Housing Opportunities Sponsors 'Walk A Mile'
July 28, 2016 at 4:25 p.m.
"Nothing educates so well, or lasts so long, as direct, interpersonal experience."
That's the motto of the national Walk A Mile model, a program designed to bring policy-makers and low-income, subsidy-receiving participants together.
Housing Opportunities of Warsaw is sponsoring such a meeting Oct. 28, the first such roundtable forum in Indiana.
"The program is designed to get rid of stereotyping," said HOW Executive Director Pam Kennedy. Clients will meet people who make decisions and learn how legislation works. Lawmakers will meet citizens who receive some kind of assistance."
The local event, Dinner with the Candidates, is set for 6 p.m. in Center Lake Pavilion. HOW intern Lezli Bryant is coordinating the event.
A Grace College senior, Bryant plans to graduate in May 2005 with a bachelor's degree in social work. The Walk A Mile program is her practicum - 60 hours of hands-on work with a local agency.
"It's designed for different people to come together and learn how the laws work and for policy-makers to learn how the laws affect people," she said.
Following a meal, participants - low- to moderate-income citizens, local candidates and officeholders, social services organizations and liaisons like HOW board members and students majoring in social work at Grace College - will discuss various issues regarding welfare policies.
State Rep. Dave Wolkins (R-Winona Lake) has agreed to take the program one step further, Kennedy said. He will partner with a HOW client Nov. 15 through Dec. 13. The state representative and the housing-subsidy recipient will talk on a weekly basis. Wolkins will accompany the client on a food shopping trip or another activity. Bryant will be available to mediate any problems and protect privacy issues.
The pair will travel to Indianapolis and take part in the Legislator's Orientation Day in the Capitol.
"As an agency, we're excited to be involved in the project," Kennedy said. "Not everyone receiving assistance is a 20-year-old single woman with a child. We have one client who is 70 years old who has been taking care of her mentally ill son all of his life. She's worried about who will take care of him when she dies.
"We provide a housing subsidy of $20 per month to a working couple who just can't come up with all the rent and feed their children, too."
Participants are welcome to sign up to attend the event at the HOW office, 827 S. Union St., Suite 230, Warsaw, or by calling 574-269-7641.
On the Net:
www.walkamile.org [[In-content Ad]]
"Nothing educates so well, or lasts so long, as direct, interpersonal experience."
That's the motto of the national Walk A Mile model, a program designed to bring policy-makers and low-income, subsidy-receiving participants together.
Housing Opportunities of Warsaw is sponsoring such a meeting Oct. 28, the first such roundtable forum in Indiana.
"The program is designed to get rid of stereotyping," said HOW Executive Director Pam Kennedy. Clients will meet people who make decisions and learn how legislation works. Lawmakers will meet citizens who receive some kind of assistance."
The local event, Dinner with the Candidates, is set for 6 p.m. in Center Lake Pavilion. HOW intern Lezli Bryant is coordinating the event.
A Grace College senior, Bryant plans to graduate in May 2005 with a bachelor's degree in social work. The Walk A Mile program is her practicum - 60 hours of hands-on work with a local agency.
"It's designed for different people to come together and learn how the laws work and for policy-makers to learn how the laws affect people," she said.
Following a meal, participants - low- to moderate-income citizens, local candidates and officeholders, social services organizations and liaisons like HOW board members and students majoring in social work at Grace College - will discuss various issues regarding welfare policies.
State Rep. Dave Wolkins (R-Winona Lake) has agreed to take the program one step further, Kennedy said. He will partner with a HOW client Nov. 15 through Dec. 13. The state representative and the housing-subsidy recipient will talk on a weekly basis. Wolkins will accompany the client on a food shopping trip or another activity. Bryant will be available to mediate any problems and protect privacy issues.
The pair will travel to Indianapolis and take part in the Legislator's Orientation Day in the Capitol.
"As an agency, we're excited to be involved in the project," Kennedy said. "Not everyone receiving assistance is a 20-year-old single woman with a child. We have one client who is 70 years old who has been taking care of her mentally ill son all of his life. She's worried about who will take care of him when she dies.
"We provide a housing subsidy of $20 per month to a working couple who just can't come up with all the rent and feed their children, too."
Participants are welcome to sign up to attend the event at the HOW office, 827 S. Union St., Suite 230, Warsaw, or by calling 574-269-7641.
On the Net:
www.walkamile.org [[In-content Ad]]