CCS Programs Get Clients Off Government Assistance
March 29, 2017 at 6:45 p.m.
By David [email protected]
“There’s a lot we do. But the difference between our self-sufficiency programs and some of the other ones you hear about are we actually graduate people off the need for government assistance,” CCS Executive Director Steve Possell said Tuesday.
He said many people don’t realize that half of CCS’s services in Kosciusko County are working on getting people over the federal poverty line. “We’re teaching people how to fish rather than just giving fish,” he said, paraphrasing an old proverb.
CCS’s programs get people over that poverty level so they can become self sufficient and get completely off government services, he said.
Tammy Smith, CCS director of self sufficiency, said, “We’re teaching them these life skills they need to help them get over income and be able to provide for their families, which is what they all want for themselves anyways. And these self-sufficiency programs are all voluntary. They serve people that have come to us and said, ‘I want to make a better life for my family. I want to be off government assistance. I want to provide for my family.’ They just don’t know how to do it. So we help them get started.”
She said the caseworkers do that through one-on-one visits, goal setting, workshops and teaching them life skills.
CCS’s Project Independence program was one of the first self-sufficiency programs in Kosciusko, having been around for over 25 years. Then around 2007, CCS added the Hand Up program, getting full United Way funding a year or two later. Both programs are voluntary.
“With Project Independence, we’re working with families on a long-term basis with an education focus,” Smith said. “So this can be vocational training, maybe they’re trying to finish their HSC, get that college degree.”
She said that can be a little bit longer to complete. CCS does not pay for anyone’s education.
“So during that time, while they’re in school or earning their certificate or education, that’s when we’re working with them and teaching them those life skills,” Smith said.
The Hand Up program is “a shorter-term program, working with families that are in a crisis situation, moving them to stability.”
A family could be in crisis because of the loss of a job, loss of housing or any other life-altering event.
In both programs, CCS teaches the clients life skills, offers them workshops and works with them one on one. Some of the skills they are taught include budgeting, parenting, making SNAP (food stamps) benefits stretch, balancing checkbooks, being careful with predatory loaners.
“We’re the only program in the county that actually has our case manager actually certified as a family development specialist,” Possell said.
Smith agreed, saying, “All the case managers are family development specialists. We’re certified and keep our certification up each year.”
Each year, she said, CCS serves a total of around 75 clients, but will have about 50 that are in both programs at one time.
Seven or eight participants graduate from college each year, she said.
“It’s not just getting a certification. These people are actually graduating with degrees, and a lot of them are nursing degrees in the nursing field and medical fields,” Possell said.
When the recession arrived about nine years ago, CCS started the Hand Up program because it saw a new need in the community.
“We had first-time people coming in that had never sought help before. They lost their jobs, so (CCS) saw this need for people that were just in an immediate crisis but didn’t necessarily need a four-year degree, they just needed some help finding community resources in a shorter term,” she said.
Possell said CCS had so many people in that program, and it’s been so successful, that there’s a waiting list for the Hand Up program. At the end of last year, United Way approved another part-time case manager for it. Smith said they have four case managers, another one is being hired and Smith even sees clients.
Asked what the ideal number of case workers would be, Smith said, “The new Hand Up case manager is only 20 hours a week, so we definitely could use a full-time person in that position, and possibly another full-time position. The need for that shorter-term, helping them find the resources in the community, to get them stabilized and learning those life skills – there’s a real need for that shorter term program that people often go off and they’re OK.”
Possell said if a person can be moved from the Hand Up program to Project Independence, that’s great, but a lot of the people don’t need to be put in the Project Independence program because their situation stabilizes.
Possell said there are individuals in the community who give CCS a certain amount of money each month to assist a family. That program is called Partners In Project Independence. Through that program, CCS is able to give families things like gas vouchers, toiletry items and such. The clients have to do a certain amount of workshops to go through the program and are given incentives to do that.
Smith said CCS partners with a lot of other people in the community for the workshops, including Purdue Extension and Housing Opportunities of Warsaw.
“We’re really getting into every area of their life that they’re ready to work on and work on those things – budgeting, parenting, nutrition, discipline, finances. Just about anything you can think of,” she said.
Possell said CCS will help meet the basic needs of their clients first, like food assistance, before it works on the other things. “Project Independence and Hand Up, I think, is little known in the community. I’m amazed. We’ve been doing it so long,” he said.
CCS also is forming a closer relationship with Ivy Tech thanks to Ivy Tech President Allyn Decker, Possell said.
“We’re over there presenting to some of the people in the school. We’re working on – it’s kind of reciprocal – they’re working with some of our people, we’re working with some of their people, just to try to get more people into those positions,”?he said.
Smith said CCS is “trying to provide some extra support to the Ivy Tech students that are lower-income families over there that may need the extra support.”
Project Independence is partially funded by United Way and Real Services. Based on the federal budget proposal for 2018, Real Services could be completely cut, Possell said. That cut would affect a variety of programs and funding such as a federal anti-poverty Community Block Grant program that Real Services provides to CCS for Project Independence.
“If that’s cut, then boom! We have to make up that money,” he said.
Smith said CCS’s self-sufficiency programs are running at an average of 60 percent success rate.
“Which is greater than the state average,” Possell said.
Along with United Way and Real Services, he said CCS’s programs have received grants from Old National Bank, Kosciusko REMC Operation Round-Up, K21 Health Foundation, Zimmer Biomet and Kids Market.
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“There’s a lot we do. But the difference between our self-sufficiency programs and some of the other ones you hear about are we actually graduate people off the need for government assistance,” CCS Executive Director Steve Possell said Tuesday.
He said many people don’t realize that half of CCS’s services in Kosciusko County are working on getting people over the federal poverty line. “We’re teaching people how to fish rather than just giving fish,” he said, paraphrasing an old proverb.
CCS’s programs get people over that poverty level so they can become self sufficient and get completely off government services, he said.
Tammy Smith, CCS director of self sufficiency, said, “We’re teaching them these life skills they need to help them get over income and be able to provide for their families, which is what they all want for themselves anyways. And these self-sufficiency programs are all voluntary. They serve people that have come to us and said, ‘I want to make a better life for my family. I want to be off government assistance. I want to provide for my family.’ They just don’t know how to do it. So we help them get started.”
She said the caseworkers do that through one-on-one visits, goal setting, workshops and teaching them life skills.
CCS’s Project Independence program was one of the first self-sufficiency programs in Kosciusko, having been around for over 25 years. Then around 2007, CCS added the Hand Up program, getting full United Way funding a year or two later. Both programs are voluntary.
“With Project Independence, we’re working with families on a long-term basis with an education focus,” Smith said. “So this can be vocational training, maybe they’re trying to finish their HSC, get that college degree.”
She said that can be a little bit longer to complete. CCS does not pay for anyone’s education.
“So during that time, while they’re in school or earning their certificate or education, that’s when we’re working with them and teaching them those life skills,” Smith said.
The Hand Up program is “a shorter-term program, working with families that are in a crisis situation, moving them to stability.”
A family could be in crisis because of the loss of a job, loss of housing or any other life-altering event.
In both programs, CCS teaches the clients life skills, offers them workshops and works with them one on one. Some of the skills they are taught include budgeting, parenting, making SNAP (food stamps) benefits stretch, balancing checkbooks, being careful with predatory loaners.
“We’re the only program in the county that actually has our case manager actually certified as a family development specialist,” Possell said.
Smith agreed, saying, “All the case managers are family development specialists. We’re certified and keep our certification up each year.”
Each year, she said, CCS serves a total of around 75 clients, but will have about 50 that are in both programs at one time.
Seven or eight participants graduate from college each year, she said.
“It’s not just getting a certification. These people are actually graduating with degrees, and a lot of them are nursing degrees in the nursing field and medical fields,” Possell said.
When the recession arrived about nine years ago, CCS started the Hand Up program because it saw a new need in the community.
“We had first-time people coming in that had never sought help before. They lost their jobs, so (CCS) saw this need for people that were just in an immediate crisis but didn’t necessarily need a four-year degree, they just needed some help finding community resources in a shorter term,” she said.
Possell said CCS had so many people in that program, and it’s been so successful, that there’s a waiting list for the Hand Up program. At the end of last year, United Way approved another part-time case manager for it. Smith said they have four case managers, another one is being hired and Smith even sees clients.
Asked what the ideal number of case workers would be, Smith said, “The new Hand Up case manager is only 20 hours a week, so we definitely could use a full-time person in that position, and possibly another full-time position. The need for that shorter-term, helping them find the resources in the community, to get them stabilized and learning those life skills – there’s a real need for that shorter term program that people often go off and they’re OK.”
Possell said if a person can be moved from the Hand Up program to Project Independence, that’s great, but a lot of the people don’t need to be put in the Project Independence program because their situation stabilizes.
Possell said there are individuals in the community who give CCS a certain amount of money each month to assist a family. That program is called Partners In Project Independence. Through that program, CCS is able to give families things like gas vouchers, toiletry items and such. The clients have to do a certain amount of workshops to go through the program and are given incentives to do that.
Smith said CCS partners with a lot of other people in the community for the workshops, including Purdue Extension and Housing Opportunities of Warsaw.
“We’re really getting into every area of their life that they’re ready to work on and work on those things – budgeting, parenting, nutrition, discipline, finances. Just about anything you can think of,” she said.
Possell said CCS will help meet the basic needs of their clients first, like food assistance, before it works on the other things. “Project Independence and Hand Up, I think, is little known in the community. I’m amazed. We’ve been doing it so long,” he said.
CCS also is forming a closer relationship with Ivy Tech thanks to Ivy Tech President Allyn Decker, Possell said.
“We’re over there presenting to some of the people in the school. We’re working on – it’s kind of reciprocal – they’re working with some of our people, we’re working with some of their people, just to try to get more people into those positions,”?he said.
Smith said CCS is “trying to provide some extra support to the Ivy Tech students that are lower-income families over there that may need the extra support.”
Project Independence is partially funded by United Way and Real Services. Based on the federal budget proposal for 2018, Real Services could be completely cut, Possell said. That cut would affect a variety of programs and funding such as a federal anti-poverty Community Block Grant program that Real Services provides to CCS for Project Independence.
“If that’s cut, then boom! We have to make up that money,” he said.
Smith said CCS’s self-sufficiency programs are running at an average of 60 percent success rate.
“Which is greater than the state average,” Possell said.
Along with United Way and Real Services, he said CCS’s programs have received grants from Old National Bank, Kosciusko REMC Operation Round-Up, K21 Health Foundation, Zimmer Biomet and Kids Market.
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