| Name | Rebecca |
|---|---|
| Last Name | Whelchel |
| Home Address | 602 Parlem Drive Chattanooga, TN 37415 United States |
| Organization Name | Metropolitan Ministries, Inc. (MetMin) |
| Describe Your Role In The Organization | As Executive Director, I am responsible for Metropolitan Ministries’ (MetMin’s) governance, financial procurement and integrity, programmatic directions and decisions, allocation of resources, partner and stakeholder relationships, and overall accountability of the organization. |
| Organization Address | 4001 Rossville Boulevard Chattanooga, TN 37407 United States |
| Website | https://www.met-min.org |
| Best Phone Number To Reach You | 423.624.9654 x108 |
| Alternate Phone Number | 423.227.6066 |
| Email Address | rwhelchel@met-min.org |
| Alternate Email Address | rwhelchel3620@gmail.com |
| Please Describe Your Project In Detail | MetMin requests $450,000 for its Housing and Health Stability Project. If awarded, American Rescue Plan (ARP) monies will be used to support employed Chattanoogans – including those experiencing unpaid layoffs and reductions in work hours- whose housing became and remains precarious as a result of the pandemic. Households not eligible for other types of pandemic relief funds will be given priority. Specifically, eligible households will receive up to four months of support totaling up to $7,000 for past due and current arrearages for rent, mortgage and utilities. Employed families and individuals who have become unhoused will be eligible for up to three months of hotel stays, allowing them the opportunity and the capacity to save their work incomes for down payments on their next, permanent housing. Leveraging ARP funding, all eligible ARP recipients will also be encouraged to participate in MetMin’s Food for Health program. This program encourages those shopping in our On-site (Free) Grocery Store to 1. receive a free, brief well-check at the time of their shopping; 2. engage the services of an on-site nutritionist to guide their shopping choices; 3. enroll in quarterly cooking and nutrition classes: and 4. access comprehensive health care services. Because the Food for Health Program is fully funded, no ARP Housing and Health Stability Project funds will be encumbered for that purpose. In addition, eligible ARP recipients will have immediate access, as indicated, to the services offered by the other partners housed at the Impact Hub. A local attorney with Miller and Martin is available to all MetMin clients, at no charge to them, should his services be required to accomplish housing stability. Appropriate identification, employment verification, and demographic data will be required of all applicants. Third party payments will be made within the week that payment arrangements are made. This component of the plan is critical to assuring housing stability for impacted Chattanoogans, as landlords are often not willing to wait a month or more to receive mitigating payments for their tenants’ arrearages. MetMin is known throughout the region as “a quick pay.” Since beginning its Covid 19 pandemic response on March 20, 2020, MetMin has served 9,206 households (including 11,477 adults and at least 8,387 children) at a direct client service cost of $1,491,256. An additional $190,000 was distributed in partnership with another local agency. The most commonly served zip codes are 37406, 37411, 37404, 37421, and 37407. |
| Please explain how your project meets the requirements of the American Rescue Plan | The Housing and Health Stability Project aligns with the second federally eligible ARP fund use, addressing the “negative economic impacts caused by the public health emergency, including economic harms to workers, households, small businesses, impacted industries, and the public sector.” Currently employed individuals eligible for Housing and Health Stability Project support are often those who have gone weeks or months without employment, often accumulating months of housing indebtedness. Those able to maintain or regain employment and stability once new employment is found, however, are often frontline, essential workers whose services are required to help assure a robust economy. When those employers are unable to maintain a steady workforce, often the reason is that the instability in their workers’ homes that was a tremor before the pandemic has become and remains an earthquake now. By eliminating past arrearages, providing greater food and health stability, not only are workers and their families stabilized, but also they become a more reliable workforce. When those workers’ past arrearages are erased, business owners small and large can recoup losses incurred over the last 18 months. Landlords, management companies, mortgage lenders and utility providers can also be made whole when their customers and tenants are stable enough to regain their economic and health security. |
| Where would your project take place? | MetMin can and is operating virtually, by phone, and in person. All services will emanate from the MetMin Impact Hub on Rossville Blvd. |
| How much will your project cost in total? | 1234800 |
| Do you have any matching funding sources from other local governments, private entities, non-profits, or philanthropic entities for your project? | Yes |
| Please describe the source and list amounts of any other funding. | Exclusive of potential ARP funding, a total of at least $646,300 is budgeted for direct client pay-outs in 2022. That amount does not include any potential ARP funding, nor does it include staff time, overhead or other expenses essential to ARP or other program implementation. None of these budgeted monies requires matching funds. The budgeted funds are from private entities, organizations, foundations, and special events. The total cost of the project’s direct client pay-outs, including potential ARP funding, is $1,074,300, and an additional $103,000 is budgeted for the Food for Health Program. The total cost of the Housing and Health Stability Project is $1,234,800. |
| What portion of the project are you asking the city to fund? | This request is submitted on behalf of employed Chattanoogans seeking MetMin’s financial support because their housing-related indebtedness exceeds one month, or those employed Chattanoogans who have become unhoused as a result of the pandemic. |
| If funded, when would your project start? | February 15, 2022 |
| How long would your project take to complete? | one year |
| What milestones would you use to measure your project’s progress? | Since MetMin is among the most highly referred to agencies by 211, local utilities, landlords, hospitals, churches, and other agencies and individuals, we receive far more requests for assistance than we can possibly serve. Our current capacity is twenty-five households per day, while our phone system consistently logs over 3,000 daily requests for assistance. The milestone for measuring ARP funding distribution success, therefore, is the successful amplification of weekly service to at least 150 households per week. Of those served with ARP funds, it is anticipated that at least 50% will also access MetMin’s Food for Health program as well as other Impact Hub partner and supportive services. |
| How would you ensure accountability and transparency throughout the project lifecycle? | If requested, demographic, service and accounting reports may be provided each week during the ARP funding cycle. Evaluation of the ARP project will be continuous, following a Deming Cycle “plan-do-check-act” model of ongoing program execution, evaluation, study and adaptation. Particularly during this lingering pandemic, service delivery processes and procedures must be flexible and nimbly variable. Each ARP participant is required to sign MetMin’s Release of Information document, which allows MetMin to share that participant’s service records with appropriate partners, funders, and other aligned entities as indicated. All demographic and service data are captured in real time on SANDTrak, MetMin’s client service database. Those records are audited daily by the MetMin Impact Manager, then certified as correct each week by the MetMin Bookkeeper. Those certifications are accomplished within the week when the pledge was made, and all completed client services pledges are paid within the week they are made. The MetMin Treasurer audits and certifies all transactions at each month’s end, and the MetMin board reviews and approves the Treasurer’s findings. Finally, the records are audited annually by an independent Certified Public Accountant. |
| If successful, how would your project benefit the community? | If funded, MetMin’s significant housing stability efforts will be enhanced, deepened, and combined with other pandemic mitigating activities that may not be elsewhere available to the employed but still vulnerable Chattanooga population. MetMin’s third party payments on behalf of those households also positively impact landlords, real estate management companies, mortgages lenders, and local utilities in their efforts to recoup some of their losses incurred as a result of the pandemic. Food security and undernutrition is an indicator of overall household financial challenges that most often include housing precariousness. By removing the barrier of access to housing stability resources and combining that access with the immediacy of food procurement, nutrition education and health screenings, the probability of gaining greater stability in a more comprehensive way is possible. By adding the resources of MetMin’s co-housed Impact Hub partners, a simple trip to a food pantry can result in a roadmap and the resources needed to gain true stability because of the efficiencies of the program design, including its partners’ expertise and resources. “The Covid 19 pandemic, along with the resulting economic crisis, underscores the already vital relationship between housing and health, as safe and stable housing is paramount to health at this time. In addition, access to electricity and running water are key elements of public health that depends on people’s ability to afford these essential utility services” (Ruggieri, 2020). When there is a significant population of those choosing between rent or utility payments or food for their families, the entire community becomes less stable, and employers become more challenged by their workers’ and customers’ financial insecurities. The hard and soft costs associated with evictions are particularly notable. By preventing evictions before the process legally begins, social service agencies, community groups and taxpayers are able to better steward their funding, and the individuals involved can maintain their own limited financial resources, continue working, and can provide the most basic human needs for their families. “Having a decent, stable, affordable home is about more than shelter: it is at the core of strong, vibrant, and healthy families and communities.” Julia Stasch |
| How will you attract community buy-in for your project? | Community buy-in already exists. MetMin is quite well known regionally by all standard referral sources as well as by word of mouth referrals. MetMin’s service request volume remains astoundingly high. Landlords, management companies and utilities are among those referring their customers to MetMin. Among them, the agency is known, as stated earlier, as ”a quick pay.” |
| Name | Cempa Community Care |
| Contact Information | Naloni Howard |
| Name | Chattanooga Area Food Bank |
| Contact Information | Sarah Beth Riggs |
| Name | Chattanooga Tumor Clinic |
| Contact Information | Tina Harris |
| Name | The Chattanooga Hamilton County Bail Fund of CALEB |
| Contact Information | Michael Gilliland |
| Name | The Pursuit of Happiness |
| Contact Information | Michael D. Gordon |
| Name | Love's Arm Outreach Ministries |
| Contact Information | Mimi Nikkel |
| Is there anything else you would like us to know about your project? | MetMin’s approach to greater housing and health stability is a comprehensive one, involving trusted community partners and dependent on the good faith that we’ve established with vendors during almost 50 years of housing stability services. Recognizing that housing instability is a symptom of poverty and, more specifically, the fallout of the pandemic, MetMin has the proven capacity to apply a holistic approach to other factors manifest in poverty: hunger and undernutrition, lack of access to other social service resources, and lack of access to basic health services. MetMin’s most characteristic asset, however, is its culture of kindness, respect, and the inherent dignity of every individual. Thank you for this opportunity to request funding for our employed neighbors who remain unstably housed or who have become unhoused during the course of the pandemic. It is on their behalf that this request for funding is made. |