FALL 2013 Home Visiting Program Key to Preventing Guests’ Return to the Streets Q & A with Sandy Mariano, Director, Advocacy and Residential Services Our Executive Director on Preventing Homelessness
NEWS
Q&A
Sandy Mariano
Director, Advocacy and Residential Services
Sandy Mariano has been an ardent advocate for Rosie’s Place guests for almost 12 years – the last two spent directing Advocacy, SelfAdvocacy, Permanent Housing and Outreach (including Homelessness Prevention Initiative) programming. She has guided housing stabilization efforts into a vital component of the organization’s outreach services. What prompted the development of the Homelessness Prevention Initiative (HPI)? About a decade ago we received a threeyear grant from The Boston Foundation and other funders to focus staff energies in an area of great need: women who had recently found housing after a period of homelessness. The transition is rarely smooth, especially for women who may not have ever run a household on their own. Their lives are never easy – often dealing with low incomes and abusive partners – and if they get off track, housing is jeopardized very quickly. By meeting with a guest monthly in her home, our stabilization worker can see firsthand what is going on, and take steps to help address any problems and ultimately retain housing. Once we saw how successful our efforts were, we incorporated the HPI into our core services after the grant ended. You report that, on an annual basis, 90% of guests on the HPI caseload stay housed. How do you account for this success? I think it all stems from a relationship of trust that exists between our staffer and the guest. HPI creates a support system that is built on honesty and, certainly, reliability on our end. We always try to do what we say we will do. We are a constant in our guests’ lives, which can become critically important when a guest may be going through a depressive period and withdrawing. If calls need to be made to the apartment management company, for example, we will step in as an advocate on behalf of the guest. And we keep coming back, month after month. An open-ended relationship – is that something unique to Rosie’s Place? I do believe our stabilization services are unlike any others. We don’t work to get a guest stabilized and then drop her off the caseload. Many organizations – especially state agencies – are time limited. At Rosie’s Place, women who are aging, who have language barriers to understanding notices and bills, who may go off their mental health medications…these are the women we make sure to reach out and stay connected to.
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Home Visiting Program Key to Preventing Guests’ Return to the Streets At 10 a.m. on a steamy July morning, Rosie’s Place stabilization
“For some women, this is the first apartment of their own,” explains
worker Guissela Mariluz knocks on the door of Norma’s apartment
Evelyn Gonzalez, Outreach Program Manger. “They may not know
in East Boston’s Maverick Landing development. She is met with
how to get started, that rent is due, that they need cleaning supplies,
a peck on the cheek and warm greetings in Spanish. Today’s
groceries – everything to set up a household.” Evelyn also makes
scheduled check-in is one of close to 60 home visits Guissela
home visits, and together with Guissela promotes housing stability
makes all over Greater Boston each month for our Homelessness
for women who are at risk of losing it due to chronic mental illness,
Prevention Initiative (HPI).
physical disability, advanced age, limited facility with English, or a chaotic family life. In addition to a general monthly update, the
Guissela and Norma sit down in Norma’s living room, decorated
HPI staff provides vital budgeting assistance and, if needed, cash
wall-to-wall with photos of her children and their artwork, and go
supports, and will refer guests to the array of services offered by
over “the list” – the inventory of “things I need help with” that Norma
Rosie’s Place and partner agencies.
compiles between visits. (Norma will call Guissela for urgent matters and, says Norma, “she calls me back. That gives me peace of mind
It is important that Guissela is also seen as a friend to newly-
and I don’t stress as much.”) Today they discuss Norma’s panic
housed guests, says Evelyn. “Women are used to ‘shelter life,’ which
when she did not receive her July food stamp allowance on the
means being surrounded by people and a high level of activity.
first of the month, and then relief when the mistake was corrected.
When they get an apartment, reality hits that they’re in a quiet and
Topics usually concern kids, Norma’s health problems, and her long
empty space, and loneliness can set in. Visits from us can gauge
term recovery from substance abuse. She shares her struggle to
their emotional state and keep them connected to us and others.”
keep her 17-year-old daughter focused on summer school and her pleasure in having her young son and daughter enrolled in the East
Rosie’s Place is about to hire another stabilization worker, which
Boston Junior Police Academy camp.
will allow the HPI caseload to grow to almost 150 women. “The need is there,” says Guissela. “The biggest challenge is setting up
Like most women who are part of the Homelessness Prevention
priorities with the guests, encouraging them to let go of what was
Initiative, Norma spent time on the streets and at Rosie’s Place’s
holding them down, what caused them to become homeless in the
Overnight Program. When she was able to secure housing in 2006,
first place.” Regardless of how many roles she fills and services
she moved in “with nothing, just my kids and a backpack,” she
she provides, her main focus continues to be on helping guests
remembers. Rosie’s Place not only helped her obtain furniture and
with housing issues – managing money, paying bills, and/or reading
household items, but was there for her with support as well.
notices. “If a guest can keep the housing part straight, she will have a chance every day to deal with issues in her life,” Guissela says.
Norma’s Story Norma’s route to Rosie’s Place took her from a childhood at the Orchard Park development in Roxbury to a transient existence with her mother in California and various points in between. She returned to Boston to live with her grandmother at age 15, but constant clashes prompted her to spend most of her time outside the home. “I was never shown limits and had to make my own mistakes,” she admits. The lack of structure in her life led to dropping out of school and unhealthy relationships. “My mother was involved with many abusive men and I didn’t know that it wasn’t ok,” she says. As a single parent with no family support, she struggled to raise four children through her 20s. In 2003, her problems escalated when she was pregnant with her fifth child, and living with a violent husband. With her children already removed from the home for their safety by the
“Things are 1,000 times harder without a roof over your head, especially if you’re a woman.” state’s social service department, she and her husband gave the newborn to his parents and were then arrested when they were not forthcoming about the child’s whereabouts. Her husband was deported and she was sent to jail, having just learned she was again pregnant. She stayed with her in-laws for a while, but by the time she gave birth to a daughter, she had nowhere to go. She found her way to Rosie’s Place with both infants, struggling with a recently-acquired drug habit and needing “clothes, a meal, just about everything,” she says. “They showed me tough love,” she says about her early days here. “They showed me that they cared about my kids. They gave me love that my mother never showed me.” Advocates helped out with clothing, friendly advice, a stroller for the babies. Norma was able to take showers and do her laundry at Rosie’s Place.
A turning point for Norma came when Rosie’s Place secured a place for her and her children in “Latinas and Niños,” a residential treatment program in Roxbury for women recovering from addiction. From there, she has been able to rebuild her life, maintain an apartment, work when she can, and raise her babies, now ages 8 and 9, even in the face of very limited resources and illness. “We recognize that Norma’s past was difficult, that she worked through much adversity to get where she is today,” says Sandy Mariano, Rosie’s Place Director of Advocacy and Residential Services. “While there are still challenges, we are proud of the positive steps she’s taken to create a better life for her family. We celebrate her victories with her.” Says Norma, “Rosie’s Place will always be my family, no matter what. If it wasn’t for them, I would not be clean. I wouldn’t have my kids. I would not be the person I am today.”