The WSCC has two main facilities: the Women & Children’s Shelter and the Drop-In Center that provide eight programs:
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| Clothing and Household Items Distribution |
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| Crisis Intervention |
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| Meals |
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| Outreach & Advocacy |
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| RISE |
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| Street Survival |
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| Two Year Aftercare |
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| Youth Advocacy |
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The Women and Children’s Shelter houses 32 women and children, providing a full range of transitional services that assist women and their children in moving from homelessness to stable housing and employment.
- The Crisis Intervention Program allows us to provide safe shelter and meals for 32 women and children for approximately 90 days, while they work through an emergency situation.
- The RISE Program allows each woman to work directly with a case manager to develop her individualized plan for Residency stability, Income stability, Self-development, and Educational/training.
- In the Youth Advocacy Program, the case managers work in tandem with the children and their mothers to address each child’s unique needs and in collaboration with other social agencies, medical professionals, and educators to provide a multifaceted approach to help heal spirit, mind, and body.
- Our Two Year Aftercare Program is a homeless prevention program that provides assurance of success for those who leave the Shelter. Of those who participated in 2004, 93% maintained or improved their housing situation, and 75% maintained or increase their income and savings.
The Drop-In Center is open from 9:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. six days a week.
- The Meals Program operates 6 days per week and serves over 3,500 hot and nutritious meals monthly.
- Our Clothing Distribution Program provides clothing, toiletries and household goods over 1,450 times per month; serving over 800 individuals and families monthly. Every August, we distributes hundreds of packages of school supplies and book bags to students ages 6-14. Our Christmas Giving Tree project brightens the holiday season for those in need with gifts of warm clothing, toiletries, and toys, serving over 1600 individuals and families in 2004.
- We provide Street Survival Services for nearly 200 people 5 days per week. Some of the services offered include the opportunity to use our showers or telephone and a mailbox service so that the homeless can claim an address. A selection of employment newspapers and reading material, monthly health screenings, legal assistance, and a host of other services are provided.
- The Outreach & Advocacy Program is designed to help as many people as possible with our services and provide them with referrals and support when they need services that another agency provides. These services include obtaining bus tickets, birth certificates, state identification, prescription drugs and filling out job applications and social security benefit applications.
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| The Identification Crisis in Cleveland Collaboration |
In 2004, The Identification Crisis in Cleveland Collaboration (The Collaboration) was formed to address a major obstacle for people that are poor - the inaccessibility of their own Birth Certificates and State Identification. Through this Collaboration, seven different local agencies and churches have begun to address this issue, individually and through participation with each other.
Participating Agencies:
- Care Alliance
- Lutheran Metropolitan Ministries
- Community Women’s Shelter
- West Side Catholic Center
- North East Ohio Coalition for the Homeless
- St. Malachi Center
- St. Colman Outreach Ministry
This Collaboration is directly related to all of the participating agencies core programs, which are designed to help the homeless, underemployed, economically struggling, mentally ill and medically fragile in Cleveland. Each agency strives not only to meet the basic needs of the client, but also to help clients get back on their feet and become full functioning members of society. As State Identification cards are neccessary to access virtually all other programs and services needed to begin, the Collaboration works with these individuals to overcome the obstacles involved in what is a five-step process to:
- Locate the Birth Certificate
- Send the Certificate
- Pay for it
- Act as a respository while awaiting the arrival of the certificate
- Assist in the purchase of the State Identification
The West Side Catholic Center has volunteered its resources to act as Fiscal Agent for the Collaboration, with all partners participatory in finding ways to address the systemic problem. Donations received for this purpose support the Collaboration, with resources from each agency used to defray the burden of administering the program.
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