{"id":238799,"date":"2016-11-04T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2016-11-04T07:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sdnews.com\/changing-lives\/"},"modified":"2016-11-04T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"2016-11-04T07:00:00","slug":"changing-lives","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/changing-lives\/","title":{"rendered":"Changing lives"},"content":{"rendered":"

Homeless outreach program reunites families<\/strong><\/p>\n

Por Dave Schwab<\/p>\n

The Downtown San Diego Partnership, through its Clean & Safe Program and sponsored by Sharp HealthCare, recently passed a milestone, having reunited 1,000 Downtown San Diego homeless people with their families and loved ones nationwide.<\/p>\n

Launched in 2011, the comprehensive Family Reunification Program enables Clean & Safe homeless outreach coordinators to identify the homeless who will benefit most by returning home.<\/p>\n

\"jeffrey-clean-safe-copyweb\"<\/a>
Jerry worked a couple shifts with Clean & Safe before being reunited with his family members in Missouri. (Courtesy DSDP)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Under the program, family and friends are contacted to ensure the displaced person will have a place to stay once reunited, as well as the support they need to get resettled. Once confirmed, the outreach team offers the individual transportation necessary to reconnect with their support system.<\/p>\n

One homeless woman who was returned home thanks to the program is 30-year-old Jennifer Epps, a disabled homeless military veteran, who found herself stranded and temporarily out on the street after moving from Alabama to San Diego.<\/p>\n

\u201cI came out to\u00a0move\u00a0in with a former Marine\u2019s wife, but I didn\u2019t know that they had gotten a divorce,\u201d said Epps, whose situation turned sour soon after arrival. She discovered her hoped-for home was in eviction and suddenly found herself out on the streets without any money.<\/p>\n

\u201cAll my stuff was gone \u2014 my computer laptop, even my phone was gone,\u201d Epps said. \u201cI didn\u2019t know what to do.\u201d<\/p>\n

With the aid of Veterans Village of San Diego, Epps found shelter at San Diego Rescue Mission\u2019s Downtown campus for a few nights, before being referred to the Family Reunification Program.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey gave me a bus ticket to come home to Alabama,\u201d Epps said. \u201cAll I did was tell them my situation. I had somewhere I could go in a crisis. They\u2019d helped out three other people right before me. It was a blessing. It really was.\u201d<\/p>\n

Kris Michell, president\/CEO of the Downtown San Diego Partnership, talked of how the program got started \u2014 and its dynamic and positive\u00a0impact.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe recognition that family is one of the strongest bonds we have was the driving force behind the creation of the Family Reunification Program, which is sponsored by Sharp HealthCare,\u201d Michell said. \u201cThe program gives individuals an opportunity to get back on their feet and end their cycle of homelessness.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are pleasantly surprised with the success of the Family Reunification Program,\u201d Michell said. \u201cReconnecting homeless individuals with loved ones has resulted in not only getting and keeping people off the street, but reuniting them with friends and family in a loving and safe environment.\u201d<\/p>\n

Michell said that while \u201cfinding answers to homelessness is challenging,\u201d efforts like the reunification program prove it is possible and she expects the program to continue as long as homeless exist in San Diego.<\/p>\n

\u201cA strong support system is essential for all of us and reconnecting these individuals with friends, family, and supportive services effectively ends their cycle of homelessness,\u201d Michell said.<\/p>\n

The tremendous achievement of the reunification program has been made possible through generous sponsorships. In addition to Sharp HealthCare, additional support and contributions have come from AT&T, Bank of America, California Apartment Association, the County of San Diego, Cox Communications, Jerry and Eleanor Navarra of Jerome\u2019s Furniture, The Mansour Group Inc., San Diego Gas & Electric, Travelers Aid San Diego, Underground Elephant, Union Bank, and the William D. Lynch Company.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis amazing program has ended homelessness for 1,000 individuals and should be widely applauded,\u201d said Dan Gross, executive vice president of\u00a0Sharp HealthCare. \u201cI encourage more organizations in San Diego to support this proven solution, which works with people living on the streets to renew relationships with family and friends in a supportive environment.\u201d<\/p>\n

Another beneficiary of the Family Reunification Program was a homeless man named Jerry, who heard about the program during a visit to St. Vincent de Paul. Jerry is a homeless veteran who found himself on the streets after struggling with unemployment and alcoholism.<\/p>\n

Once he connected with Clean & Safe\u2019s outreach coordinators, they were able to reunite him with both family and a veteran treatment program in his home state of Missouri.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Family Reunification Program changes lives forever,\u201d said Alonso Vivas, executive director of Clean & Safe. \u201cIt gives hope to some of the most vulnerable members of our Downtown community. It\u2019s been an incredible journey so far and this is just the beginning.\u201d<\/p>\n

To learn more about the Downtown San Diego Partnership and the Clean & Safe Program, please visit www.downtownsandiego.org<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u2014 Dave Schwab puede ser contactado en <\/em>dschwabie@journalist.com<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Homeless outreach program reunites families By Dave Schwab The Downtown San Diego Partnership, through its Clean & Safe Program and sponsored by Sharp HealthCare, recently passed a milestone, having reunited 1,000 Downtown San Diego homeless people with their families and loved ones nationwide.<\/p>","protected":false},"author":726,"featured_media":238800,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"","_seopress_titles_title":"Changing lives","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":[],"jnews_primary_category":[],"jnews_social_meta":[],"jnews_override_counter":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[11547,11600],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-238799","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-features","category-sdnews"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/238799","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/726"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=238799"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/238799\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/238800"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=238799"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=238799"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=238799"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}