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OUR YUCAIPA | AUGUST 2016 17 The city of Yucaipa recently started a one of kind program designed to give the local homeless population "a hand up, instead of a hand out." After months of planning, the Yucaipa Outreach Project is up and running with the goal of helping the homeless find programs they qualify for, and ideally, get off the streets. In a partnership with the city, Redlands Family Services, area churches and organizations that help the homeless in Yucaipa, the Yucaipa Outreach Project has a voucher program where the homeless earn bus passes, motel vouchers, and food packages by completing certain steps like life skills counseling, paperwork for financial aid, drug rehab, money management programs, and more. The project runs out of the former Beaver medical clinic building at 11985 4th St. and is administrated by Redlands Family Services Association who moved into the building in July. The 4th St. office is used by Redlands Community Hospital who is graciously donating their unused space to FSA. The vouchers will be turned into FSA in order for the homeless to begin the intake process that may qualify them for help. "The goal is to guide them faster to permanent housing," said Yucaipa Director of Community Development Paul Toomey. "There is no free housing, the money has to come from things they are eligible for, like disability and unemployment." Toomey said as with most new programs, city personnel set out to find another program in California or around the country on which to model their new idea. They couldn't find one. "As far as we know we are the first ones to implement this voucher program. It doesn't seem that unique, but we are embarking down a path that is truly a trailblazing effort," said Toomey. He said Yucaipa was awarded a block grant that will help with FSA's expenses in Yucaipa and that the city will also eventually begin a work program to provide jobs for homeless people that qualify. The jobs will be manual labor type work like being part of a road crew or cleaning up parks. Redlands FSA already assists some 400 Yucaipa residents with food, emergency financial assistance, children's items, bus passes, and more. Opening an office in Yucaipa will help FSA better serve the area by removing the barrier of transportation and distance, said Kyra Stewart, Executive Director of FSA of Redlands. She said she's excited at the prospect of helping the homeless on their way to better self-sufficiency. "This pilot program is an innovative way to allow people the opportunity to invest in their own personal development," she said. Stewart said the vouchers will be mass printed and provided to anyone who provides services to the homeless. When the person gets any service, the provider will log the person's name and location and give out a voucher with FSA's Yucaipa address and phone number. The hope is that the homeless individual will take the voucher to FSA and start an intake file that may help them qualify for aid. Then when they complete additional tasks, they will get other goods and services. "It's not a perfect program yet, but we hope it starts the conversation between all the organizations that help the homeless, so that we can better work together," said Stewart. The voucher program was the brainchild of the Yucaipa Homeless Task Force Coalition, a group of business owners, faith based groups, sheriff's department personnel and concerned individuals who met every few months over the past few years, said Toomey. "They were the ones who came up with the 'hand up instead of hand out' philosophy," said Toomey. "We learned that it can take up to 75 contact times for the homeless person to accept help. And the longer they are out on the street, the harder it is for them to change. They begin to adjust to the new way of life." Toomey said it's important that Yucaipans get on board with the new system and don't give hand outs to the homeless on the street. "Here in Yucaipa we are so nice. We are a gracious, giving community. But unfortunately that makes us conducive to having a potentially increasing homeless population. It's important that we give to the agencies and churches that help the program so that there is direct involvement in solving the problem." The FSA office on Fourth Street will soon begin collecting clothing and food at the location. For more information, call (909) 570-9132. Yucaipa Outreach Program By Natalie Palmer

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