Roy Miller, President of Children's Campaign, Inc., visited Audrey McKibbin Moran, President and CEO of the Sulzbacher Center, in Jacksonville over the holidays. The Sulzbacher Center serves the homeless and enjoys an amazing level of support and citizen engagement from the local community. In addition to providing comprehensive services to homeless women, children and men, Sulzbacher has established a cutting edge health care clinic and children's programs.
The Children's Campaign followed up with Audrey Moran, the President and CEO of the Sulzbacher Center in an email exchange.
Children's Campaign: The Sulzbacher Center has a very impressive campus arrangement. Where did this concept originate and what is being done to replicate it in other places? How many people do you serve and how many meals are provided on average per day?
Sulzbacher Center: The Sulzbacher Center was established in 1995 as a “center of services,” providing access to a full range of services for homeless and at-risk women, men and children in Jacksonville. Modeled on Union Mission in Savannah, Georgia, very few organizations nationwide provide the depth and breadthof services available here.
Each day, the Sulzbacher Center is home to more than 330 homeless members of our community, many of whom are children. The center offers safe shelter and supportive services to individuals who are ready to rebuild their lives. Here are just a few of the programs we offer:
- Case management with one-on-one support for every resident
- Medical, dental and behavioral health care
- Nutritious meals 1,200 meals a day to anyone who is hungry
- Job placement assistance
- Life skills education
- Children’s programs
- Street outreach
Children's Campaign: Homeless advocates and city leaders from across the country come to see the on-campus health clinic. What is the scope of services and do recipients of care need to be "residents" of the shelter to qualify?
Sulzbacher Center: Our campus is home to a Federally Qualified Health Center — one of two in Duval County — which offers a wide range of health care services to residents and nonresidents of the Sulzbacher Center. Services include:
•Procedure clinic
•Child health services
•Drug rehabilitation linkage
•Asthma clinic
Each patient undergoes a comprehensive medical assessment and treatment for any health issues that are discovered. Reclaiming good health gives individuals the freedom to overcome other obstacles.
Children's Campaign: How are the children faring who come to the center? Are they able to stay there as a family?
Sulzbacher Center: Every day, sixty to ninety children live at the Sulzbacher Center with their parents. Our family dorms are built to keep entire families together. Rooms hold from one to three bunk beds and home-style bathooms are shared between families. Our case managers help families promptly enroll their children in school and our family nurse coordinator ensures children have needed inoculations and check-ups.
Sulzbacher Center’s positive youth development programs are designed to engage children as soon as they arrive. Children are encouraged to participate in weekly arts and crafts, scouting clubs and tutoring programs and the Police Athletic League provides after-school programs for our 6 to 12 year olds.
Asia Grant, age 17, is just one of our success stories. When the Grant family came to the Sulzbacher Center in 2005, Asia was given the opportunity to discover her artistic talent – her painting of her dream home for the holidays was featured on the center’s To All A Good Night holiday card – and in 2006, when her family was honored during Sulzbacher’s annual Transformations event, Asia was awarded a four-year scholarship at Bishop John J. Snyder High School in Jacksonville. That evening, the president of Rotary Club of North Jacksonville was so impressed with Asia that he decided to champion her to be part of his club’s Rotary Youth Exchange Program. Two years later, Asia is enjoying the opportunity of a lifetime as she studies in Belo Horizonte, Brazil.
Children's Campaign:What is the biggest need at present regarding services to children? Why is that so important?
Sulzbacher Center: Lack of access to quality, 24-hour childcare is the biggest barrier to success for our families. Often parents are forced to turn down employment because they cannot secure childcare for all of their pre-school age children. We work with parents to help place their children in childcare and link them to the very limited sources of funding available in Jacksonville. When parents who are willing and able to work cannot, families are forced to remain homeless.
Children's Campaign: You, personally, Audrey, have followed a unique career path to this leadership position. You were a top notch prosecutor then held a position within the inner circle of a powerful mayoral form of government in a major urban area. Now you serve what most objective observers would describe as the most power-less of our society. What is it about the Sulzbacher Center that speaks to you in your soul?
Sulzbacher Center: A few weeks ago, as I walked across the Sulzbacher Center campus, I was asking myself that very question. And, as sometimes happens in life, the answer was right in front of me. A resident was calling to me, “Ms. Audrey, Ms. Audrey, isn’t today a wonderful day?” I wasn’t so sure, but he was insistent. “Ms. Audrey,” he said, ”Aren’t you going to ask me why this is a wonderful day?” When I looked into his smiling face, I realized that I was witnessing sheer joy. “I’m sorry,” I said “Why is it a wonderful day?” And with an enormous grin he replied: “I just got a job and I’m moving into a place of my own tomorrow!”
With tears in my eyes, I asked this gentleman how he knew that I needed to hear his story. His response was simple, but powerful. “I didn’t know you needed to hear it Ms. Audrey, I just knew that I needed to tell you.”
Working with a team of dedicated professionals who truly transform lives every day is a gift. It is the most challenging, but the most rewarding position I have had in my career.
Children's Campaign: Are there state or federal public policies that groups like the Children's Campaign should advocate for change that would assist the provision of services at the Sulzbacher Center?
Sulzbacher Center: In order to move their families in to stable housing, parents must be able to work. Unfortunately, many entry-level positions require employees to work odd hours and, without childcare, homeless parents are not able to accept the jobs that are offered to them. Homeless families must have access to free, 24-hour, quality childcare in order to rapidly recover from homelessness.
The incredible stress created for children and parents by the instability of homelessness must also be addressed. Providing mental health care and medication, if required, for parents and children who experience homelessness will stabilize families and help children with mental illnesses and behavioral problems succeed in school and avoid long-term or repeated episodes of homelessness as they grow into adulthood.