Face 2 Face with Elissa Unger

Hi Neighbors: need Elyssa Unger from Face 2 Face.  She will be letting us all know about the amazing things that the organization has been doing on the inside for over 50 years.  To learn more or to donate your time or funds, go to Face2face.org to learn more!

Transcript

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Hi, everyone. Just a note about today's episode is we did have some audio issues, so you may hear me coming in and out, and you may hear some long pauses just because we had to re-record some of this. We apologize for any wonkiness with the sound on this episode. We hope to have it fixed for the next one Thanks. Hey, everybody. This is Lisa from the Greater East Side District 2 Community Council, and this is D2 You. Today we are talking to Alyssa Unger, who works with the organization Face to Face here on the East Side. She will be introducing us to the organization and also filling us in on an exciting housing project at work. So welcome, Alyssa, and thanks for coming on the pod today. Thank you so much, Lisa, for having me. Let's start by telling everyone a little bit more about you. Are, you an East Sider? Do you, do you live on the East Side? I am not an East Sider, but I know a lot of staff here at Face to Face are on the East Side. And of course, I spend a lot of time on the East Side with my work, whether I'm at the clinic or engaging with the community or our community partners.. So how long have you been with Face to Face, and what exactly is your role there? So I have been with Face to Face just about a year and a half. Okay. And my role is health programs manager, and I currently oversee our team of health educators, our integrative health providers, and also do community education and training. So what is the most difficult part of your job? I think that the most difficult part of the job for me is knowing that the young people we serve are really struggling with, mental health issues, lack of supports, either in their family or in the community, lack of housing. You know, there's just a lot of struggle, and that's really hard to see. I know that there are a ton of organizations in the community to support our young people, but, capacity and funding is limited, and so we just can't do what we all wanna do. Yeah, I can imagine how hard that is. And you probably take a few things home at night with you, whether you want to or not Yeah, I joke that when I'm awake at 2:00 AM, I'm running through random work scenarios and things like that. Well, call me, 'cause I'm, usually- Okay more the 3:00 AM type- Okay but, you know, I could change up my schedule a little bit for you. Right, they merge together at some point. Right. What's your favorite part of your job? I think my favorite part i- I think it's a two-part. So I really enjoy the leadership aspects of my position, managing the programmatic, goals and things like that. I also enjoy leading my teams. But I think also I really enjoy the opportunities that I have to work directly with our young people. So recently we had Face to Face Day, which we celebrate every year, and it celebrates the anniversary of Face to Face, and we had our Youth Leadership Council who put together a video and did a panel presentation. And so I got to spend some one-on-one time with this small group of young people. And, you know, it was just amazing at the end of the evening when they finished their panel, you could see the pride just all over their face, and you feel it, and it's just, it's just really powerful. Oh yeah, that's gotta feel great. And so often folks are negative when they think about today's youth and where we're going as a society, and then you actually have the opportunity to listen to these kids, and I think we're gonna be okay Yeah. I think given the right opportunities and the chances to use their voices, they're pretty impactful and insightful. What is one thing that people are surprised to find out about you? I think people are often surprised to find out that I am an introvert. I think, when I'm in this role and I'm in the community and I'm, engaging, I, I'm that. I'm engaging, so I come across as extroverted, but, truly am an introvert. However, I don't know if you've seen this, but there is a new category that they have out there called an outrovert, which is, I think, a perfect explanation for me. Like, situational socializing. I choose the places to be extroverted, but at the core I'm an introvert. I love that and I can totally sympathize with, having to be the extrovert and at the core wanting to be home with a good book and being the introvert. So let's talk a little bit more about Face to Face. How long have you been doing the good work that you do here on the East Side, and what exactly does Face to Face do? Yeah. So Face to Face has been on the East Side of St. Paul for over 54 years. Wow. First founded by East Side community members, we opened our doors in 1972 as a volunteer-run drop-in center and crisis counseling. We also provided reproductive health back in the day, too. And then in 1994 we opened Safe Zone, which is our drop-in center and day shelter, for our young people experiencing homelessness. So yeah, so we've been around in the community for a very long time. But today, Face to Face really continues that original commitment to our young people, and we serve ages 11 to 24. Oh, wow. So a big range there. And we really respond to the high needs that young people today are facing, using this holistic, wraparound approach. So our two locations, so between the clinic and our drop-in center, we provide medical and sexual and reproductive healthcare. We provide outpatient and drop-in mental health. We provide housing support services, education and employment services, youth justice supports, and then our community programs which work with the partners, out in the community in, in St. Paul, Minneapolis, and outside of there as well. So is it on a sliding scale, or is it... so what we say is we, if you don't have the ability to pay, you still can come get services with Face to Face. We do have navigators on site for our young people who need health insurance, so we can help young people enroll in health insurance. We do a sliding scale if that's what someone's able to do, but we will never turn someone away, if they don't have the ability to pay. That's great, and especially at this time where folks are dealing with higher prices from everything from groceries to gas. There's so many folks in need who don't have health insurance or access to health insurance, so it's so needed Yeah, in our Safe Zone drop-in center, we actually have a resource room, so we get, fresh food from community partners. We can provide toiletries, showers, some of those needs, for our young people who are experiencing either the homelessness or, just difficult times. We try to really support the whole person with those wraparound services. That's amazing. How do youth connect with you? I mean, is it a situation where social workers recommend youth to you? Or how exactly do youth find you? Like I said, we have the two locations. So our clinic is on Arcade Street, and Safe Zone is down on 7th Street near downtown St. Paul area. And so we are a walk-in, so young people can walk in and receive services at either site. People probably recommend, for sure, to come to Safe Zone, but we aren't, strictly a referral-based organization. Part of our community programs is that we are out in the community sharing our information, telling people about us, telling how to find us, things like that. So, self-referral, come on in, and, we always kinda say, "If we don't have it, we'll help you find it." So approximately how many clients at Safe Zone or at the clinic are you serving at any given time? Do you have, historical data of how many kids you've helped? So I can tell you that last year Face to Face served over 4,000 youth across all our- Wow, that's amazing. Yeah, and we continue to see that number growing, which is, you know, I mean, that's tough, right? It speaks to the current situation in, our society. And then, last year there were almost 23,000 visits to Safe Zone. That's a massive number. Yeah. We had over 3,000 mental health visits, and we had over 300 uninsured medical visits. You are doing good work we've been rooted in the community, right? So that's, we still really try to stand on those values of being here when the young people need us. So let's talk about after the youth leave the clinic or safe zone. Is there follow-up with the youth or is there a way to see where they go from here? How there's impact? Yeah, so for Face to Face, we really aren't about follow-up, but we're about longevity. So we really like our interactions to be relational. We wanna build relationships with young people, and we don't want to just have transactions with them. We want to, kind of like that wraparound, right? We wanna be there to support them and walk with them on their journeys. And so sometimes we walk alongside any particular youth for three to four years. They may pop in and out as they need things, but we have this long-term, relationship with our young people. And, I know I didn't send this question in advance, but do some of the youth help to guide some of the resources that you provide? Do, you have like a youth board or something that they can actually contribute to? Absolutely. So we do have the Youth Leadership Council, which is comprised of our young people who are in our programs. And that is really about sharing the young person's voice. And in the past, that council has brought, a music program to Safe Zone, different arts programmings and things like that. So through those, interactions and youth voices, we are learning about things that the youth value or things that they might want. And then really that gives us this,, direction really on, on things we need to do to meet their current needs. I'm so impressed with, the numbers of folks that you are helping and that the work that you're doing, do you have any success stories that you can tell us about, yeah. I would love to share a story about a young man. He was sleeping in the hallway of an apartment building, and someone had told him about Face to Face and the services that we provide. He eventually went to Safe Zone and engaged in services there and received- meals, took showers, things like that. After about a month's time of going to Safe Zone, he engaged with our employment, program and had a career assessment done, and realized that he was really interested in the construction industry. And so time played a impact, and he got an internship, and then eventually graduated, from a construction program, and now has a stable living environment and is working in the field that he was interested in. And, in his story he shared that he now shares that impact with the younger kids that walk past him from his apartment, and just encourages them to stay in school and follow their own dreams. So it really becomes not only just his success or the success of any of our clients, but that word of mouth and, the impact just grows when we are able to help even one young person. And I bet there are hundreds of stories that, of folks that you have helped that are now paying it forward almost- Yes, yes to folks that they know. That, that's wonderful. Well, when we had originally connected, you mentioned an exciting new housing project. So tell the neighbors more about that project. Yes, it's so exciting. So Face to Face is planning a 24-unit apartment building of deeply affordable housing for young people. The building will be across from the Arcade clinic, so it'll be nearby. Okay and this, this project, this complex, this building, whatever we wanna say about it, is really set up to respond to the high needs of our young people, because we'll have all those same support services that we have at Safe Zone in the building itself. So that, it's just a really exciting project. It's obviously very needed in our community. And we hear a lot from young people about their challenges to get housed. Their age, their lack of rental history, their lack of employment. You know, there's just this bias against young people in our society. And so, once we even get a person housed through our programs, there's still challenges. They are still facing, employment and the cost of living and things like that. So we are very excited about this project and, we know that it's... We've heard from our youth. We've had meetings with the young people, and they talk a lot about the lack of housing and the lack of supports. And so you said 24 units, is that right? 24 units. What is your timeline for this project? So right now we are finalizing the planning for the complex and continue to fundraise. So we are halfway through our raising the money for this amazing building. But of course, we're still looking for people to fund us. Our intention is to break ground in 2027, and we really want the community to step up and help our young people. But 2027 is around the corner, so this is it's so right in front of us. Unfortunately or fortunately, I'm not sure. True that. Yeah. True that. You mentioned supported services right in the building. Are they going to be studios, one bedrooms? What will be kind of the breakdown for that? So I don't have the exact breakdown, but it'll be- Okay a mix. Yeah, it will be a mix. So it can house, There'll be some studios, some one bedrooms, and then some two bedrooms- Okay for our younger families. So I know that they've gone through various configurations to try to maximize the space and get, a mix of the apartment sizes, but it- there'll be all three options. Yeah, I was wondering, especially all the work that you do with those who have small families who are still trying to figure out the world- Right as youth. Right. Just making sure that they have that opportunity to be in that building, too. Now, will it be a new construction, or is there a current... i'm not picturing right across the street, but I know I drive by there. It is currently a parking lot. Okay. So it is brand- Then I know exactly where it is Okay. It is a brand-new construction. And I mean, I even look at the parking lot and I still think, "How is a building gonna fit in there," right? It'll obviously go up, but still- Right just even visualizing when you see this empty parking lot that, you know, in, in a few short years it's gonna be this wonderful new building for our young people. Well, make sure you keep in touch- Yeah so that when you have your official groundbreaking and, and the ribbon-cutting when you open your doors, that- Absolutely We can let the neighborhood know. Absolutely. So you mentioned that, you're still part of your capital campaign, so if someone would like to donate or volunteer time, who would they reach out to at Face to Face, and how do they get ahold of you yeah, so the best, contact would be to call the main number for Face to Face and reach out to our community engagement coordinator. So that phone number is 651-772-5555. Of course, we're online. You can find us at facetoface.org, and that's a two in the middle, the number two- in the middle. And then of course, TikTok, Instagram, All the social Facebook. Yeah, all the social. We're there and the And we're it's always face, number two, face.org. Fantastic. Well, I will make sure to put that in our notes for the episode too so if folks listen in and then they wanna take that next step- We'd love that they can reach out to you. Great And like I said too, even the volunteers, we love to have volunteers even if it's small projects that different programs need support with or, we have a big event and we need a little extra hands on deck. We, we love to partner with the community, and we love to make, like we said, new friends, friends of Face to Face. Anything more on the housing project itself or on Face-to-Face that you would like to share with the neighbors?, I think just really we're here, we've been here, we plan to be here a really long time, and we continue to invite others to support our young people in our community. And, we just want to continue doing good work. And you are, so thank you. Thank you. It's a really important service that you're providing to the neighborhood. So there are a couple of questions we like to ask all of our guests. Yeah. First off, what is your favorite thing about the East Side of St. Paul? So as someone who's not from the East Side of St. Paul, I actually really love the fact that the community members on the East Side seem to really look out for each other. So whether it's businesses or families, I think it's really just a community of care, and that's wonderful to see. Even taking walks on our lunch breaks, you see people out in the community, and they're looking out for each other, whether it's up near the school or, just walking up and down, Arcade. So I, that's really great to see. Oh, yeah. We- That's our East Side pride. We take care of each other pretty well. Yeah. If you met someone who had never been to the East Side before, where would you send them and why? I mean, I would send them to Face to Face. Of course. If we can't help you, we are gonna find someone who can help you. Especially with all our different, partnerships in the community and connections. I think it's great. It's a great place to start. And if you aren't a young person or don't have a young person in your family, we would love to have you as as a friend of Face to Face, and just to help share our message. Other than that, I'm gonna say Burnt Chicken is pretty amazing. Ooh. Yes, I've heard- If you guys have food from them, it's always amazing. They're wonderful people. So, we'll just give them a little shout-out. Absolutely. I've heard nothing but good things. I haven't, ventured over there yet myself, but I am looking forward to that, for sure. Yeah. Yeah. Well, thank you so much, Alyssa, for coming on the pod today. Thank you so much. And hopefully we'll have you back when we're looking closer to that groundbreaking and ribbon-cutting for that new building. We would love that, and thank you for having me and allowing me to share about all the great things that Face to Face is doing. Thank you for listening to today's episode of D2 and you. If you are new here, welcome, and be sure to hit follow or subscribe so you never miss a new episode. Check out our website at greatereastside.org for further information on what is happening in the neighborhood. We have a special series of events coming up in June on Saturdays between 10:00 and 1:00 on Idaho Avenue between White Bear Avenue and Gary Place. They're called Mattie's Saturdays, and you'll be able to meet with our brand new mascot for the Bear Larp District, Mato Ska. Check out our website for more information at greatereastside.org or at the new bearlarpdistrict.org Thanks, and have a great day