Ruby Bright

by Ruby Bright
Special to the Tri-State Defender

At almost every level, single parents consider their economic situation far more precarious because of the immediacy of their financial struggles that take precedence over long term planning with a greater focus on paying bills and debt than saving for future expenses. However, single parents are deeply committed to their children’s future and believe that as single parents they can overcome obstacles and provide a strong home life and future for their children.  

We are challenged by the startling reality that in Shelby County, 76 percent of those living in poverty are women and children. Over half of the children in Memphis living in poverty are in households headed by single women. The cycle of poverty is characterized by multi-generational reliance on public housing, which inherently contributes to high unemployment, low education levels, unsafe living conditions thus perpetuating the cycle. Yet far too often policy makers and even anti-poverty advocates overlook the day-to-day realities that make it especially challenging for women living in poverty to follow a traditional path to economic security.  

But there are effective strategies to move women out of poverty and into long-term economic security.  

In 2004, the Women’s Foundation for a Greater Memphis (WFGM) became a key partner with the City of Memphis and the Memphis Housing Authority in securing $42 million in grants from the U.S. Dept. Housing and Urban Development (HUD) for community revitalization of two public housing locations – Lamar Terrace/University Place and Dixie homes/Legends Park. The face of public housing in Memphis has changed dramatically in the last 12 years, primarily as a result of the HOPE VI program, an initiative of HUD.  For the past five years, the major goal of the HOPE IV program has been to replace public housing with mixed-income housing communities.

Marred by crime, isolation and blight, the former Lamar Terrace and Dixie Homes public housing projects are now safe, vibrant, mixed-income neighborhoods that interact with and contribute to the larger community. The distinguishing component and strength of this program is the focus and attention given to individual human needs and personal development achieved through Comprehensive Community Supportive Services (CSS).

The Urban Strategies Memphis H.O.P.E. (Health, Opportunity, Pride and Empowerment) program is an innovative plan that has transformed homes and lives.

WFGM has raised $7.1 million of a $7.3 million 5-year commitment to fund CSS, which makes it possible for a paradigm shift in case management to occur whereby Memphis HOPE staff and case workers successfully manage the needs and resources that are provided for the residents of the community. The core approach implemented is the “Individual Development Plan (IDP), an intervention and self-sufficiency method used to integrate residential living and personal development.  

WFGM and the Memphis HOPE team further leverage partnerships with local non-profit agencies that service low income women and children to ensure that they are moving each resident toward success by: ensuring that all eligible adults are moving towards a career that provides a “living wage,” emphasizing parent involvement and high student expectation through working with neighborhood elementary schools, implementing a Community Task Force and developing new community assets that provide a voice for the residents and other community stakeholders. The team of case managers works with each member of the nearly 700 relocated families to eliminate barriers by connecting them with needed resources, including employment readiness and  job skills training, employment and educational opportunities, senior services, children’s programs, youth development & employment programs and health care services.

Realizing that merely a change in physical environment is inadequate to dismantle poverty, WFGM is resolute in our commitment to this innovative, intensive and coordinated strategy that is improving the lives of Memphis’ most impoverished adults and children. As a result of the effectiveness of Memphis HOPE, the program has become a replicable model for social change. This successful transformation of homes and lives of individuals will have a lasting impact on Memphis and Shelby County communities by improving work and work retention rates, increasing academic success and graduation rates, promoting financial literacy, and facilitating social development.

To sustain this work and this model, The Women’s Foundation has worked in a national collaboration called the Women’s Economic Security Campaign (WESC).

WESC harnesses the power and resources of women’s funds across the U.S. to increase opportunity for low-income women and their children. We have utilized tools, including public policy, advocacy, public education and grant-making to organizations that work to eliminate poverty by supporting women challenged by economic insecurity.  

On June 2, 2010, the HUD Assistant Secretary Raphael Bostic announced that the Memphis Housing Authority (MHA) will receive a $22 million HUD HOPE VI Revitalization Grant to transform the Cleaborn Homes public housing development into a mixed-income community. Community Supportive Services (CSS) will also be provided to all impacted families. The Women’s Foundation remains unwavering in our commitment to innovative social change and is pleased to continue its partnership of supporting the Urban Strategies Memphis HOPE Case Management Model for this redevelopment.

(Ruby Bright is executive director for Womens Foundation for a Greater Memphis.)

(This is one in a series of monthly guest columns designed to focus the community’s attention on issues that affect our children. This column is part of a Shelby County initiative to remind everyone, in every aspect of daily life, to Ask First: Is It Good for the Children?” For more information, call the Shelby County Office of Early Childhood and Youth at 385-4228 or visit www.shelbycountychildren.org.)