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The Need
Homelessness undoubtedly stands out as a
stark social challenge that tremendously impacts people in the Cleveland
area. According to the Northeast Ohio Coalition for the Homeless (NEOCH),
more than 26,000 individuals living in Cuyahoga County were homeless.
In short, homelessness is a serious problem that is
heading in the wrong direction in Cuyahoga County, as it is elsewhere in the
nation. At the same time, service capacity to meet the needs of the
homeless has not risen to the challenge. According to an NEOCH estimate,
there is an unmet need for 3,384 shelter units for
homeless individuals and 170 units for homeless families.
In the face of such need stands the 2100
Lakeside shelter, which is administered by the Lutheran Metropolitan
Ministry (LMM). With 352 beds, 2100 Lakeside stands out as the largest
shelter in the Midwest. Yet even this is not enough, for more than 550
people head to the shelter for assistance every evening.
Given such a shortage of beds, 2100 Lakeside
has implemented an innovative multi-step process for personal transformation
that empowers individuals to (a) move out of homelessness into housing and
employment and (b) keep them there. The inherent instability and chaos of
the shelter environment, however, makes it difficult for participants to
complete this process and better their lives. Instead, they find themselves
stuck in the hopelessness of homelessness.
Target
Population
The Retreat Program for Homeless Men targets
present or recent residents at the 2100 Lakeside Men�s Shelter who have
chosen to participate in the shelter�s 7-stage Life Transformation
program. The participants of each retreat will be selected by the staff of
the shelter. It is important to note that members of the target population
are heavily involved in program planning and evaluation.
Goals
and Objectives
The goals of
the Retreat Program for Homeless Men are twofold:
a)
to increase the number of men
who complete the transformation process and move out of the 2100
Lakeside shelter into stable housing by 25%
b)
to reduce recidivism of those
who have participated in the retreat program by 25% when
compared to the general shelter population
This project works toward these goals by
focusing upon one specific objective: to hold at least 30 retreat programs
at the Jesuit Retreat House for homeless men immersed in the comprehensive
spiritual enrichment process at LMM�s 2100 Lakeside Men�s Shelter. The
length and frequency of retreats vary for each stage of the transformation
process.
Outcomes
In the long term, the Retreat Program for
Homeless Men is designed to impact the poverty crisis in Cleveland by (a)
reducing costs to the shelter and the public by helping homeless men
transition out of the shelter and (b) stimulating the transformation of
those individuals from social welfare recipients to positive social
contributors. Retreats are a critical component of the
spiritual enrichment process that is designed to equip homeless men who now
reside at 2100 Lakeside with those tools necessary to meet the critical
challenges they face as they transition toward self-sufficiency.
In the short term, the retreat program will
provide at least 25 retreats that amplify the impact of the 2100 Lakeside
shelter transformation track. Retreats are planned by a 12-person team � 9
of whom were formerly homeless � and are scheduled as an ongoing series of
the following four retreats:
-
Connection
� participants focus on confronting and breaking barriers within
themselves and with others
-
Trust � participants build off the Connection retreat by dealing with those
fears that impede trust
-
Purpose
� participants spend this overnight retreat wrestling with issues of
personal mission and calling
-
Integration
� participants examine issues of competence, patterns within
relationship, and tendencies toward inclusiveness
The retreat program follows a
reflection-and-action process that provides homeless men who have begun the
process of rebuilding their lives with important life tools such as improved
self-esteem, a clear-eyed view of the world they live in, and hope for the
future based upon a step-by-step life plan.
In addition, staff at 2100 Lakeside will
build community and bolster continuity for the retreat program by providing
complementary classes in between retreats on a diverse array of
subjects, including goals and strategies, service leadership, exercise, and
nonviolent communication.
Finally, program staff will focus on
continual improvement via the following evaluation methods:
1)
Participants will provide program feedback via
(a) surveys and (b) after-program sessions.
2)
Program impact upon participants will also be
gathered within the context of the 2100 Lakeside shelter�s extensive and
long-standing systems of measurement and record-keeping. For example, the
recovery progress of retreat participants would be compared with that of
non-participating members of the shelter population.
Timeframe
The retreat program is administered throughout the calendar
year as an ongoing series of retreats. The first two retreats of the
four-retreat series, as described above, will be offered once per month, the
third retreat 6 times, and the fourth retreat 3 times during the program
year. The first two retreats will accommodate approximately 40
participants per retreat, while the third and fourth retreats will serve 30
participants apiece.
How To Keep
The Project Going?
These
retreats for the homeless are provided freely for obvious reasons. Funding for
them is currently coming from the Annual Appeal of the Jesuit Retreat House
and the help of some local foundations such as the Cleveland Foundation,
Sullivan Family Foundation and
the Bruening Foundation.
Contacts have also been made with other foundations. Our hope is that that
those who want to help the homeless get their lives together will invest in
the program that has been very effective. An
Endowment Fund for this Homeless Program has been
established and launched with a $50,00 generous gift of a local benefactor.
The hope is that this Endowment will make possible the
continuation of this very meaningful program. Can you help this Endowment
grow? A million and a half will sustain this program. This is the goal of the
Endowment. Thank you for considering.
1) Please pray for this program to touch hearts and
2) For financial support please
click here:
This project is
a significant new collaboration between four partners:
1) Jesuit Retreat House, [JRH]
2) Lutheran Metropolitan Ministry’s 2100 Lakeside Men’s Shelter,
[LMM]
3) Community Service Alliance, [CSA] and
4) National Network of the Ignatian Spirituality Project for the Homeless.
History and Background Information on:
the Jesuit Retreat House
Founded in 1898, the Jesuit Retreat House has operated on its current 57-acre site in Parma for
109 years. In its initial year of operation, JRH offered the first Catholic retreat for lay people in the United States. The Jesuit Retreat House’s mission statement is:
Inspired by the Gospel of Jesus Christ, rooted in the spirituality
of St. Ignatius, the Jesuit Retreat House provides a sacred setting
for retreats and programs of growth and development
for people in the contemporary Church and society.
The Jesuit Retreat House offers two invaluable assets to this collaboration – sacred space and a century of effective spiritual programming. JRH is a 60 bedroom building set in the midst of 57 acres of woods and meadows – only 15 minutes from the shelter. It provides the men a chance to leave the chaos of an overcrowded shelter, and come to a quiet, peaceful place where they can listen to their hearts and learn to do the hard introspection needed to heal, grow, and change.
Background information on:
Lutheran Metropolitan Ministry’s 2100 Lakeside Men’s Shelter
Lutheran Metropolitan Ministry’s mission is to
“promote Shalom and Justice through a Christian Ministry of service and advocacy with those who are oppressed, forgotten
and hurting.” LMM serves and advocates with 1) people with disabilities,
2) men and women who have been involved with the justice system, 3) people dealing with long-term care issues,
4) youth at risk to abuse and incarceration, and 5) people without housing. These five areas of service and advocacy are known as the Five Pillars of LMM.
LMM took over the administration of 2100 Lakeside Men’s Shelter in January 2005. The shelter has been in operation since 2000. It is the major men’s shelter in Cleveland and the largest in the Midwest. Currently, 350 men sleep there each
night; 185 more men stay in the overflow shelter at Aviation High School. The programming at the shelter, done in partnership with the Community Service Alliance, grows out of a seven-stage community building transformation process, the Turning Point System. Its goal is to empower men to make the many changes needed to attain and maintain stable housing, steady employment and active community involvement. The purpose of the retreat program is to make this transformation process more effective, resulting in an increase in the number of graduates and a decrease in both the time residents stay in the shelter as well as the number of those who need to return.
Background information on:
Community Service Alliance
The Community Service Alliance was founded in July 2004 to work with Cleveland’s shelters and social service agencies to facilitate the movement of homeless men and women from the shelters into stable housing and employment. Its mission is “to be a catalyst of targeted training, subsidized low-rent housing, and transitional job opportunities for homeless men so that shelter populations and accompanying public costs are reduced.”
CSA works closely with the staff of the 2100 Lakeside shelter to develop programs that help the men achieve the goals of the transformation process. Jeff Nichols, Executive Director of the Community Service Alliance, has participated in the planning for the retreat program at JRH.
Background information on:
National Network of the Ignatian Spirituality Project for the Homeless
In 1997 a Chicago Jesuit priest, Fr. Bill Creed, SJ, was asked by his provincial to develop a spiritual program for homeless people. Since then Fr. Creed has conducted more than 50 weekend retreats for homeless men in Chicago and nine other cities, including Cleveland. In 2005 he convened representatives of the retreat efforts in all nine cities to develop a broader, more comprehensive and sustainable approach that could be implemented in cities around the country. The meeting included representatives of Jesuit retreat houses and homeless shelters. They formed the National Network of the Ignatian Spirituality Project for the Homeless.
The goals of the Network are to “sustain the retreat program in each of the cities in which it exists, to offer the retreats in new cities, and to develop other processes and programs with a spiritual focus that can be presented in collaboration with others who serve the homeless.” The collaboration between the Jesuit Retreat House of Cleveland, LMM’s 2100 Lakeside Men’s Shelter, the Community Service Alliance, and the National Network is the first such effort to develop a more comprehensive retreat program that becomes an integral part of a shelter’s transformation process. The Network is excited about this development, and is exploring ways to learn from Cleveland’s effort and develop similar models in cities across the country.
