@GRASSROOTS.ORG/Martin Luther King Center

Wednesday, Jul 23, 2008

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Martin Luther King Center

Martin Luther King Center
David Boyd, Executive Director
1424 Tacoma Ave. S., Suite A
Tacoma, Wash. 98402
(206) 383-1585

This is one of the best multiple-purpose organizations I’ve found, and they are running creative programs for emergency and longer-term housing that really work.

The King Center started in 1969, as many good multi-purpose organizations do, as a much smaller operation (run by three local churches) with a single idea: To provide worthwhile recreation programs for the neighborhood’s children. They did that well enough, but during the next few years, the arrival of the Reagan administration and the 1982 recession made clear that there was much more for a caring community organization to do.

The first social need was clear: Homelessness. Taking advantage of every small funding opportunity available, the center began trying to attack homelessness on a variety of fronts, including emergency shelter and prevention. During the past five years or so, it has found ways to finance and open four emergency shelters, a series of advocacy and support services, and a wonderful prevention program called "The Housing Exchange." It has spun off a separate housing-development association that works, and serves as fiscal agent for the Washington State Coalition for the Homeless.

Every program bristles with good models:

The G STREET SHELTER, an emergency-housing complex for 14 families with children, fits into its hillside neighborhood with attractive two- and three-bedroom townhouses. In a particularly interesting model, the shelter includes on its staff a full-time CHILDREN’S ADVOCATE who ensures that children in the complex get needed services.

MANDELA HOUSE, a six-unit apartment for single women and women with babies, started as a burned-out shell; the city gave the King Center money to rebuild it, starting on a course of scattering its emergency and transitional housing through the community rather than segregating its services.

The LAST CHANCE SHELTER does a lot with a little. A tiny storefront in downtown Tacoma (named after the former occupant, a saloon), it is a dormitory-style men’s shelter with 75 beds in three tight rows of bunks, a bathroom and shower facilities. It is sparkling clean, though -- and it is run by formerly homeless people.

SOJOURNER HOUSING, for homeless families with children, offers long-term, intensive case-management support. The goal of the program is to provide supportive services and to assist the family in establishing a realistic plan to re-establish a home and avoid future homelessness.

The HOUSING EXCHANGE is a structured program -- a blend of a community hotline, and advocacy operation and a "clients helping clients" operation -- aimed at stopping homelessness before it starts. Workers reach out aggressively to find families at risk of homelessness before they are evicted, and provide them with whatever resources they can, from emergency financial assistance to information on tenants’ rights and social-service programs.

The OUTREACH PROJECT uses former homeless people to find and, in one-on-one sessions, to gain the confidence of mentally-ill homeless people and persuade them to apply for SSI and other benefits that can help them.

The HOMELESS VETERANS REINTEGRATION PROJECT takes advantage of Department of Labor money to find and assist homeless veterans, many of whom are mentally ill. Goals include housing and employment.

HEALTHCARE ADVOCATE connects homeless individuals with medical needs with health care providers to obtain medical attention. Also a free clinic is held once a week at the Last Chance Shelter.

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.
Send him E-mail.
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