As most of you probably heard Hope got another 25,000 from
Montifore.http://newrochelle.dailyvoice.com/news/montefiore-new-rochelle-kicks-second-year-helping-homeless
I am not particularly surprised; I believe that this was the money they were promised under the original city council meetings. (the city said they would give the grant if Montifore and the Avolon’s parents donated.) I think that this is that money coming in. If not I am also not surprised. I predicted that they would need more money within two months. It is exactly two months from when they started. They have not hired any new case managers that we have seen (there is a volunteer but she’s been here for a month).
In fact to our knowledge they have not even hired all of the paid volunteers funded for 30,000 in the original grant or started the 5,000 van program. Even if they hire a new person they already had the funding to do that under the original grant. Of course it is possible that if this grant IS adding to their promised funds it could be related to the 2,000 for food they allotted themselves yearly.
No, at this I am not supirsed. What surprises me yet doesn’t is the gall of some of the claims in the article. The day program as of yet has only “helped” people who stay at Oasis or technically other individuals in town, though no one outside of the shelter has used it yet. Only single people over 18, or 21 depending on who you ask can stay at the drop-in legally. In fact the only homeless families in New Rochelle are at a separate residential shelter for woman with young children (due to possible domestic violence concerns, I am not going to name it.)
So we were all very impressed that Hope “has already assisted 16 homeless families” –daily voice through the day program. Or alternately from Montifore’s press release 15 homeless individuals though the center, though only 12 used it until recent weeks according to the same text. What an amazing trick! What sleight of hand! None of us even saw them do it!And to turn twelve people into 15 astounding!
In addition the original projection for the day program claimed that it would house 25 people a year. Now they will house “as many as eight cases each month..” Marvelous. You have no idea how excited we are. That means that 96 of us, almost all will be housed by year’s end. And all this despite not housing anyone we know in the past two months, and having many of the homeless refuse to go to the program.
It’s pretty obvious how they got Montefiore to give despite the facts, with assemblyman Otis all smiles, and Ivar Hyden (the only city councilman there) grinning ear to ear and former board Member of Wesctop Bramson making radio addresses.
But let’s look at some of the other facts shall we?
The article states that last year there were 130 homeless people. The homelessness in southern Westchester has been on the rise is indisputable (mostly due to the shelter in my opinion) (not giving people asked for letters) is a fact. But according to Hope’s own numbers 130 was just a projection for last year. (see attached original grant)
In addition I am going to say something. If the police took us to the emergency room it was because of emergencies such a frost bite, usually at night usually for the people too horrified to go to the shelter. During the day we usually huddled in the library or went to Dimensions, which as I have wirtten with more funding could have taken all of us and provided us with 5-6 advocates and a computer lab as well as groups and classes as it did for those already there. It’s true that we did sometimes go to the emergency room during very bad weather. But we were never allowed to stay there for too long.
This is what Mrs. Troum had to say. “When I started her six years ago, I saw all the homeless people wandering at night, literally freezing to death, and it broke my heart,” Of course Mrs. Troum leaves at 5 for her Manhattan apartment so her seeing must have been an empathetic one. In addition people who do not remain inside day program (which does not directly effect the night drop-in except for the fact that program clients get cots first) all day are still in the cold form 6-9.
Mrs. Troum did not respond to request for comment.
The Montifore press release also states that 36 individuals are using the program now which is an exaggeration by my knowledge, but which is still telling given the 70 plus at the drop-in.
http://www.montefiore.org/body.cfm?id=1738&action=detail&ref=1199