Program Announcement: New Care Coordination Program Already Taking Steps
As COVID-19 has changed how nonprofits function and has ravaged our community in many of ways, we’ve trained ourselves to adapt. Not one of our programs looks the same as it did six months ago. I’m excited to share with you that our Care Coordination program is no exception.
We’ve revitalized our Care Coordination program to adapt and meet the needs in our neighborhood, already great before COVID, now even more staggering. But now, we’re focusing on intentionally walking with the individual in a way we haven’t been able to do before, due to lack of staff and lack of resources. Now we can and do meet them where they’re at and walk with them to get where God has them to be, full in Him.
Well, we launched our new Care Coordination program five weeks ago and I was a little apprehensive that our neighbors-in-need wouldn’t be receptive to the changes. When you have such a fundamental change like this one, you’re always a little concerned about how people will respond, even if the change is for their good. I’m thrilled to report that it has proven to be a welcome change. After we announced the formalization of this program and introduced our new team members who were there for them, we explained that we want to better meet our neighbors needs to see a real change in their circumstances, not only continue to serve their immediate needs. One individual, who we’ve been serving for nearly a year now, came up and asked if we could help him get a non-driver ID, something you need to obtain employment and is vital to function in our society. We had no idea that he’d wanted a non-driver’s ID, and he didn’t know that we could help with that.
Considering he’s experiencing homelessness, he has a birth certificate but has lost his social security card. So in order to get the non-driver’s ID, we had to start with the social security card, but if you don’t have your ID, you can’t get a replacement social security card. Our staff was stumped at first, but with a lot of tenacity and a little more creativity, they connected with a person in the social security card office, sat with our neighbor on the phone with social security, and after explaining what was going on to the agent, was able to bypass the ID requirement and found the birth certificate was sufficient. So the replacement card came in the mail!
We’re starting a walk with a neighbor and he’s one step closer out of homelessness and poverty and two steps closer to employment and stability. Be encouraged with us.
God Bless,
Pastor Ken Austin