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 A Qualitative Report on Genesis Home's Effectiveness by: Stan Holt, Former Executive Director For the nearly five years I've been at Genesis Home, I've been challenged by people asking, "How is Genesis Home successful?" I could easily answer them with statistics: the number of shelter nights we provide, the per night cost of housing a family, the percentage of those who remained in independent housing through at least their first year of leaving the program. Some people ask, "Why not simply give homeless families the money directly instead of funneling it through an organization?" Then I would talk to them about the way our staff helps families be accountable and access the supportive services they need. The really persistent people ask, "But are you successful?" Focusing on successful outcomes is a critical part of being a healthy non-profit. Gone are the days when simply "doing good work" was enough. Our economy promotes competition, even among non-profits. Couple this with the large and growing number of charities and it's even more important to be clear about what makes Genesis Home successful. I've become determined to answer the persistent questioners. The staff and Board decided to interview heads of households who had lived away from Genesis Home for at least six months. With financial support from the Stewards Fund and professional evaluation expertise from Sara Jarvis, PhD, we were able to conduct in-depth interviews with nine women, all former residents of Genesis Home. We included many of the findings and statistics in our 2000 annual report. Now, we want to share with you the stories, successes and challenges that face Genesis Home, in the words of women who have lived here. Who was interviewed? Nine women were interviewed who lived at Genesis Home between 1998 and 2000. While living at Genesis Home, they ranged in age from 26-45 years (three each in 20's, 30's and 40's) and all had children. Two gave birth while living at Genesis Home. Three had substance abuse problems that were addressed during their stay. They lived at Genesis Home for an average of nine months. What did we learn? Genesis Home helped by giving the women safety, structure and support that had been missing in their lives. Worries about shelter and safety for themselves and their children had dominated their lives. Genesis Home gave them stability. The women learned new life skills and self-responsibility. They developed new social skills as they lived in community with other families. Genesis Home helped them focus on their children and improve their parenting skills. [The program] provided my children with the stability they wanted. Not necessarily wanted, but needed....the stability for me. The idea of having a safe place to return to...not having to worry about tomorrow yet. The children weren't the only ones who "not necessarily wanted but needed" stability. The women spoke of program rules and structure with both appreciation and disapproval. ...the reason we're here is because we didn't follow rules, we did what in the hell we wanted to do....you can't change the rules because you want it to go your way. But Genesis Home was good structure to me. And it taught me, you can't do it your way, cause you done tried and you failed. Now in here it's time to pick it up, pick yourself back up. Recognizing their own needs for rules and structure could be a painful process, however. One woman spoke about how humbling the curfew rules and security were (outside doors are locked and the security systems alarm is set at curfew for the residents protection against vandalism). At the same time, she acknowledged her life was out of control. I really think this will be confusing to readers who will wonder what it means. I dont quite know what it means were they locked in for the night for the own safety, was there a curfew at which point doors were locked? (Being "locked up" is being in jail as you know, so is there someway to clarify this even by putting an explanation in parentheses?) But I hated it. I'm going to tell you the truth, it was a good place for me, but I hated the point that I had to be locked up to keep myself under control...when I heard that alarm at night, I was like, "Oh no, it's like I'm in a prison." But I had to lock--to keep myself from doing wrong. Genesis Home provided emotional support from staff, case managers and other residents. This network bolstered womens courage and provided the encouragement they needed. Several women talked about the mismatch between their case workers style and their own personalities. They asked that management styles be adapted to suit individual cases. Other women clearly connected with their case managers and deeply appreciated the support. Despite individual struggles, each of the women used the program to gain a foothold on the climb toward independence. 1. Life skills Most of the women interviewed talked about the importance of daily living skills they had learned while at Genesis Home. For some, these were the concrete skills of daily life--like cooking, cleaning and budgeting. For others, the skills had more to do with how to approach life. It may sound childish or senseless, but they need people all over again to teach them about hygiene, about cooking, about really telling the truth, being real... Another woman talked about learning self-responsibility as she explored new, child-centered methods of discipline: [I learned] responsibility...like when I have to put my son on punishment, that means I have to be on punishment too because I got to be there to make sure he follow through...[and I learned] to have self control. And to stop letting the least little thing upset me. For some, the challenge was gathering the courage to actually speak their minds. This resident talked about the difference between her first and second stays at Genesis Home: [The first time] I was just a person that took orders and then went upstairs and prayed and kept everything bottled up and just, you know, let other people just run my life....When I came back [the second time] they saw the difference. I started talking, I started telling them, "No, I will not do this." I started telling them...what I wanted for myself...Because is doesn't work when you do what everybody else want you to do. You know, I said, "This is for me and my kids." 2. Social Skills Social skills that women gained during their time at Genesis Home have helped them function in the broader community. Many talked about not liking other women, about judging those who were seen as different, about being impatient with others. During their time at Genesis Home, they learned to live with, to tolerate and even to love other women. I didn't want to be around people who drunk. I didn't want to be around people who did drugs, smoked this, that and the other....See, but Genesis Home taught me different, you know. Just because you come from different walks of life doesn't mean that they're any worse than you are or any better than you are. It just means you haven't experienced what they have. Another woman summed up the importance of learning social skills: [Genesis Home] teaches you how to deal with society...it teaches you how to deal with people on an everyday basis, cause nobody's the same. You're living in a house with a bunch of women...with different attitudes--ooooh--who clash at times because they don't agree. They try to teach you be a collective, how to get along with each other....So it's like the Bible say, don't judge lest ye be judged. 3. Parenting Skills While in the program, the women witnessed new models for connecting with and caring for their children. They were shown alternatives for disciplining their children without the use of corporal punishment. There was strong disagreement about the program's discipline policy of "no corporal punishment"some women balked at it, others saw it as a valuable opportunity. Regardless of their perspectives on the discipline issue, each woman felt the program cared for and focused on childrens needs. They agreed that Genesis Home tried to help parents be more responsible. I have to be honest. I wasn't putting my child first. I was thinking more of myself than I was of him at first. But, you know, once I got there they, you know, helped me and I got started thinking about him first. When asked about what being successful meant to her, one woman talked about her commitment to her children: [Being successful means] taking care of home, and paying bills, and making sure everything's together. And make sure my kids go to school every day. Make sure they have clean clothes and stuff to wear, food to eat...they don't have to have everything they want, but make sure they have the basic things. Genesis Home enabled another woman to reconnect with her children in a safe and supportive environment: When the time come for them to lock the door....[the children] know their mama ain't going nowhere. So, I think that's one of the greatest things in the world. They say, "Oh, we're getting in the bed and this and that, she ain't going." So all the kids I think probably felt like, "Yeah, my mama ain't going nowhere." Most of the women thought the "no corporal punishment" discipline policy was misguided. They believed it sent the wrong message to children: Well, what if the child wants a spanking and theyre not getting it because were in here, you know? The child is going to think this behavior is okay because the parent is not allowed to do anything about it....Cause I still have a time with one of my sons, you know, after being in there, because he thinks what he did while he was in there was acceptable. And Im catching it now and trying to undo all that. Not to say that my child wasnt doing some of the things he was doing before he came here, but you know, Im like this, it didnt help. Some women had a different perspective on the policy: The reason they have to have that policy is because some people just beat the hell out of their kids. And that just really hurts a kid. . . Those bruises dont go away. If they really look down in their childhood they know them whippings aint never went away. . .and they should understand that, all right, fine, you want to spank your kids, at least go along with the guidelines there. While youre going along, youll learn another method. Youll learn how to talk to them, youll learn how to give them a look or something theyll understand. First of all, you got to earn that respect back from them kids, cause they done lost a lot of respect for their parents. . . I think they should spare the rod right now . . . cause if anyone should be whipped it should be us. One woman, even though very critical of the programs disciplinary policy, had only the highest praise for the care her child received in KidSpace, Genesis Homes on-site child care center: They day care is good. Because they really do care about the kids, and they learn they learning there....Theyre learning how to interact with other people. Theyre learning how to share. Theyre learning how to respect somebody elses property, their person, when theyre in school like that. I think its good. They send you little notes home, what they did every day. You know, most day cares dont send you no stuff like that, what they did during the day, not to my knowledge. How are we using this information?
We are using this rich information to help us understand and respond to residents opinions about Genesis Home policies as well as to continue refining the resident selection process. As time goes on, we discover who is a good "fit" for the program. Clearly, there are families who are ready to work on improving their economic well-being and self-sufficiency; others are not. The feedback is also helping staff refine the type of services and interactions needed to balance residents individual needs with the well-being of all families living at Genesis Home. In addition to this focus on qualitative outcomes, we are constantly working on how to measure what we do in quantitative ways so that the staff, funders, volunteers and other supporters can clearly see how we are making a difference. For example, we are in the process of administering a quantitative instrument called the "Adolescent Adult Parenting Index." This index will help us measure how child/adult relationships change during their work with the program. As part of this evaluation, were collaborating with another local agency that is using the instrument. Well be comparing results between agencies to see which interventions have the greatest impact. For the last five years we have encouraged the US Department of Housing and Urban Development to collect information on homeless children in addition to recording data on adults. This direct feedback from residents provides additional data to challenge the status quo which misses the impact of our program on childrens lives. From listening carefully to these womens voices, weve identified three questions that need further consideration:
The staff is exploring a variety of approaches to work with residents and how to teach skills development without disempowering residents. We're considering how to be more open with residents about the teaching that is taking place. For example, to what extent can staff members include residents in the decision making process? How do we maintain confidentiality about individual cases while at the same time including residents in the problem solving and decision making? Like other issues posed here, these have no simple answers and they all deserve thoughtful consideration. The issues arise from the commitments that have made Genesis Home strong. We embrace the perspectives shared by these women and continue to grow the program in positive and effective ways. We continue to challenge ourselves on a daily basis to understand and respond to the families we serve. |
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