Presentation by Kristie Guthrie, Licensed Professional Counselor, Hope Counseling Services
Ms. Guthrie spoke about her background in counseling and her offer to provide training sessions to staff on various childhood disorders that they may encounter in their work with children. Staff completed a survey of their level of knowledge and desire to learn more about various disorders (PTSD, ADD, etc.) Kristie also discussed self-care tips to avoid burnout for professionals and provided the outline for what a typical training session will look like. Staff submitted the completed surveys to Carlin who will share them with Kristie. Based on the interests of staff, a training session will be set up in 2010.
HCEF Updates
Bill Wolfe was reintroduced to the group as the new Executive Director of the Homeless Children's Education Fund. He shared his previous role as the HCEF Chairman of the Board and his participation in the Mini-Grant Awards Distributions. Agency staff welcomed him to the organization.
Review of the "Summit to Ensure Quality Education of our Homeless Children and Youth" hosted by HCEF on 11.20.09
Carlin recapped the event that was organized by HCEF. About 125 people from diverse sectors and industries were in attendance. The featured presentations included Barbara Duffield of NAEHCY, a mother from the Sojourner House MOMS program, Nancy Hubley of the Education Law Center, Dr. Peter Miller (formerly of Duquesne University) reporting on the HCEF sponsored research study conducted this past spring, and a panel discussion with representatives from the AIU, Pittsburgh Public Schools, HCEF, and Allegheny County's DHS. Several of HCEF's agency partners were in attendance at the event. Cacie Cunningham of Open Arms shared feedback with the group. She felt the parent speaker from MOMS was a "best case scenario" of mothers that may be in the programs. She described the difficulties of working with parents who "aren't willing to do the leg work" that the mother making the presentation spoke of. Cacie also described the challenges of working with clients who do not see the need for the information or resources that agencies are trying to share with them. She stated that one must "listen for the ways that other people listen" to build a connection to clients in need of services who do not recognize their own need.
Useful Resources
The Family Service Provider Network Children's Committee (of Philadelphia) publication "Promising Practices for Agencies Serving Homeless Students. This recently developed guide is a resource for building strong partnerships between family service providers and schools. See the publication
here
Voyage to Shelter Cove and related activity book. The organization Homes for the Homeless and their policy wing The Institute for Children and Poverty (ICP) is led by Ralph da Costa Nunez. He has written several children's books to help all children understand what it is like to be homeless. See these and other books in the series here.
Program Reviews and 2010 Plans
LabRatz – Agencies expressed interest in continuing with them in 2010 and praised the flexibility of the organization. Carlin stated that if an agency suddenly has a large group of, they can contact LabRatz and with a few days' notice LabRatz staff will most likely be able to work out something to get a program at a site.
Society for Contemporary Craft – Agencies expressed interest in continuing with them in 2010. The Fiber Scrapbooks workshop that is currently being offered has been greatly enjoyed by the children at BTI.
Warhol Museum – A agencies who have hosted the silk screening and screen printing workshops stated that these have been a lot of fun and "the best out of all of them." Children are able to walk away with posters they have made and also a t-shirt or sweatshirt with images. Those who have not scheduled a session with the Warhol are encouraged to do so. The appropriate age range is 5 years - adult. Parents have gotten involved along with their children and have had fun.
The 2010 schedule of workshops is being finalized and updates on that will come in January. Suggestions for workshop topics/providers are welcomed if they fall into the arts and sciences categories.
Volunteer Program Report
Susy Robison, HCEF's Volunteer Coordinator, provided information on the sites where HCEF has placed volunteers. The volunteer training initiative she has initiated gives the volunteers knowledge regarding the issues facing the homeless community. To date there have been trainings in domestic violence, homelessness and poverty, and addictions. In 2010 the trainings will focus on mental illness, reading Improvement strategies, and diversity. Susy continues to recruit new volunteers to bring more to each site.
(12/17/09)
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