We would like to thank everyone who came out and supported the Women’s Housing Coalition at our 5th annual Hops for Housing fundraiser. We had 116 guests join us at the Peabody Heights Brewery for music by the Ed Lauer Band, brewery tours, and great local beer and food. The FUNdevelopment Committee raised $9,154 in support of our vision to end the cycle of homelessness for those we serve. It was an amazing evening with friends – new and old. We are grateful to Dietz & Watson for being our city sponsor, making some baskets up for our basket raffle, and donating the delicious sandwich wraps.
Everyone enjoyed cookies by Insomnia Cookies and cupcakes donated by Fluffy Factory as we waited to see who won the amazing items donated by local businesses in our raffle.
Items for our other raffle baskets were donated by – A Tradition of Excellence Auto, Pure Fiji, Bow Tie Willie, Posh Plate Catering Company, American Visionary Art Museum, Baltimore Ravens, Baltimore Orioles, Blacksauce Kitchen, Mouth Party Caramels, The Baltimore Whiskey Company, Earth Treks, B&O Railroad Museum, Liberty Mountain Resort, Annie Howe Papercuts, Maryland Film Festival, Well Crafted Pizza, Radebaugh Florist, Core Power Yoga, Baltimore in a Box, Wockenfuss Candy Company, The Charmery , Blue Pit BBQ, and Melissa Supik and friends.
We are excited to support 5 new families before the end of the year. Through the Hops for Housing fundraiser, we are able to care for one family for 6 months!
We depend on donations and events like this to continue to create stability for individuals and families. Without the support of you and our sponsors including Whiting Turner, Harkins Builders, Veolia, T. Rowe Price, The Lichter Group LLC, Two Point Studios, and Riverside Advisors, LLC. we could not make this event happen.
In 2008, WHC opened the Margaret Jenkins House, a 22 unit single-room dwelling for individuals experiencing homelessness to have permanent supportive housing.
This house, though built by Phillip Hanson Hiss as his personal home in 1868, has a long history of serving the children of Baltimore.
In 1889, Mrs. Margaret Anne Austin Jenkins, Mary Hebert, Mrs. Etts, and Cardinal Gibbons of the Baltimore Archdiocese observed that poor children were being abandoned at daycare centers. This prompted them to raise money to purchase the mansion on Maryland Avenue to be used as an orphanage. It was called St. Elizabeth’s School and included dorms and classrooms set up by Franciscan sisters.
Though the affluent neighbors of the surrounding estates did not support the presence of the orphanage, Cardinal Gibbons worked to soothe their concerns and keep the orphanage open. He directed the sisters to build a wall around the home’s garden and fill the site with a chapel and expanded quarters.
By the 1920s, the orphanage took on the name St. Francis School and part of the building was converted to a convent of Franciscan sisters.
In the 1950s, the orphanage was repurposed to again serve the community as a day nursery for black children. The space had yet another transformation as the St. Francis School for Special Education to serve the mentally handicapped, for whom there were few options.
When the St. Francis School for Special Education moved to Argonne Drive, near where the Franciscan Sisters live now, the building was renamed the St. Elizabeth’s School.
In 2007, the Women’s Housing Coalition along with Homes for America, had the opportunity to purchase the building which continues to serve the citizens of Baltimore as the Margaret Jenkins House.
At the Women’s Housing Coalition, we create stability for families and individuals with housing and other resources. There are 2,294 homeless citizens in Baltimore city alone. One of the keys to preventing homelessness is to have a clear understanding of who is at risk of homelessness and who experiences homelessness.
In the Homelessness in America series published by the United States Interagency Council on Homelessness, they summarize the most relevant data and research regarding different subpopulations to help inform the work we must do, together, across the federal government, states, and local communities, to end homelessness once and for all.
The scale of family homelessness
Families with children experiencing homelessness represent one-third of all people experiencing homelessness on a given night – and 59% of people experiencing homelessness in families are children under the age of 18.
Who are the families with children who experience homelessness?
Women made up three-quarters of the adults counted as experiencing family homelessness in the 2017 Point In Time data. Just over half of the people in families with children who used shelter in 2016 identified as African American or Black. Families who experience homelessness include single-parent families, two-parent families, and multi-generational families. Many families experiencing homelessness are made up of a young mother with one or two children under age six. About half of the people in families experiencing homelessness are in households with two or three people, and about a quarter are in larger households with five or more people.
The impact of homelessness on children
Compared to their peers, children experiencing homelessness and housing instability are more vulnerable to and experience higher rates of mental health problems, developmental delays, poor cognitive outcomes, and depression.
Why so many families end up homeless
For most families with children who experience homelessness, a driving factor is a shortage of affordable rental housing, given their income from employment, benefits, or other sources. When people are paying too large a share of their income for rent, even a minor crisis or setback, such as a reduction in work hours or an unexpected expense, can be destabilizing and result in the loss of housing. A recent survey found that nearly one in five renters with annual incomes below $30,000 were unable to pay rent within the past three months.
How you can help
There continues to be a concerted effort to better understand the scope, scale, and characteristics of family homelessness. As the Women’s Housing Coalition approaches it’s 40th anniversary, we continue to need and appreciate your support to provide affordable housing and support for families and individuals. You can make a donation to help the WHC, or if your workplace allows you to designate a nonprofit to give to through your paycheck, consider putting WHC down as the charity you want to help.
At the Women’s Housing Coalition we are grateful for our relationships with organizations that support women and help us create more stable families. The Junior League of Baltimore (JLB) has worked with us for the last three years collecting donations and hosting events for our residents.
In this Q and A, JLB President, Brina Masi Eades and Laura Hazan from the JLB Partnership & Service Committee share more about the Junior League and why they wanted to partner with the Women’s Housing Coalition.
Tell us more about the mission of The Junior League of Baltimore and why you wanted to partner with the WHC.
JLB is a leadership development organization. We train women to be civic leaders while actively helping our community. The JLB has been a presence in the Baltimore area since 1912, making this our 107th year of making a positive impact on the Baltimore community! We are actively recruiting our fall membership class right now.
The JLB’s community impact focus is “Women Building Women: helping women and girls unlock their potential through personal and professional development.” The JLB wanted to partner with an organization that would allow us to have a maximum impact on women’s lives in Baltimore. We were drawn to the amazing work the Women’s Housing Coalition has been doing in the Baltimore community by providing safe and affordable housing, as well as support services to housing insecure women and families in Baltimore. We have been honored and excited for the opportunity to join forces with the WHC these past three years.
What activities has your group done with WHC?
Junior League of Baltimore has had a number of different activities with WHC. We had a Mother’s Day brunch in 2018 that was well-received. We’ve had several game nights at Bennett, which are always so much fun. We had a healthy cooking class at Bennett as well. This 19/20 year we are going to have a standing “date” with WHC, on the third Thursday of every month with more game nights, craft nights and other wellness events planned.
Are there any memorable moments from partnering with WHC?
Memorable moments with WHC are in abundance, but one of our favorite moments was during a game night. One resident seemed shy about her ability to play the games, but she took a shine to a particular game called Heads Up. At first, she didn’t want to play, but by the end of the night, she lead the group in several rounds. She really came out of her shell.
Why do you think it’s important to support organizations like WHC?
WHC is an important partner for JLB for several reasons. WHC directly supports our mission of Women Building Women: helping women and girls unlock their potential through personal and professional development. More importantly, WHC gets our members into the community and impacting our neighbors by sharing our skills and knowledge.
For more information about the JLB’s work and ways to get involved, please visit www.jlbalt.org
Did you know that 1 in 5 adults and 1 in 5 teens are struggling with mental illness? Mental Health First Aid believes “Anyone, anywhere can be the one to make a difference in the life of someone with a mental health or substance use challenge – if they know what to do and what to say.”
Mental Health First Aid trains coaches, police officers, teachers, faith leaders and other caring individuals to look for the signs of mental illness and how to respond with appropriate intervention strategies.
At Women’s Housing Coalition, we participate in continuing education so that we can fully support all of our residents. It is important for all staff members to be educated and trained on the best way to interact with residents in an effective manner that supports them in their journey to improve their lives. Mental Health First Aid is just one of the training opportunities that our staff has attended along these lines.
Just as CPR helps you assist an individual having a heart attack, Mental Health First Aid helps you assist someone experiencing a mental health or substance use-related crisis. In the Mental Health First Aid course, we learned about the risk factors and warning signs for mental health and addiction concerns, strategies for how to help someone in both crisis and non-crisis situations, and where to turn for help.
Our staff members left with a better understanding of mental illness, and how they can help with a Mental Health First Aid action plan for a variety of situations including panic attacks, suicidal thoughts and behaviors, and reactions to traumatic events.
At Women’s Housing Coalition, we are thankful for courses like these so we can serve better and continue our mission of supporting families and individuals with permanent and affordable, service-enriched housing. If you would like to know more about Mental Health First Aid and the courses they have available, visit https://www.mentalhealthfirstaid.org/bethedifference/.
The Women’s Housing Coalition was one of four organizations chosen this year to receive a $10,000 grant from Kaiser Permanente’s Youth in Action program. While it is important to celebrate this funding and the programs it will support, what is even more important is how it demonstrates that when we invest in the children in our community, we are supporting our city and our future.
What is Youth in Action? This is a program where Kaiser supports (by funding the grants, the teaching staff and with scholarship money for the students) an after-school program in a high school where students research issues in their community by using photography. They then select an issue they want to invest in and do all the steps necessary to award a grant to a non-profit organization. This means that these students look at issues in their community, research the issue, write a request for proposal (RFP) and then get to make a $10,000 grant award.
The RFP we were invited to apply for centered on Mental Health for African American Women. Their photos highlighted female heroes who overcame addiction, survived domestic violence, work multiple jobs, etc. The photos also highlighted how amazing these teens are by helping raise younger siblings and dodging street violence and drug dealers while going to school and writing college applications.
The grant will be a large part of the support for our mental health support workshops and group sessions led by a dynamic therapist. Our residents now have access to weekly group support sessions, several monthly workshops and group acupuncture – all focused on managing anxiety and trauma and encouraging mindfulness.
The program that distributes these grants is just as important as the work they are funding in the community. Through Youth in Action, these high school students put together a rigorous RFP that looked at our diversity of staff, board, and clients served. It asked about the issues of our residents and how the program would support them. They looked at budget and effectiveness. They riddled us with tough questions during their site visit as well.
To say we were impressed by the ten young women who participated from Green Street Academy is an understatement. As juniors, our ten students plan on participating in Youth in Action again next year, and their partnership with us didn’t end with awarding the grant. They are planning a pasta night for some WHC residents this summer and hope to do something for our residents quarterly.
When we are so quick to jump loudly on the negativity around our youth, it is important to celebrate an unnoticed, beautiful quiet moment. Please remember this when people are ready to give up on the youth in our city. They are often juggling more than you know and are diamonds in the rough.
Learn more about the Kaiser Permanente Thrive’s Youth in Action program
Here at WHC we have been working on creating a new logo. A logo is the most visible piece of marketing for a company or an organization; it’s what is seen most by the public. We have been working tirelessly for the past year and a half on bringing our concepts to life. Like many of you, we had no idea all that goes into this process.
We learned a few things through this process. If the logo design doesn’t align with the company’s products, services, or message, then the public will have a hard time identifying with the new look. Every little detail matters when creating something that will speak for your brand. Colors had to be considered; size for our website, business cards and stationery had to be considered; deciding between a symmetrical and asymmetrical logo design and confirming that the finished product was the best representation of our brand took a lot of work.
So what makes a great logo? Great logos follow five key principles: simple, memorable, timeless, versatile,and appropriate.
Simple logo designs allow for easy recognition and require the logo to be versatile and memorable. Great logos are always unique but understated. According to Jeff Fisher, a design guru, “simple logos are often easily recognized, incredibly memorable and the most effective in conveying the requirements of the client.”
Memorable logo principle follows closely behind the simple principle in the idea that all memorable logos are simple and appropriate. American Art director, Paul Rand, advises that “ultimately, the only mandate in the design of logos, it seems, is that they be distinctive, memorable, and clear.”
The next principle a great logo should follow is being timeless. Timeless logos are designs that stand the test of time. Timeless logos stand out and are memorable for being classic. Think about the logo for Coca Cola. The original logo was created in 1885 and hasn’t changed.
Versatile logos are able to work across a variety of mediums and applications.The logo should be able to work both in horizontal and vertical formats.
The final principle a logo must follow is it must be appropriate. Appropriate doesn’t need to show what a business sells or offers as a service but instead needs to be purely for identification. Paul Rand states that “a logo derives its meaning and usefulness from the quality of that which it symbolizes.”
We are grateful to all those that supported us in creating our new logo. At DesignFest, which was hosted by MICA and sponsored by the T. Rowe Foundation, several design students and professional designers helped us sketch out some preliminary concepts and start thinking about the overall brand style. With the support of RedStart Creative, we were able to finalize colors for the logo. Designer Danielle Nekimken helped put the finishing touches on our logo. We are also excited to have a Marketing Advisory Committee that is supporting us in revamping our marketing materials with the new logo. It truly takes a village, and we are blessed to have an amazing village that supports us.
According to a new study by the National Community Reinvestment Coalition (NCRC),a Washington based non-profit, Baltimore is among seven U.S. cities that accounted for nearly half the country’s gentrification between 2000 and 2013. NCRC examined census data for 935 metropolitan areas in the U.S. and discovered gentrification was most intense in large coastal cities, concentrated in larger cities with vibrant economies. The researchers also looked at any corresponding displacement of black and Hispanic residents.Census tracts in Baltimore, New York, Los Angeles, Washington, D.C., Philadelphia, San Diego and Chicago accounted for nearly half the country’s gentrification from 2000 to 2013, according to the report. Of the 1,049 census tracts across the country that experienced gentrification during that time period, 501 fell in those cities, according to an article in The Baltimore Sun.
What is gentrification and what does it mean for Baltimore?
Gentrification is the process of renovating and improving a house or district so that it conforms to middle-class taste. Gentrification can improve the material quality of a neighborhood, while also potentially forcing relocation of current, established residents and businesses seeking lower cost housing and stores. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC) Health Effects of Gentrification Journal, gentrification often shifts a neighborhood’s racial/ethnic composition and average household income by developing new, more expensive housing, businesses and improved resources.
In Baltimore, leaders have caused gentrification to get worse by “acting to attract wealthy residents to neighborhoods rather than making areas better for residents who live there,” according to Carol Ott, tenant advocacy director for the Fair Housing Action Center of Maryland. The city had the fifth-highest number of gentrified census tracts, and the sixth-highest percentage of gentrified tracts: 171 of the city’s 679 census tracts were considered eligible for gentrification, and 22 percent of those neighborhoods experienced gentrification.
This data means that fewer and fewer affordable housing opportunities will be available in the communities that need it the most. In a city where nearly 1/2 of residents live below 200% of the federal poverty line, leaders should focus on improving a neighborhood without displacing people. Ott states that instead of focusing on “the people who live here now and not the people who you want to live here in 10 years,” that the city could “work to build more community centers and encourage the construction of affordable housing — for people who earn the city’s median income or under.”
We here at WHC, feel that affordable housing opportunities throughout Baltimore are needed in order to fight the homelessness epidemic. Currently we are completing our strategic plan, which addresses how we can support this need and serve more people. One of the ways to address the need is to increase the number of affordable housing options in the communities that need it the most. Stay tuned for more details later in the year.
Imagine that RIGHT NOW, everything you count on in your life is gone. Doesn’t matter how it happened. It’s just gone.
You haveno hometo go to tonight.No credit cardto book a hotel room. No friends to ask for help, becausethey’re struggling too. So you have no support network. Or even if you did, you haven’t got a phone to call them or bus fare to reach them.
Instead, imagine you’re looking for a place to use the bathroom, but you haven’t got the price of a cup of coffee in your pocket to“pay” for the accessto the restroom.
Imagine you’re hungry. Imagineasking strangers for money to be able to eat, and seeing their faces glaring back at you. Staring through you. Ignoring you like you’re not even there.
Imagine you havenowhere safe to sleeptonight, because out in the elements, it’snot just rain and snow that threaten your security. There are other desperate people out there. You can be robbed tonight. Or worse. You’re hungry, tired. Sick. Scared.
Now addchildren to the mix:
How would youkeep them safetonight?
Feed them?
What would youtell them about what tomorrow will bring?
How would you help withhomeworkwhen finding a meal or a bed is the first priority?
Sadly, you would then have to do it all over again tomorrow.
I ask you to imagine this because the Women’s Housing Coalitionis full of women who have actually LIVED this life. And there aremore of themout there tonight on the streets whowant to change their lives.
People who are
Desperate to feel safe.
Yearning to take a shower.
Longing to have a bedroom door that locks.
Needing to attend to medical issues that keep them frombeing able to participate in society in the ways they want
– in ways we ALL want.
I ask you to imagine this because YOU are OUR network that provides help. YOU are the people who make it possible to be the infrastructure that supports each woman here to be their own change agent. To turn her own life around. To be her best self.
The work we do here,our services puts the floor beneath the feet of women who have been ungrounded for far too long. Having a home begins the process of housing and health stability.
Before coming into our program, all of our women had been living out on the streets, in abandoned buildings, in a shelter, in a car. All of our women have had to deal with and/or are dealing with a disability. They’ve experienced abuse, addiction, mental health illnesses, neglect, trauma.
Things not even the most connected and financially stable among us could overcome without help.
At the WHC, it takes about $15,000 a year to house, rebuild trust and deliver the social work, mental health and physical health resources to help each woman hereregain her foothold on life.
$15,000, for each woman here. It’s not much, in some ways. It means we havefound super-efficient ways to keep a roof over her head.
HOW?
Our WHC service providershelp residents navigate their change. They:
Help them sign up for Medicaid, education, job training
Find a doctor/therapist/dentist
Get glasses because she can’t see?
Start exercising to regain health and self esteem
Many come to us addicted and traumatized, so ourCase Management Team:
Finds treatment programs or an NA & AA meetings to attend
Has acupuncture available to focus on addiction and anxiety issues
Provides drug recovery support groups
Offers behavioral health support groups
Delivers anger management and life skills coaching
And we do it in a community of people who are going through the same challenges together.
It alsoincludes help for the childrenin their lives, for example, there are:
Case managers to help advocate for a child at their school
Parenting classes that deal with safety, discipline, family goals and teamwork
Activities with organizations like Kaiser Permanente where residents & their kids attend this very museum and see role models and inspiring art
$15,000 per person, per year.It’s not much to support the REAL work that happensat the Women’s Housing Coalition. Because that’s where our ladies arereally the ones doing the heavy liftingin their own unique manner. They are:
taking classes,
learning to live with their medications (or without them),
dealing with the traumas that have haunted them for years and learning how to live with them,
applying for jobs, getting jobs and yes, sometimes losing jobs,
reuniting with estranged family,
keeping their kids in school so they can graduate from high school to go out in the world and succeed on their own.
$15,000.A small number for such rich life-blood services.
But, at times, it can feel like a BIG number. Because these women and their families are counting on US to raise it.
And to be clear– federalgovernment support isn’t the answer alone. We needLOCAL supportto succeed in our mission.
We need our City.
We need the corporate community and foundations.
We need your friends.
We need you!
Baltimore can be a better community if we invest in the people who society has left in its wake.
Imagine how someone’s life could be changed with $1,000. You don’t have to imagine it. Even a$300 donation will provide support for a weekfor one of our women – one of your fellow Baltimore residents.
Your support Changes a life. Actually…. Changes… A… Life…
Thank you for making a difference!Tell people about us, volunteer, host an event at your home and invite us to talk to people you know, introduce us to organizations you belong to and, of course, financial support is always needed and appreciated.
Homeownership and renting a home can be expensive. Rent in Maryland for a 2 bedroom apartment is approximately $1,425 compared to the national average of $1,230. On average, renters and homeowners in Baltimore County spend approximately $139.68 a month on utilities. In Baltimore City, renters and homeowners spend approximately $380.69 and can run the risk of losing their home due to an unpaid water bill. No one should lose their home for a past-due water bill.
Senate Bill 96, The Water Taxpayer Protection Act of 2019, would make permanent, a current law that prohibits foreclosure tax sales for homes in the city with delinquent water bills. The General Assembly passed a bill last session that has been in place since Oct. 1st, 2018, but expires at the end of this year. A separate moratorium, put in place by Mayor Catherine E. Pugh, has stopped sending owner-occupied property to tax sale lists. No property has been foreclosed due only to water liens in the past three years.
The bill was filed by Sen. Mary Washington and supported by nearly the entire city delegation in the General Assembly. The bill would also stop delinquent water bills from contributing to a home or church’s eligibility for tax sale when combined with other past-due bills. Supporters of the bill say the problems with billing and increasing water rates in the city disproportionately affect black, low-income and older city residents.
Ending the ability for tax sales over water bills is a good first step; however, this doesn’t fix the hurt that those living in poverty feel since water cost in the city has increased and will be increasing by 10% each year for the next 3 years. It further incentivizes landlords to not invest in other water savings measures like low flush toilets, because they know their property won’t be taken away.
