|
Houston, Texas:
Upon entering the grounds of Covenant House Texas (CHT), I see a group of young people standing around and smoking out in the parking lot. "Smoking isn't allowed inside the buildings, so a lot of times the kids will congregate out here," Osjeeta Gascey, Public Relations Coordinator of CHT, says to me while she takes me on a tour of all the facilities. The youth standing in the parking lot seem engrossed in conversation and stop talking only briefly to notice us walking through the grounds.
As we make our way around the intake center, emergency shelter, on-site clinic, and transitional living shelter, Gascey explains the array of services available for youth under the age of 21. All clients enter CHT voluntarily, and no one is forced to stay. At the intake center, the first stage for all clients, CHT practices an "Open Intake Policy" - any youth seeking services, who is not a danger to self or others, receives them. Intake workers attempt to address a client's immediate needs first then assess the deeper circumstances of each individual young person. Some youth opt not to enter the shelter and access CHT through its Community Services Center, a facility that offers such amenities as food, clothing, showers, laundry, referrals, and counseling services.
Youth wishing to enter shelter are assessed, assigned a Resident Advisor that provides guidance and support during their stay, and sent to the CHT on-site Emergency Shelter. Within the shelter, services offered to youth include hot meal service, an in-house day care center, substance abuse and mental health counseling, medical services, as well as a host of other services offered throughout all of CHT.
Shelter residents who wish to enter the transitional living program, Rights of Passage (ROP), are evaluated for eligibility criteria; and as Gascey and I make our way around to the building, she explains to me that the facility was once off-site, this one having opened in April 2002. The newly opened building increased the capacity of ROP to serve 58 youth, and after 6 months in ROP, qualified youth may apply for housing in Rights of Passage Apartment Living (ROPAL) for an additional 12 months of services through CHT.
When we enter the building, the smell of fresh paint and carpet is still palpable; and as I survey the surroundings, it seems quiet and empty. "All of our residents are required to either work or go to school, so during the day, it gets pretty quiet around here," Todd Mitchell, a ten-year CHT employee and Director of ROP, clarifies as I sit down in his office to gather information about his program. Rights of Passage, a twelve-month program funded by HUD grants, "…is a transitional living program for young people ages 18-21…designed to give young men and women the tools they need to become independent, productive members of society" (quoted from CHT agency profile materials). All residents must be at least 18 and go through the shelter before entering ROP. But sometimes, explains Mitchell, kids that are motivated, responsible, and committed can be "fast-tracked through the shelter" to enter ROP.
Within the ROP program, the specific course of action that a resident may take depends on the individual service plans adopted by him/her and an assigned Resident Advisor. Residents often go into ROP with few life skills, no high school diploma or GED, and little or no job training. Mitchell asserts that residents are strongly encouraged to pursue high school completion, GED acquisition, college, or vocational training, and influenced, through the point system employed at ROP, to attend the Life Skills classes taught on-site. In fact, ROP works with a "leveling system" in which residents, after accruing points, progress through subsequent levels, and gain certain advantages and benefits, such as an extra hour added to curfew for each new level achieved.
"Really, the key is employment," Mitchell says. "When a kid obtains employment, 20 percent of their earnings go to them to do whatever they want with. Twenty-percent goes towards rent for living here, and the other 60 percent goes into a savings account. Now, no matter what happens, if a kid discharges - planned or unplanned - they get all their savings back. In the levels system, kids are able to earn their rent money back based on length of stay here, total points they've earned, accrued life skills points, and what level they are on." For example, if a young woman on level one has amassed 1000 points with 300 life skills points, she is eligible to be reimbursed 25 percent of her rent money. "Life skills classes are not mandatory, but we see kids scrambling to get to life skills classes," laughs Mitchell, "a client could realistically earn all of their rent money back."
Mitchell explains that the purpose of having the residents pay rent is to demonstrate to them what it means to be self-sufficient. "They come from the shelter where they pay no rent, like at home. Then they move here and pay some rent, and when they move into [ROPAL] they gradually pay more until the last three months when they'll pay 100 percent of the rent. It allows us to illustrate to them that they have to have an investment." 0ne of the biggest challenges is teaching young people proper money management skills. The rent payment system and life skills training are intended to instill this knowledge that is necessary to transition to a life of independence.
Residents of ROP are eligible to receive all services available at CHT. Substance abuse counseling, mental health therapy, medical services, visiting dentistry and ophthalmology, help with financial aid and social security paperwork, and spiritual consultation, are a few of the services available to ROP youth. There are also group activities offered that youth can voluntarily participate in. The leadership council, a group of 10 ROP residents elected by their peers, is given a budget and plans a monthly activity calendar. This council also serves as a judgment council for residents that are not programming well at ROP.
Serving youth for ten years, Mitchell has had his share of successes and failures, but he says that what is most challenging is to see kids that are doing well at ROP to continue getting caught up in unhealthy relationships inside and outside the agency. “I’m talking about the mom that kicked you out, but now that you have a job and $3000 saved, she’s gonna let you come back…or that boyfriend that you finally got away from is still lurking around the corner…or those same old friends that got you put in boot camp that when you come back from visiting, them you smell like marijuana. It is amazing how young people will allow other folks to steal their [motivation].”
But Mitchell professes that there have been several youth that have finish the program all the way through ROPAL and continue on to be successful adults. His fondest memory is of a young man that came into ROP with a lot of anger, no life skills, and a third-grade reading level. “It was a long haul. He took his GED four times. We worked through much of his anger, and he’s now a sophomore at Texas Southern playing football.”
When I leave ROP, I notice that some of the kids who had been standing in the parking lot are still there, only this time they aren’t smoking. They just seem to be talking, enjoying the beautiful sunny day. It causes me stop and think, “What a wonderful difference this place is making in the lives of these kids.”
Covenant House Texas is a non-profit human services agency that offers emergency shelter, crisis intervention, outreach and prevention, medical care, transitional housing, educational/vocational training and community-based services to runaway, homeless, and throwaway youth under the age of 21. Their mission is to treat all children with absolute respect and unconditional love. For more information about Covenant House Texas, visit the website at www.covenanthousetx.org.
|
