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Organizational background

Founded in 2000, the Casa De Gozo church has grown into a respected nonprofit organization with a vision and mission to unite and lift up the citizens of Meriden CT. Meriden, Connecticut with a population of 85,000 is a small town which 39,000 of its population are of Hispanic origin. A vast majority of these Hispanic come from poor impoverished family units with limited educational resources and low incomes. Although disadvantaged they are a people of promise who like many of us hope for a better future not only for their children but themselves. They would like the drugs and violence off of their street and they would like to see an end to homelessness and people going hungry in their community. (Koegel et al, 1996) Casa De Gozo seeks to help all citizen of this community reach their goals and dreams for a better future and has been doing so for the past 8 years. The Meriden Outreach Program is Casa De Gozo’s innovative way of embracing its community.

Statement of the problem

The Meriden Connecticut community is one of diversity and its people have a commonality with many of America’s known community social problems and issues. They on a daily basis awake to the social problems that in this age many of America’s communities are facing; high crimes, violence, homelessness, poverty, drug abuse, child abuse and domestic violence are but a few of the issues.

Homelessness has been a continuing problem in Meriden over the past few years; an issue that society continues to ignore. Homeless people encounter struggles everyday; it is quite challenging for them to meet their basic needs yet those who can do something about it continue to alienate and discriminate them. These attitudes have worsened the economic, social and health problems facing homeless people. (Koegel et al, 1996)

Some stakeholders have chosen to solve this problem by building temporary shelters. On the other hand, legislators have also passed a number of policies regarding homeless persons. However, these initiatives fail to pinpoint the specific problems plaguing homeless people. Some of them include deteriorating health, drug abuse, prostitution and many others. While temporary shelters may not be the ultimate solution, they give homeless people a chance to get some basics.

There are number of underlying problems that cause homelessness. Some of them include an increase in affordable housing, poor economic conditions, cultural differences, lack of marketable skills in the job market, high cases of unemployment, discrimination in the workplace, abusive families, poor parenting among others. There is a possibility that society can tackle some of these problems but some maybe too complex. Consequently, there is a need to come up with a program that will address the needs of the homeless people as other stakeholders look for long term solutions. (Koegel et al, 1996)

It is also imperative to realize that homeless people do have dreams and aspirations too. However, they lack a platform for pursuing these goals. Homeless community programs have the potential to produce some of the most outstanding and influential people in society. Consequently, someone needs to counsel them and to steer them in the right direction.

The largest percentages of homeless people in Meriden are Hispanics. One cannot ignore the fact that Americans still commit hate crimes. In fact, perpetrators usually commit hate crimes against homeless people because such groups are particularly vulnerable. Additionally, there are some cases of robberies and murders reported in the homeless communities. There are three main areas that stand out in this cases;

* Victimization
* Societal prejudice
* Lack of opportunity

Given the latter facts, there is a need to remove these people from the street and provide them with a suitable alternative.

Society needs to embrace the fact that the youth are the leaders of tomorrow. If society fails to steer them in the right direction, children and the youth may fail to reach their full potential or they may become social misfits. This is the reason why there is a need to mould the minds of these young ones by encouraging healthy interactions. Experts assert that children treat playing and interacting the way adults treat their work. This is a part of their learning process as it gives them an opportunity to express their innermost fears, thoughts, desires and inner feelings. It also allows mentors and counselors a chance to analyze some of the latter mentioned facts.

It should be noted that children demonstrate their boundaries and rules through playing and interacting. This gives them a platform for expressing what they perceive as wrong or right. Such an approach is particularly useful when counseling cases of child abuse. Counselors get an opportunity to understand some of the experiences that those children have undergone. (Timberlake & Cutler, 2001)

Consequently, there is a need to provide suitable platforms for play within any community outreach program. This can be achieved by implementing programs for the youth such as musical and arts programs. The latter would also be useful in reinforcing counseling services for children and youth who may have undergone traumatic experiences.

Program Description

• Objectives

The program’s objectives are as follows;

* Encouraging child play and interaction
* Improving Casa de Gozo’s capacity to handle the needs of the homeless
* Manage overhead expenditures such as teacher’s salaries efficiently

• Methods

The first objective will be achieved by building a new recreational centre for musical arts and entertainment. Young people will get an avenue for meeting and interacting with one another. This is particularly important because it will strengthen counselor’s ability to tackle problems facing the youth it will also give children and the youth a platform for expressing themselves.

The second objective will be achieved by expanding the facilities at Casa de Gozo. The shelter accommodates high numbers of homeless people and has exceeded its capacity. In order to provide for the needs of these excess numbers, there is a need to expand the facility by increasing the number of beds.

Lastly, overhead expenditures are a particular challenge given the fact that the centre does not meet all these expenses fully. Some members of staff offer their services voluntarily. However, other employees are on a payroll. Casa de Gozo’s administration is currently finding it difficult to balance the needs of the homeless with its employees’ needs.

• Staffing/administration

The administration at Casa de Gozo comprises of a team of social workers. They are five in number. They are responsible for soliciting funds for the organization. They normally coordinate efforts with sponsors, partners and other community centers. They are also responsible for ensuring that counseling services are in order. Besides this, they also handle staffing responsibilities, run day to day operations and ensure that the capacity in the centre is within acceptable standards. (Wadsworth, 2005)

Additionally, members of the administration also act as counselors and teachers. They follow instruction given by the director, who is the head of the administrative unit.

Currently, the centre has twelve permanent staff members and thirty volunteers. However, the latter may increase or decrease depending on the time of year.

• Evaluation

The community outreach program deals with educational, health and religious sponsors. Most of them usually check on the facilities from time to time to assess overall implementation of objectives. Similarly, people from the community also offer their opinions about how the community program has helped them. There are case studies showing how the centre has transformed the lives of many. Permanent sponsors normally conduct evaluations annually to ensure smooth operation within the centre.

• Sustainability

The new expansion program will entail provision of extra beds. Therefore it is necessary to purchase those particular beds. Estimated cost for all the eleven beds is indicated below. Furthermore, the community centre is not large enough to accommodate those new beds. This implies that there is a need to expand the facilities. Additionally, the expansion program will also cater for the recreational centre to be constructed. This centre will require additional equipment in order to facilitate learning. Besides this, it will also need more teachers to cope with the increased sizes.

Meeting overhead expenses has been a challenging task for Casa de Gozo’s administration. The latter mentioned expenses represent aspects that Casa de Gozo’s management have not handled over the pat few years.

The Budget

The budget will cover the expansion of beds, provision of recreational centers and overhead expenses. (Wadsworth, 2005)

Research budget

Personnel

Recruitment of new personnel-$ 5, 000

Total salaries for existing teachers and counselors-$ 20, 000

Employees at recreational centre-$ 10,000

Support staff (cleaners, cooks, drivers and watchmen)-$ 5,000

Total- $ 40, 000

Capital Supplies and related expenses

Food for the homeless -$ 6, 000

Purchasing new beds-$ 10, 000

Expanding the building-$ 16, 000

Construction of recreational center-$ 9, 000

Installing musical and arts equipment-$ 4, 000

Administrative offices-$ 5,000

Total-$ 50, 000

Miscellaneous

Traveling expenses for victims of drug abuse-$ 3, 000

Telephone calls-$ 2,500

Electricity-$ 4, 500

Total-$10, 000

Total Expenses- $ 100, 000 (Wadsworth, 2005)

Organization information

Cass de Gozo began offering community outreach programs to the people of Meriden eight years ago. The organization was formed with the sole purpose of providing a sense of hope for the hopeless. This role is captured in the organization’s mission; ‘to provide the homeless people of Meriden with a secure and decent temporary home and to encourage pursuance of individuals goals and dreams.’

At the point of inception, Casa de Gozo was created to accommodate only homeless people. However, after realizing that there were rising cases of drug abuse among the homeless themselves and also among the community, the centre began providing coordinating activities with drug related community services. The latter became partners and drug addicts would be referred to those community centers. The drug coordination services began two years after the organizations’ operations. Thereafter, there was a need to capture the younger generation and to direct their thoughts and actions. This was done through counseling services where teachers interact with young people and gain opportunities to learn from them. (Koegel et al, 1996)

The organization has survived over the past few years as a result of donations from partners. These partners may choose to give financial donations, material benefits or offer volunteer services. The volunteers normally offer the support staff some help because this function is particularly challenging at the moment.

Not only does Casa de Gozo reach out to the homeless, it is also a platform for preventing future cases of homelessness. Meriden has a large population of foreigners with the largest percentage represented by Hispanics. Consequently, social workers need to reach out to the community by identifying the problems facing society at that time. Thereafter, counselors discuss possible solutions to those problems by fostering dialogue. Casa de Gozo’s employees can communicate in fluent Spanish as this is a  necessary element in this field. The community centre believes that the best way to tackle homelessness is to prevent it by reaching the grassroots.

Conclusion

Casa de Gozo offers a sense of hope for the homeless community in Meriden. It protects them from the health and social problems they experience in the streets. At the same time, the centre also offers a platform for addressing some of the underlying problems that cause homelessness. Besides this, the community outreach program provides help for drug addicts. Overly, Casa de Gozo’s administration welcomes partnership from the Meriden foundation and is looking forward to forging partnership with the foundation.

Reference:

Timberlake, E., & Cutler, M. (2001): Developmental Play Therapy in Clinical Social Work; Allyn & Bacon Publishing House

Koegel, P, et al. (1996): The Causes of Homelessness, Oryx Press,  pp 78-79

Wadsworth, T. (2005): The Basics of Social Research; Prentice Hall publishers