| Name | Katie |
|---|---|
| Last Name | Harbison |
| Home Address | 4407 High Top Rd. Chattanooga, TN 37415 United States |
| Organization Name | Chambliss Center for Children |
| Describe Your Role In The Organization | President/CEO |
| Organization Address | 315 Gillespie Road Chattanooga, TN 37411 |
| Website | https://www.chamblisscenter.org |
| Best Phone Number To Reach You | 423-468-1122 |
| Alternate Phone Number | |
| Email Address | kcharbison@chamblisscenter.org |
| Alternate Email Address | office@chamblisscenter.org |
| Please Describe Your Project In Detail | Chambliss Center for Children has long been involved with housing at-risk children, beginning with our roots as an orphanage that started in 1872. As we have evolved to meet the needs of our community, we are now operating programs in two main areas: early childhood education/child care and residential services. The residential program is serving children (0-17) who are part of the state child welfare system and have been removed from their homes due to abuse, abandonment, or neglect. In 2017, we added a transitional living program to serve the needs of young people (18-21) who have aged out of the foster care system. These young people commonly experience homelessness, incarceration, and gang involvement. We provide housing, case management, and support as they attend school, work, and grow into successful adults. As the transitional living program has grown in size and recognition, we have become increasingly aware of the need for supports and housing for youth who have not been part of the state system but who are experiencing homelessness. We commonly get calls and requests to help young people in this situation, but we cannot currently serve them since they were not part of the state system. Yet, they still have great needs, have experienced significant trauma, and need help. Through our work building a coalition of providers in the city (Transitional Living Coalition) and a Young Adult Action Board (YAAB), we helped lead an effort to secure (with other partners) a $2.2 million grant through the Youth Homelessness Demonstration Program (YHDP) through HUD. Our transitional living staff have been an integral part of this grant, which is currently in a planning phase. As the coalition works to define the roles of each agency, they are using the guidance and lived experience of the YAAB to figure out how to tackle the largest problem that troubled youth face- homelessness. The YHDP grant cannot be used for capital expenditures, which is desperately needed to purchase or build housing for the young people that we want to serve. Thus, we would like to request funding to allow Chambliss Center for Children to build or purchase housing that would serve young people (18-24) experiencing homelessness, allowing us to expand our services to serve more youth in the community, including those who do not currently qualify for our programs. |
| Please explain how your project meets the requirements of the American Rescue Plan | The negative economic impacts of COVID have affected youth in our city in many ways. From our experience in working with the young adult population, we have seen them increasingly struggle with staying in school, holding down jobs, and their own mental and physical health. Even the youth in our transitional living program have seen many more disruptions to their life, so the effects on other young adults without the housing and support that we offer are tremendous. The need for housing has only increased as our community has weathered almost two years of this pandemic. |
| Where would your project take place? | Chattanooga/Hamilton County |
| How much will your project cost in total? | 1500000 |
| 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. | The funds would not be matching, but would be used in conjunction with the YHDP grant mentioned above. |
| What portion of the project are you asking the city to fund? | $1.2 million to cover the majority of the capital expenses. The total project would be an estimated $1.5 million in capital expenses and an ongoing $10,000/month in operational expenses. |
| If funded, when would your project start? | January 1, 2023 |
| How long would your project take to complete? | Project would be ongoing, but purchase or building would take place in 2023-2024 |
| What milestones would you use to measure your project’s progress? | We will monitor the success of the program by looking at the progress of the youth who live in our housing. Since we will also be providing staff support (case management), we will be able to measure how they are progressing towards independence, self-sufficiency, and improved health. Some of the factors we will measure are the number of youth who have established care with a doctor, the number who have established care with a dentist, the number of youth who have been able to purchase a reliable vehicle, maintain car insurance, maintain employment, and pass all of their college classes. We will also be keeping track of other behaviors like whether or not they get arrested, get pregnant, maintain more than $500 average in their bank account, actively work to improve their credit score, and engage regularly with a therapist. If youth do leave our housing, we would also look at the reasons that they leave and whether or not they have stable housing at that time. We are able to look at how our young people are stacking up, compared with state averages for the at-risk young adult population. |
| How would you ensure accountability and transparency throughout the project lifecycle? | We already have a Continuous Quality Improvement (CQI) process in place with our residential program that would expand to include this project. The factors mentioned above are actually things that we already measure with the youth in our transitional living program. Our board of directors meets quarterly to review the outputs and outcomes and works with staff to improve, if needed. Additionally, we would be working with other partners who would require transparency and would provide additional accountability. Partners would include the Chattanooga Housing Authority (using Family Unification Program housing vouchers), the State of Tennessee Department of Children's Services (serving youth who have been in foster care at some point after age 16), and the other agencies who are part of the YHDP grant and are also working to serve the homeless youth population in Chattanooga. |
| If successful, how would your project benefit the community? | If we are able to reduce the number of homeless youth in our city, we will be changing the lives of those individuals in every way. Not only will they have a stable place to live, but that will also help them improve their physical and mental health, obtain and maintain a job, begin or return to school, and so much more. These all lead to better outcomes later in life, while also contributing to our local economy. |
| How will you attract community buy-in for your project? | The energy around youth homeless in our city has been building over the last few years in our community. As the transitional living coalition has started discussing the issues and highlighting the needs of our young adults, there has become an increased public awareness of the problems. Now that the YAAB has come into the conversation, there is an increased passion to work to help young people so that they don't have to experience the things that members of the YAAB did. Winning the YHDP grant has really fast-tracked the progress, and we have been a part of many conversations recently with other community providers who are working hard on a community-wide plan to solve youth homelessness. With the number of partners already involved, and the leadership that is stepping forward, I have no doubts that there will be strong community buy-in for this project. |
| Is there anything else you would like us to know about your project? |