GARY – Sojourner Truth House is saying “Welcome home” to young women in times of transition. Single females 18-24 who are homeless after aging out of foster care can now be provided up to 36 months of transitional housing in two buildings donated to STH by the Poor Handmaids of Jesus Christ, established by the religious order in 1997.
One house, offering five furnished bedrooms as well as common areas, is a former convent on the STH campus at 410 W. 13th Ave., Gary, and the other, providing four furnished bedrooms that can house as many as 10 residents, again with a living room, kitchen, dining room, bathrooms and a conference/classroom, is the former Nazareth Home for Children at 4301 Elm St. in East Chicago, across the street from St. Catherine Hospital.
As Sojourner Truth House, a women’s resource center for at-risk adults and their young children, continues to grow, said Executive Director Angela Paul, “We saw an opportunity to meet the needs of transitional youth who have timed out of foster care. We want to capture these young women before they become homeless and offer them three goals to work on: gaining employment, higher education and acquiring stable, permanent housing.”
This is the first housing program under the auspices of STH, which up to now has concentrated on day center programming and made housing referrals as available through partnerships with shelters, churches and other nonprofits.
Paul stressed that residents will come strictly from referrals from the Indiana Department of Child Services or Regional Care Group (a division of Geminus Corp.) who will first become STH clients. They will be assigned a case manager and complete an intake assessment to find out how the day center can help them with classes, counseling, transportation (to school and work) and any government documentation they need, including birth certificates and Social Security cards.
If they are eligible for transitional housing, they will be offered that option and live in the Gary or East Chicago house while benefitting from the day center for breakfast and lunch, classes, computer services, health services and other resources.
When the day center closes, they may attend school or work, while returning to the house for dinner, evening chores and sleep. “If they are living in East Chicago, they will get transportation to and from the house each day, and we have them available, they can get bus passes, too, for appointments and work or school commitments,” said Paul. They will get wraparound services; we will work with Purdue University Northwest, Ivy Tech and Indiana University Northwest to help them further their education.”
The transitional housing center will be their full-time home on weekends, unless they are working or attending school, and they will have laundry facilities and fully furnished kitchens to cook their own meals or take turns preparing group meals. “We’ll have a board that lists chores for each resident, but they will have free time, too,” Paul added. Residents will have access to the STH food pantry and the Clothes Closet shop.
Paul said STH is counting on maintaining a positive relationship with the City of Gary and building the same kind of support with the City of East Chicago administration. “We really need their support and generosity, especially as we continue working on becoming independent from the Poor Handmaids in the next few years,” she noted.
STH, which is now largely funded through donations and grants, still receives some PHJC financial support, but is in the process of becoming its own sustainable entity. “We get generous donations from individuals, corporations and nonprofit groups, as well as having more than 300 volunteers to supplement our staff,” Paul said. “We couldn’t do this work without our volunteers.”
The annual Walk for Sojourner Truth House is the main fundraiser for the nonprofit, and is set for 9 a.m. on Saturday, June 13, starting and ending at the STH campus, 410 W. 13th Ave. in Gary. “We have already reached almost 60% of our $110,000 goal in pledges,” reported Jennie Weer, donor relations officer. “We have 21 teams signed up, and as usual, the team led by nonagenarian Sister Kathleen Quinn, PHJC is at the top of the pledge list.
“This is our major fundraiser, and every dollar raised goes to day center participants through programming. There are no salaries paid through this event,” said Paul.
Participants can walk the two-mile route or less, and the morning will include games, music, door prizes, vendors, a photo booth, face painting and refreshments including popcorn, hot dogs and snow cones. To register a team, or an individual walk, or make a donation, visit walkforsth.org.
For more information about Sojourner Truth House, its food pantry that is open to the community, or to volunteer, call 885-2282.
Caption: Kristy Olsen, community resource supervisor, and Jennie Weer, donor relations officer, water the plants and check the supplies in the kitchen of the former convent at Sojourner Truth House in Gary, which has been converted into a transitional housing center for young women ages 18-24. The Poor Handmaids of Jesus Christ, sponsors of STH, has donated the convent, and a former orphanage in East Chicago, to the women’s resource center. (Marlene A. Zloza photo)
