LAGUARDIA COMMUNITY COLLEGE
DIVISION of CONTINUING EDUCATION

COMMUNITY SERVICE PROGRAMS DEPARTMENT

PROJECT
ENABLE

TRAINING PROGRAM FOR HOMELESS HEADS OF HOUSEHOLD
RESIDING IN HOTELS/SHELTERS

Status Report & Observations
Prepared by: Joan E. Wilson, Ph.D
Coordinator
Project Enable

November 1986


Joseph Shenker, President
Judith L. McGaughey, Pean of Continuing Education

Fern J. Khan, Director of Community Service Programs


A TRAINING PROGRAM FOR HOMELESS HEADS OF
HOUSEHOLDS RESIDING IN HOTELS

Homelessness: LaGuardia Community College’s Response -
Testing A Training Model

During October 1985, LaGuardia Community College was the
recipient of funds from the New York Community Trust to
aeveiop and implement a program for mothers living in ho-
tels in Queens. At the start of instruction and services in
December 1985, the Program was anticipated to be serving 12
to 15 mothers in a ten-week pilot project. However. by
Feoruary 1986. announcements and visits to a number of
hotels resultea in enrollment of fifty (50> heads of house-
holas. some of whom were fathers. Further. the pilot drew
reaistrents from two (2) other boroughs. Thirty-six (¢36)
recistrants. then, were from seven (7) hotels in Queens:
tweive (12) were from four (4> hoteis in Mannattan anda two
CZ2> were from one (1) hotel in the Bronx. A class was
formeac also in Manhattan for twelve (12) residents re-
questing the G.E.D. at a site near to their hotel. Probiems
with findino an Instructor approved by the Adult Learning
; nindered the imp ementation of an off-site course at
ime. Wnen the instructor and site were matched and
ie in the Summer, then the enrollees from the
m and other hotels were unavailable.

Due to interest, and increasing numbers, the Project has
been successful in receiving refunaing from the Trust. Ie
aliovwec for the employment of a Counselor, Personal
Development Instructor (Linda Johnson> on a full time basis.
It also allowed the Program to increase its course
ofterinaes, Tnere were three C3) courses originally
initiated by the Director of Community Service Programs,
Prof. Fern Khan. These were Ln Sty ping: Business
Communications, and Self-Image Building, which were
impiemented by instructors Claudia Iredell, Marion Rutledge,
anc Marguerite Green respectively. The course offerings were
expasnoec in the spring of 1986 from three (3) courses,
meeting for two-and-a-half (2 1/2) hours twice weekiy, to
six €6) courses meeting four (4) hours per day for three (3)
aays per week. Later, staff began to negotiate placements

cr tamities. and were able to make two (2) job placements
which are paid and three (3) which are unpaid. Through a
Grant obtained from the Chase Manhattan Bank by Professor
Larry Long, Director of Human Services, an hour of
instruction in "Parenting Skills" was adaed to the
curriculum and delivered by Mrs. Linda Jonnson, who had naa



varied and intensive experiences working with the homeless
population.

By the end of the Spring Quarter, the number of enrol-
lees increased to seventy-one (71>) in the core program ana
twelve (12) in the off-site G.E.D. The increased numbers of
hotel residents expressing an interest in the Program, as

well as inquiries from crisis intervention workers ana
community service agencies, suggest that there is a need for
this type of Program. At the same time, the demands for

intensive outreach to the families requires a restructuring
and expansion of the course content and, especially, the
support services offered to the participants.

Basic support services such as chiid-care; transporta-
tion; career and personal development activities; counsel-
ing; housing referrals; job placement and follow-up are
essential for successful outcomes in training. lona-term

employability and placement.

Tne counseling takes a variety of forms. One area is
socio-personal counseling. Another is career development
anc sob placement. Yet another is in nousine ana community
secvice resources development, referrasis ana piacement. In
each case tnere nas to be follow-up. Tnere aiso has to be &
LaGuardia team effort in moving the trainees into the
mainstream. This will enable them te be successful social

and economic participants in the society.

Refinine. deveioping and expardcine the two (2) broad
ectis of clerical trainina ang jop placement for ‘homeiess
motners nas been the assignment of the Coordinator/Socio-
logist. Dr. Joan Wilson. She has brought to the project
concepts and hypotheses regarding needs of the chronically
pubplic-aependent families and non-traditional strategies
reievant for success in programming for this population. In
Project Enable she has adapted and included some of the
goals and their operationalizations to test their
feasibility in a community college setting. The goals of the
Program are delineated as follows:

1. To enable participants to obtain successfui and
meaningful employment in a variety of public and
Private sector occupations at entry or middle
levels, as is appropriate to their employment
histories, training and skills at the time of
placement by this Program:

2. To provide exposure and access to options and op-
portunities in Continuing Education Programs of
this and other colleges;

3. To give the trainees an exposure to the mainstream
academic options in higher education in keeping

oo


with the assessed aptitudes, performance levels,
motivation and goals of the participant;

To develop personal, social and work-relatea human
relations skilis of the participants:

To enable participants to develop and secure alter-
native strategies in obtaining housing for their
families;

To encourage and stimulate the development of op-
tions in self-employment and cooperative business
ventures;

To provide follow-up and supportive services to the
participants as they encounter a variety of experi-
ences in education, employment or business, ana,

To enable the participants to leave the Froaram
with such information on community, social and
personal resources as well as strategies that they
each can respond more effectiveiy to future crises
or in routine probiem solvina.

- IMPLEMENTATION OF GOALS

oraer to meet the stated objectives of the training
the LaGuardia modei tests the proposed activities

are guided by reiatea operationa! aoais as foi lows:

a

To provide aptitude and skilis assessment for each
trainee at entry, at periods during the Program ana
at the end of the Program cycle for placement;

To implement neagoitatead and agreed-upon personé!
and career plans for each of the trainees;

To direct trainees in developing personal and so-
cial skilis essential for success in the work-
piace and community;

To provide training in occupationals skilis areas
which are the basic/’core for employment in a range
of public, commerical and private organizations or
for self-employment:

To develop and enhance the trainees career aware-
ness and to give guidance in reaching career ob-
jectives:

To generate jop piacements as well as to provide
follow-up of the oraduate trainees ana those on
work-internships until they are successtuliy

settled at the point of placement:


*. To interface with departments within the College in
order to make use of the skills development and ca-
reer development resources availabie to the parti-
cipants;

8. To make and maintain contacts with community-based
training organizations which might provide a mia-
ladder in skills training for technology specific
occupations and/or placement in such areas;

9. To create a counseling team in order to provide in-
tensive guidance and support in social and personai
dimensions of the trainee’s needs as weil as to
make referrals to such public professiona) services
as might be indicated for continued - long-term -
counseling needs of some trainees, and

10. To establish remedial education and further educa-
tion options for those trainees whose personai and
career goals require such pre-employment training
needs be met.

U
aa

Tne Program is unaerstandable in a format of inter-
rejatea clusters of activities. These are to be articulated
for the participants through the work of the counseling
team. ana instructional staff. For each cluster’s personnei
ana for the Division of Continuina Education’s Commurity
Service Programs. articulation is through the functions of
the Program Coordinator, as aiagrammed appended.

&. ASSESSMENT:

Fundamental to the effective management of enrollees
witn varying skilis levels and aptitudes, tnere is 4 need
tor assessment. The trainina Program proposes to provide
aptitude, academic, occupational ana personal skiils
assessment for each participant at entry.

Basea on the outcomes of these assessments, each par-
ticipant will be counseled by the counseling team separate-
ly, ana collectively, and in that process negotiate pians
for a> personal development b> career development and
c>) piacement goals. From this agreement, the trainee wiil
be placed in appropriate pre-empioyment training courses
ana’or basic skills courses.

Where it is essential for the fulfillment of the ca-
reer plans, ana where the Program itself cannot proviae
eavanced jievel training, counselors will negotiate piace-
ment in courses of other programs within the Continuing
Eaucation Division and/or the Coilege, or in another com-
munity-basea training program. Such external piacements


form one component of the total training and development
package offered in Project Enable (Training Program for
Homeless Heads of Households).

While students are attendina courses/internships else-
where, the schedules have to be prepared in such a way as to
éiiow for continuation of the pre-employment preparation and
personal development. The training activities which are the
general/’core content of this Project remains a part of their
scneduie.

At intervals throughout the courses offered, there are
assessments of each student’s performance. Tnese
assessments are passed on to the counselors.

At the end of the courses, and at points where the stu-
gent is deemed to be ready for work-internship or regular
employment, a final assessment is made. This assessment
guiaes the Job Developer’s negotiations for a position with
én empioyer or training organization or in an institution of
further education.

oa]

Tne training goais are operationalized in activities

wnicn are organizea around three (3) objectives: a> oc-
cupational skills development b> academic skills
ageveiopment and c>) socio-personal and social survival

skills development.
i. Occupational Skills Development

Tne Program here is designed to prepare each participant

for tne workplace. Tne training is organized into two
categories of courses: a> general/core courses essential
for any workplace and b>) occupation - specific skills
traininas. The trainees will be enabled to attain skills
leveis which will afford each of them access to entry or
mia-lievel placement in employing organizations. Tne

tréining program for each participant is designed to fit the
negotiated career plan.

@> General/Core Courses:
Basic English - For Business
Basic Math - For Business
Basic Accounting
Introduction to Office Technnoloay

Communications for the Modern Workplace


Office Procedures & Decorum
Typing
In this general curriculum, the student is provided
skills which are fundamental to clerical work in any
business. The Occupational Skills Training is individu-
aiizea. The units of the courses and their sequences are
designed to create a ladder into, and through jobs. The
ladder continues into advanced occupational training
programs.
b>) Occupation - Specific Courses:
Computerized Bookkeeping
Word Processing
Medical Macnine Transcription
Legal Machine Transcription
Executive Machine Transcription

Airlines Ciericai Services

Occupationai offerings refiect possibilities envisioned
in the current Program. However, it is proposed that these

occupationa! skills offerings will be expandec ‘to inciuae
s<ilis training for non-traditional employment of women,
para-professionai skiiis for technical occupations and

tecnnical services.

Trainees who are job ready and have selected employment
in the occupationai areas offered will be piacea throvan tne
Jon Developer/Career Counselor. Tnose trainees who are jop
reacy put also wish to be enrolled in advanced training in
the occupations related to their new skills, are referred to
sucn programs in the Coliege or eisewhere, thus allowing
continuation of their learning experiences. (Course outlines
generated py Jeanette LaBarb. Instructor in collaboration on
special areas with Ciaudia Iredel! and Marion Rutleage are
Appenaea>.

II. Academic Skills Development

In many instances. trainees need and request supple-
mentary training in tne three (3) R’sS to meet existing
stancards in Adult Basic Education programs. There are also
participants who left high schooi in junior ana senior years
ana whno, with preparation, can readily pass the G.E.D.
Further, we have found residents in the hoteis who are
college dropouts, and who desire to be trained for
empioyment. They also need and receive career counseling in


oraer to resume college degree programs on a part-time or
full-time basis. For each of these popuiations there are
training options.

Tne Adult Basic Education Program is run simultaneously
with some of the basic courses in the core of the Program.
Tne G.E.D. preparation is given for those who score at the
Stn grace level or above on the pre-entry battery of tests.
Those who score below are included in the A.B.E. courses and
prepared to reach the entry level for the G.E.D. preparation
course. (Objectives appended as specified by instructor
Meiinda Levokove>.

Counseling personnel use the resources availabie for
making referrals to the college’s student personne]
Gepartments. This is usually done for those students who
wisn to pegin or continue degree programs. Tne counselor in

reer guidance is able to advocate and negotiate on behalf

of the student. Tne trainee is aiways involved in these
processes. Tnis ensures that she/he is aiso acquiring the
information and skills in order to be able to repeat such
processes unaided, wherever necessary, in future

seii-ceveiopinge activity.
Til. Socio-personai and Survivai Skiiis Deveiopment

“Bny training ana employment program addressed to a
enronicaily unemployed and demotivated population must build
provisions leérning experiences around personal and
«ills development."!: Incluaed in tnis mcdel are
in the foliowing areés:

&) Self-Image Building: £) Inter-personal Skills
ia} Health; @> Parentins
c¢> Nutrition h> Community Resources

Awareness
Time Management:
i> Stress Management
e> Life Management’
Goa! Setting:

Tnis component of training can be carried out alongside

the personai counseling and career quidance. Trainees learn

) nity resources ang are introauced to strategies

requirea to avail themselves of such services. At the same

time. the Outreach Counselor fosters the trainees in
ceveiorment of alternatives for meeting nousing neeas.

The Career Counselor/Job Developer provides some

tréeini ne in communications skills for the workplace. Thnere
is inst SUES On also on skiils such as “Being an Effective
interviewee.

ay A


It is intended that occupational, academic and socio-
personal] skills development will be inteagratea and delivered
through a team committed to “enabling” the garticipantss
rather than to "creating further dependency."“* With this
integration of services and learning experiences it is
predicted that there will be greater success in retention
ana piacement.

C. Counseling Activities

2

One (1) hour of classroom Instruction Mae initiatea and
implemented ance Therapist and Career Counselor Marauerite
Green. This fulfilled Director Khan’s objective of self-
image buildine. Instructor Green used techniques which have
proven successful in her years of work in assertiveness
training and self-image development. Counselor Linaga
Johnson has continued and provided expansion of this idea in
her counseling ana training sessions. This is in keeping
with the rationale of socio-personai crisis intervention ana
“personal crises management" training proposea py the
Coorainator. Dr. Joan Wilson. The activities are arrangea
in clusters as foliow:

1. Socio-personai Counseling Activities
&>) Enabling participants to do self-assessment;

b> Building in strategies for self-assessment as
@ continuous process;

c>) Assisting trainees in developina short ana
long term goals in light of reveaiea strengtns
and weaknesses;

d> Developing trainees apilities to aiscriminate
between and to prioritize, personal goais,
family expectations, community expectations
and demanas of others;

e> Enabline trainees to relate personéi anda
career goais to assessed real aptitudes, mo-
tivation ana skilis as weil as to potential
resources;

f> Providing trainees with skills necessary to
recognize alternative means of achievina of
career and personal goals:

o> Aiding the trainees in deveioping “Action
Plans" for critical dimensions of their jiives:

te Family Goais iv. Post-Chiid Rear-
ii. Career Goais ing & Post-Em-
iii. Personai Goals ployment Goals


v. Alternatives for adapte-
tion in crises

h) Strenathening positive linkages with community
social services which will meet the needs of
the trainee and her/his fammily mempers on an
ongoing basis, ana

i> Building trainee’s seif-esteem and sel f-confi-
dence in his/her ability to cope with, and ne-
gotiate a successful life in, the
community."3:

os

2. Career Counseling’Job Development and Placement

Tnese objectives wiil be reinforced across the special
areas of counseling. In Career Counseling, the emphasis is
to be on providing as vast as possible an array of career
options and the means for attaining these. Counseling must
involve guiding the trainee in selection of appropriate
alternatives in planning a career path. Among some of the
issuves around which career training and counseling focus are
tne foiiowine:

Seit-assessment tecnniques: Discovering Aptituces,
Vaiues and Interests:

a
v

©) Orientation to the Career Resource Center with
follow-up sessions:

¢). InterView-technioues:

c>) Job Search techniques;

e> Communication and Presentation Skills:

f£> Conflict Management for the Workplace;

g> Networking - Formal and Informal:

n> Dress and Self-Presentation in the Workplace:
i> Goal and Career Pianninna,

Jj? Career Mentorine4:

Jeb development, piacement and foliow-up are integral
parts cf the career development trainina and support service

to the students. Jop vacancies which fit the needs of
incivicuais in the training program are not always obvious
or available. «Course outiines and Reports on these

activities py Linda Jonnson. Counselor, are appendeca. >


Bometime= a student is not job-ready but possesse= the
‘potential to acquire the skills for placement in a job which
is currently vacant. The Counselor/Job Developer is
preparec to negotiate phasing of the trainee into the
position from part-time apprenticeship to fuli-time
occupancy within a time span agreed uponZthe employer. This
practice is now being used in some community-based training
organizations.

The Career Counselor/Job Developer has to have an
awareness of a variety and number of opportunities to insure
that this information is current. A roster must be
maintained and updated daily. Contacts have to be built
with public and private organizations, employers, personne]
officers ana other Job placement services within the
educational community and without.

Liaising has to be carried out with community/based

trainina ana placement organizations. This provides the
opportunities for ént inuing skills trainina whicn are
unavailable through the _ college. It also provides

information on job vacancies, current and future trends in
availability of employment in the varied occupations. Such
infor jon is requirecd so that stucents will not be
miscuiaec in their preparation for permanent employment and
on jop availabiiity.

Follow-up is a vital part of the Program. The long term
onjectives in this Program are job piacement, and housing as
weil as for results in life stabilization. Upon placing a
treinee in work internship or in empioyment. the
Counselor’Jop Developer has to maintain job contact with tne
emp joyer/supervisor. Thus, the counselor obtains regular
assessments on performance and skills-neeas of the
participants. It is proposed that contact and follow-up be
maintainea for at least six (6) month following permanent
piacement in employment or continued educational! trainina
activities.

3. Counseling in Community Resources/Housing Referrals

In the spheres of ‘Outreach’ anda “Referrals’ the
counselor explores and develops community services already
availapie. This counseior has to network for the purpose of
establishing direct linkages with the college’s training
program. Wherever the intensity of participants neeas
preciuaes feasibie provision by the College, pubiic agencies
will be sources for referrais and for supplementary input in

vawareness training. Some of the areas in which out@ach and
training takes place through the counseling activitity are
as follows:

a>) Introducing enroilees to the socia! service
network in areas such as:


oP)

fay

i=)

ms

a

1>

1. Health Care
2. Child-Care
3. Supplementary & Emergency Food

4. Support groups for special propiems’ such
as aicoholics anonymous, victims’ interven-
Chon Teprnoviect., drug abuse prevention
programs

5. Developing trainees’ awareness of programs
which provice activities for family members
in:

1. Recreation

2. Cultural programs which are free

Providing awareness of suppiementary eaucational
programs for youth and chiidren, such as after-
after-school centers:

=

biine trainees to obtein ana maintein con-
acts with cnila-care proviaers ana assisting
hem in negctiatine hours adequate enovan to
allow the trainee time for training stuay ana
or employment:

Wott tnt

Deveiopina housing resources for sincie famiiy
Piacement ana aicine the trainees in tne searcn
for housing;

Exploring strategies for aiternative styies of
nousing such as cooperéetive ventures in owning
ana renabiiitatina government ownea housina:

Previcine trainine ano guidance in carina fer
ana maintaining 4&4 home. aiso home management on
limitea income;

Instructing trainees in methods of seif-heip
project cevelopment for variea community
services needed:

Assisting trainees in developing seif-acvocat-
inc skills for optaining essentiai services
from large-scale and impersonai organizations.
and ;

Maintaining contact with trainees and interested
enroliees wno move out of the hotels to permanent
housing.

chee


D. Aiternative Strategies Development

LaGuardia in its modest training program cannot seek to
aadress the totality of the probiem on homelessness.
However, its training and support services towards Jop
placement for the homeless the Program include assessment
and development of strategies for stablizing the lives of
groups of hotel residents.

The problems which have created housing shortages are
not easily or speedily resolved. Such wholesaie resolution
is outside the scope of the Program or its participants.
Yet. it is anticipated that one of the functions of this
training program will be to assist and enable participants
to express (1) their perceptions of options, and (2) bring
to fruition some viable alternatives for securing their new
jeases on community life at the micro level.

Trainine personnei, counselors, social work personnel
working with the homeless in the community ana interestea
Coilege professionals will test the propositions in regular
sharing and working sessions to cul] these alternatives in
Ca) housina and iiving arrangements: (Cb) individual and
cocveraétive croup resources Geveiopment Cid finéencial
resources development ana planning (2) cooperative family
Support services development: (cop) sei f-empioyment ana
cooperative business options for augmenting famiiy income
ano for iona-term stability.

"Tne agoal of tne trainina’snarine and learnina sessions
Wiil aid trainees in se:if-actualization for at ieast basic
survival and well/being - i.e., food, clotning, shelter,
neaitn ana a degree of self-sufficiency which goaters
security within a vast and rapidly changing society."°:

E. Support Services
1. Services to Children

It is gleaned from a4 survey by the Board of Education
Gatea 1985, that there were then a presence of approximately
2.361 chiiaren in the four (4) Manhattan hotels this
training program serves: 1,281 children in the nine (9)
hoteis in Queens in which some of our registrants live and
sixty (60) children in the one (1) hotel we reach in the

ron»

Currently, in the short-term, the LaGuardia Training
Program for Homeless Heaas of Househoids proposes to
continue to provide child care services. Tne service is
given during the hours that the trainees are in classes.
Sometimes there are days when child-care centers and/or
schools are closea ana wnen the parents are scheduied to
attena training sessions at the Coilege. The on-site

Age


child-care service within the Program meets’ such
emergencies.

Although there is cooperation from the local Agency for
Cnild Development’s day-care centers, there are always 4
number of participants who are awaiting acceptance of their
children, or who have been unable to place children (2) for
& variety of reasons.

In all cases, participants are assisted in their search
for appropriate regular child-care. Tnis is especially so
Since child-care placement is a significant determinant in
the parents’ success in finding and retaining employment.
Tne current service is extended for short-term facilitation
of trainees’ immediate needs for child-care during the
initial weeks of training.

Tne program for the children includes scheduled periods
for jiearnine, play and rest. (See schedule appendea>

b. After-School and Saturday Program for Children

At the present time, the Training Program coes not

provice for the children of trainees after 2:30 p.m. As
tréinees peagin to move into speciai areas of trainine for
occurations whether through this College’s programs or other
feciiities, tne hours spent in the classroom and in work
internships are extended beyond those of the current
Procres

Participants have complained that they have been unapie
to continue classroom activities because of the needa to
survive their school-aged children in the hoteis. Some
parents have withdrawn from the Program because they have
neeaea assistance for their children in tutorial services
anc supervision.

Media investiagations, residents reports and observations

point out the facts that hotei rooms are crowdea, ana ao not
faciiitate reading or homework. "Crowded" anda "dirty
hallways." “unlit stairways." and "chronic drug usage,"

against assemb] ance of’ normal: after-scnool
routines for children.

As of now. there are services provided to the hctel
resicents by the Parks anc Recreation Department, Catnolic
Cnarities, ana the Board of Education. At this time, none
of tnese give consistent academic support through tutorials.
Many cf those programs are recreational, culturai or Adult
Basic Education. Also there is the LaGuardia Community
Coliese’s ‘College for Chilaren’ which has él lowed
recistrétion of children from the hotels on parental
request. This is a Saturday program and its structure of

tivities does not make it accessible to hote! resiaents.


Its Saturday Program’s hours would require that the parents
remain around the College awaiting the children. For many
of them, the College is at least one to one-and-a-half (i -
1 1/2) hours away from the hotei. A few hotei parents have
used the Coilege for Children.

F. Transportation

As in the case of child-care and after-school services,
transportation is vital for the participants in the Training
Program. This is especially so, until each client is abie
to negotiate inclusion of the extra daily costs of carfare
in their budgets prepared by the Income Maintenance Centers.

At the end of each day’s classes, the trainees are
reimbursed, in tokens, the round-trip fare for attending the
sessions. Again, this is intended to be a temporary and
emergency arrangement for trainees. Red tape in Income
Maintenance Offices ana sometimes inadequate ciient worker
rapport hinders the receipt of this benefit. In aadition to
the proposed reimbursement at the Campus, the Training
Program’s off-site/satellite training and support services
to tne Rockaways and Jaméeica hotel groups would recuire
aiternative moae of transportation service. such @s & bus.

Currently the Department of Eaucation and Tne Human
Resources Administration provide bus services to the hotels

for the regular school day. LaGuardia anticipates
advocatina for the extension of such a service to its
after-scnoc! Program extension. Tnis service would be naae
centraily accessible to the hotels. Tne bus services would

be for pick-up of chiidren ana parents at 3:00 p.m. ana for
their return to the hotel between 6:30 and 7:00 p.m., when
tne tutorials and training end.

Bea P mG
I. Housing and Referrals and Advice Service

"Housing is of primary importance for the trainee
population not only by reason of need for stabie and private
living space, but because residence is related to the
potentiaj for empioyment."°:

"The homeless often are stereotyped by society as
unstabie. Employers also hold these images ana, hence they
tena to shun empioyment of persons with ‘questionable,’
i.e., “non-reputable’ or transient addresses. A hotel
address works adversely both_in the searcn for housing and
in the acquisition of a job."

In its pilot program LaGuardia nas nad two (2) instances

in whicn the participants have been job-ready, nave haa
access to vacancies suited to their skilis, but have had to

-14-


restrain the pursuit of employment in order te find
residence. This ordering of activities is necessitated by
the stereotyping mentioned above. Also, should the graduate
trainee obtain full employment she/he has a limited ‘grace
perioag’ in which to find housing or be evicted from the
notel. Employment which results in an Income which is
calcuiated to be adequate for family maintenance results in
the ioss of right to public assistance and hence, to welfare
hotel] accommodations.

Despite that fact, some hotel residents in the Program
are nighly motivated to find employment. Some are sometimes
willing to risk finding fully paid employment although such
a decision might make them ineligibile for public assistance
lona before they have completed the housing search success-
fully. However, the staff and trainees are aware that,
often, landlords too have proven unwilling to rent to
persons with recent histories of being on public assistance
anavor in emergency hotel housing.

In light of the above obstacies to the goals-of job
placement and full participation in the economy of the
a nity. it dis proposed that one dimension of a4 modei
1in@ program for the nomeliess has to pe an intensive ana

tr

comprenensive housina referraéi and aavice service. Training |

has to include activitity to raise the participant’s
awareness, information and sophistication on issues around
the current housing market and on strategies for obtaining
ana maintaining resiaencies. "Tney also have to be preparec

dpe]

fe}
oO =

nea.

o


ILE

r

Concurrent with LaGuardia’s concern about the accessi-
bility of housing to its trainees who are displaced and
livine in hotels, there has been some City University-wiae
concern with a possible problem of dispossession/home-
lessness faced by its reaular student population in the
véerious colieges of the system.

Some officers in student personnel services anda coun-
seiine are reporting cases of homeless students. Prior to
this Gueens Coilege and LaGuardia have attempted to provide
@ type of housing referral service. Tne services were
restricted by the costs of rental accommodations.%: The
Project s recent telephone survey found that some of the
coileges do offer a limited service in the form of a
bulletin board with announcements of housing vacancies. Some
counselors report that there are a few students currently in
sheiters for the homeless. Such accommodations are
inadequate for pursuit of academic work.

Tne community college population incivaes increasinse
humpers of mature aduits as well as youna adults with

-15-

ays in which will aid in that they can hold the housing”

Y


Gependents. Such single-parent families tend to be
aiscriminatea against even in the open housing market.

Statistics on limited housing stock in New York City for
low income housing and the elimination of Single Room
Occupancy (S.R.0.)» housing suggest that the problem of
student housing will become more common to the community
college’s student personnel services and programs. Com-
munity college students tend to come from families with
lower incomes than the four-year college students. Housing
shortages have greater impact on such families.

It is proposed, therefore, that the housing referrals
service considered for the homeless hotel population
includes experimenting to encompass registration of needs of
other seaments of LaGuardia Community College and other City
University student population who are homeless.

A. Justification for Experimental Joint Service in HKousino
Referral

A few calls from student counselors: experiences with
three (3) person’s who hac been collece students (‘one (1)
from City Coilege, one (i) from New York Technical Coilege,
ana one (i> currentiy enrolled at LaéGuardia>, ana their
personaiized accounts of homelessness, suggested that there
may be a need to develop strategies for a referral service
which would be open to any college student in crisis of
nomeiessness.

One iaea& developed by the Coordinator and which is still
in formulation is that of linking a LaGuardia Community
College experiment for a C.U.N.Y. student personnel] service
in housing to the housing referral service projected for
Project Enable (Training Program for the Homeiess Heads of
Households). This provides the aavantages of:

“a. reaqucinag immediate and possibly, lona-term costs of
a massive centralized housing referral service for
the LaGuardia Community Col lege ana G2U Nees
students at risk of homelessness;

b. providing a working model for future directions of.
such C.U.N.Y.-wide or College-specific services in
the system, if this experiment is successful;

c. providing the positive image essential for disad-
vantaged and special programs’ trainees to gain ac-
cess to potential landiords. Referrals from a col-
lege-related housing referral! service rather than
from seilf-initiated efforts, might heip remove
some iandiord prejudices and’or barriers whicn now
operate against the homeless student:

-16-


gd. using the counselor/outreach personnei from Froject

Enable to coordinate and collaborate witn other

agencies working towards employment placement for

the homeless. Such a counselor/outreach worker

would organize and implement seminars/sharing

. sessions, and brainstorming workshops on housing,
~~ and +

e. sensitizing concerned and indifferent residents/
owners in the local communities to the special
housing needs of students and abating owners’ an-
xieties. This would help in obtaining placements
for college-wide students and special students/
trainees within the College." ”:

The rationale for this exploratory model of a broader
service for the student population which would include
trainees of the Program is: Cad to meet the needs of the
hotei residents, it will be essential for the housing
outreach counseling personne! to invest at least a4 third
(1/73) to a half (1/72) or her/his time in building community
awareness of the housing crisis for a variety of student
poruiations. and (b> in accomplishinae this service there
wil pe networking through the coalitions érounad
homeiessness (the community boards and agencies that work in
this area as well as with community organizations, church
groups ana the institutions). These would provide the
persone! contacts and education of private owners./0-

B. Operationaiizine a C.U.N.Y.-Wide or Joint Housine
Referral Service

It is proposed in the Training and Placement Program of
Projiect Enabie to provide (1) instruction, referrals and
advice on “housing,” "the housing search," and on (2) “al-
ternative strategies in housinovresidential accommoaetions"
for heacas of households who remain Program participants,
other specie! student populations ana regular students of
LaGuardia, including those with depenaents."1/-

Tne service would:

1. Soiicit and maintain current and updated informa-
tion on the location of private and public accom-
modations suitable for C.U.N.Y. homeless;

a. single/individual students
pb. married students and their dependents

c. single students with aependents

qa. trainees in the LaGuardia Training Program for
homeless families

Ae


e. trainees who are at risk of homelessness in
other special programs within the Continuing
Education Division.

2. Provide a register of such students with their
specific needs;

3. Invite registration by potential landlords - pri-
vate and commercial, for referrals of students
who are registered or in emergency;

4. Make and take referrais to and from appropriate
student personnel offices in the system for such
students who are in need of support services in
counseling, health care, food supplies;

5. Deveiop on going networkina activity within the
local communities for tne purpose of educating the
residents/owners to the needs of students, eéna
allaying the fears of potential private rentais:

6. Estabiish regular workshops’ sharing groups tec train
current homeless students on the concerns of
landioras, survivai, and human relations strategies
for successful sharing of private residencies or
cooperative acquisition of housing by groups of
individuals or families;

Liaise with as many types of community organiza-
tions and persons as could provide viable short and
long term solutions to students’ housing need:

&. Maintaining continuous interface and collaboration
with the student personne]! offices in the
provision of a professionaliy, aaministered housing
referral service;

9. Counsel and mediate "informally" in potential
housing crises of students on the register. yi

mt

ro]

Off-Site Program

Experiences with hotel residents who have attended
Projiect Enable at LaGuardia and from distances such as
FarRockaway and Rockaway, suggest a4 need for this to extend
itself off-site to meet the training and piacement needs of
such families.

It has peen stated that there were in eariy 1985 some
one-hundred-ana-five (105) families living in the four (4)
hotels housing homeless families in the Rockaway area. There

were then approximately two-nhundred-fifty-two €252>
cnildren. The numbers are increasing. yet currently, there
are no programs and services to these families. Some of

-18-


those parents have come the long distance required in order
to participate in the current Program. They have withdrawn
except for one Ge student due to the tedious
one-and-one-half to two (1 1/2 - 2) hours journey they must
make each way. It is inconvenient and tiring for mothers to
leave school-aged children early enough to get to the
classes at LaGuardia and to return on time to meet and/or
supervise them after school. If a parent has preschoolers
wno nave not been placed in a child-care at the time of
recistration in the Program, he/she has had to travel] with
that child Cor children) for the long hours mentioned.

Many of the courses which are basic to the workplace can
be acquired and successfully run if moved off-site. For
exampie, the trainees at such distances could be offered the
assessment, counseling, training courses and after school
tutorial services in a facility equi-distant from each of
the notels. Discussions with the workers in the Queens area
wne operate the G.E.D. and Basic Education Programs have
proviaea suggestions on a possible jocation for such an
extension program in already existing facilities.

mn &élternative“additional site coula be obtainea for

access to tne Coionial, Lincoin Court, Jamaica Arms, ana
Ners note?! Proximity to the first two (2) hotels woula be
empnasizea. since the Travelers have been receiving varied
services from other agencies and its residents are

revoresented in the current LaGuardia Program.

plorations would have to be made to find out whether
agencies have begun to fili some of these neeas.
poration could expand and improve the content as well
sueliity of these efforts.



Conclusion

The conclusions drawn and the projections for effective
services and programming for stabilization set in “The Many
Faces of Homelessness," are appropriate here (Wilson i985).

Iceally, for homeless and public-dependent parents to be
aveiiable for training and deveiopment, the foilowing
intervention strategies are essential:

A. Time Liberation for Time Management

There must be a decrease in the time public clients
spend traversing the city to obtain services from income

maintenance centers, caseworkers, housing specialists,
physical and mental health care services, schools’ children’s
services. Additionally, the conflicting time demands of

these agencies personne! on the ciients have made it
impossiple for even the most highly enthusiastic of the
participants to be persistent in pursuit of training for
emp!oyment. The trips are physically exhausting. The
continuea interruptions for tne purpose of interface with é@
meitipiiecity of speciaiist personalities. succeea in
qgemotivatina these adults. It a&iso diminishes their sense
of wholeness, persona! and psychic privacy and the
recognition and vaiue of any opportunity provided for them
to or purpose in becoming self directed and self
Sie R

While one of the functions of effective training is to
enabie persons to develop a sense of “time constraints,’
Ctime prioritization for effective short and long-term
persona! life, career and family management), this goa] has
been eiusive for the victims of weil-intentioned but
intrusive ana disconnected speciai services.1®-

To enable trainees to effect personal time piannine and
Management skills there neeas to be a provision of
multi-service centers to include ali of the services
mentioned above. Income maintenance centers should provide
in their facilities Cor should be located in facilities
which provide> all of the supportive socio-personal services
indicatea above. This may require further decentralization
for effective multi-service management in the interest of
reintegrating the lives of clients with a goal towaras such
clients being stabilized and mainstreamed.!/-

B. Support Services on Behalf of Parents & Chilaren:
I. Child Care

Parents have to be freea from chiid-care ana the
immediate non-critical daily routines for long enough hours


Vv

in order to accommodate workday and training scnedules.

@Qniy such relief will allow them to participate fully and

proauctively in meaningful training and work-internships
petween the hours of 8:00 a.m. and 5:00 p.m. Such a
provision would save children from the tedium of being
pulled on long trips to the offices of service agencies as
their parents move around to obtain the benefits of training
ana employment.! :

Child care programs should begin as early as 7:00 a.m.
and run through 7:00 p.m. for at least the traditional five
€5>) working days. CIn the long term, limitea options at a
minimal] fee to clients could be provided in supplementary
care hours on Saturdays. Child care centers shouid inciude
facilities for chilaren from infancy through
kindergarten.!7-

The rationale for maximum possible hours of child and
infant care provisions is that the families wno neeco and
woulda benefit most from such comprehensive provisions are
tne very families that provide workers on/for the odd shifts

Ceveninas and nights, weekends). Tney are
cispropertionately represented amonce the service personnel,
hezitn tecnnicéi workers ana security personnei. Such

Sincie parents need the cuiturail support of reiiabie,
quaiity chiid-care.“¥-

Invaluable spin-offs from such a comprehensive design

ana service delivery include the foliowino: €&) proviaing
centers for supervised training in infant and chiid-care as
we.) as early childnooc education. Tnis woulda pe in

collaboration with post-secondary institutions offering
certificate and degree programs for parents who might wish
to pursue such occupations: Cb) providing directed training
oppertunities for current students in coliege anc university
programs relevant to the well being anda development of
chijiaren, as a result of which there would be (c) reduction
of tne operational costs for maximum feasibie chiic and
care-worker ratios; Cd) improved quality of professional
infant ana child-care, and €e> improved quality _and

intensity of professional training in these occupations. ‘

Pace University’s Child Care Center is one model.
However, there is also another well-recognized mode! of such
@ cGuéiity service trainina operation which has been in
existence for some years petween the Atianta Area Tecnnical
Scnool ana Atianta Junior College where there is a Chila
Development Center (Lab) providing extensive area center
services to the children, students, staff and the community
from 7:00" ‘acm. tov 20:00 5 Mondays through Fridays.
Traineaq and credentialed workers from that Center and its
Proorams operate varied formats of child-care which inciude
weekena, night time ana short-term services as enterprises.
Sucn enterprises can be developec as cooperatives by

a2t=


curren

ly unemployed parents who can be trained in this
area.““:

+
4
<

Ii. After School and Saturday Programs

These programs are required in local schools, colleges
and’or in child-care centers. On weekdays, the programs
should run up until 8:00 p.m., at the earliest. Such a
provision would limit the number of unsupervised hours of
the children of the families discussed above, and especially
so when the children of the homeless are involved.

All of the children from the population mentioned above
and who would be seeking the services are most often
deprived of enrichment, ana opportunities for organizea
leisure time activities. The service is essential not only
for homeless children but for many children from marginal
midalie and workinge-class communities. Opportunities are
limitea or non-existent for organized and’or meaningfui
enrichment and leisure time activities for children of these
socio-economic strata of parents. Lower income families
often cannot provide the academic assistance neeaeda for
their chiiaren to appiy themseives in the compietion of
homework assianments. In these less advantacec nousenoids.

pnysicel anc psycnic spaces are unavailabie or bomparaec.

Further, for lower income families, neither the parental

{ academic resources, time nor the physical ana_ sociai

7

environments permit these children a semblance of equity of
opportunities in eariy childnood. Yet, eauity in the
availapility of these conditions is essential if the
cniiaren ot these families are to enter, compete and succeed
in mainstream education.

It is proposed that these centers wouid have provision
for transportation to and from nome, schooi and centers both
for the children of permanent residents of the community ana
tor chilaren of the temporary resiaqents who are the homeless
in the jiocal hotels. To isolate the services,.the hotel
femiiies, geographically, physically ana socially is to
permanently stigmatize the children as weli as to reinforce
negative prejudices ana stereotypes of disadvantagea groups
of peopie.<*:

ili Alternative Schools

A ol ep |
an There has to be a provision of aiternative schoois

within reasonable distances from the hotels to provide the
cnilaren stability and continuity in their education and to
spére them the trauma many of them now endure in hostility
ana rejection by resiagent children and their families.
Simiiariy as the Middie Coiiege ‘a!ternative hiagn scnoo!>

ywas successfully developed ana impiementec py LaGuardia

Community Coiiege for chronic truants, an alternative moaei
for accommodation of k through tweive (12) homeless students

398


could be demonstrated. Transient students create special
neeas for innovate adaptation of secondary education. Where
transience is a way of life, permanent institutional forms
anc processes which are responsive ana capabie of
maintaining excellence in their products is important. cs

iV. Transportation

Transportation between hotels and services such as to
local service centers, schools, supplementary and
equcational programs, could be provided on a regular daily
schedule convenient to the needs of the children anc their
parents.

The proposals, I. through IV. answer not only the needs
of the parents but presume to begin to provide "preventative
inter-generational social-intervention on behalf of the
society of the near future."<!-

"In tne absence of the traditional (taken-for-grantea>
supports found in ‘intact’ and mainstream single-parent
families. the families to which these strategies are
agaressec are unable or under-prepareda to carry tnrough the
vité. caring functions essential to positive ana consistent
socio-persona! nurturing of chilaren."<©:

In effect, such vitai strategies provide for: (a) more
effective responsiveness to emp i oyment and training
opportunities: (b> more appropriate socialization of
chilaren of families in crises. or who are uncer chronic
socio-economic and’or socio-personai stress. In the absence
ci the traditional (taken-for-granted) supports found in

intact’ and mainstreamed single parent families,
QGisaavantaced families in chronic crises are unable or
unpreparea to carry through the vital caring functions
essential to positive ana consistent socio-personai
nurturing of children.

“Only with such supports in place can we expect
participetion in the workforce by public-dependent members
of tne aduit population who are physically. socialiy ana
mentéaliy able to do so on the fuli-time basis and for the

stability of their lives. Tne public would then be
supsiaizing incomes and support services for productive
human beings ana reducina the percentage of

inter-generational aependents.<7:

Both parents and chilaren of the disadvantaged can be
afforded equality of opportunity to access and compete for
rightful and dignified piaces in our society."


N

Footnotes

Wilson, Joan, E. "Programming Effective Training for
Public - Dependent Heads of households." (1986)4
(Paper in submission for publication].

Ibid.

Ibid.

Ibid.

Ibid.

Wilson, Joan, E. "The Many Faces of Homeiessness,"
1986) {Paper in supmission for publication].

ipia.

Tole.

Piscen.s. oan, © E. “Homeiessness: An Issue for the
Responsive Community Coiieoge," (1985).

Ibia.

Ibid.

ro

bia.

Ipid.

Op.Cit.. ¢1986)".

Ibia.

Op.Cit., ©1986),

Ipia.

Op.Cit., (1985) and (1986).
Ipia.

Ibid.

Ibid.

Ibid.

-24-


29%

ibid.
Ibid.
Ibid.
Ibid.
Ibid.

Ibid.


Bibliography

Kaufman, Nancy IK 9 “Homelessness: A Comprehensive
Poiicy Approach," Urban Social Change Review, Voi. 17,
Winter 1984, pp. 22-26.

Stoner, Madeline R., "The Plight of Homeless Women."
Socia} Service Review, Vol. Sty December 1983, pp.
565-581.

Wilson, Joan E., "Programming Effective Training For
Public Dependent Householas, 19862 Cin submission for
publication». "The Many Faces of Homelessness," 1986",

“Homelessness: An Issue For the Responsive
Community College," 1986° Cin submission for pubiication>.


TRAINING PROGRAM FOR HOMELESS HEADS OF HOUSEHOLDS RESIDING IN HOTELS

PROGRAM COORDINATOR

Bia xed Seti se eh
-——-- — — -| Training eee tss re | Support Services

s es a ae i
l . : i '
|: Instructor(s) — | Counselor/Trainer Counselor/Hotel Oucresch! | Services To Child
: t '
| Occupational Skills. | GED/ABE Career & Job || Commmity Resources j
| +—Revelopment_ | Deve lopment | | Deve lopment |
| | Placement & Follow-up; || __Housing Referrals ;_ ChildCare
| { Se
! | | After-School
Sa Se :
i | Canatileare 'Turorials/Worksho,
{ | Skills & Apcicudes
| Sain SS eee | AsSessment
{ Career & Workplace Skills j
| I Communications 1 fe
| 1 Interview | t Ri Pe a eae
L — —Tine Menageren_, | Personal Development
| { Self-Assessment
| | Self-Image Building
| Health

ro | Parenting Skills
| Off-Site t Socio-Personal Skills
[ Prograns Sy ; Life Management

Stress Management

|
I

|

I

I

t Nutrition !
i

|

|

1

i 1


te yan lbh g ay heme
fay Heer gn?