By Gail Stokes, Senior Editor, All About Seniors with Bill Kaiser
The SEARCHlight Initiative is a group of retired concerned citizens in Greenville working with United Housing Connections, The Greenville Homeless Alliance, Greenville Mental Health Department, First Steps Greenville County, and many other partners.
It’s a GROUP—but how did it start?
WITH ONE PERSON.
That one person recognized a need, recruited some other likeminded individuals and so it began—their first project: Addressing Chronic Homelessness.
According to the US Dept. of Health & Human Services Office of the Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation:
The number of older adults at risk of and currently experiencing homelessness has increased rapidly in recent years, a trend that is projected to continue and further accelerate. Older adults at risk of or experiencing homelessness have unique needs compared to other populations experiencing homelessness.
Funding for homeless, behavioral health and other health care services currently being used for supportive housing tenants is often fragmented across many public sector programs and agencies and the non-profit service providers they support. Funds flow from different state and county agencies, through different entitlement and benefit programs governed by their own regulations and mandates. This complicated picture includes state and county appropriations (homeless, mental health, substance abuse, criminal justice, public health) and federal programs and funded entities (Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), Medicaid, Medicare, Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) Block Grants and program grants, and Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) Primary Care Block Grants, Federally Qualified Health Centers (FQHCs), Community Health Centers (CHCs) HealthCare for the Homeless (HCH) Programs, other sources of funding for homeless programs, and Ryan White Grants).
From the prospective enrollee’s point of view, program rules often conflict or leave large components of service need uncovered. Finding the resources to support specific service elements such as primary care, mental health treatment, or dental services is difficult enough. The hardest element of care to fund, though, is “the glue” that holds them all together.
Despite these challenges, this core group SEARCHlight – along with United Housing Connections, tackled the issues and proceeded to get the help for people who are chronically homeless. Their first project was securing a land donation and fundraising to establish a building. They enlisted the help of agencies to establish eligibility and secure ways to use Medicaid to cover a variety of treatments and services. The “glue” in this project was the SEARCHlight Initiative—that started with ONE volunteer. Thanks Jim Carroll for your vision.
Today the reality of it all is called Church Street Place at Poe Mill where they are helping provide homes, hope and healing for disabled people experiencing chronic homelessness in our community.
The SEARCHlight initiative group has moved on to their next project and accepted another challenge. They have partnered with First Steps Greenville County to address the critical need for childcare, especially serving infants and toddlers. Currently there is a 1-2 year wait for over 4,000 children to get into a childcare center in Greenville County. Reaching out to faith based organizations across Greenville County, SEARCHlight is spreading the word to request these organizations to consider using their underutilized Sunday School space for open childcare classrooms during the week. A win-win for all:
- Increased Engagement-Many faith based organizations see an increase in membership of young families after opening a childcare center.
- Revenue-Empty space could be rented out to a childcare business owner to operate a center.
- Jobs for congregants – As a perk for working in a childcare center, employees often receive a discount on childcare tuition and fees. It’s also a great opportunity for retired senior adult members to rejoin the work force.
Are you interested in a meaningful role to make an impact on your community by helping others?
YOU are the ONE to make that difference.
It was my honor to interview Bill Kaiser, Marketing Director for SEARCHlight Initiative to gather information for this article. He may be reached at kaizy686@gmail.com.
