1 / 10

A BRIDGE PROGRAM FOR HOMELESS SUBSTANCE MISUSERS: A GRANT Proposal

A BRIDGE PROGRAM FOR HOMELESS SUBSTANCE MISUSERS: A GRANT Proposal. Anaise Lopez California State University-Long Beach May 2012. Introduction.

cisco
Télécharger la présentation

A BRIDGE PROGRAM FOR HOMELESS SUBSTANCE MISUSERS: A GRANT Proposal

An Image/Link below is provided (as is) to download presentation Download Policy: Content on the Website is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use and may not be sold / licensed / shared on other websites without getting consent from its author. Content is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use only. Download presentation by click this link. While downloading, if for some reason you are not able to download a presentation, the publisher may have deleted the file from their server. During download, if you can't get a presentation, the file might be deleted by the publisher.

E N D

Presentation Transcript

  1. A BRIDGE PROGRAM FOR HOMELESS SUBSTANCE MISUSERS: A GRANT Proposal Anaise Lopez California State University-Long Beach May 2012

  2. Introduction • Approximately 1,593,150 people can be homeless within a course of a year (Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration [SAMHSA], 2010). • Homeless individuals endure multiple stressors daily, and may have a history of contributing factors, such as mental health history, neglect, physical and sexual abuse, school problems, and meager social networks (Shelton, Taylor, Bonnar, & derBree, 2009). • Studies have shown that substance abuse is this population’s major health issue. While some homeless individuals do seek substance misuse treatment, there is a portion of them who do not seek those same services to help them overcome substance misuse (Lowe & Gibson, 2011). However, whether they do seek treatment or not, they still remain homeless (O’Toole, Gibbon, Hanusa, Freyder, Conde, & Fine, 2004). • Environmental and support system changes contribute to an inability to follow through with the tools that substance misusing homeless individuals have been given while in treatment, making relapse very possible and difficult to overcome(Thakker & Ward, 2010). • The goal of the this project is to secure funding for a bridge program that will provide an alternate environment as an option for those individuals who feel that the environment they return to after completing drug and alcohol treatment is not beneficial to their overall recovery process.

  3. Social work relevance • Homeless individuals experiencing substance misuse issues are in need of additional follow up services and more effective treatment. These individuals are trying to recover from drug and alcohol misuse, but special attention should be given to the factors that may be leading to constant relapse. • Social workers are needed to advocate, provide guidance, support, and to deliver efficient services for this population. If there is more support and assistance focusing on drug and alcohol relapse in the homeless population, there is a bigger chance that these individuals may overcome homelessness and maintain sobriety altogether. • Social workers have the tools that are necessary to support and assist these individuals. The person in environment theory is essential in helping this population because it recognizes that the individual is heavily affected by the environment he/she is in or a part of. Transitioning into the environment that is necessary to overcome addiction and decrease recidivism can be difficult for anyone experiencing it.

  4. Cross cultural relevance • According to the SAMHSA (2010), sheltered homeless individuals in a given year are 41.6% White Non-Hispanic, 9.7% White Hispanic, 37% Black/African-American, and 4.5% are other single races.* • Of those individuals, 62% were male and 38% were females.* • According to Dietz (2009), males and the elderly are more likely to be homeless. *=These statistics account for homeless individuals in shelters not including those were residing in the streets.

  5. Methods • TARGET POPULATION • Male or female homeless individuals ages 25 and older who have successfully completed treatment for drug or alcohol misuse within the last three months. Members are to be accepted on a referral basis from the rehabilitation treatment center only. • STRATEGIES USED TO IDENTIFY AND SELECT A FUNDING SOURCE • Long Beach Non-Profit Library visited • Navigation through Foundation Center database • Websites visited: grants.gov, hhs.gov, fundesnetservices.com • Key terms used for search criteria: “homeless, human services,” “substance abusers,” “program development,” “California,” and “national.” • THE FUNDING SOURCE • There were a various potential funding sources that could have worked for this project, but the grant writer decided that the William Randolph Hearst Foundation was the best to fund this program at the time. • The Hearst Foundations provides financial assistance to programs and organizations that are focused in the fields of culture, education, health, and social services. • In 2011, $3,630,000 in funding was awarded to 55 social service programs and organizations by the William Randolph Hearst Foundation and The Hearst Foundations, Inc (THF, 2012).

  6. Methods • SOURCES USED FOR NEEDS ASSESSMENT • To assess the needs, literature on the homeless population and how much of an impact substance misuse is in the homeless community was gathered. The literature that was gathered gave a better understanding of what can cause homelessness and the common factors that a homeless individual may be dealing with, which can include mental illness and substance abuse among others. Effective and ineffective interventions were also explored to better understand what has and has not been efficient and why. • The research included reviewing statistical data from SAMHSA to identify the number of homeless people who misused drugs and alcohol. • An MSW employee at St. Mary’s Medical Center in Long Beach was interviewed about needs of homeless individuals, which the MSW provides assistance and emotional support to often. She stated that some services they may need include substance abuse, shelter, and food resources. • PROJECTED BUDGET RANGE • Total Direct Costs: $23,650 • Total Indirect Costs: $10,200 • Total Budget Costs: $269,600 • Total In Kind Resources: $11,000

  7. Grant proposal • PROGRAM SUMMARY AND DESCRIPTION • The purpose of this proposal is to develop a bridge program that will be implemented into the services that Choices Recovery in Long Beach, California provides. The main purpose of this program is to provide a transition for the individual from treatment to either halfway house or original environment. Apart from providing the individual with temporary housing, food and clothes, the individual will also receive support from the staff to help them through their process of recovery. • Twice a week, there will be optional workshops that will provide education and information on life skills, finances, job professionalism, and etiquette. • Only 5 individuals will be able to sleep at the facility at a time and 10 to 15 other individuals will have access to all other services provided by the bridge program. With encouragement, additional support, and access to information and resources in the community, the individual will become more educated and aware of what is available to him/her in the community. • POPULATION SERVED • Male and female individuals • 25 and older • Must have completed substance misuse treatment within the last 3 months • Referral basis only • SUSTAINABILITY • The Program Director and Grant Writer of Choices will then need to request further funding so that the program continues after its first year. The Program Director will be in charge of making sure the program operates and improves as it continues.

  8. Grant proposal • PROGRAM OBJECTIVES • Objective #1: To decrease relapse amongst homeless individuals who have successfully completed substance misuse treatment and are part of the bridge program by providing another form of support system while they transition from substance abuse treatment to returning back to their original environment. This objective will be measured by follow-ups conducted every 3 months, if possible given that homeless people may be transient. Follow-ups can be conducted through outreach or phone calls. • Objective #2: To increase access to housing among people who are making the transition out of substance abuse treatment. The effectiveness of access to housing will be evaluated by a daily count of how many different members have been housed by the bridge program. Additionally, the staff will have to document any follow ups regarding housing outside of the program and successful linkages of housing for the member. • Objective #3: To increase access to services and self-sufficiency amongst the homeless substance misusers so that they can use services and resources, but not rely on them. The two weekly workshops will provide resourceful information about managing finances, professionalism, employment opportunities, life skills, parenting, etc. The workshops will all have surveys at the end that will have questions like how helpful the workshop was, if there was previous knowledge of the subject, and if they would like to gain more resources about the subject. Additionally, the members will be asked how often they have used the resources provided to them after learning about them. • PROGRAM EVALUATION • Follow up with members, if possble include questions like: Have goals planned at initail intake process been achieved by the members? How have they been achieved? What has worked and has not worked in reaching those goals? • Pre and Post tests questionnaires on relapse coping skills attained • Surveys at the end of each workshop for workshop effectiveness • Sign in sheets at each workshop

  9. Lessons learned • Programs to help this population need to take into account every aspect of the individual’s life to better help him/her overcome obstacles or boundaries he/she may be experiencing. • There has been a lot of research done about housing or treatment first but not much on the importance of helping the individual transition back to his/her original environment. • There was a gap in literature about bridge programs that have been effective, causing the grant writer to request such a program to be funded. • An important lesson learned about locating grants was that there are not many for-profit grants. • There are many different ways to properly asses and identify funding sources. The grant writer tried different methods to identify a funding source and learned how important writing a grant is to social work. Having a lack of funding can seriously hurt social work practice and the clients they serve making grant writing more of a necessity. • Grant writing is very competitive considering that there are other organizations vying for the same funding so the grant writer had to relay why this grant project deserves funding over others. By reviewing the literature on the target population’s issues, the grant writer was able to get a better understanding of their needs and what type of program would meet those needs.

  10. references • Dietz, T. L. (2009). Drug and alcohol use among homeless older adults: Predictors of reported current and lifetime substance misuse problems in a national sample. Journal of Applied Gerontology, 28(2), 235-55. • Lowe, J., & Gibson, S. (2011). Reflections of a homeless population's lived experience with substance abuse. Journal of Community Health Nursing, 28(2), 92-104. • O’Toole, T. P., Gibbon, J. L., Hanusa, B. H., Freyder, P. J., Conde, A. M., & Fine, M. J. (2004). Self-reported changes in drug and alcohol use after becoming homeless. American Journal of Public Health,94(5), 830-835. • Shelton, K. H., Taylor, P. J., Bonner, A., & den Bree, M. v. (2009). Risk factors for homelessness: Evidence from a population-based study. Psychiatric Services, 60(4), 465. • Substance Abuse & Mental Health Services Administration. (2011). Current statistics on the prevalence and characteristics of people experiencing homelessness in the United States. Retrieved from http://www.homeless.samhsa.gov/ResourceFiles/hrc_factsheet.pdf • Thakker, J., & Ward, T. (2010). Relapse Prevention: A Critique and Proposed Reconceptualisation. Behaiour Change, 27 (3), 154-175. • The Hearst Foundations. (2012). Grant Application. Retrieved from http://hearstfdn.org/

More Related