NEW DIRECTIONS WITH KATHY JENKINS 6/9/26

Transcript

SPEAKER_02 0:00

It is time for Tuesdays for Hope. And joining us right now is the CEO, Kathy Jenkins, and the executive director, William Hauser. Good morning.

SPEAKER_01 0:10

Good morning.

SPEAKER_02 0:10

Good morning. How are things going with this shared role here? Has she been able to hand over rain successfully?

SPEAKER_01 0:18

Yes, I believe so. And I and I don't want to speak for, but I think she's been able to relax a little bit more over the last couple of months. Or focus on other things.

SPEAKER_00 0:27

Yep. You know, I've been focusing a lot on finding more money. You know, the the donations have dropped off. Great.

SPEAKER_02 0:38

Everybody's complaining of that, by the way, for nonprofits. I know. I know. Money is going tough.

SPEAKER_00 0:43

Times are tough, but not only that, but over the last several years, we've seen um we we've seen long-term grant funders reduce the amount of their grants. And we always get the we love what you do, but we are doing the best we can.

SPEAKER_02 1:04

Okay.

SPEAKER_00 1:05

And then there are other um funders. Um we have one out of Columbia that are just they're they're they're changing the whole way they do grants.

SPEAKER_02 1:15

So um But is it because they have a lack of money as well, or are they are there more organizations that they'd rather give to?

SPEAKER_00 1:24

I I'm not hearing that there are more organizations, I guess in some cases, but what I'm hearing more of is they are reducing the number of organizations that they are serving. And and it's all about results-based accountability. And one of the things that I I think that we at New Directions are really proud of is that from day one it's been about results. It it it goes back to we our mission is not to provide a bed and a meal and let people just go about their own business. Our our focus is to help people get back on their feet. So we found several different avenues that were most likely positive solutions for people. So what we do is measurable. One of the questions that I get often is how do we know when somebody gets out of the shelter and they leave in one of our permanent and we call them permanent, permanent positive solutions that it's really permanent. Well, how do we have a lot of people?

SPEAKER_02 2:40

How long do you follow them? Do you follow them?

SPEAKER_00 2:43

We don't have the bandwidth. A lot of them follow up with us, which is great. Some people end up coming back, but um but how do we know? We really don't, but what we do know is that when somebody comes in in crisis and we provide housing stabilization and we provide a way out of homelessness, we have connected them individually with the resources they needed individually to get back on their feet. So they walk out with a toolbox of resources. So if but that's is your job. Sure.

SPEAKER_02 3:30

I mean not to be their, you know, their right arm for the rest of their lives, right? Correct.

SPEAKER_00 3:36

I mean So I think, and William, you chime in here.

SPEAKER_01 3:39

I I didn't No, you and I I I agree with everything that you were saying. And it's almost like I I used to tell people all the time that if if there was one thing that I could do for someone in in this situation, and in in regards to addiction or mental health or whatever, I I wish I had a magic wand that would just give them the willingness to proceed forward.

SPEAKER_02 4:00

Yeah, you know, it's a personal responsibility piece. That's right.

SPEAKER_01 4:03

But yeah, but that that level of willingness um seems unrealistic at the time when you're down and out. And if you could just give someone the motivation to to follow through with the the task. You can't. And you can't, that's right. And but but that's that's what I would do because you can't do it for them. So um there has to be a level of willingness and and open-mindedness to a certain extent that that I'm gonna try something different. I'm I'm gonna take away all the ways that I've tried to do this, and I'm gonna listen to someone that I don't know, and I'm gonna follow through with this and get it done.

SPEAKER_02 4:34

Because they do have to relinquish all this control in order to follow your process. And that is a difficult thing for someone to do when they're just rather be numb.

SPEAKER_01 4:45

It's it's so wild because i y you you're relinquishing control to gain control. Mm-hmm.

SPEAKER_02 4:50

Yeah, they just don't see it. But to see that is Yeah, it's hard. It's hard to see it. So, um when you are you know, because you have many different there are many different reasons why people come into the situation. Um and which reason is usually the most successful to help? Oh because some people come in because they're they're tired. Yeah. They're just you know, unable to get their life together and whatever. Some people have addiction, some people have mental illness. That that seems like the hardest one to get is the mental health. And um and so is it possible that uh you can even whittle it down even more?

SPEAKER_01 5:38

So I to to answer your question, maybe the I don't know the easiest. They're they're all tremendously difficult. But I I would say someone who is there strictly because of financial reasons. So is is the easiest because it you know that you're saying then that they have no history of mental health, no history of substance use, so you don't really have to worry about them doing anything that they shouldn't be doing while they're there. And the focus is solely, all right, we're gonna find them employment and they're gonna save some money. That's right. Yeah. And so that that would probably be the easiest, um, with mental health of course being the most difficult. Yeah. And when I say mental health, I'm talking about severe mental health.

SPEAKER_02 6:17

Right. Because a lot of people do get behind the eight ball and do become very uh depressed. Yeah. And I I don't know if in the clinical way, but they get to the point where they're just down on their luck and they spinning their wheels and they just cannot get traction. Um maybe they have medical debt, maybe they had a bad relationship and they ended up, you know, they're on their own all of a sudden. Um and so they just need to do certain things to get out.

SPEAKER_01 6:44

So And Kathy used the term housing stabilization. It's something that we've been throwing around recently in the last, you know, four to six weeks or whatever. But it truthfully that's what it is. If it's strictly financial, you know, you're coming there to stabilize. Yeah. That that's all you you're coming there for a period of time just to get on your feet, to stabilize, and then to move forward.

SPEAKER_02 7:05

Yeah, because if you don't know where you're sleeping tonight, that's correct. Or w w if you're gonna eat, if those are the primary right, yeah, like shelter, food. Yeah. Um and so so Kathy you have a lot of experience with new directions as this you know, since its its inception. And so when you are starting to see the money maybe this year won't be as much, what what are the first programs to go? Like how do you make those decisions? Is it a team decision? How do you make those decisions?

SPEAKER_00 7:38

So we have um over the years, we have been trying to each year put some money into reserves for times that are difficult. We don't want uh to eliminate any of our programs because our programs are so important.

SPEAKER_02 7:58

What about the number of people you can accept? Does that have to go down?

SPEAKER_00 8:02

No.

SPEAKER_02 8:03

So how do you do it? Is there enough reserves? I mean, how long do you have reserves for? I mean, as as individual people, they say, oh, have at least six months reserves, and most people don't have three months.

SPEAKER_00 8:14

We're good.

SPEAKER_02 8:15

Yeah. We're good. You can weather the storm.

SPEAKER_00 8:18

We can weather the storm um if if it doesn't last more years. I mean, it's been a it's been a couple of years and we've been able to maybe not put as much money into reserves.

SPEAKER_02 8:31

I mean, have expenses gone up because it's gone up for the rest of us.

SPEAKER_00 8:35

Absolutely. Absolutely, and I am for the first time in we are going into our 14th fiscal year, I am projecting a small loss. And I have never projected that before. But we are beefing up. We are trying to beef up our staff. We're starting a workforce re-entry program in our kitchen. Um we are really trying to move towards getting people in and out faster. We we uh consider this a six-month program. So the goal is six months. We can serve more people in a shorter period of time and then help them move on.

SPEAKER_02 9:12

So, William, what would you say that you need the most? You know, do you have enough support from politicians and local leaders to overcome this and also, you know, to help float you?

SPEAKER_01 9:27

I I think uh to to float us, hmm, I I don't know.

SPEAKER_02 9:33

More cheerleaders?

SPEAKER_01 9:34

More cheerleaders. We do need more cheerleaders. And and the one thing that we do and I'm going to do, I'm I'm I'm going to get out and just kind of make sure that there aren't any misconceptions about what we do out there. You know, I've started.

SPEAKER_02 9:46

We've been trying to do that, man. I've been trying to do that every week for how many years? Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 9:51

If we could just get everybody on the same page, what we do, you know, and we've and we've done work to our website and we've done all sorts of stuff in the in the past couple of months to try and make sure that everybody has the opportunity to really know what we do and and not what we used to do or what Street Reach used to do.

SPEAKER_02 10:08

You know, it's some people still call it that. Yes. And it's not that. And it's not. Well, if people want to know what you do, you can go to helpnewdirections.org, give them a call, take a tour, learn about it, and then see if you and your organization, if you're part of one, wants to get behind it. Um, and and help propel this in helping others, helping neighbors basically, community members, some people, the young people, some veterans. I mean, there are just so many di abused women that find themselves, hey, I have to I have to go out on my own now in order to protect myself and my children.

SPEAKER_00 10:44

I mean, there are just so many reasons why people And we are serving more families with children than we have ever served in the past. Um that's a whole nother layer. Sure, yes, yes. And that you know, William was talking about motivation, but motivation is a lot higher in in families with children because the parents ha it's not just about them. Yeah. So um so Danielle does have people with more motivating factors.

SPEAKER_02 11:15

Well, you can go to helpnewdirections.org to continue to help your community, and uh you can even donate on a regular basis and just put it on autopilot. It's a great idea. Find out more helpnewdirections.org. Follow them on Facebook as well, William Hauser, the Executive Director, CEO, Kathy Jenkins of New Directions. Thank you so much.

SPEAKER_00 11:33

Thank you, Liz.