An Evaluation of the Third Year of Project Homeless Connect By Melissa Wigg and Valerie Griffith

Table of Contents:

Thanks to our Donors.......3 Introduction......................................... 4 Sample and Data Instruments......4 Findings and Analysis......5 Recommendations....7 Weaknesses of the Evaluation.........8 Conclusion.........10

We Would Like to Say Thanks to our Donors: A Little Darling School, AARP Tax-Aide, Applied Digital Imaging, Avenue Bread, Bagelry, Bakers Breakfast Cookie, Bellingham Beauty School, Bellingham Food Bank, Bellingham Housing Authority, Bellingham Technical College, Bellingham Vet Center, Blossom Child Care, Boomers Drive-In, Brigid Collins, Cash and Carry, Catholic Community Services, Central Lutheran Church, Christ the King Church, Ciao Thyme, Cicchittis Pizza, Clear, Colleen ORell, LPN/LMT, Community Food Co-op, Copy Source, Costco, Dana Ollestad, Department of Social and Health Services, Disabled American Veterans, Domestic Violence and Sexual Assault Services:, Edye ColelloMorton Photography, Evergreen AIDS Foundation, FedEx Office, Flora, Fred Meyer, Fresh Breeze Dairy, Haggen, Hardware Sales, Hope House, Interfaith Coalition, Interfaith Community Health Center, KVOS TV, La Fiamma, Law Advocates, Lydia Place, Mallard Ice Cream, Mark Dooley, MA, LMHC, Marlene B. Sexton LMFT, Moka Joes Organic Coffee, Mosaic Church, Mt. Baker Planned Parenthood, New Way Ministries, Northwest Eye Clinic, Northwest Justice Project, Northwest Pathology, Northwest Walk-in Health Clinic, Northwest Youth Services, Old Town Cafe, Opportunity Council, Organically Grown Co., Planned Parenthood, Premier Graphics, Project I.D., Readiness to Learn, Red Cedar Dharma Hall, Rudys Pizzeria, Sea Mar Community Health Center, Sean Hall, Seattle VA Shared Care Plan, Signs by Tomorrow, Social Security Administration, Sunshine Printing, The HUB, The Market Grocery, The Woods Coffee, Tonys Coffee, Trader Joes, Twinbrook Dairy, United Way of Whatcom County, U.S. Census Bureau, Veterans of Foreign Wars, Washington State Department of Licensing, WeSNIP Van, West Coast Counseling, Whatcom Alliance for Healthcare Access, Whatcom County Health Department, Whatcom County Humane Society, Whatcom County Readiness to Learn, Whatcom County Veterans Service Office, Whatcom Homeless Service Center, Whatcom Transportation Authority, Whatcom Volunteer Center, WomenCare Shelter, Worksource, WWU Lifestyle Advisors, Yellow Cab, Inc., YWCA
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Introduction In October of 2004, San Francisco mayor Gavin Newsom created Project Homeless Connect (PHC) in hopes to assist some of the homeless people in his community. For the past few years, Whatcom County has replicated this program as part of the Whatcom County Coalition for the Homeless Ten-Year Plan to End Homelessness. The goals of PHC are simply to connect homeless people in our community to services that many people take for granted, like dental and medical care, haircuts and transportation. All of these services are located in one area in downtown Bellingham over the course of one day, making it simple for service providers to give the homeless people, or guests, complete services in a timely manner. Project Homeless Connect believes that if we place services in an area that allows the homeless to access them quickly and easily, there will be fewer homeless people in our community. Of course, none of these services would be provided without the help of the many nonprofit and for-profit businesses in Whatcom County that donate their time and effort to reducing homelessness. These donors have given a lot over the past three years, but more help is always needed. This evaluation of Project Homeless Connect is designed to show the people who have helped in the past learn how their contribution was used and to encourage others to get involved too. Sample and Data Instruments This year, we decided to analyze feedback from the guests at Project Homeless Connect to determine how successful the event was. We did this by welcoming the guests and asking them what services they had hoped to receive that day as well as questions about where they had slept the night before and how many people they had with them. As the guests moved around the
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campus with their guides (volunteers from the community), they kept track of what services they had received and at the end, the guide asked the guest questions about their satisfaction with the event. These surveys were collected and analyzed to create the report that you have before you. At the end of the event, 489 surveys were returned with responses from 857 guests and it is important to note that not all of the guests returned a survey. Findings and Analysis After the event, a group of thirty volunteers coded and entered the data into a large spreadsheet and from that we were able to analyze the outcomes of Project Homeless Connect. Guest Housing Statuses:

In order to better understand how many of the guests who attended Project Homeless Connect this year are indeed homeless, guests were asked where they had stayed last night. Out

of all of the people who responded to the survey, 82% can be considered homeless with 30% sharing housing with friends, family or couch surfing, 17% in a transitional housing program, 10% in an emergency shelter such as the Lighthouse Mission and 25% of people living without shelter at all. Some respondents who reported to not be homeless also reported that they were living in subsidized housing or were otherwise looking for additional assistance. It is important to note that many surveys included responses from multiple people, such as a parent with kids or a group traveling together, and that the data recorded here is likely to be larger than we can see at first glance. Services Most Desired by Guests:

As mentioned earlier, guests indicated on the survey which services they were interested in receiving while at the event. Some of the most requested services were medical screenings, housing, clothing, haircuts and assistance with obtaining a Washington state ID.

Other services that guests were interested in were help gaining employment, legal assistance and aid in renewing a Washington state drivers license. For many, these services are overshadowed in their day-to-day lives with the simple problem of where they are going to sleep that night. Services Still Desired: Unfortunately, not all of the guests at this years Project Homeless Connect were able to receive all of the services that they desired. Due to the overwhelming need of services, some service providers simply ran out of time or supplies and were unable to assist everyone who came to them, proving that there is still a need for further assistance from service providers. Some of the guests reported that service providers had run out of backpacks and tents, which were in high demand this year. There were also comments made about guests not being able to get the dental and vision assistance that they wanted because of time restraints and others said that they would appreciate more help with obtaining housing and increased access to bus passes. Recommendations Data has proven that the PHC event continues to be more successful each year that it is put on in Bellingham. This evaluation team would like to show its appreciation to the organizations in Whatcom County that work to put on this event as well as to the service providers and volunteers who give their time to meet the needs of the homeless population in our community. However, to better keep the success going for the future there are a couple recommendations we would like to address. The first recommendation would be location. There needs to be one central location that is handicap accessible and big enough for all guests to enjoy the services being offered. Some of
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our guests found it hard to find the services they needed. Within this space there needs to be a layout that people understand. It might even help to create a map of the venues so that our guests and volunteers can navigate with better ease. Another dislike that was noted from guests and service providers were that there was not enough time to get to all services needed and there were long lines. Long lines keep guests from getting other services and patience was tested for some guests who actually broke out in inappropriate behavior. For services, like dental, with such a high demand, we should try and find more service providers who would be interested in donating their time to PHC. This would allow more clients to be seen in a timely manner and guarantee that they receive the services that they desire the most. The last recommendation that we have is about the surveys that are distributed to our guests. First of all, not all of the surveys were returned. We should set up a system where there is a volunteer that works with a homeless person to make sure that the survey gets turned in and is also completely filled out. In order to make sure that the needs of our guests are being met and they are providing honest feedback this is a fix that is crucial. We could have the volunteer work with a guest so that the guests understands the survey and provides the feedback we need to continue to better PHC. Weakness of the Evaluation This evaluation team also has a few ideas to improve the guest intake survey as an evaluation tool: First of all, there are inconsistent numbers. Every household filled out one in take form, which totaled 489 households. Although, there were only 465 that were recorded to have

received services. Somewhere the data was misconstrued and there is missing information as to why there are missing households receiving services. On the guest intake survey, there isnt cohesiveness in a couple of questions. Like the question where guests are asked to rate their health. The options from left to right begin with poor and work up to excellent. On another question, guests are asked to rate the event, the options from left to right begin with excellent and work down to poor. This caused the coding scales of 1-5 for these two parts of the survey to be conflicting. This flaw creates confusion when recording the data. Only one member of the household fills out the intake survey for all household members. It would be helpful when entering data if we knew how many of the extra people within the household wanted to receive those services. They could put the number of guests rather than a check mark. For example, if an adult and three children are represented on the form, the adult filling out the survey would put the number of people wanting that service next to the dental option rather than just a check indicating exactly how many guests in their household want to receive that service. This would provide easier analysis of data. When comparing, there is no number of exact people who wanted certain services based on the intake surveys and those numbers dont match up to how many guests received those services. We know that there were over 800 guests present at PCH 2011, but only 489 households were present according to the intake survey data. It is not possible to know the actual number of individuals who wanted each service and received those services without this crucial information. Therefore, we cannot get accurate numbers of people who got the services that they desired.

Conclusion Project Homeless Connect (PHC), as part of the Whatcom County Coalition for the Homeless Ten-Year Plan to End Homelessness, has been successful over the last three years in connecting homeless people in our community to services that many people take for granted, like dental and medical care, haircuts and transportation. In 2011, over 800 homeless individuals were provided with services in this one day event. Dental and other medical services were in high demand. It is hard to relay exact data from the intake forms with how many guests received each service, but that is something we can work on to better understand how important these services are for our homeless community. One thing we know for sure is that there were not enough service providers in these fields to keep up with the demand. Service provider satisfaction was better than last year, and as we improve on years to come, their satisfaction will only continue to grow. Additional service providers should be engaged and sought support from for this incredibly impactful community event. PHC has done a wonderful job thus far, but if we take the weaknesses in our intake forms and we meet the recommendations offered in this evaluation, we can see further success in this program.

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