Our intern, Ugie, checks out all the great donations as part of our Holiday Wishes program

In anticipation of the holiday season and as I reflected on the past year, I couldn’t help but to feel overcome with gratitude for the many blessings in my life – my family the biggest one of all.

A little over a year ago, my husband and I welcomed our first child, a baby girl, for whom our love continues to grow in ways beyond our wildest comprehension.  I thought to myself not only how lucky we are to have a place to call home and sound employment,  but also how fortunate it is that we are able to provide for our daughter – from ongoing daycare costs to the (very quickly) accruing costs that come with simply raising a child, let alone all of the “extras” that we often love to provide to our children, especially during the holidays.

At the core of each and every parent is a desire to give to their children, to provide for them and to ensure they are well-cared for.  Unfortunately, for too many mothers in our area even the most basic provisions – a safe and stable home, one that is free of violence – is out of reach.  No child should be without a home or fearful to come home each day.  That’s simply not right.  There are so many things that each of us can do to ensure that the needs of Arlington families do not go unmet (or unnoticed).  For our family, participating in Doorways’ Holiday Wishes program was just one of those ways and we hope that it made a small difference to the family with whom we were matched.

Katie Pahner

With the year coming to a close, I pause to look back on all the great strides that our community took to end homelessness this year.  At Doorway for Women and Families, we saw people end the cycle of homelessness and domestic violence every day.  In October, Arlington showed its true power by bringing together non-profits, county agencies and 150 volunteers for the 100 Homes for 100 Arlingtonians Campaign.  Caring people walked our streets in the middle of the night to identify the most medically vulnerable people living on our streets.  But, unfortunately, we cannot look back for long because homelessness continues to affect a number of our neighbors.  As we come into the new year, I continue to believe that everyone deserves a safe and affordable home.  But, to achieve this we must engage in a broader effort to end homelessness.

Just last week, two new families moved into the Doorways’ Freddie Mac Foundation Family Home.  For one, the idea of being a family became a reality when the father earned sole custody of his six-month old daughter.  They had repeatedly found themselves homeless and, after exhausting their network of family and friends, resorted to knocking on doors night after night hoping to  find a safe place to sleep.  Wanting nothing but security for his little girl, the father is so grateful to be in our shelter where he can build the basic life skills needed to maintain a home long-term.  For the other family, finding stable housing will determine whether they can stay together as a family.  The mother and father have struggled to provide for their four children with only one income.  I can tell you that even when affordable housing units come available in Arlington they are often too small to support a family of six.

Sadly, more and more families are struggling to provide their children with an affordable place to call home.  You won’t see families on Arlington street corners; they are well hidden in overcrowded and precarious housing all across the county.

Recognizing the sharp rise in family homelessness in recent years and the well-known negative effects homelessness has on children, our Governor recently called for a 15%, statewide reduction in family homelessness by 2013.  This is the most significant proclamation in the State’s history toward addressing family homelessness.    The Virginia Department of Housing and Community Development, the Virginia Coalition to End Homelessness, the National Alliance to End Homelessness, and the Freddie Mac Foundation have formed a public-private partnership to help communities across the state reach this goal.  It is an ambitious goal, but a vital one to bring focus and additional resources toward ending homelessness for the children and families of our community.

The 100 Homes Campaign demonstrated what is possible when a caring community comes together to support others.  Doorways was proud to partner with other agencies in reaching people living on our streets.  In order to help homeless families with children in our area, we must go beyond the street to identify and help the countless Arlington families living in dangerously unsafe and unstable environments.  Families who struggle to obtain housing or sustain it, those with very low incomes, and those with limited skills to be self-sufficient long term.  These families need more than temporary shelter, or short-term assistance.  With the Governors initiative, we hope to provide  targeted  assistance tailored to meeting these challenges – with the goal of long-term stabilization for vulnerable families.

I am excited by these possibilities.  It will take effort from all of us to bring them to our community.  Every day through my work at Doorways for Women and Families, I am inspired knowing that we can end the cycle of homelessness for children and families.  A broader effort to end homelessness will help us build a community where no family has to choose between finding affordable housing and staying together and every father is able to provide his daughter with a place to call home.

I wanted to end homelessness in Arlington.

The 100 Homes Campaign is an initiative of the 10-Year Plan to End Homelessness in Arlington, a county-wide effort to coordinate services and leverage community support to give everyone a safe and secure home in our county.  Doorways for Women and Families is a partner in the 10 Year Plan, helping provide a voice for the countless families experiencing homelessness in our community.  The goal for the week of October 17 was to identify the most vulnerable individuals on our streets and in our shelters, so that we could rapidly get them into housing.  The goal for the 100 Homes campaign is to get 100 vulnerable Arlingtonians into 100 homes by July 2013.  A tall order, but luckily we started early in the morning.

Over one hundred volunteers showed up that morning to comb the streets and interview any identified homeless to determine their level of vulnerability (to learn more about the model we used, check out this link).  Teams were sent to all corners of Arlington.  That’s where I came in.  I sat by the phone with Tiffany Kudravetz, the enthusiast volunteer specialist from Volunteer Arlington, waiting for the teams to call in and report the locations where they had searched.  We were the mapping team.  Before, when I looked at Arlington street maps, I saw traffic jams and impatient drivers.  Now, I saw the homes and bedrooms of those living under overpasses, in parking garages or in sidewalk tents.  Even for someone working at a homeless service provider, this was still an eye-opening experience.

After most of the teams had reported back, I was sent out, along with many others, to one of the shelters in the area to survey the population under its roof.  Homelessness has multiple faces.  I am reminded of that fact every day through my work at Doorways for Women and Families.  We see too many neighbors, friends and relatives come through our doors each year that don’t conform to an easy definition of homeless.  We see families with small children – now representing 50% of the homeless population in our area.  And we often see those who have to choose between a domestic violence situation and homelessness, which is no choice at all.  The 100 Homes Campaign made all of that clear to me as I listened to the stories of how people came to be homeless, some familiar but all unique in their own way.

All told, the 100 Homes Campaign inspired 150 community members to volunteer and survey 153 individuals.  In the process we learned some very important things:

• 29% of those surveyed were Tri-Morbid (experiencing mental health issues, substance abuse issues and a serious medical condition)
• 37% of respondents were declared “vulnerable”
• The average number of years spent experiencing homelessness for vulnerable individuals was 7

Check out the full results here.

More than anything else, the 100 Homes Campaign taught us one thing: we live in a community where ending homelessness is possible.  The community responded to the need to identify these individuals and now we need the community to respond to the need of housing these individuals.  This is going to be a long process that will not end once the 100 are housed.  But, with a caring enough community, a giving enough community, we can end homelessness in Arlington.  It’s a cause worth waking up for.

Stay tuned to the campaign by “liking” them on Facebook or checking out the webpage here.

Wyatt Schroeder

Communication and Outreach Coordinator

wschroeder@DoorwaysVA.org

The conversation was fascinating.

Questions ranged from how DV affects the military community to the state of domestic violence in the current economic crisis.  The legislators listened to service providers tell how domestic violence has impacted their community.  Marielle Filholm of Doorways told the story of one of our clients and the obstacles she overcame to achieve self-sufficiency.  Ultimately, all in attendance agreed on one thing: we need to make domestic violence issues a priority in Richmond and in our community.  Unfortunately, the entire Virginia General Assembly and the entire Arlington community could not fit in that room.

The conversation should not stop once the coffee runs out and the bagels are boxed up.  While Domestic Violence Awareness Month occurs for 31 days a year, engaging our community in a dialogue about domestic violence needs to be an ongoing event.

Next time you’re having your morning coffee with friends, engage them in this conversation.  It may take more than one breakfast to end domestic violence, but it’s a great place to start.

Join us for our last event of Domestic Violence Awareness Month this Saturday at our Howl-O-Ween Dog Walk for the Homeless.  Register here.

Wyatt Schroeder

Communication and Outreach Coordinator

Rita came to Doorways looking for safety.  After coming to the conclusion that she needed to leave her abusive situation, Rita had to endure many challenges, including the risk of homelessness.  The financial abuse she suffered prevented her from both meaningful employment and the skills needed to manage her money.  Without anywhere left to turn, she bravely called Doorways and found a bed at our Safehouse.

Unfortunately, coming into our domestic violence shelter was only the first step in Rita’s pursuit to safety.  Rita’s journey will not be over until she can find long-term, stable housing.  While she has found temporary security in a shelter, affordable housing is the only cure to the cycle of abuse and homelessness that Rita seeks to end.  And in her struggle to find an affordable home, Rita was left to ponder, “Should I just go back?”  This is the part of the story often left untold.

Once women and families come into our shelters, our job is not finished until they can secure safe and stable housing.  That is getting harder to do in these economic times.  Last year, our Safehouse served a decreasing number of people – 20 households compared to 41 households the year before.  Difficulty in finding affordable and safe housing has caused longer stays in our shelters.  We have tried to address the issue by increasing our capacity to serve families in long-term housing – 85 households last year compared to 54 households the year before.  But, the issue remains.

What is it going to take, as a community, to help people get beyond harm’s way?  That is a question we need to ask of ourselves, our neighbors, and our community leaders.  During Domestic Violence Awareness Month, write a letter to the editor and talk to a neighbor about striving to end the cycle of abuse and homelessness that affects community members like Rita.

Join us for an awareness event as part of Domestic Violence Awareness Month

• Our Executive Director, Caroline Jones, describes what’s on her mind as kids go back to school

Local:

• Affordable Housing has become a huge problem in Arlington County and redevelopment on the Pike threatens it in a big way…

Homelessness:

• An innovative new pilot program “Hammer, not a Handout” in Washington D.C. could reduce homelessness…
• Doorways has been successful in getting school supplies for all the children in our shelters through our back-to-school program  but there are many other Northern Virginia Homeless shelters that need school supplies for the children…
• Current economic downturn has an enormous impact on people who cannot afford housing, one example is adult children living with their parents (doubling up), but another phenomenon that is taking place is divorced parents are co-habiting and recent report says it is bad for the children…

Domestic Violence

• Is a Glee Star Glamorizing domestic violence?
• NYC Deputy Mayor resigns over DV arrest

Local:

• A successful year for Leadership Arlington’s Youth Program, reported by the Sun Gazette.

Homelessness:

• Can Fairfax County End Homelessness?
• Recession is pushing more families to take in adult children or relatives. Virginia has seen the largest increase in the area with a 45% increase in number of adult children living with their parents.

Domestic Violence:

• Miller-Muro, Executive Director of the Tahirih Justice Center and a Doorways supporter, wrote a letter to the editor for Roll Call about the reauthorization of the Violence Against Women Act.

Children experiencing homelessness struggle to succeed in school if they are too sick to fully participate. These children are four times more likely to get sick than most middle-class kids. With a high rate of sick days, over 87% of homeless children are enrolled in school, but only 77% are able to attend regularly, according to the Department of Education.

For children experiencing domestic violence, learning at school may be the furthest thing from their minds. The effects of coming from a violent home can be traumatic and long-lasting. Meaningful relationships, be they with one’s teacher or classmates, may be difficult to form, and focusing on one’s classwork may seem inconsequential compared to the stress of returning home.

The experiences that the children of Doorways experience day in and day out are an opportunity for us to teach the community about the effects of homelessness and abuse on children. There are children in the classrooms every single day trying to find a way to break the cycle of homelessness or abuse they have been experiencing, but they cannot do it alone. Education is a great way to help break that cycle, but the solution will include all of us in the community educating ourselves. As our children go back to school in a few weeks, remind them that the person next to them in class may not be as fortunate as they are.

To support our Back to School Campaign, please, send messages along on Facebook or visit our campaign website here.

Perspective and statistics inspired by The Campaign to End Child Homelessness

Our good friend, Dawn, is here with a quick video to tell you about how you can get involved in the program:

(The Back to School program) helps children get supplies for their school year and allows them to experience Arlington County and all of its benefits.

Contribute just $10 and, if you could, forward that message to 10 of your friends, so that they could give $10; it would make such a difference this fall.”

~ Dawn, Arlington Mom and Doorways Supporter

Please help us raise $2,000 by the first day of school, Sept.6th.

Join the Campaign by donating $10 to support our Back to School program and spreading the word to 10 of your friends by finding us on Facebook or Twitter.

Feature:

• Opening a New Door to Women and Families: The Arlington Connection sits down to talk about our Executive Director, Caroline Jones.

Local:

• Arlington schools prep a new sexual misconduct policy that seeks to promote balanced and healthy relationships.

Homelessness:

• When the heat hits our area, think of those who have no home to escape it.  The Washington Post reports on the struggles of our area’s homeless population.
• Arlington County’s 10-Year Plan to End Homelessness is taking on the initiative of the national 100,000 Homes Campaign.  Learn more about it here.

Domestic Violence:

• Domestic Violence can damage long-term mental health, as detailed by a study in the Journal of the American Medical Association.
• A new iPhone App created by Love is Not Abuse simulates teen dating abuse to help all understand what that relationship feels like.