The Institute for Human Services
Debbie Morikawa, Executive Director
350 Sumner St.
Honolulu, Hawaii 96817
(808) 537-4944
(808) 524-5195 fax

It's been some 22 years since the Rev. Claude F. Du Teil sought to win the trust of Honolulu's most hopeless street people by offering them peanut butter and jelly sandwiches and a safe place to rest, but citizens of this tropical town still affectionately refer to this caring and competent shelter -- now The Institute for Human Services -- as "the Peanut Butter Ministry."

Of course it offers far more than just sandwiches now. The IHS (whose acronym, not coincidentally, also represents Christ) accepts O'ahu's hardest cases, its most down-and-out street people, substance abusers and serious attitude problems, offering them dignity and respect in a strict but supportive setting that aims to restore their self-reliance and help them pull themselves back into the mainstream. In its competent, effective programs and the change-not-charity philosophy that underlies them, IHS reminds me of the best of the street-homeless shelters across America.

Serving an average of 240 "guests" per night and feeding three hearty meals a day, IHS seeks to break the cycle of homelessness and poverty by gradually instilling trust in the most battered homeless people, then building on that trust by guiding the people toward whatever services they need to get back on their feet. It provides not only shelter but meals, clothing, case management, even such simple needs as lockers, laundry service and an address to use on applications for jobs and social services.

"We take the down-and-out, the toughest street people," Morikawa said. "When people first come in, we try not to judge them on the basis of who they are. People LEARN to be street-tough. To survive out there, they have to be rough, to intimidate people. When they come in here, they've got an attitude. This is a lifestyle they've learned. They can't change it overnight. Over time, we hope with the other guests here who've been here longer, they'll learn." IHS walks a narrow line, she said, balancing this approach with strict, firm guidelines that guests are expected to meet: curfews, structured daily schedules, no drug or alcohol abuse on the premises.

Among model activities, IHS encourages guests to participate in the center's operation by awarding points for volunteer work cleaning the shelter or helping in the office; hours of work earn points that may be cashed in for small privileges such as free locker rent.

Selected guests also may volunteer for the shelter's "community policing program," in which they and supervisors roam nearby streets encouraging homeless loiterers to come to the shelter and, when necessary, calling the police to handle lawbreaking. This effort, and a related project in which shelter guests pick up litter and clear vacant lots, has turned neighboring businesses from foes into strong supporters.

Finally, the IHS Education Center, in partnership with local community colleges, makes a broad and flexible tutoring program, ranging from literacy and GED classes to advanced subjects like psychology, available to shelter guests daily.

The shelter, with a staff of 35 filling 27 full-time-equivalent positions, has an annual budget of $1.4 million. Its case managers worked with 1,082 people last year, of whom at least 328 were able to move from the shelter into more permanent housing -- a 30 percent success rate.

"We see our shelter as a way of trying to change people who really have no chance of changing on the streets," Morikawa said. "No one else here is trying to deal with this population, but we are ... and we're actually being successful in bringing them around."

All the feature stories on @GRASS-ROOTS.ORG's pages are reported and written by Robin Garr, a prize-winning journalist who has visited more than 500 innovative grassroots programs in all 50 states since 1990.

Browse his book, Reinvesting In America, at Amazon.com.

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