Getting Oriented

After one week at the Urban Ministry Center I am exhausted by the overload of information and humbled by the luck that I grew up with a roof over my head. I will be working with the soccer program, StreetSoccer945, once Rob Cann returns from the Homeless World Cup in Milan, Italy. The team at the UMC is part of Street Soccer USA. For now, I am trying to get familiar with the services that UMC provides: basic services includings a soup kitchen, showers, laundry, counselors, nurses, and phones and Community Works. Community Works includes the soccer program, the art program and the community garden. My roommate Erin is working at the UMC in the garden and with the advocacy group Homeless Helping Homeless.

The past week we visited and toured organizations that provide shelter, mental health, and housing services. Charlotte-Mecklenburg's 10 year plan to end and prevent homelessness focuses on affordable housing as the key to getting the chronically homeless off the streets. Shifting from a shelter-based model to a housing-based model has been successful in other US cities in terms of getting people off the streets and cost-efficiency, that is, it is cheaper to provide housing and case management/supportive services for people than it is for people to use resources in jails and consistent ER visits.

This week I'll continue to hop around to different posts to get to know all the ins and outs of what the UMC does. I will also help the art director Penny to prepare for the annual art auction which shocwcases the amazing talents of homeless artists and makes their work available for purchase.