

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Civil society – including individual citizens, nonprofit organizations, and private philanthropy – has come to the rescue in myriad and organized ways. There are amazing stories of relatives, friends and complete strangers who have come together to get baby formula into the hands of grateful moms and dads. Like many other crises such as natural disasters, the American can-do spirit kicks in to quickly marshal resources and mobilize help for those who need it. America’s formula-fed babies will be the next case study of this generosity. 

A shortage of baby formula to this magnitude in the most prosperous nation is unprecedented, according to experts, and its impact is far-reaching. Currently, 43% of baby formula inventory is out of stock nationally, up from 18% at the start of 2022 and 3% from the same time in 2021. Three out of four babies below the age of 6 months in the U.S. consume baby formula, making this situation dire for many families. While the government has failed to take robust steps to shore up supply until recently, regular Americans were quick to spring into action – finding creative ways to help desperate parents secure sustenance for their babies.  

First, people are engaging in peer-to-peer philanthropy. During this crisis, parents have used  social media to start online groups, where they trade information on where to find different types of formula. Two Houston mothers even created an interactive map to aid the formula hunt. The website drew thousands of views overnight after going live.  

Others are sharing their extra supply in response to TikTok and Facebook posts. Strangers have stepped in as well to become formula “matchmakers.” Those with supplies will post that they have extra cans of formula to give away and mutual friends or family members tag those who might be in need. Sometimes, shipments arrive from other countries and sometimes they are walked over from a nearby neighbor.  

Second, mothers are tapping nonprofit feeding organizations that specifically aid babies’ nutritional needs. If formula is unavailable, parents may consider using other women’s breast milk for their little ones by securing a donation from a local milk bank. Milk banks regularly collect donations from lactating women and distribute them to babies who need it, though priority is given to premature and medically fragile babies. 

The good news is, in response to the formula shortage, moms are flooding milk banks with donations. According to the Human Milk Banking Association of North America, an accrediting organization for milk banks, these sites are experiencing a significant influx in supply. Inquiries from potential donors are up 20% in recent days. At Massachusetts-based Mothers’ Milk Bank Northeast, Executive Director Deborah Youngblood said potential donors are flooding the phone lines. In just one day recently, the organization received the number of calls from willing milk donors that they normally field in one month. “It’s interesting the first sort of response that we got was from potential donors — so, people responding to the formula shortage with sort of an amazing, compassionate response of, ‘How can I be part of the solution?’” 

These small acts of kindness illustrate how Americans organically find solutions to address immediate problems, working at this stage to complement the government’s response to the formula crisis. After all, civil society is nimble and effective, focused on outcomes above rigid processes. It is not bound by red tape and bureaucracy like the public sector. Individuals and organizations are near problems on the ground. For these reasons and others, Americans harbor a deep trust of the charitable sector, preferring philanthropic aid to solve social problems in America over government aid, according to polling in recent years.  

“Amazing” and “compassionate” often describe how people respond in times of crisis. As this situation illustrates, American generosity is not limited to money or volunteering time. These mutual aid efforts are tools we employ in society to make the lives of others better and our communities stronger. 

This is a critical moment for many families who don’t know where they will find nourishment to feed their babies. However, there’s hope that until the formula crisis ends, individual acts of kindness and compassion will help meet the needs of society’s littlest and most vulnerable.  

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