Project PATH, the transitional housing program on Lind Road, was paid a visit Monday night by members of the Hermiston City Council.
The visit was the focus of the council’s work session to get an update on activities and to tour the project’s various facilities.
Project PATH (Practical Assistance through Transitional Housing) opened this spring and features a Sleep Center for night-to-night stays and 21 individual units for longer-term stays.
Jesalyn Cole, executive director of Stepping Stones Alliance, spoke to the council about grant money, totaling nearly $1 million, that has come in to help support Project PATH.
The biggest of those grants was a $628,560 grant from CAPECO to support operations. A Community Development Block Grant for $ 226,700 was used to fund both indoor and outdoor kitchen spaces. The project also was the recipient of a $40,000 Oregon Community Foundation grant to pay for an outdoor kitchen shelter.
Additional funding includes a $10,000 Amazon ChangeX grant, a $3,500 Ag West Farm Credit grant and a $2,500 MDU Resources Foundation grant.
Mayor Dave Drotzmann said he was impressed by the amount of grant funding Project PATH has received.
“We appreciate all that good work you do to find grants,” Drotzmann said. “That’s money that is not coming out of our General Fund.”
Stepping Stones Alliance, the Hermiston nonprofit that operates Project PATH, also held a fund-raising gala in September which raised $15,000.
Cole said she keeps busy speaking with community groups about the needs of Project PATH in terms of both funding and volunteers.
“I will present at any church that will have me,” Cole said. “It’s all about education.”
The council also got a tour of the 21 individual outdoor units that can accommodate up to four people per unit. Cole said those units are currently housing 28 people.
Those units, Cole said, are for individuals actively working to move into permanent housing. They are called Members and to become a Member eligible to stay in an individual outdoor unit, a homeless individual must first stay in the shelter’s Sleep Center for 14 consecutive nights. The Sleep Center has 24 available beds. In its quarterly report, Stepping Stones Alliance noted that the Sleep Center has 287 “guest stays” in July, 233 in August and 270 in September.
Once a person has transitioned into an individual unit, he or she can stay there indefinitely so long as they are actively working to find permanent housing.
“Sometimes there is an 18-month waiting list for housing,” Cole said. “So, as long as they are working on their goals, they can stay here.”
A staff member works with Members on a set of goals geared toward helping them gain independence. Those goals could range from developing health and hygiene skills, working toward their GED, finding employment as well as housing.
Stepping Stones Alliance staff offer Members a variety of services including connecting them with necessary counseling support and connecting individuals with employer education services (such as CDL training, unemployment counselors, or workforce partnerships).
Those actively working toward independence will also have access to basic medical, dental, and vision services.
Cole said Project PATH will need additional units.
“We’re getting to the point where we will have to start a waiting list for the units,” she said.
Members are also assigned chores each week such as mowing the lawn and taking out the garbage.
“It helps build that sense of ownership,” Cole said. “A sense of community.”
Cole said not everyone who shows up at the shelter chooses to stay.
“Some folks don’t want to follow the rules, so they walk away,” Cole said. “We have to have rules and most of them center around safety.”
Project PATH is a collaborative effort between the Stepping Stones Alliance, Umatilla County and the cities of Umatilla, Hermiston, Stanfield and Echo.
It was one of eight pilot projects selected by the state to develop services for the homeless. Each pilot project received $1 million from the state to develop the program.
For more information, go online.
