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Resource Report 8 - Family Support Center of South Sound · Resource Report

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Hello and welcome to Resource Report, where we
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share with you important information about local
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nonprofits and resource organizations that support
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the community we share, produced by Pathways
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to Agency. I am your host, Rainmaker. I had the
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pleasure of meeting with Maija Glasier-Lawson,
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the Development Director for the Family Support
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Center of South Sound, right here in Olympia,
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and got the real deep dive just for you. Here's
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my interview with Maija. I am here at the Family
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Support Center with Maija Glasier-Lawson. And you
1:04
are the... I'm the Development Director here
1:07
at Family Support Center and have been since
1:09
2018. Oh, it's been a minute. That's a minute. So
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can you tell me... Kind of a little brief history
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of the Family Support Center. Family Support
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Center started in 1992. We started as a one -stop
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shop for families in need. We were a little spot
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in downtown Olympia. And since then, we have
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greatly expanded to our west side location. And
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now we have over 50 employees, five main programs,
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so many small programs, I can't count them. And
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we're just continuing to grow as the needs of
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our community continue to grow. Oh, that's fabulous.
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So let's talk about the services. Let's maybe
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start with coordinated entry because that kind
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of leads into other things. Yeah, coordinated
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entry, if you're just kind of asking about what
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it is, coordinated entry is... as the name kind
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of suggests, the entry point into all of the
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homeless response services and programs and resources
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that are available in Thurston County, the majority
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of them. I would say 85 % of providers in our
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community operate within that CE system. That
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means we're all using the same assessments. We're
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all... getting a better understanding of vulnerabilities
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and the harm that can come to somebody who is
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experiencing homelessness using the same measurements.
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And then we put them all on the same list based
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on the same metrics so that we can do a good
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prioritization for people who need the resources
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the most. CE is not first come, first serve.
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The people who get the services first or are
2:47
at the top of the list are the ones with the
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most need and who would come to grave danger
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if they didn't get support immediately. Okay,
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okay. That's a very good overview. Yeah, so I
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know that the coordinated entry leads into the
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homeless family services. Can you talk about
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that? It does, only in as much as what I was
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just saying about coordinated entry, which is...
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Coordinated entry is how people are placed into
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other programs. So it is not a natural if you
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go into coordinated entry that you're automatically
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going to go into homeless family services. It's
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not until there is case management space available
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and resources available. Right now, there's over
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300, actually, there's probably over 400 families
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on the master list, which is just families with
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children. When you get into the entire population,
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it's much larger. Our homeless family services
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program cannot serve 400 households at a time.
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So essentially, once somebody comes up to the
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top of that CE or coordinated entry list, then
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they're matched with the case manager and are
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able to work on securing stable housing. In the
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meantime, Family Support Center is providing
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resources at our resource station in the family
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room. We serve as a warming station. So even
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if you are still sleeping in your car, you can
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come in, get hot coffee, hot oatmeal, charge
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your electronics, stay until five. Hopefully
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we've got a blanket or something, you know, that's
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useful for you. And so even if people aren't
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being served by case managers, we're always trying
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to meet whatever need we can. Okay, cool. And
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then what does it look like for a person? Like
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here's a family and they're going through the
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process. Can you detail that? What does that
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look like? As much as it would be nice to paint
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a nice, easy picture for you, each family has
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a very individual experience. And so there is
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no one way that it looks like. What the goal
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is, is that a family will connect with the house.
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They've gone through CE. They got placed with
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a housing case manager. Maybe they're in shelter,
4:52
which would be great. And then they are working
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with that housing case manager to really work
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on their personal goals. Case managers don't
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drive what clients do. Clients set the goals
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and we support them on that journey. And so housing
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first is what we follow here. So housing is always
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the first and primary goal. But to get there,
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a lot of times you have to go through a lot of
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barriers, overcome a lot of hurdles to be able
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to do that. And the case managers are there the
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entire way working with that family, connecting
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them to rental resources, moving costs, helping
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them find places to apply to. We've got a staff
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member who puts a list together once a week,
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you know, and is able to provide that. So it's
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just really whole wraparound services, comprehensive
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and very much tailored to the unique needs of
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the family. Okay. I have a question about, you
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know, some people have trouble following up for
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themselves, you know, executive dysfunction things,
5:54
you know, getting distracted, overwhelmed. How
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do you support people navigating things like
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that, that might need that extra help with things?
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However they need it, right? So some people,
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that is a... help them set calendar reminders
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for survivors. We try to always make sure they
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have a journal and a paper calendar because it's
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hard to track things, especially when you don't
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necessarily have the funding to keep your cell
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phone on all the time or people take it. So what
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is the backup method? Lots of phone calls, constant
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touches. One of the things that I love about
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even before COVID, but definitely post -COVID,
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we meet people wherever they need to. So virtually,
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over the phone, at the library, at your kid's
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school, at, you know, probably not needed a house
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because that's not safe for our case managers,
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but somewhere close to your home that you feel
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comfortable in a public location. And so it's,
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again, kind of what I mentioned of the individualized
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support is over half of our staff, 76 % of our
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staff, I want to say that that's pretty accurate.
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We'll say 70 just to lowball, has some sort of
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chronic illness, disabling, or physical or mental
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condition. We have a diversability group here
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where we talk really openly about all of that.
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Neurodivergence is probably the most common thing
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here with our staff. So, like, we understand
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and try and get that empathy and work with how
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we've coped. or how our friends coped and try
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and help clients you know go lose their ways
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that's that's so wonderful to hear that's that's
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so validating and and supporting and encouraging
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thank you so then you've got a couple of housing
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operations the pair Blossom Place and the landing
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housing? So what we have is our shelter operations.
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And so that is where Pear Blossom Place really
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comes in. So that is our primary shelter location.
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We also have our main campus shelter, which is
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located here at the FSC campus. And we use area
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hotels. That's kind of a switch that happened
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post -COVID, just so people aren't as tight,
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you know, on top of each other as they were before.
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At Pear Blossom Place, since we opened that in
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2014, there has been seven permanent housing
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units or seven apartments, essentially, that
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are subsidized. So Section 8 or, you know, other
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housing vouchers. And so we have seven apartments
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there at Pear Blossom Place that we've been managing
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for 11 years now. And then in 2019. So then.
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In 2019, when we moved to our Westside campus
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location, FSC campus, we actually purchased the
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property directly across the street, which is
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just over four acres. And I'm happy to say that
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the end of 2023, we had our grand opening for
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a 62 unit apartment complex, which is all affordable
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housing. We worked with the Housing Authority
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of Thurston County. So there are subsidies for
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a lot of those housing units. And then all of
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those units, all of the families were hold off
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that master list that we were talking about earlier.
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So there's some of the most vulnerable families
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in our community who had the highest need for
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shelter or permanent residence in this case.
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And then let's talk about the Family Justice
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Center, how that works. Yep. The Family Justice
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Center is really a collaboration between multiple
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entities in our community, prosecutors, sheriffs,
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the clerks. They all come together with the goal
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of supporting survivors. the best. And that means
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as many supports and services as possible, working
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in tandem to meet the needs of survivors. With
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the Family Justice Center here, confidential
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advocacy, advocacy support when they're going
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to court, help with protection orders. We've
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got a housing program that supports DV survivors.
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So there's a lot going on. That's really a collaboration
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that's co -located in a single location. Wow.
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Safety around police. Yeah. I'm going to say
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that what I'm not saying is that safety is the
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thing. It's just an advocate is going to come
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to a situation with a survivor with a different
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lens. You know, we are looking at it from our
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role is to fully support the survivor. That is
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always the goal. We have different priorities
10:23
sometimes. And so we're just trying to get it
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to where everybody is approaching the survivors
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in that same way. Survivors are often afraid
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to call the police, which is understandable.
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It's been weaponized against them, you know,
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from their perpetrator or abuser. And so they're
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already a little afraid. And so we just want
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to like help police officers be as. The least
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intimidating as humanly possible and capturing
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all the information that we as advocates need
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when we go to court. And so it's getting everybody
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on the same page. It's not so much a safety thing.
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It is how is everybody supporting the survivor
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to the best of their ability to create a safety
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that is long term and sustainable for that survivor.
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We, you know, even though we work with our criminal
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justice partners and civil partners, we are still
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100 % confidential agency. We do not. uh like
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we don't confirm or deny if we are working with
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a survivor and the survivor's like i don't want
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any cops here cop comes in and like we can't
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confirm or deny that that person is here so it's
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always we always follow the want and wishes of
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the survivor and you know in those scenarios
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um and we are confidential you And survivors
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don't show up in certain systems that we operate
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here, you know, like only certain people have
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access to some of these things. And so that's
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a really big thing. And then cops are not on
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site a lot here. And when law enforcement, because
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we do understand that for some survivors walking
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and seeing law enforcement personnel, like right
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there at the front desk might make them nervous.
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Like even when they are on site, they're our
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partner right next door, right here at the. sorry,
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the prosecuting attorneys got their DVSA, Domestic
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Violence Sexual Assault Task Force, is right
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here in our middle building. And so that's where
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they're going to co -locate. And so it is an
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option always. And we prioritize confidentiality
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above all else. That's safety, confidentiality
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and safety. That's important. That's important
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to clarify for survivors who might feel hesitant
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to come in to the Family Support Center offices
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to, you know, seek safety. We can just assure
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them that everything here is confidential and
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we would never share their information with police
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officers or law enforcement without their express
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permission. Awesome. Yeah. Family Resource Services.
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Family Resource Services is our oldest. program
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and probably the one most true to the original,
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you know, one -stop shop concept. I think everything
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else is built around that. Most people don't
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recognize or know that a lot of the funding for
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homeless services are specifically for those
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who are literally homeless, as in sleeping in
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a car, a tent, or fleeing domestic violence.
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For those who are couch surfing or move around
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a lot, you know. There isn't a lot of funding
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for those. There isn't funding to keep people
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in their homes. There's more since COVID. You
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know, eviction prevention is a thing. But it's
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still less than like 13 % of like our budget
13:24
here. And this is where Family Resource Services
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really comes in. They are the catch -all program.
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They are probably the most connected to all of
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the resources in our community. A lot of our
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staff here are case managers. of one kind or
13:39
another. They're resource navigators. That's
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what we call the staff in that program because
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they are constantly navigating like, okay, you
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come in and you need $1 ,500 in back rent and
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we don't got it. So what are we going to do?
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And like, we're going to have you work and reach
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out to your mom. And then we're going to reach
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over to this church. And like, they are just
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that kind of program that can help you solve
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any problem. And if they can't help you, they're
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going to know who can help you. And I think that
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that's really where it comes in. For years, there
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was no funding associated with that program as
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in there was nothing for like rental assistance
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or eviction prevention. And it's still managed
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to help hundreds of people a year, you know,
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and they're still doing the same thing. There
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is some funding for it now, but I would say that
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75 % of the work is still just that resource
14:28
navigation and problem solving, a lot of problem
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solving. Sometimes you just need somebody else
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to look at your problem to help you think about
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a different solution. And that's what that program's
14:36
for. I love that. I love that. It's such a challenging
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situation to be in when you are just couch surfing
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with your friends and you have a kid and you're
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trying so hard not to be homeless and in order
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to get help, you have to, you know, jump off
15:03
the cliff. and see what happens. And that's scary.
15:09
It is scary. And one of the things that is hard
15:16
for people working here, I don't work with a
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lot of clients. That's not my job here. You know,
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I honestly would break my heart. every day to
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do that. I'm good at what I do. And I like that.
15:29
And I'm amazed with the strength of all of our
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case managers and stuff like that. Because sometimes
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that is the honest realities. you're not homeless
15:37
enough or suffering enough for some of these
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resources. And that's awful. And that's actually
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why we started a few of the programs that we
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have here. So we have a Housing First program,
15:46
which is for people who've been waiting for resources
15:48
for a long time on that master list and has some
15:51
sort of mentally, like behavioral or mental health
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issues. We have a program that kind of supports
16:00
them now. which is great. We have diversion funding,
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which is another pot of money to help those people
16:05
who are maybe in that couch surfing about to
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be like, yo, I can't stay on this couch anymore
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and she's kicking me out. Like, what do I really
16:12
do in this moment? So maybe we've got some diversion
16:14
funding for you. And so unfortunately, there
16:18
is not always an easy answer and you're not always
16:23
going to get services even if the need is great
16:26
because there's somebody with a need greater.
16:28
However, what I would say is the adage of the
16:30
squeaky wheel gets the grease. You know, it makes
16:35
sense. So I've gotten older, like come in regularly,
16:39
talk to whoever you're working with regularly.
16:41
If you're working with our navigators, you've
16:44
got a face, you've got a name, check in with
16:46
them. It's hard when people will reach out literally
16:52
the day before. something is about to happen
16:54
like we can only work so fast here usually if
16:58
there's a situation in your couch surfing you're
17:00
starting to get a sense of like i really can't
17:01
be here anymore reach out to us as soon as you
17:04
start to feel that not at the very end um and
17:07
then also funding changes all of the time We
17:13
write grants all year round. They all operate
17:16
on different calendars. You can call one month
17:17
and there's no services. You can call the next
17:19
month and there absolutely is funding available.
17:21
So just be persistent. Just be persistent, very
17:27
hit or miss. And also Family Support Center will
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give you a list of other resources. Reach out
17:33
to those resources too. Like everybody is struggling.
17:38
The number of people who are entering homeless
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for the first time in our county, you know, increased
17:43
a lot last year. Homelessness in general is 30
17:48
% higher than it was the previous year in our
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county. There's not enough resources to go around.
17:54
So the person who is doing the hardest work to
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get those is going to be the one who gets them.
17:58
I don't know how else to say that politely. Yeah.
18:01
Yeah. Yeah. There's unfortunately just not an
18:03
easy answer to that question. Yeah. It sucks.
18:07
We want the real facts. Because this is a concern
18:12
that I've heard so many people call out. I myself
18:17
have been in this position, in fact. And I think
18:22
sometimes that's one of the reasons why people
18:24
don't reach out because they get pessimistic
18:28
because it's so hard. But you've got to overcome
18:30
that if you want to move forward. You've just
18:33
got to keep trying. Yep. And then one thing too
18:36
that we always have here in our family room is
18:41
whatever the community has donated in terms of
18:45
resources. So say you are couchsurfing and you're
18:47
trying to save money and you're trying to like
18:49
cut costs. Okay, come by here. See if we've got
18:53
food. See if we've got any diapers. You know,
18:55
like there is the... This is where the creative
18:59
problem solving, this is why it's great to work
19:01
with one of our navigators, even if there isn't
19:03
financial assistance, they're gonna be like,
19:04
okay, you're not signed up for these benefits.
19:06
Well, if we get you these benefits, that's gonna
19:07
save you $300 a month. And then you can put that
19:09
to rent, you know, like that kind of problem
19:11
solving mentality. And so I would say, just come
19:14
in, just keep coming in, come use our resource
19:16
station, come talk to people if they're available.
19:20
Absolutely. And you mentioned coming in and getting
19:24
supplies. Down in your lobby, you've got tons
19:27
of bins of all kinds of different things. There's
19:30
books. There's all sorts of things. Yep. That
19:33
is our family room, which is located on the second
19:36
floor of our building. And that is completely
19:39
donation -based. And so whatever people have
19:42
kindly donated is what we are kindly giving out.
19:44
And so in any given day, that could be a Christmas
19:47
tree to... into cans of food or, you know, sometimes
19:52
we've got baby supplies. Cribs will be in here
19:55
sometimes. We don't have a lot of clothing, but
19:57
we do have outerwear, jackets, coats, hats, scarves.
20:00
And really it is, you know, think about it as
20:03
a treasure hunt. You come in one week, grab something,
20:06
come in the next week, it's a whole other bag
20:07
in there. Yeah. So we're talking about couch
20:12
surfing and stuff, but what about people facing
20:15
eviction and rental assistance? Yep. So we have
20:20
a little bit of funding for that. That's the
20:22
eviction prevention mental assistance through
20:24
Thurston County. But, you know, cost, it just
20:28
doesn't go as far as it used to. So we have a
20:30
small pot of funding for that. And we've got
20:32
maybe a little bit of funding here from a community
20:35
member. So altogether, it's still not a lot of
20:37
eviction prevention funding. And so we prioritize
20:41
people who are probably like the closest to eviction
20:44
in those moments. But I will say, what did we
20:48
say that last year? We were only able to provide
20:50
eviction prevention for about 30 % of the people
20:53
that asked because it just goes so fast. You
20:56
can imagine when you have, we'll just throw out
20:58
a round number to make it easy. Your rent is
21:00
$2 ,000 and you're six months behind. All of
21:02
a sudden that's $12 ,000. That doesn't include
21:05
all of the fees. So if we are providing support
21:08
for you because literally you're going to be
21:09
homeless the next week, which is great to provide
21:13
that support. Well, if we started with $60 ,000
21:16
and that costs $12 ,000, then that's, you know,
21:19
how far is that going to go? Those are not the
21:21
actual numbers. I'm just throwing out the round
21:23
numbers, but it's not too far from the truth.
21:26
So the cost of doing business and the cost of
21:28
keeping people housed is going up. And the amount
21:32
of money available to do that is not. Yeah. Do
21:41
you connect people with like, legal aid for tenants'
21:45
rights? We do. We are really lucky to have Sound
21:48
Legal Aid, used to be Thurston County Volunteer
21:50
Legal Services. They have been one of our on
21:52
-site partners for many years. They're actually
21:54
located on -site here with us. They do legal
21:59
clinics here twice a month, plus a whole bunch
22:02
of other places in our community. We're also
22:04
well connected with the Northwest Justice Project,
22:06
which also helps with those kinds of issues.
22:09
Awesome. That's so good to know. Cary Grass is
22:12
amazing. Cary Grass is amazing. Shout out to
22:15
their team. Yeah. And then... You have different
22:19
events. There's like a weekly on Thursdays breast
22:24
chest feeding and the power parenting once a
22:28
month. Yeah. So that is through our parent and
22:31
child education program. My favorite way to describe
22:33
that program is our tiny but mighty program because
22:36
it's just one person part time, but she helps
22:38
a lot of people in our community. And so she
22:40
does a weekly breast slash chest feeding support
22:44
group. And that is all things lactation. Our
22:47
instructor for that, or facilitator, I should
22:50
say, has been a lactation specialist for a long
22:52
time. She is pretty much all of our staff. If
22:56
they've had children, she is their specialist
22:58
that they go to. I can't think of anybody who
23:00
hasn't used her as a staff member, actually.
23:03
And then her and... partner of hers they've been
23:08
doing the power parenting workshops for a number
23:11
of years and that is a free both of those are
23:14
free community workshop that really um it's not
23:19
your typical parenting class you know it is uh
23:22
how do you deal with tantrums and dealing with
23:25
screen time and you know how you talk to your
23:27
kids about sex like so she goes over topics that
23:31
i think aren't really useful and that don't get
23:34
talked about all of the time, as well as your
23:36
traditional issues. A lot of that is power dynamics,
23:39
control, food for kids. It all kind of wraps
23:42
up into the same things. And so she brings her
23:44
and her partner bring a unique lens to those
23:46
classes. And they are really popular, actually.
23:50
Yeah, and very helpful. So back to the fresh
23:55
chest feeding, are they connected to a LESH league
23:59
at all? Our instructor for that absolutely is
24:03
the Leche League. Yeah, she is like, yes, for
24:07
years. Okay. Yeah, they're great. And also I'm
24:10
going to just do a plug for another nonprofit
24:12
that I think is wonderful because our instructor
24:14
for the parent and child education, as well as
24:17
her co -teacher for those power parenting workshops
24:19
have been with Wild Grief for quite some time.
24:23
I'm Megan Carlisle. Yeah. Always give them a
24:26
shout out. The work is just so great. I really
24:28
value it. I do. It's amazing. Power parenting
24:37
classes. So I know that there are different parenting
24:42
styles. You know, I myself am a big advocate
24:46
of conscious, gentle parenting. There are different
24:52
outlooks on things like that. Can you describe
24:56
a little bit about what? you know, what types
24:58
of perspectives are coming in. Everything that
25:03
we do here, including those workshops, are based
25:06
on the Five Protective Factors framework, which
25:08
are really about, again, strengthening the whole
25:11
family. That goes back to what we do here at
25:13
Family Support Center and always have is that
25:14
holistic approach. And it is working on the social
25:18
and emotional connections, understanding the
25:20
ages and stages of development, really working
25:24
on strengthening the relationship within the
25:28
family as well. And so you can look up all five
25:30
of those protective factors if you want. that
25:34
is what a lot of those classes are based on and
25:36
so I would say that not a style because those
25:39
that framework can be applied across styles and
25:42
the real goal is those five core things and then
25:45
you meet them however you are and so there isn't
25:47
a particular parenting style there's just kind
25:50
of this idea that we're trying to strengthen
25:52
the whole family unit and create really strong
25:53
connections within and then like within the family
25:56
and then with you know the larger society and
25:59
community Hmm. Okay. Okay. That's really wonderful.
26:03
Yeah. How often are those classes? The Power
26:07
of Parenting workshop? Those are once a month.
26:08
The second Tuesday of the month at, oh man, 6
26:11
to 7 .30 or 6 .30 to 8? I cannot remember off
26:14
the top of my head. It's 6 to 7 .30. There you
26:17
go. And those are available on Zoom. They used
26:20
to be in person at the Hands -On Children's Museum
26:22
through a great partnership with them. But we
26:24
found... covid switched to zoom and actually
26:28
attendance was better because then we didn't
26:29
have people don't have to worry about child care
26:30
or that's kind of dinner time for some families
26:33
so i would say that the classes actually got
26:36
bigger post covid because of that reason awesome
26:39
yeah um then you have some different events um
26:44
aside from those uh looks like they're maybe
26:48
fundraising events the mother's cave the mother's
26:52
day run um 100 men or women who care things like
26:57
that you are giving me a great reminder that
26:59
i gotta talk to our website person and make sure
27:01
a couple things get updated um yeah the men's
27:04
the the men who care is a broken link on their
27:07
website and also we're not doing we've officially
27:10
this is the first year we're not doing our mother's
27:12
day run oh really yes We do have fundraising
27:16
events. We have two at this point in 2025. We've
27:20
switched to two major fundraisers. One will be
27:23
taking place in the fall. That's our 100 people
27:26
who care. And that's just a great one hour event.
27:29
You pay $100. That's it. There's no extra ask.
27:32
By the end of the night, we made $10 ,000 in
27:34
an hour. In, out, snacks. So libation, alcoholic
27:39
or non, short little program, you're out of there.
27:41
The other one is a lot more fun and complicated,
27:45
and that is our kind of large gala and auction.
27:47
And that will happen not this spring, but it
27:50
will be in the spring of 2026. And if I have
27:53
my way, it'll be a fancy masquerade ball. Oh,
27:56
that sounds fun. Yeah, for that one in particular,
27:59
our signature gala and auction. I don't come
28:03
from a fundraising background. I think I got
28:05
into this because I like to throw a good theme
28:07
party. And I bring that to the gala and auction.
28:10
And so we have done a 20s event in the Air Museum.
28:14
We did an 80s event in the Student Union Building.
28:17
And then I'm just looking for a good spot for
28:19
a masquerade ball. That's how that goes. And
28:22
then there's actually another broken link on
28:25
your website I'm curious about. Camp Hope America?
28:28
Yeah, I'm not surprised that's a broken link.
28:30
I'm actually surprised the link is still on there.
28:32
Camp Hope America is something that we started,
28:34
not we started, but we adopted through that Family
28:39
Justice Center Alliance, kind of the national
28:41
alliance. There are Camp Hope Americas all over,
28:45
as the name implies. We had one here in Thurston
28:49
County, and it was really geared for kids who
28:52
have experienced violence in the home. It is
28:55
a week with... No electronics. It's a week of
28:59
challenges. And what it really is getting down
29:01
to is building resilience and hope in kids. That
29:04
is all. Camp Hope, as the name kind of implies,
29:07
it's all about hope. But part of a big part of
29:10
hope is resilience. And so unfortunately, post
29:13
-COVID, that program didn't survive. Yep. Are
29:18
there, do you know if there are other programs
29:20
like that or if that one's continuing in other
29:23
places, if anyone's interested? Oh, yeah. I mean,
29:25
I don't know about here. I would have to just
29:28
say look online. And then you can go to the Family
29:32
Justice Center Alliance website or Camp Hope
29:34
America website and just put in your location
29:37
and it'll spit out the closest one next to you.
29:39
We had some people, just community members, who
29:41
saw the program and wanted to do it. But a lot
29:44
of it was referrals. So we don't have one here.
29:46
Sorry. Are you working with people who are coming
29:58
out of incarceration, like maybe bringing families
30:01
together? What does that look like? You can totally
30:03
break that down. No. Do we work with people who
30:07
have been previously incarcerated or coming out
30:08
of incarceration? Yes, if they have been in jail
30:14
for less than 90 days. Do we spearhead the reunification
30:19
efforts? No. But if we are working, say somebody
30:24
came in, somebody was homeless before they went
30:26
into jail. They've been in jail for less than
30:28
90 days and they come out and we're working with
30:31
them. Right. So they have to have been homeless
30:33
before. They have to have. amount of time that
30:36
they've been in an institution, whether it's
30:38
a jail or, you know, they're getting some mental
30:40
health support or substance abuse support, whatever
30:42
that institution is. And then if they're working
30:45
toward reunifying with their family, it gets
30:48
a little tricky there. It really does. And we,
30:52
like I said, we don't do a lot of the reunification
30:54
efforts, but we, your case manager will work
30:57
with you with DCYF. So you kind of get into some
30:59
technicalities like how often is the child going
31:02
to be with you? If it's less than so much percentage,
31:04
then technically you don't have children in your
31:06
home. So there's some tricky things around that,
31:08
but we have worked with that in the past and
31:12
had, you know, somebody at shelter who didn't
31:14
have their kids, but they were working on reunification
31:16
and that allowed them to be able to have a home
31:18
spat for those kids to be able to come to. This
31:22
is where your case manager is your biggest advocate
31:24
in some of these moments and is able to work
31:26
with your DCYF case, you know, whoever that is
31:30
on the other side to be an advocate to get you
31:32
and your family connected. And the area of service
31:37
with that, is that just Thurston County or across
31:42
some counties depending on where their families
31:44
are? No, we really work within Thurston County.
31:49
You get some exceptions, like survivors who are
31:51
fleeing into or out of Thurston County. You know,
31:54
that's a little bit of an exception. If you were
31:56
getting out of... If you were a resident of Thurston
31:59
County, say, and then you were put in like a
32:03
Pierce County holding facility for 60 days or
32:06
whatever, but Thurston County was your residence
32:09
before that happened, then that was still being
32:10
considered your residence. I'll say. It's my
32:12
understanding, and that's not a program I run,
32:14
so always check in with the staff of that particular
32:17
program, which would be our coordinated entry
32:19
crew, and they would absolutely have those answers
32:21
when it came to it. Sure. And let me caveat that.
32:24
Got it. And what about working with people going
32:29
through rehabilitation while accessing services
32:33
with you? You all work with that? Yeah, we are
32:35
a low barrier. You don't have to be sober to
32:37
be in any of our programs. In fact, we highly
32:41
encourage it. We're going to support you through
32:43
it, but it is not a box that has to be checked.
32:48
And we currently have a staff member who is located
32:51
at Pear Blossom Place, which is our largest shelter,
32:54
who supports anybody in any of our shelter locations
32:57
who are going through a treatment or behavioral
33:00
health plan. And they are just there to encourage
33:03
families who are going through that. And it's
33:06
never like, did you make your appointment? It's
33:08
like, oh man. how are the appointments going
33:11
oh you missed one well do you need like transportation
33:13
or like what's going on it's never never am you
33:17
were messing up everything here is strengths
33:19
based so it's like oh we recognize that didn't
33:22
happen well how come okay like how can we overcome
33:23
that barrier so that you can go the next time
33:26
so yeah that's that's so supportive yeah yeah
33:30
a lot of people face judgment when they're going
33:33
through any kind of program um and and it it
33:37
feels like y 'all don't have that So one of the
33:40
things that I'm proud to say in grants and anywhere
33:43
else is that Family Support Center has really
33:46
done a push to, since 2018, the board and leadership
33:49
made the decision and has actively been pursuing
33:52
that to have staff that is reflective of the
33:55
families and households that we serve. So just
33:59
to the county grants, 46 % of our staff is BIPOC.
34:02
Like I said, upwards of over 70 % has a mental
34:06
or physically disabling condition or chronic
34:09
health issue. Well over 50 % of our staff, I
34:13
want to say probably close again to that 70%,
34:15
but we didn't ask the question. But in previous
34:19
years, it's been pretty close to 70 % of our
34:21
staff has some sort of lived experience with
34:23
family violence, homelessness, you know, childhood
34:26
poverty. So a lot of us know, we know. I've couch
34:31
surfed. had a stalker myself you know like i
34:34
know i don't even like i'm like that is really
34:37
helpful and validating to hear that but it's
34:39
intentional like you are going as as somebody
34:44
who does this work even though i don't work with
34:47
a lot of clients like i have empathy for every
34:49
single person because i've had rough knocks in
34:51
my life and that i think is a big reason why
34:54
um Some of our case managers and other staff
34:58
have been here for so long because they really
35:00
believe in the work because they've experienced
35:01
it and they know the difference that they are
35:02
making. It's helpful. It's so helpful to know
35:06
that the people you're reaching out to for help
35:09
have been where you are, know what it's like,
35:13
and have that empathy. And if people have used
35:18
our services, and I think we have like a six
35:20
-month, kind of you can't have used our services
35:22
in six months. We have people who were in our
35:26
shelter program running the entire program now.
35:30
Like, that is not unusual. We have a number of
35:34
staff who have received our services in the past
35:37
and are now on the other side of that helping
35:40
people. We were really excited through the Housing
35:42
First program in partnership with the housing,
35:44
or sorry, with the health care authority. We
35:49
got a couple of peer counselors on staff now.
35:51
We didn't have that until a couple of years ago
35:53
and that's really great. But I think that most
35:56
of our staff are actually kind of peer counselors
35:58
anyway because they have gone through a lot of
35:59
the lived experience. What kind of training do
36:04
y 'all do for coming into work here? A ridiculous
36:09
amount of training. It is program specific. So
36:12
there are some things that are kind of universal
36:14
across all programs. A lot of that has to do
36:17
with normal operations here. mandatory reporting
36:22
uh diversity equity inclusion belonging is something
36:25
that we really value here it's in our mission
36:27
statements and all it's in everything that we
36:29
do and so training associated with that that
36:32
looks different for everybody so we just kind
36:33
of have a variety of trainings that people can
36:35
choose from i think that there's a couple that
36:37
are like base mandatory um and then you know
36:40
so like A lot of our housing programs are taking
36:43
the, we'll see if I can get this right, like
36:45
the golden thread interviewing technique, which
36:47
is like, how do you set your goals? And how do
36:51
you, you know, work toward those in small little
36:53
pieces and motivational interviewing? And so
36:55
there's this whole range of training that people
36:57
have to do. I would say our Pathways program,
37:00
which is our newest program, which is done in
37:03
partnership with Choice Health Regional Network.
37:06
I have to clarify that that is the Pathways.
37:09
program is not Pathways to Agency. You know what?
37:13
I actually had to clarify that myself the other
37:15
day when I was looking something up. I was like,
37:16
that's the wrong Pathways. Yeah, I'm Pathways
37:18
to Agency. Yeah. So the Pathways program at FSC,
37:22
which is actually, you know, the staff working
37:25
in that are community health workers. They're
37:27
getting all of these extra levels of training
37:28
related to mental, physical, behavioral health,
37:31
the community connections that we have for those.
37:34
They have all of these training modules to actually
37:36
Work with the clients that they're working with
37:38
on some of those smaller health related goals,
37:40
you know, and so it's just, yeah, it's pretty
37:43
broad. For sure. And then volunteer and training
37:49
opportunities. Volunteer opportunities are wide
37:53
and varied at Family Support Center. We accept
37:56
help pretty much every day of the week because
37:58
our family shelter is open 24 -7, seven days
38:02
a week. And so. A lot of volunteering is either
38:07
project specific, so like building the playground,
38:11
supporting the fall fundraiser event, and we
38:14
get a bunch of people who support with that,
38:16
which is great on decorating day. We also have
38:18
a huge need for our family room to help out with
38:22
the resource station, help manage the donations,
38:24
help greet families as they come in, make sure
38:26
they're getting what they need. So the best way
38:29
to do that is going to be to... to actually just
38:32
reach out on our website or our Facebook. There's
38:35
posts there all the time, and there is a Google
38:37
form, so it's like an interest sheet. And our
38:40
amazing volunteer coordinator, Kayla, will get
38:41
back to you pretty darn fast and set up an interview
38:44
to learn more about what you want to do. Yeah,
38:46
and that's... Anybody could pretty much volunteer.
38:50
Anybody. We even take kiddos as long as they've
38:52
got a parent with them, of course. And I think
38:55
right now we've got an 18 -year -old brother
38:57
reached out because his young 10 -year -old sister
39:00
really wants to volunteer with us. And so, you
39:02
know, we're bringing them on board. And so we
39:06
do accept. I personally love the younger you
39:10
are to volunteer, the better. I think that's
39:12
a great thing to do. So, you know, you can just
39:14
do it with an older relative and come in and
39:17
help out too. What does that look like for a
39:19
10 -year -old volunteer? Is it like cleaning
39:21
up the toys or? I'm imagining, especially taking
39:24
advantage of those little fingers, there'll be
39:26
lots of cleaning up toys. And then, as I've mentioned
39:29
elsewhere, the family room has a resource station
39:33
and all of the donations or anything that's available
39:35
in that resource station are brought in from
39:37
the community. So we're constantly sorting through
39:40
things, making like. just going through donations.
39:44
We get bags of donations a day. And so we're
39:46
constantly kind of dealing with those. And then,
39:48
you know, we also give things out to community
39:50
members pretty regularly. And so in a given day,
39:53
you have 10, 15 different households who are
39:55
coming in requesting things. So helping out with
39:57
them too. And then whatever in the interview
40:01
process to become a volunteer, Kayla's going
40:03
to ask you what you're interested in. What's
40:06
your goal of being a volunteer here? And then
40:07
we're going to try and connect you with something
40:09
that does that. So if the 10 -year -old's really
40:10
into art stuff, well, great. I need somebody
40:13
to draw thank you cards, for example. So we will
40:17
work with the volunteers to do something within
40:20
our means that meets their needs and their interests.
40:22
Cool. It kind of almost sounds like you might
40:26
get ideas for new projects by volunteers coming
40:31
in with ideas. You know, and we really encourage
40:34
that, particularly when it comes to our shelter
40:36
program. We have a fabulous volunteer, Jen, who
40:39
hosted a New Year's Eve party for the kiddos
40:43
and then has done a birthday party a month. You
40:46
know, we have people that come in to our... In
40:50
our main shelter, Pear Blossom Place, there's
40:52
a large communal area, living room, kitchen,
40:55
office kind of space that everybody's able to
40:58
use. They have their own like little teeny units
41:00
with a bathroom and kitchenette in there. But
41:03
people like to use that common space. And so
41:05
people come down and then like cook a communal
41:07
dinner and like everybody eats who's there. And
41:10
so it really just kind of depends. And we do
41:13
welcome ideas. Oh, that's wonderful. It is wonderful.
41:16
It's about community, right? People think of
41:20
housing services, particularly shelters, and
41:22
they think utilitarian. You're just providing
41:25
shelter and a bed and a cot. Sure, you can do
41:28
that, but why not provide a sense of community
41:30
and help people feel more connected to their
41:33
fellow neighbor, to their fellow man, to just
41:35
somebody else going through the situation that
41:37
they are. And so the more opportunities that
41:39
we have to create community or kind of fill those
41:42
little needs, like here at the main office, we
41:44
have a birthday closet for... clients who can't
41:47
afford to get a birthday gift for their kid.
41:50
Do we need to have that? No. But does it make
41:52
a huge difference for that kid and that parent?
41:55
Yeah. So we're going to do the little things
41:57
like that. I love that so much. And then donations,
42:03
donations. Always. Money, time, you know, stuff.
42:09
All of that is great. It comes to donations.
42:14
There's a number of ways to support Family Support
42:15
Center. I think of in -kind donations are things
42:19
like diapers, particularly larger sizes. Food
42:22
is becoming more expensive and more people are
42:25
coming to our offices trying to find it. So non
42:27
-perishable food items, preferably with an expiration
42:30
date, but if it's pretty close, that's okay.
42:34
And then I honestly really value the gift of
42:37
time. Volunteers are worth their weight in gold,
42:41
I often say around here, because I don't know
42:44
if anybody's ever worked for a nonprofit, but
42:46
we're always understaffed, undercapacity, overworked,
42:51
however you want to say it. And so when people
42:53
can come in and help in the donation room, or
42:56
I kid you not, prep friendship bracelets for
42:59
our fall event or whatever it is, like that makes
43:02
a huge difference to our staff. who are already
43:04
at overcapacity and it's fun um and then financially
43:08
we're always looking for donations a lot of the
43:11
donations or sorry a lot of the funding that
43:13
family support center has has very strict rules
43:15
and regulations because it's like federal or
43:17
state or county grant funding and so um We don't
43:22
always have the money to fix dad's car and that
43:24
car is the only thing preventing him and, you
43:27
know, the rest of the family from being out on
43:28
the street. So having that financial flexibility
43:31
through community donations is really helpful
43:33
too. Okay. And then there's something donation
43:37
through shopping as a partnership with Fred Meyer.
43:41
What's the good search, good shop thing? Yeah.
43:43
You know, I would say that that has Fred Meyer
43:47
rewards. kind of have used to have something
43:51
similar to amazon smiler which is essentially
43:53
you get a teeny tiny part of the proceeds from
43:56
like say you spent 50 at fred meyer you get like
43:59
20 cents from that but 20 cents from 100 people
44:02
man i'll take that all day it adds up over the
44:05
course of a year so there are different ways
44:07
to do that fred meyer i believe the information
44:09
is on our website um we will post things like
44:13
so sometimes uh that will be um I want to throw
44:17
an example and I can't think of one, but you
44:19
know, we are gearing to have more events where
44:21
it's like go shop or Mod Pizza is a great example.
44:25
We host Mod Pizza fundraisers a couple times
44:28
a year, usually October for Domestic Violence
44:30
Awareness Month and some other time of the year.
44:32
You go in, you say, hey, I'm with Family Support
44:34
Center. I'm supporting them. And we get 20 %
44:37
of the proceeds from your sale. So like there's
44:38
that kind of shopping too. Those aren't as regularly
44:41
listed on our website, but those are really like
44:44
on our social media and stuff. Which Facebook
44:47
Family Support Center of Sound is that. And then
44:51
it's also, I think, FSCSS Olympia for Instagram.
45:01
Is there anything else you would like to share?
45:04
Yeah, you know, I think this is a really good
45:06
opportunity. I want to say to dispel common myths
45:10
about homelessness, but it's not quite that big.
45:12
But a lot of people have some misconceptions
45:14
about. households who are experiencing homelessness.
45:18
And one of the things that I didn't know much
45:21
about homelessness before I started working here,
45:23
and I am thankful to be our grant writer because
45:25
I have to do a lot of nerdy research and look
45:27
at a lot of data around this, which helps me
45:29
understand the issue. You know, when you have
45:34
cost of living increased by 39%, but your wages
45:38
only increased by 13 to 17%. You got a system
45:43
that's out of balance, right? So it's already
45:45
hard for people. They're already struggling to
45:48
meet their basic needs. And then say dad gets
45:55
hurt at work and now he's got medical bills.
45:57
He gets hurt on the way to work. So he doesn't
46:00
get to take advantage of, you know, the LNI.
46:03
Now he's out of work for two weeks. Well, that
46:05
two weeks is the difference and the medical bills,
46:08
you know. create homelessness. That situation
46:12
is one of the more common ones. Medical bills,
46:16
medical costs are like one of the top five reasons
46:18
that people are homeless in Thurston County.
46:20
Domestic violence is up there. Eviction. Yep.
46:23
Eviction comes for a lot of reasons for sure.
46:26
Some of them are, you know, the household's fault,
46:28
but when you are increasing all of these costs
46:32
and people aren't making any more money, all
46:34
of a sudden you can't make rent, you know, and
46:37
then what happens? And so I think that there's
46:39
just, When people think of homelessness, they
46:41
think of it's all. They're on substance abuse
46:44
or they just want to live that way or it's their
46:48
choice. And, you know, for some people that's
46:51
100 % accurate. 100%. But when we have half of
46:56
the people on our homeless list. are chronically
47:00
homeless, meaning that the head of the household
47:02
has a physically or mentally disabling condition,
47:04
plus they've been, you know, homeless for 12
47:07
out of 36 months. And those numbers keep rising
47:09
in terms of those mentally or, you know, physically
47:12
disabling conditions. There's kind of something
47:14
wrong within our system. So I just want people
47:17
to kind of think more broadly and have more compassion
47:21
for people who are experiencing homelessness
47:22
because It could be you. It could be any of us.
47:26
It could be a house fire. It could be the loss
47:28
of a job, which is happening a lot more right
47:30
now. Like it is very easy to be in that situation,
47:34
even if you think you're never going to be in
47:35
that situation. So maybe just hold a little more
47:37
empathy. What does Ted Lasso say? Be curious
47:40
about why they're in that situation, not judging
47:43
them for being in that situation. It opened my
47:45
eyes. I probably had some judgments before I
47:48
started working here and I don't have those same
47:52
ones. Now I'm more, I'm like judging the people
47:55
who don't want to give us more funding because,
47:57
man, we could really use it, you know. But I
47:59
just have a lot more empathy and grace and compassion
48:01
for the people who are struggling. Because they
48:05
don't really want to be, you know. There's just
48:07
not other options for them right now. Looking
48:09
at what the underlying cause for homelessness.
48:14
is a very important thing that needs to be rooted
48:19
out more and brought more into the light and
48:22
talked openly about with people in authoritative
48:27
positions who have the power to do something
48:29
about making those changes. Yeah, you know, as
48:33
we age, we learn more things. And even here,
48:39
I've seen it. So Family Support Center had about
48:41
18. 20 paid staff members when I started seven
48:45
years ago. We have almost tripled that and has
48:48
slowed down our ability to make quick decisions
48:51
here, right? And so then I look at like a federal
48:54
government bureaucracy. It takes time. That's
49:00
also something that like we know and studies
49:02
are showing that prevention, sorry, eviction
49:05
prevention. makes a big difference. It's three
49:07
to five times cheaper to prevent homelessness.
49:10
It's a heck of a lot less traumatic for the entire
49:11
family. And it's just easier on the entire system,
49:15
right? We know that data shows that. But by the
49:18
time that data gets up to the people who are
49:20
making the decisions and they have 10 -year priorities
49:22
at the federal level, 10 to 15 years, we're not
49:25
going to see the financial funding kind of shake
49:31
out of that understanding for at least a few
49:33
more years. And, you know, so like things take
49:35
time. And that's a really hard thing as well.
49:39
People are like, well, we're putting money into
49:41
this. How come it's not changing it right now?
49:43
It's like because you can't change it overnight.
49:44
Like these are systemic issues of high costs
49:47
and low wages like that. That's got to change,
49:51
too. Otherwise, people are going to keep being
49:52
the same situation. And so, yeah, understanding
49:55
how the system at work, how the system itself
49:58
works and understanding how people are operating
50:00
within that system and how those are usually
50:03
pretty disconnected. I think is also something
50:06
that's important. Something else, I don't know
50:09
how much you personally know about this or how
50:11
much your listeners want to know about this,
50:13
but. You want all the things. So if you're not
50:17
familiar with like Built for Zero, Built for
50:19
Zero is an amazing thing that's going on here
50:21
in, well, not just Thurston County. It is a national
50:26
effort that is really looking at a systemic.
50:30
change right and so this is we're kind of talking
50:33
about coordinated entry where it's really helpful
50:35
to have a singular similar metrics and similar
50:41
assessments to be able to prioritize in the same
50:43
way well built for zero is doing that as well
50:46
but it is like more deeper community level deeper
50:49
and larger if that makes sense so getting right
50:52
now you have like family homelessness system
50:56
Single population resources, survivor resources,
50:59
like it works together, but it's also kind of
51:01
in its own little things. And so the built for
51:04
zero concept is based on what I think of as like
51:06
the European models. If you can get one segment
51:08
of the population down to zero, functional zero,
51:12
not real zero, but functional zero. Cool. And
51:15
then you work on the next little tiny segment.
51:17
And at the whole time you're strengthening the
51:19
entire system. So it's working together. based
51:22
on data. Data is the driver of all of that. So
51:25
not like we think this, but like good hardcore
51:28
data. So we have seen our data quality increase
51:31
in Thurston County in the last couple of years
51:32
since we started working on this BFC initiative.
51:36
BFC initiative? BFZ, built for zero. Okay. Totally
51:40
look it up. It's really cool. Lots of data, which
51:45
is used to drive systemic change here in Thurston
51:48
County. And they are getting closer and closer.
51:50
I think the first segment of our population is
51:53
chronically homeless veterans. So the veterans
51:57
who have a physically or mentally disabling condition
51:59
have been homeless 12 out of the last 36 months.
52:01
The first goal was that to functional zero, and
52:04
then they'll move on to the next one. And you
52:06
know, however many years later, everything's
52:10
at functional zero. It still makes it a little
52:12
less overwhelming. If you look at the rise in
52:15
homelessness since 2018, when it was declared
52:17
a national, sorry, a public health crisis. in
52:20
our county so not national but a county -wide
52:22
crisis um numbers have only increased sun sun
52:25
pandemic probably had something to do with that
52:28
but a whole bunch of other stuff too um and so
52:31
built for zero i'm really hopeful is our way
52:34
to combat that and we there's some really good
52:37
if you like look online i'm saying this to you
52:39
not to the people listening although you can
52:41
um there's some good reports about what thurston
52:43
county has been able to do with that and we hit
52:45
a major milestone last winter or just a few months
52:49
ago, I suppose, where we, doesn't matter to most
52:53
people, but there's like 29 boxes we had to check
52:55
off and Thurston County as a whole, check those
52:58
off, which means we were able to move to the
53:00
next, next phase of the built for zero initiative,
53:02
which is super cool. That is. Yeah. I think we're
53:05
one of like 20 counties or 20 entities in the
53:07
United States. And actually we're still, I think
53:10
we were like one of the first 20 to even do BFC
53:13
in the U S maybe like first 50, but we're like,
53:16
Definitely one of the first in our region to
53:18
hit that 29 checklist milestone. Wow. And then
53:23
also there's another way that y 'all are combating
53:28
and working with this in systemic change is the
53:33
behavioralism, the behavior. So working with
53:38
the family classes, right? Yeah. We talk about...
53:44
breaking generational chains yes that's how we
53:46
really talk about it here so um you know you
53:50
can get into like adverse childhood experiences
53:53
and the cdc studies around that but like common
53:56
sense is going to tell you if you had a parent
53:59
who was abusing their child chances are higher
54:02
than average that child is also going to turn
54:04
abused somebody else in their you know in their
54:06
life or if you grew up in poverty and that's
54:09
what you know then chances are better than average
54:12
that you are going to maintain that you know
54:14
and so what we really talk about is breaking
54:16
those generational chains and so that's where
54:19
um little goals a lot of community support a
54:26
lot of championing um we understand a lot of
54:28
people have been told you were not good enough
54:31
This isn't good enough. That won't work. And
54:33
so that's, I think, one of the benefits of that
54:35
strengths -based approach of like, you're amazing.
54:38
This is going well. And if it's the one thing
54:40
going well in your life, we're going to focus
54:41
on that and like building on that as opposed
54:43
to what wasn't going well. So it is a bit of
54:46
changing. I don't want to say changing behavior.
54:50
It's changing a thought process. It's changing
54:53
what people think that they can achieve. It's
54:56
changing. The basic idea that like you don't
55:01
have to do it alone, that there are people who
55:02
do want you to succeed. So we're changing those
55:04
things. That's that's wonderful. Yeah. What we
55:08
talk about here really at Family Support Center
55:10
is wanting people to feel healthier, more self
55:14
-reliant and more hopeful and safe. I think safe
55:18
is wrapped up in all of those. But that self
55:19
-reliance piece is a huge one. And I think the
55:22
bat is where like kind of breaking some of those
55:24
generational trauma chains. Or whatever you want
55:27
to say. You know, that kind of plays into it.
55:29
I really believe in Family Support Center. The
55:32
most important thing in my world is family. And
55:35
that's what they believe here. And that goes
55:38
a long way for me. A long way. And now survivors.
55:41
We started Help Out Survivors. And actually we
55:42
help out the single population now. But still
55:44
at the kind of core of what we do here is it's
55:47
family. That's fabulous. Yeah. That's nice. Thank
55:50
you. You're welcome. If you would like to get
56:01
in touch with the Family Support Center of South
56:03
Sound, you can go to their website at fscss .org
56:10
or call them at 360 -754 -9297. that's it for
56:27
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56:29
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