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Did you know?
It Takes a Village to Provide Roofs for All
Contributions to the Article by YSCF Miller Encores Toni Dosik & Len Kramer
**The first of a series of articles about Unhoused and Precariously Housed in Yellow Springs
You may be surprised that a community as small as ours has individuals who are unhoused or precariously housed. As we have seen everywhere in the world, COVID brought this into greater focus, and yet we still have community members who lack basic subsistence.
The Foundation’s Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) Committee brought together numerous constituencies in 45387 to figure out, in part, how to change this. Further collaboration developed when the DEI project team, including Miller Encore Len Kramer, met with 6 other local groups and organizations that effectively provide emergency funding to local individuals: The Feminist Health Fund, the YS Village Assistance Network and Utility Roundup program, the Beloved Community Project, the YS Community Food Pantry, The 365 Project Reparations Fund, and the Informal Guidance Counselor Fund at the YS Schools.
When gaps in local emergency funding assistance were revealed, the DEI Committee established funding to assist with services for the unhoused. Additionally, YSEquitywas created to provide a guaranteed income to qualifying individuals in 45387. This is intended in part to cover expenses for housing and other emergency needs. Florence Randolph, YSPD Community Outreach Specialist, is and has been the nexus for assisting individuals and families by providing resources and connections inside and outside 45387.
In early in 2022, the Inclusive and Resilient Yellow Springs Coalition, convened by Alex Scott, from Home Inc. and Miller Encore Toni Dosik, began to explore whether more could be done to help people who are unhoused and those who are precariously housed. The Coalition reached out to Florence, and together they began to learn the extent of the need for essentials, including the shelter and supportive services available in Greene County and ways to provide resources for folks who need a permanent home.
Many people who become unhoused have mental illness, and becoming unhoused exposes people to traumatic experiences, which adds to existing challenges that housing alone may not be able to solve. Yet the root causes of being unhoused are fundamentally a lack of affordable housing and supportive services that are designed to help keep people in their homes.
This collaboration is just beginning to develop solutions that will provide permanent housing to those who are unhoused and who are precariously housed and is working with the Region 15 Group, consisting of all of the agencies and organizations in Greene and Clark Counties that provide shelter and permanent housing with supportive services. NAMI (National Alliance of Mental Illness) and Homefull in Dayton, through a grant from the YSCF DEI Fund for 2023, are providing more direct support for those who are without a home or precariously housed in Yellow Springs.
The long-term solutions truly take a village.
Join Us!
**The next installment will provide an update on the collaboration’s current work.
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