Weekly Insights: Children's Home Society
Children's Home Society (CHS) builds bridges to success for children in order to achieve a world where children realize their full potential. Based on the 2020 HUD Point In Time Count, on any given night in IRC, 342 individuals are homeless. 36% of them or 122, are children sheltered and unsheltered. Reported causes of these homeless individuals include employment/income, disability, and lack of affordable housing that created challenges and barriers to find safe and stable housing.
CHS's Transitional Living Program (TLP) meets the immediate physical needs of non-parenting young adults age 18-22 who are homeless, at risk of becoming homeless or have "aged-out" of foster care. The TLP provides case management and life planning support to assist these individuals to transition into full independence. Regularly scheduled group and individual meetings are used to create formal Life Plans focused on key areas: education, employment, housing, life skills and access to resources. Youth in need of immediate housing are able to reside at the Youth Transition Center. Others participate as non-residential participants. Residential and non-residential participants have the opportunity to complete high school, become job ready, obtain employment, secure sustainable housing and pursue higher education or vocational training. Participants are also required to participate in community service.
Weekly Insights works in conjunction with Indian River Indicators. Indian River Indicators was launched in June 2021 and originated after the completion of the 2019 Indian River Community Needs Assessment. It provides key data and information about our community that is updated annually and can be used to support and sustain proven programs. It can also be used by community leaders to develop policy, promote promising practices and inspire innovation that can lead to solutions to persistent community challenges. Indian River Community Foundation holds monthly informational sessions to introduce the community to this new resource. The next session will be held on Tuesday, December 7th at 4pm via zoom. Please email Foundation Coordinator, Chiaka Nwosu at chiaka@ircommunityfoundation.org to attend a session.
To learn more visit www.ircommunityfoundation.org and click “Indian River Indicators” or contact a member of the Community Foundation’s team at 772.492.1407.