Daniels Fund Program Report

Program Purpose:
Provide specialized services to homeless and at-risk homeless families to empower the families to become stabilized in housing and to become more self-sufficient.

Daniel Fund Grant Program Report

Results

Although the number of clients helped did not meet the projected goals, each and every one of the families who received Daniel Funds assistance accomplished their goals of achieving self sufficiency. Some of those families are now receiving aid to provide for their families, some are now at the top of the waiting list for subsidized housing, and many are working full time jobs. As part of community collaboration, we also notified all of the other homeless providers of these available services, and they were very enthusiastic in working with us by referring their homeless clients for services.

Goal/Objective: Day Care for 65 children for homeless parents to search, obtain or maintain employment, housing, services, etc.

Progress: We had more than ten families requesting this service but due to the lack of child care providers for the graveyard shifts, we were only able to assist one family with one month of childcare, after which this family was able to receive state assistance. At the time when fund expired, there were three additional families in the process of locating a child care provider in the outskirts of the city.

Goal/Objective: Storage unit rentals for 60 families while they’re in transition from homelessness to permanent housing.

Progress: 11 families received assistance with a minimum of one month of storage fees each. This has kept the families from having to forfeit their furniture and belonging and having to purchase replacement items.

Goal/Objective: Acquisition of Identification and Birth Certificates for 30 people in order to apply for services in the community.

Progress: 13 families were able to get state ID for the adults and as well as Utah birth certificates for some of them and their children. With these documents in hand, they were able to complete their applications for subsidize housing, TANF, and employment. All 13 of these families are now in permanent housing and have a stabilized source of income.

Goal/Objective: Emergency Vehicle Assistance for 80 families (car repair, Vehicle Inspection and Registration)

Progress: Four cars were inspected and registered using Daniels Fund. There were over a dozen more families who needed to have their car registered, but for many reasons (car was still in impound, waiting for previous owner to sign it over, car needed major repairs costing over $500, insurance has to be purchased…) our assistance had to be delayed.

Goal/Objective: Monthly bus passes for 50 people

Progress: 70 clients received monthly bus passes to get to work. As of the time of this report, 47 are still employed at the same job, 17 moved from a temporary job to a permanent job. 12 out of this 70 got their own car, most of the rest have been able to budget the monthly pass into their monthly expenses.

Challenges

The agency did experience some challenges as we set up the program. The main barrier we unexpectedly faced with was having difficulty recruiting vendors who would be willing to work with our voucher system for payment. Due to lack of funding for these special types of services in the past, the agency has never been able to provide these services (accept for car repairs) in the community therefore the number of accessible vendors who were familiar with our existence and credentials were very few. However, once we were able to recruit the minimal number of needed vendors, the word got out and more vendors offered their services.

Lessons Learned

We as an agency, and the rest of the other community agencies who serve homeless families learned that there is a true need for these services, not just by the homeless population but by the general at-risk low-income population as well. We have not yet been able to replace the Daniels Fund funding for the program therefore at this point, we have a big gap in our ability to assist the community in their quest for self sufficiency and self- reliance. Because of the difficulty in getting the program off the ground, we find that we need more time to fully prove the efficacy of the program to other potential funders.

Future Plans

The agency is seeking other funding to support the continuation of this special program.

 

Deseret News article announcing the Daniels Fund Grant award.

 

Success Stories

Julie (name has been changed) is a single mom with several children under the age of 12. She was diagnosed with terminal cancer and then was abandoned by the children's father. She had no income to pay the rent and was evicted before finding out about CASFB services. She had no where to stay, no where to keep her belonging other than in her unregistered small car. When she was referred to apply for services with DWS, she did not have sufficient documentation to apply. So while providing temporary housing for her family, we used Daniels Fund and provided a month of storage unit fees for her belonging, helped her acquire birth certificates for the children and Utah state ID for herself. We also got her car inspection and emission done and got it registered. With these documents, Julie was able to receive financial assistance, Food Stamps, Medicaid and subsidized housing for her family. Once her car got registered, she was able to get to her doctor appointments. As of December 1, 2007, Julie's family is in a new apartment furnished with all of their own furniture. Julie’s cancer is still not in remission yet, but receiving these services helped stabilized her homeless situation and brought a lot of comfort in dealing with such life changing issues.

Linda (name has been changed) is a mother with three children and a husband with disabilities. They had been homeless since he got hurt on the job two months prior to coming to the agency for help. His disability benefit finally kicked in but was not sufficient to support the family so Linda got a night job. However, her husband got ill and was not able to care for the children any longer. Because they have not yet received their permanent residency card, they were not able to get child care assistance through DWS. They have been approved for an apartment but if she doesn’t work, they can’t afford it. The agency provided the family with a month of child care, during which time their permanent residency cards arrived and they were able to get child care assistance thereafter.  

 

 

 

815 S Freedom Blvd.
Suite 100
Provo, UT 84601

Phone: 801.373.8200
Fax: 801.373.8228
Email:

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