Prairie Pointe Awarded Technical Assistance Grant
Written by Nicole Harvey, Grant Coordinator
Hello Friends of Beacon Interfaith Housing Collaborative!
My name is Nicole Harvey and I am the Grant Coordinator for the Prairie Pointe Supportive Housing project. I have been in this role since February 1, 2021, and I would like to take this opportunity to share with you information about this new and unique collaboration that Beacon and its service partners have embarked upon.
Through the outstanding work of our grant writing team, Beacon was awarded funding for the Prairie Pointe Supportive Housing Development project through a Keeping Families Together (KFT) grant administered by the Corporation for Supportive Housing (CSH). This technical assistance grant is intended to “…fund efforts to coordinate and convene disparate community resources and stakeholders.”
Specifically, the KFT grant is intended to connect supportive housing to high need, unstably housed families involved in the child welfare system in Scott and Carver Counties. Beacon as the Lead Coordinator and proceeding in the spirit of collaboration, entered into a partnership with Volunteers of America, Scott County Health & Human Services – Child Welfare, Scott Carver Dakota CAP Agency, and Carver County Health & Human Services to form a “core” group whose mission is to explore how to best identify, refer, and house these targeted families while being cognizant of their lived experience and utilizing a race equity lens.
In support of the KFT grant, CSH provides our group with technical assistance and valuable training but has allowed our group to be totally autonomous in how we proceed in our work. CSH has spearheaded multiple training sessions that address a variety of related supportive housing topics such as data collection and data interpretation.
To date, the most provocative training being the session in which families with lived experience shared their personal stories. Their stories were compelling, heartbreaking, and hopeful. Through their vulnerability, these families provided valuable insight on how our group should navigate through our processes and define our objectives. From their stories, these points stood out the most:
- The importance of “being seen” by someone else as a full human being, not just as a ‘case’.
- The cautionary tales that “social workers” can sometimes over determine all the service needs of families, when in fact they just need free time, liberty, fun, etc.
- The reminder that peer community is important to healing.
- The importance of including parental informants in building a service model/system from the ground up.
At the commencement of this project, our group recognized the importance of the input of families with lived experience and we fully embraced the concept of “No decisions for us, without us”.
As the Grant Coordinator for the KFT grant, I have embarked on a journey to recruit and interview these families for their supportive housing expertise. As a result, I have formed relationships with a variety of initiatives such as the Scott County Family Resource Center (FRC), the Together We Can: Parental Resiliency Subcommittee, and the Homework Starts With Home committee.
Through the KFT grant, I have bolstered our kinship with these groups by providing funding for expenses such as the signage for the FRC’s and participant incentives for the FRC’s, Together We Can, and Homework Starts With Home. Despite a slow start, I have successfully connected with multiple families who have experienced homelessness and/or child welfare intervention both in and out of Scott and Carver counties with surprising results.
I have been impressed by their candor and willingness to share their experiences and by a seemingly universal desire to see child welfare have a permanent presence in Prairie Pointe. I have also explored and been trained in the formation of a Parental Advisory Council (PAC). A PAC being a continuation of the “No decisions for us, without us” concept to be implemented when Prairie Pointe opens its doors for residency.
During my interviews with the families with lived experience, some other AMAZING suggestions about the Prairie Pointe building design and offered supportive services were put forth. At this point, we are in listening mode and wanted to hear suggestions before moving forward.
One mother whose interview had to be cut short due to a child suffering from a physical ailment, suggested that a pharmacy or a minute clinic be built on the Prairie Pointe site. As a mother of three children, she had spent 4 hours in the emergency room that morning with her ill child while a friend watched her younger children. She ultimately had to leave the hospital before her son could be seen by a doctor because her friend had to go to work and could no longer care for her other children. Based on this experience, this mother believed that an onsite medical facility would be beneficial to the future residents of Prairie Pointe, especially those families with multiple children or those that lack transportation.
This mother, along with other interviewees, also suggested that mental health services for both adults and children be provided at Prairie Pointe. In suggesting the addition of the mental health services, one mother relayed the lack of support that she and her son received when her family was dealing with her son’s behavioral issues.
According to Mom, “It would have been nice to have someone help me through that rough time. I felt like I was all by myself.”
Although this mother is thankful to be on the other side of this traumatic experience, she is certain that other families would benefit from close proximity to mental health services.
We know that housing and health are closely tied together. As we listened, ensuring residents have nearby access to health services was an important takeaway.
As we delve deeper into the development of the Prairie Pointe project with the assistance of the KFT Grant, Beacon and our partners plan to continue to let the voices of the families with lived experience be our guide to developing not just a housing site but a home.
Thank you!
For more information on grants, contact Nicole Harvey at nharvey@beaconinterfaith.org.
