AVERY WEST
Member Engagement Director
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Skilled, compassionate ministry leaders want to walk those in crisis through relief, rehabilitation, and development to a flourishing life. For those facing mental or physical disabilities, that may not mean total self-sufficiency. 

The folks at Eden Village in Wilmington, North Carolina understand that. Last fall, I visited them with my family and discovered how their skill and compassion enables individuals in their care to retain the dignity of home ownership and meaningful relationships in a safe, supportive community. We walked through the light-filled community center, along sidewalks connecting 31 homes, and out to the community garden. We were welcomed by residents sitting on their porches, friendly interns and volunteers, and the founding couple, Tom and Kim Dalton. 

It was easy to see Eden values relationships. Tom is quick to credit Kim for its palpable culture of love and warmth, pointing to her as he introduced the staff and saying, “And this is the reason everyone loves it here!” 

That stands in contrast to groups and municipalities around the country that understand the  need for dignified housing but believe the solution lies in just providing a building (be it a tiny home or repurposed shipping container). Yet Eden Village demonstrates community, work and meaning (not building types) are the keys to a flourishing life. 

Before you consider starting a similar community, it is important to understand the difference in types of homelessness and to assess if there is truly a struggle with chronic homelessness in your area. 

The majority of homeless people are without housing for less than a year. Some are homeless for less than 2 weeks (referred to as “episodic homelessness”), and a quick stay with family or in an emergency shelter can help them get back on track. Others, who are homeless for up to a year (i.e., “transitional homelessness”) can benefit from a longer transitional housing program before living independently. 

Those on the streets for more than a year, though, often have deeper struggles that prevent them from living on their own. Eden Village and similar permanent housing ministries serve this group of people, considered the “chronically homeless.” Residents in that situation typically  combat intense mental illness, substance abuse, or physical disability; as well as a catastrophic loss of family, church and community connection. Tom shares, “Even if they didn’t experience trauma before becoming homeless, the trauma they experience living on the streets for over a year is difficult to overcome.” 

In the relief, rehabilitation, development framework, the goal is to help people move from a place of just receiving to a place of mutual giving and receiving where they flourish by using  their God-given gifts. In most cases, that means living on their own and providing for their family while still living interdependently with others. For instance, my husband and I have an established, functional home. Yet I still ask my sister-in-law to watch my kids while I go to a doctor’s appointment; and I bring church members meals when they are sick or have a new baby. We are meant to exist in a community of giving and receiving. 

For the chronically homeless, that interdependence looks a little different. Yes, it’s likely they are incapable of living in an unsubsidized way. But they can still work full or part-time jobs, take part in local events, and make their neighborhood beautiful. It is that kind of holistic, relationship-based community Eden Village wants to create. 

Can you visit and learn from an existing community?

Tom overflows with gratitude for the original Eden Village in Springfield, MO, which helps people like the Daltons start campuses all over the United States by providing policies, legal paperwork, and advice.  They also host a conference in Springfield that Tom suggests any prospective permanent housing ministry attend. And he and Kim welcome True Charity members to visit the Wilmington Village at any time. After putting the Eden Village framework in place, they included (and continue to use) True Charity’s training and day-to-day programming resources to ensure their residents’ dignity.   

Do you have the right land?

“Finding land is the toughest part,” Tom says. He cautions against rezoning or asking for a single variance. He learned, “When you ask for a variance, there is a hearing, and when there is a hearing, you lose every time.” Tom learned from the original Eden Village that to avoid local residents invoking their NIMBY rights (“Not in my Backyard”), you must follow every single rule. “You might find what you think is the perfect piece of land, but it would have to be rezoned, and you just have to move on. That’s heartbreaking … Once we found our land, we basically let our city planner plan the village,” Tom says. Initially, neighbors were hesitant because the property is in a residential area but “We put houses where he said to put them and we only built the number of houses he said we could build.” Once the neighbors saw the ministry was safe and beautiful, they embraced it as a welcome addition to the neighborhood. 

An ideal property should have the following features:

• Close proximity to a bus stop and store because many residents don’t drive.
• Enough room for 20-30 houses, a community center, and green space. At 10 houses per acre, that’s three to four acres.
• Existing infrastructure. Vacant mobile home plots often work well because they are zoned correctly and already have water and utilities, which greatly reduces upfront costs. 

Can you find adequately equipped homes?

As mentioned, the goal of permanent housing is to preserve dignity and ownership for an individual or family unable to live on their own. With that in mind, potential homes should at least have a kitchen, bathroom, and bedroom. Tom also shares that buying houses with front porches helped them form a culture of friendship because neighbors love to sit on their porches and chat. And since they’re on the North Carolina coast, Tom made sure they were rated for hurricanes. Because Eden Village Wilmington is on a residentially-zoned property, they chose small modular homes. Communities built on mobile home lots often use park-model homes.

Eden Village wants their neighborhood to be a true community where people feel loved, volunteer, and are content to live out their lives. That’s why they limit its size to 30 houses. If your organization needs room for more homes, keep in mind it’s possible to build multiple villages on the same property adjoining one community center. As long as each group of 20-30 houses is fenced in and has their own sense of culture, the ministry can grow beyond one village. The fence, Tom shares, is crucial because it helps people who have experienced so much trauma feel safe. It also helps the staff monitor people coming in and out of the community so no drugs or weapons make their way in. 

Are you trying to meet every need?

Many people refer to this model as, “permanent supportive housing,” but Tom pushes back on “supportive.” He points out that while Eden Village does have a community store, case management, and events to help residents form deeper relationships, they don’t pretend to have everything someone needs. Their residents still work, grocery shop, go to the doctor, and attend church outside the village. In Tom’s mind, that’s a good thing. In other words, residents have their own loving community but are still part of the larger Wilmington ecosystem.

Can you raise the funds?

Eden Village Wilmington cost about $5 million to build (though 3D concrete printing technology might bring that number down to $4 million for your organization). With 31 houses and two employees, they operate on a $500,000 annual budget, of which $120,000 is provided through rent. Building costs for each house was about $80,000 and monthly operational expense is $1,300 per residence. 

The Daltons raised the initial money needed through a variety of means including a large federal home loan bank grant (a privately funded institution, despite the name); and generous families, foundations and churches foundations and churches who, for a price-matched contribution of $40,000, have the opportunity to name the home. Because houses are pre-built, the Daltons were able to “drop a house” on a foundation just three weeks after a donor sponsors one. 

Tom’s biggest piece of fundraising advice? Put a house on the property as soon as possible. “You can meet with a potential donor in a Starbucks and try to show them your vision with powerpoint,” he says, “Or you can meet with them inside a beautiful tiny home and show them the joy and dignity that is possible.”

Building a village of permanent housing for struggling folks is not an easy, short-term undertaking. At Eden Village Wilmington, the work has been hard, stressful, and heartbreaking at times. But Tom assures leaders considering this ministry, “Whatever energy you put into it will come back to you tenfold. It’s the most humbling personal faith journey to tell someone, ‘This house is yours forever’ and watch them heal. It has changed the Dalton household.” 

Tom and the Eden Village team would love to connect with you! True Charity Network members can reach out through the members’ directory. 

STEVE LYON
Editorial Director
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The Story

After working at West Point, Michael wanted to go home to Joplin. Get back to his roots. Start fresh. He was confident someone with his resume could easily land a job there. 

He applied for one and made the finalists list. They hired someone else. He tried again. Same story. One more time. Don’t even ask. It didn’t take him long to figure out that he was the only person impressed with his credentials. In other words, he was right where the Lord wanted him: humbled—and open to whatever the Lord wanted. Eventually, he landed in Carthage at the Fire Department.

After ten years, a job as the Outreach Center Director at Watered Gardens opened up. He had a heart for ministry, so he prayed about it. It seemed like the Lord wanted him to apply. After a rigorous interview process, things were looking up. 

That one fell apart, too.

 No one could blame him for wondering what in the world was going on or what the Lord was doing.

Two months later, Watered Gardens called. The Director of FORGE had resigned. They thought he might be a good fit and wanted to know if he was interested. He was—and that’s how the medic partnered with the Maker to start molding men. “It was,” Michael puts it, “a complete God thing.”

At first, it wasn’t easy. Michael thought his job was to “create little images of me” by saturating the environment with a military-style command presence. He had to learn leadership does not mean earning respect by putting a wall up between you and those you lead in hopes of duplicating yourself.

Instead, the Lord taught him two critical lessons that were, in his words, “a gut punch.” 

One, that leading is about relationships. That is, getting in someone’s life to give them a lift up and out of poverty. Yes, it’s essential to have healthy boundaries. Like most of us, wounded men are needy, so you have to guard your emotional and spiritual energy. To that end, Michael and his wife jealously guard his day off for time together with each other and family and to lead bible studies. But leading in an environment like FORGE means entering a man’s brokenness —to bring hope and healing. 

The second lesson is just as powerful but more simply stated: God is the creator, and “I’m just the director to help them be what God made them to be.” 

The Program

FORGE is a four-phase, sixteen-month program involving service and education phases, each lasting three months; a work phase of four months; and a transition phase that lasts six months. In each, students progressively build discipline, habits, and skills that will enable them to move from joblessness and unhealthy dependence to responsible self-support.

What does it take to enter and graduate? Men must admit they have a problem, can’t fix it by themselves, and are ready to make a change. They must submit to God’s will and desire a relationship with Jesus Christ–and recognize getting started is hard because change creates stress. And, they must accept that the program’s rigorous requirements are designed to create a controlled environment that progressively prepares them for life beyond graduation. 

That process has its flashpoints. In fact, Michael says the biggest hurdle to success is students leaving early because they think they have a handle on things. “They don’t realize they’re successful because they’re in a controlled environment. They think they’re ready to live on their own, but they’re not.” That’s why FORGE’s policy is if you leave early, there are no do-overs.

Michael points out it’s important to remember FORGE isn’t a drug rehab program. Nor is it a men’s discipleship group. People around the building say the program is “where becoming and doing merge.” In other words, it’s about acquiring Christ skills and life skills so men leave with a big bag of tools, know how to use them, and are committed to community as their operational base.

Lessons Learned

Team Training 

Staff one-on-ones are a key part of staff development, with each leader “training someone to replace me.” Also, FORGE maintains an open-door policy to keep the relationships mentioned earlier in good shape. 

Volunteer Training

The Forge focuses on a commitment to the Seven Marks of Effective Charity which is their foundation and operational philosophy. Volunteers learn to jettison the “I’m going to come in here and bless these people with my service” attitude. Invariably, after hearing men’s redemption stories, they realize they’re the ones blessed.

Programs 

FORGE staff allow ample time for program evaluation. Programs are pre-loaded with content, requirements and procedures to ensure success but adjustments are made early on, when needed. Men enter the program dealing with all kinds of issues that are addressed when they begin their time at FORGE.

Michael and his staff have also learned the value of cyclical programming. Rather than wait for the start of a new class every quarter, men can now enter at any time and continue until they complete the whole sixteen-month schedule.

The Payoff

In Men

Dave’s a perfect example. When Michael first met him, he was closed off and hard-headed. He got high before his entrance interview. But by the time he graduated last September, God had completely transformed him. Now, more than anything, he “covets his time with Jesus.”

That’s not the only significant change. FORGE also makes a difference …

In the Community

It has a reputation. A strong reputation. Judges furlough criminals’ jail time to enter the program. They monitor their progress, and if they graduate, charges are dropped. Sometimes, a judge will have Michael stand in the courtroom and commend him for the impact FORGE is making in men and, therefore, in Joplin. “That,” says Michael, “drives you to do what you do.”

Law enforcement has taken note, too. Officers hired by Michael’s church for protection Sunday morning see men they’ve repeatedly arrested walk through the doors clean, sober, and smiling. Sometimes, they don’t recognize them. When they do, they can’t believe their eyes. 

Advice For Getting Started

First, recognize there will be moments, as Michael puts it, when you find yourself “beating your head against the wall.” That’s why it’s important the desire to begin a ministry like FORGE “is truly in your heart, truly a calling and a passion.”

Michael also recommends that you set your end goal, establish outcomes, build to those outcomes, and evaluate the result. 

Interested in starting a Residential Life Transformation (RLT) program in your neighborhood? Network Members have access to our RLT Model Action Plan, including step by step guidance and a library of resources. 

CT Studd, nineteenth-century English cricket star turned missionary to China, India, and Africa, once remarked:

Some want to live within

The sound of church or chapel bell;

I want to run a rescue

Within a yard of hell

 

When Better Together CEO Megan Rose observed the problem of an overwhelmed foster care system in her home state, she came up with a bold solution that raised some eyebrows.

Rose’s home state of Florida ranks third in the nation in the number of foster-care children per capita. While a discouraging statistic, a look below the surface reveals that 60% of these foster care placements are from neglect, not abuse. An even closer look suggests that many neglect situations come from homes in which the mother and/or father are honestly attempting to care for their children but failing to do so sufficiently while struggling to make ends meet.

For Megan Rose, this fact begged the question: Could these children’s parents have effectively met their needs had someone intervened in their situation earlier? Would more families have stayed intact if someone had provided relief or support at certain critical junctures?

She believed the answer was “yes.” And she knew the Church was the right vehicle to provide this critical early intervention.

“When Megan told people her vision–that she was going to get volunteers in the Church to open up their homes, without getting paid, to help vulnerable children–she got laughed at,” Mellissa Foster, Executive Director of Church Partnerships at Better Together, shares with a chuckle. There were other organizations doing similar things at the time, but all took state funding. Megan was determined to create a privately funded solution, unencumbered by the red tape that accompanies government dollars, that was set up well for highly relational interventions.

Though her plan was met with skepticism, Megan began Better Together in 2015, with the Better Families program designed to empower the Church to help at-risk families stabilize and stay together. And with 5,400 children helped since then, and 98% returning to their families and staying out of foster care, the model has been proven successful.

Better Families helps families who are at risk of losing their children to the foster care system by allowing parents to voluntarily put their children in someone else’s home, temporarily, while they get back on their feet.

“We give parents the gift of time and space,” Mellissa explains. “For so many families on the verge of losing their kids, they are in crisis mode. They’re living in their car, they’re trying to figure out how they’re going to feed their children their next meal–they’re just surviving. They’re not thinking about long-term solutions like where they’re going to get a job or what apartment they’ll get to give their kids some stability.” With their children safe and cared for in another location, parents are able to focus on making rapid improvements to their situation and then can take their children back as soon as they feel they are ready.

“A lot of folks are initially very suspicious because they associate us with the government, with foster care,” Mellissa shares. “But when they learn that we’re a volunteer team and that placing their kids in a different home is entirely voluntary and that they can get them back whenever they feel ready without having to jump through hoops, walls start to come down.”

Better Together partners with Florida churches to facilitate their Better Families program by providing the framework, developing relationships with community partners, and managing referrals to the program.The churches simply provide the manpower to assist families in crisis.

There are four primary roles a congregant in a Better Families church can fill to tangibly help struggling families in their community:

Host Family

Host families agree to take in children referred to the program temporarily or on an as-needed basis. The stay can be as short as overnight or as long as 90 days (or potentially longer), with the average stay being 41 days.

The Better Together staff are careful to assist families with appropriate matching. “If a family with two teenage daughters agrees to host, we’re not going to pair them with a family in crisis who has a teenage son,” Mellissa explains. Beyond the purely practical, though, Better Families also attempts to align families based on interests, hobbies, and individual needs.

Knowing that this is the most demanding and daunting role, the Better Families program is designed to give host families necessary breaks.

“We tell hosts that just because you say yes today doesn’t mean you’re saying yes in two years,” Mellissa shares. “You can also do it just once and decide it’s not for you.”

Family Advocates

While host families focus on helping the children, family advocates work primarily with parents to develop relationships and set goals. Knowing that progress is not instantaneous, family advocates are prepared to work with parents for at least six months.

“Our family advocates really get in the weeds with the parents,” says Mellissa. Their job is to develop a deeper understanding of obstacles for the family and help the parents develop and stick to a game plan so that when they’re ready to take their kids back, they’re able to keep them long-term. Better Families, however, is careful to train advocates not to do for, but with– they are big proponents of allowing families the opportunity to take the lead in determining the future they want for themselves.

Mellissa elaborates: “We never do things for the families: We walk them through how to do it. We’re not going to write a job application for them, but we’ll definitely sit next to them at the library and help them as they go through it.”

Job Coaches

For so many families in crisis, the biggest contributor to their situation is the lack of a job. Better Families was designed based on the belief that neglect is preventable–and, often, a good job is exactly the boost that’s needed to enable a family to thrive.

A congregant who is well-connected to local businesses and with a long history of work experience would be a great fit for this position. Typically a two-week commitment, the job coach works with the parent to understand their skills, education level, prior work experience, etc., and then helps the parent find and apply for positions that are a good fit for their unique situation.

Resource Volunteers

These volunteers wrap around host families to provide support. Better Families churches will identify congregants who are dedicated to finding ways to make the host family’s job a little easier. 

“If a family takes in four kids, for example, their congregation will tap on resource volunteers to provide a meal, maybe send a gift card for groceries, drop off diapers, pick up the kids from school, offer prayer–things like that,” Mellissa elaborates.

Mellissa shares about one woman who serves as a resource volunteer sewing bibs and burp cloths for babies placed with host families, helping out in the way that she’s uniquely able. Most resources and skills have a place in supporting host families as they take in children.

Better Together was founded on the belief that the best resource to help struggling families is the Church. But why the Church?

“The Church is the best place for people to run to when they’re in crisis,” Mellissa explains. “Historically, the Church has filled this role. It’s our job to love people well.” To that end, Mellissa reminds us of the following verse describing what love in action looks like:

“Be devoted to one another in love. Honor one another above yourselves. Never be lacking in zeal, but keep your spiritual fervor, serving the Lord. Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer. Share with the Lord’s people who are in need. Practice hospitality.” Romans 12:10-13

How Your Church Can Get Started:

The Better Families program is currently only offered in Florida. While churches outside Florida aren’t able to partner with Better Families (yet!) to start the program in their own church, or may not have the bandwidth to create their own version, here are some simple, practical ways your church can support vulnerable families in your community right now:

• Host a parents’ night out. How can you find families who need help? Let them come to you! Post flyers in neighborhoods near your church inviting parents to drop off their kids for a movie night, field day, story hour … let your creativity run wild! Don’t forget to grab parents’ contact information and reach out to them post-event to stay connected.

• Start a jobs ministry. A good job is a great way to help families stay together, and also a great way for your congregants to connect with folks who may be struggling. Better Together can equip you to host a Better Jobs Fair, and True Charity Network members receive a 20% discount on Chalmers’ WorkLife Facilitator training.

• Start a Christmas market. Use the holiday season as an opportunity to connect with struggling families by hosting a Christmas market, an empowering twist on a typical toy giveaway. True Charity Network Members: Check out True Charity’s Model Action Plan for step-by-step guidance to start one in your church.

• Build connections with community stakeholders. Get coffee with the director of your local shelter, ask the principal of your local elementary school to give you a tour, buy lunch for the leader at a local foster care placement agency … whatever you do, make sure it’s in-person and friendly. Use that time to identify needs and consider how your church can help. Your church can serve in small ways and, in the future, these connections could prove to be very useful if your church decides to launch a Better Families-type ministry.

If you haven’t yet, be sure to join the True Charity Network for access to all our Model Action Plans, educational content, and other resources to equip churches for effective charity, including the Church Toolkit.

Better Together is a True Charity Network member. You can check out the True Charity Real Results webinar featuring Better Together on the topic of measuring outcomes here. You can connect with them on the member’s portal.  If you’re not yet a True Charity Network member, learn more at truecharity.us/join.

“Why can’t those people just go to work?” If you have ministered to those struggling with poverty for any length of time, you have heard this question aimed at individuals who are unable to maintain employment. Perhaps you’ve asked that same question as a poverty fighter, knowing that there is rarely an adequate response. Hope House of Bowling Green, KY explored why people weren’t going to work, and what they learned prompted them to action.

The Problem & Solution

All able-bodied individuals have the innate ability to contribute to their community, and they deserve the dignity associated with providing for themselves and their families. However, due to past tragedies, poor choices, or a myriad of other reasons, many find themselves stuck with no transportation to help towards those efforts. In fact, poverty-fighters across America say that a lack of transportation is a main barrier to self-sufficiency and a flourishing life. 

Hope House of Bowling Green, Kentucky is removing that barrier with their Ready to Work Shuttle Program. With one 16-passenger van and a driving desire to help people provide for themselves, Hope House is helping approximately 30 people per month get to and from their places of employment each week.

Since 2009, Hope House has been serving their community in five key areas: education, workforce development, addiction recovery, financial empowerment, and transportation. According to Bryan Lewis, President /CEO of Hope House Ministries, they kept hearing their clients consistently cry “I have the job – and the skills – but I don’t have the way to get there!” 

Through relationship-based case management of their developmental programs (e.g., Jobs For Life and Faith and Finance), Hope House staff investigated specific client situations. (True Charity Network members can access overviews of these types of development pr

ograms here.) They discovered that the cost to be transported to a job in their area was simply unfeasible. Rideshare programs were charging $20 one way. For someone making less than $8 an hour, paying that amount was out of the question.

Moreover, many people they serve don’t own a vehicle. And those who do, often face the insurmountable challenges of high insurance premiums, astronomical repair and maintenance expenses, and vehicle unreliability. The true costs of owning a vehicle prohibit many people experiencing poverty from dreaming of that possibility.

Furthermore, over a brief time span, the Bowling Green area witnessed 27 of 33 manufacturing plants move outside the city center, and some dissolved entirely, causing the overall need for reliable transportation to and from other regions of employment to increase significantly.

Like thousands of small to mid-sized towns across America, Bowling Green is not a sprawling, metropolitan hotspot; the city does not fund an extensive public transportation system. They offer a “Go Bus” which operates only within the city limits.

The need was glaringly obvious. So Hope House launched their Ready to Work Shuttle.

The Process & Procedures

They identified two main regions where most potential riders needed transportation, and they built their shuttle routes around those destinations accordingly. Presently, the shuttle transports to over two dozen places of employment within these two regions.

The process is impressively simple and streamlined. Potential riders complete a simple request form online. It’s important to note that Hope House requires one initial form that is not long, complex, or confusing. Otherwise, many potential riders seeking help simply won’t be able to follow through.

Participants agree to arrive at the Hope House parking lot 30 minutes before their shift. For a fee of $35 per rider, per week, they are granted a ticket for five round trips, and each rider is dropped off at the door of their employment. Since many participants cannot afford the initial cost before they receive their first paycheck, first time riders are offered their first two tickets for free. Also, participants in Hope House’s Jobs For Life program are given a discount.

Their own residents and program participants are employed as drivers for the shuttle and are paid an hourly rate. They transport approximately 30 riders each month.

To ensure that the program continues to run smoothly, Hope House requires every potential rider to agree to, and sign, a simple rider policy. Shuttle driver employees must do the same. Additionally, audio-visual equipment installed on the van runs and records the entire time the van is in operation. This technical measure deters potentially harmful situations and gives an accurate account in case the need arises.

According to Bryan, the biggest mistake they made when starting this program was not having rider and driver policies in place before they offered their first ride. This lack of foresight provided a stage for conflicts – “he said, she said” scenarios that rarely occur now.

Since the charge to riders is $35 per week, but the overall operational cost is significantly higher (approximately $85 per rider, per week), the rider fees alone do not fully fund the program. Churches and businesses provide both financial and marketing support. Hope House is diligent to track all monetary needs and income as exemplified in their annual fiscal report.

Hope House uses the van itself to attract donors. Corporations can choose to invest various amounts and are given advertisement space on the van, which travels over 50,000 miles annually.

The shuttle program has incredible support because the need is so well-known and so widespread. Even local news outlets took notice right after the program’s launch, and opposing forces seem to be non-existent.

 your city with several places of employment might have no public transportation, but a business might provide funding in order to allow potential employees to be employed in otherwise elusive jobs. Churches may have members who would donate their time and vehicles to help. . . there are many ways to start small.

The Obstacles and Response

However, as with the implementation of any worthy and sustainable venture, obstacles did arise. When they first started, finding insurance was a real issue so they enlisted a local business partner to help them. Only one insurance company agreed to insure them, and they discovered that since the Ready to Work Shuttle is considered a taxi service, they also had to secure and fund a secondary policy for taxi insurance.

The best advice that Brian offers to organizations and churches who want to minister to people in this manner is two-fold: Do your research and start small. 

Ask:

• What will it cost to insure the entire program?
• What are the local and state laws and regulations for rideshare or taxi services?
• What revenue can you bring in from the riders themselves?
• Survey your potential participants for information:
  • Would they pay for a ride to work?
  • How much are they willing to pay?
  • Would they sign a rider agreement and commit to following procedures?
  • Where is their area of employment?

Start small, with a service that can be implemented with little complexity. This approach can take on many faces. A social service provider might need transportation for their clients. A local prison may need transport for their reintegration program. An area in

How do they staff such an excellent program? Hope House employs a full-time transportation coordinator. Although he has other ministry tasks, his primary focus and job duty is to make sure potential riders get to their jobs in a timely and sustainable manner. The transportation coordinator’s duties include:

• Setting routes and schedules
• Supervising all drivers
• Overseeing the driver and rider policy and procedures
• Tracking maintenance for the shuttle van;
• Documenting expenses, rider information, and route data
• Maintaining daily driving logs
• Managing the communication of the riders’ and drivers’ needs
• Driving the shuttle during daytime hours

The Future & Opportunities

In 2017, the city contracted for an extensive research analysis of the transportation needs for Bowling Green. The analysis reported an overwhelming need for transportation to social services – just the type of services that Hope House provides! Not surprisingly, the city has contacted them about transportation services not offered by the municipality. Hope House is presently collaborating with city leaders about potential solutions, so that more people will be able to successfully provide for themselves and their families.

For those ready to own their own transportation, Hope House offers another service to their community – its Driver Ready Program. They receive donated vehicles and complete any maintenance required to prepare the vehicles to be sold in good, working condition. Then the vehicles can be purchased by their Faith & Finance program graduates, with income-based payments and no interest financing. 

Now the question, “Why can’t those people just go to work?” is being asked with less frequency, at least in one small town in Kentucky. Now more people are able to provide for themselves, thanks to the Hope House of Bowling Green.

Rich Schaus, Executive Director of the Muskogee Gospel Rescue Mission

“If you have a strong enough character, people don’t care about your criminal record, your disabilities, the addictions you’ve had,” Rich Schaus, Executive Director of the Muskogee Gospel Rescue Mission, asserts. “That’s what we’re trying to develop in the men and women here–undeniable virtue that makes the past irrelevant.”

Rich sees the sad but familiar story play out every day in his role at the Oklahoma mission: So many men and women with criminal backgrounds are ready to turn over a new leaf in their lives but encounter roadblocks at every turn.

“It’s everything from getting car insurance to finding a place to live. Some car insurance companies won’t cover you if you have a felony, even if the felony had nothing to do with driving. Landlords see it as too risky a move to let someone with a criminal record live on their property, particularly if it’s a drug-related charge,” Rich explains.

Perhaps the biggest obstacle for former felons Rich sees is finding employment.

“Everyone knows that people who have felonies on their record have a hard time getting a job,” Rich says. “And, sure, every community has a list of ‘felon-friendly’ employers.” While a step in the right direction, Rich laments the little-known fact that many of these employers will put applicants with felonies at the bottom of their list, only hiring them “if they’re desperate enough.” Though it is possible in some cases to get a record expunged, it’s expensive and time-consuming. Even still, in the internet age, a record is never truly erased–it’s not uncommon that a potential employer will discover a criminal charge through an old article or a news story from years ago.

These hurdles can make a return to a life of crime seem tempting or even unavoidable to those who face them.

“Survival instinct is strong in people,” Rich reminds. So often, people make bad choices that can look inexplicable from the outside, but Rich’s encouragement is to view people’s lives and choices in context.

“People will do what they need to survive. If they learn that in spite of effort to do the right thing that they can’t care for themselves and their families, that presents a strong incentive to stealing or selling drugs or whatever you used to do to provide for yourself.”

While these are difficult obstacles indeed, Rich shares the good news that they are not insurmountable. In his estimation, there are three essential elements to a successful strategy for getting over the hurdles: the returning citizen must undergo demonstrable character change that makes past wrongs irrelevant, relationships must be fostered with employers so they feel more comfortable taking calculated risks on men and women with rough histories, and the nonprofit leader must be willing to act as a mediator between the former felon and community connections.

Character Change

One way in which Rich helps men and women develop strong character is through his four-week class, Forging Past the Felony. While primarily geared toward guests at the Muskogee Gospel Rescue Mission, the class is open to the community, including people with loved ones who have criminal records.

“A lot of what we do in that class comes down to reprogramming,” Rich shares. “It’s helping people rethink their habits, their mindset, and their identity.”

Over the course of four weeks, participants learn about their purpose as humans created in God’s image, they take time to evaluate the relationships in their lives and identify connections that need healed, and they work on developing new, healthy habits.

When Forging Past the Felony participants have completed the program, Rich invites them to meet regularly with him one-on-one for mentoring and coaching. It’s during this time that they identify individual challenges and create a game plan to address them.

Regarding the power of demonstrable character change, Rich shares a success story: One program participant landed a desk job at a local hotel in spite of her rough criminal history because the employer didn’t run a background check for this entry-level position. She excelled at her job and eventually found herself in the running for the manager position at that hotel.

“At that point, the employer ran a background check and was shocked at what he found in her past. There’s no way he would have hired her for a management position with a rap sheet that long, had he not known her,” Rich explains. “But, because he had gotten to know her and witnessed firsthand her character and strong work ethic, he decided to take a chance and offered her the management position.”

Today, that same woman has advanced to regional manager in that hotel chain, overseeing multiple hotels in a four state area. She has undeniably advanced to a stable position in life–and it was dually thanks to her new-found character and an employer willing to take a chance on her.

Form strong relationships with employers:

The next critical component Rich identifies is nonprofit leaders forming strong relationships with employers in the community, knowing that they’re more likely to take a risk on someone with a rough past if that person is recommended by someone they know.

“It’s like developing a friendship,” Rich explains. “I don’t immediately approach them about whether they’re willing to hire someone who’s gone through our programs.”

Instead, Rich will typically ask to meet up for coffee with a community employer to explain more about the programs at Muskogee Gospel Rescue Mission. From there, he sets up a tour of the mission, making sure to explain their WorkStart program designed to create job preparedness. The WorkStart program is a different program from Forging Past the Felony, but the two often work in tandem.

“While that person is touring, I make sure to ask him things like, ‘What are the skills you need in an employee? What are you looking for in a potential new hire?’” Rich shares. And those questions are not just performative – Rich really listens to what employers want and need. To demonstrate that he takes their feedback seriously, Rich sends the employer a document detailing expectations for each level of the food service track of the WorkStart program, thanking them for specific advice they were able to give that Rich added to the document.

Allowing employers to see how they measure growth in job preparedness also equips Rich to be able to explain where a program participant is at in objective terms. “When I get to the point that I’m sending guys over to an employer to be considered for employment, I’m always honest about where they’re at. I’ll let them know that they’re a level 2, having grown in soft skills and now learning to lead. Or, I can share that they’ve progressed to a level 4 and are now supervising all other workstart work tract participants,” Rich explains. Because the employer has been familiarized with the program, Rich and the employer are able to speak frankly about the applicant’s ability in mutually understood terms.

“At the end of the day though, employers need to know that I’m not just some bleeding heart. I’m only going to send applicants that I actually think will do a good job, and I’ll always be honest about where they’re at.”  This often requires Rich to have difficult conversations with shelter guests when they have not yet proven themselves when a job opportunity comes up.

On that note, Rich encourages other leaders working with returning citizens to not take it personally if they do lose out on an opportunity by dropping out or doing a poor job. “If you’ve built a relationship with an employer, he or she will understand. It may take them a while to try again, but you can build back.”

Mediate between ex-felons and employers:

Rich sees mediation between former felons and employers in the community as a critical part of his role: He helps each group understand the other better and encourages them to build bridges.

As an example, Rich helps participants in Forging Past the Felony strategize about how to talk about their past in a way that doesn’t close doors of opportunity.

“We had one woman who went through the class who wanted to be a buyer for Macy’s –helping choose the products they sell in store. As we were helping her prepare for her interview, we encouraged her to be honest about her past as someone who sold drugs,” Rich shares. While honesty was emphasized, Rich helped her think through how to talk about in a way that made sense to the employer, including talking about the necessary skills she was excited to use in a much healthier context. She was gifted in networking, understanding what makes a good product that’s appealing to customers, and selling, and she was ready to put those skills toward something healthy and beneficial now that she had turned over a new page.

Sometimes, the mediation role means opening up lines of communication and facilitating making things right.

One Forging Past the Felony participant shared with Rich that he had, years before when he was living in addiction and crime, stolen about $400 of product from a local Walmart. Though he was never caught, the man had undergone significant character change and felt convicted that he needed to take $400 from his paycheck at his new job and give it back to that Walmart.

Fortunately, Rich knew the Walmart store manager. He was able to ply his social connections to arrange a meeting with him. As a show of support, he accompanied the nervous man to the meeting.

“It was so humbling to see this jail-hardened man so strongly convicted and yet trembling at the same time as he handed the manager the money and apologized,” Rich recalls. 

Rich shares that the store manager later called him to tell him that he was going to push for a re-evaluation of their policy regarding hiring felons as a result of that man’s courageous act to make things right. Had Rich not been willing to leverage his social connections to arrange and attend that meeting, the store manager may never have gotten to experience this perspective shift. As is, the story is a testament to the power of character change and leveraged social capital in changing people’s preconceptions.

“I love these men and women. I was so tired of seeing them stuck,” Rich shares about why he started the Forging Past the Felony program four years ago. “I want to help them define a new direction in their lives and make that new direction so evident that it’s undeniable to the people around them.”

The Muskogee Gospel Rescue Mission is a member of the True Charity Network. You can connect with Executive Director Rich Schaus in the member’s directory.