LAKEWOOD COMMUNITY SERVICES CENTER
This organization has already been registered
Someone in your organization has already registered and setup an account. would you like to join their team?Profile owner : t***h@l**********d.o*g
Mission Statement
Lakewood Community Services Center, with its partners, serves the community by providing basic needs assistance and personalized resource and referral services with the goal of empowering each individual to move toward greater self sufficiency.
About This Cause
Food Service • Emergency Food Home Delivery was introduced in September 2020. LCSC transitioned to drive-thru/walk-up service three days following the Governor’s stay at home directive and while it allowed us to continue providing emergency food Monday – Friday it was clear that as colder weather approached, it would no longer be viable for individuals with disabilities, seniors and those clients who relied on public transportation. At its peak, we were providing food to 41 zip codes, which was not sustainable. The CDBG funding supports Lakewood residents only, which meant that instead of 92% reimbursement for staff and building overhead, that support was reduced to30%. With CDBG-CV funding from the City of Lakewood and support from the COVID Rapid Response Fund, we were able to purchase a second van and hire one full-time and one part-time staff. Today 1,000 deliveries are made each month to residents of Lakewood (92%), Rocky River and Westlake. New clients continue to sign up for service at a rate of five per week. • Emergency Food Delivery to Seniors in Subsidized Housing has been a service option for 10 years. Once each month 400 seniors living in four complexes in Lakewood (the Westerly Apartments, the South Westerly, Fedor Manor and Lake Shore Towers) and one building in Rocky River (Pinzone Towers) receive a supply of shelf-stable food from the Greater Cleveland Food Bank supplemented with fresh fruit, eggs and cheese purchased from vendor partners at the West Side Market. • Farmer’s Markets took place in LCSC’s parking lot from May through October beginning in 2010 but were interrupted by the pandemic. In June 2021 LCSC partnered with St. Edward High School to reintroduce this very popular monthly event which was held at St. Ed’s. The collaboration will re-launch the markets starting in March 2022 with monthly events running through October 2022. The plan is to host them at St. Edwards until further notice. • The Summer Lunch and Enrichment Program was launched in 2015. The first year of the program was held on site at Grace Lutheran Church and offered a pre-packed lunch from the Food Bank and limited activities on the church grounds. Because the program was volunteer run, there were no off-site activities due to insurance limitations for volunteer staff. Beginning in 2016 the program was managed by paid, insured staff, and offered activities at Madison Park, Mahall’s 20 Lanes and the pool at Madison Park. A Lakewood-based caterer provided the lunches to replace those from the Food Bank, which were not healthy or culturally appropriate. Modifications and improvements continued to be made so that by 2018 field trips to the MetroParks, the Beck Center for the Arts and the Lake Erie Nature and Science Center were added. In 2019, 80 Lakewood school kids in grades K-5 enrolled in this free program. The program was funded by United Way, which no longer supports these programs; we have secured the promise of funding when we can again offer it. • The Community Garden at Madison Park was established in 2010 in a 5,000 square foot space provided to LCSC by the City of Lakewood. Garden beds, seeds, plants, gardening equipment were made available to LCSC clients in exchange for their active participation. Each client was asked to donate produce to the Center after taking whatever amount they needed for their own families. Clients were supported by volunteers and LCSC staff during the first several years, but the goal from the outset was to turn the management of the space over to clients. That goal was realized in 2016. Two LCSC clients became garden leaders who were available to help those new to gardening. We have been able to continue with the community garden throughout the pandemic. The space needs some physical improvements if we intend to continue it in summer 2022; funding has not yet been secured and both of our lead gardeners have moved away from Lakewood. Its future is in question at the moment, although the City of Lakewood has expressed interest in helping us as it is an amenity at Madison Park. Housing Services • Emergency Solutions Grant (ESG) Homelessness Prevention has been supported by pass-through HUD funding from the City of Lakewood since 2008. In 2008 LCSC received $15,000 in annual funding from the city; the amount awarded to LCSC for 2022 is $132,580. Individuals who apply for ESG homelessness prevention assistance must meet several qualifying conditions: they must be at or below 30% of the Area Median Income (AMI); they must be at imminent risk of becoming homeless (for LCSC we have determined that to mean they must have a court-ordered eviction; they must demonstrate sufficient household income to be able to maintain their housing after one-time (per year) financial assistance. LCSC must provide an exhaustive list of services to clients receiving assistance. These include but are not limited to housing search and placement; housing relocation services; landlord negotiation if necessary; housing stability case management, which includes referrals to mainstream and community benefits. To meet HUD’s guidelines, a visual lead inspection must be made at all units where a child under seven (7) resides (both current housing if not relocating and new units if a move is necessary). All client data for those households receiving services must be entered into the county’s Homeless Management Information System (HMIS). • Emergency Solutions Grant (ESG) Shelter Services has been supported by pass-through funding from the City of Lakewood since 2012 when we opened Breathing Room, a two-bedroom fully furnished apartment above the center’s offices. Initial funding was $10,000 and has increased to $27,280 in 2022. The applicants for Breathing Room must be Lakewood residents who are literally homeless and who meet the ESG income guidelines of 30% AMI. Initially conceived as a short-term (30 day) shelter, the increasing lack of affordable housing in Lakewood continues to make moving clients into permanent housing much more difficult and has extended stays well into the 90-day range or longer. Shelter Services support includes funding for shelter operations and overhead and a list of support services similar to those required by ESG Homelessness Prevention. In addition to case management and referrals to benefits, LCSC social workers are required to perform a risk assessment for each household at entry and exit. Like ESG homelessness prevention, client data must be entered into HMIS. LCSC has worked out an agreement with the Office of Homeless Services whereby Lakewood families do not have to present at Coordinated Intake at the Cosgrove Center before entering Breathing Room as long as we notify EDEN within 24 hours of intake. During the pandemic’s eviction moratoria, there has not been a need for shelter. We used this period to renovate, repair, and refurnish Breathing Room using HUD funds. • American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) Rental Assistance funds in the amount of $1,680,000 were awarded to LCSC by the City of Lakewood in June 2021 with the expectation that these funds would last for 12-18 months. $1,410,000 of these funds are allocated to direct client cash assistance. As of end December 2021, $673,000 has been spent, which is on track with our initial estimated spending. These funds are restricted to individuals/families whose hardship is COVID-related, is capped at 6 months’ financial support and is available to households at or below 60% AMI. There is no requirement for visual lead inspections and client data is not entered into the HMIS system. With the scarcity of low-income housing, every effort is made to keep households facing eviction stable in their current units. LCSC has longstanding relationships with most Lakewood landlords and property management companies, so are successful in having evictions canceled before court hearings. We are seeing an uptick of applications with the onset of omicron, which is impacting employment for many of our clients. On-Site Mental Health Services • LCSC and Murtis Taylor Human Services System (MTHSS) formed a partnership in 2013 as a direct outcome of LCSC’s strategic planning process that identified lack of access to mental/behavioral health support as a barrier to client self-sufficiency. Over 100 LCSC clients are currently active with MTHSS, receiving ongoing case management, counseling, and/or psychiatric services. In-person services were halted due to COVID-19 restrictions but were reinstated in August 2021. A therapist is on site for intake, assessment, and counseling and a Murtis Taylor case manager is assigned to Lakewood residents only to provide needs assessment, medication management, connections to benefits, etc. either in the clients’ homes or at LCSC. Clients requiring medication and/or psychiatric services receive these at the Murtis Taylor site at 9500 Detroit Avenue in Cleveland. In 2019 LCSC and MTHSS were awarded a grant from Three Arches Foundation to expand services to add Substance Abuse Disorder treatment and Tele-Psychiatry to assessment, therapy and case management currently offered at LCSC. COVID-19 halted this expansion, which will be revisited as health and safety protocols allow. Case Management • LCSC provides case management and referral services to the community’s adult population. In 2021 23% of LCSC’s adult clients were single female heads of household and 27% were seniors aged 60 and over. These are vulnerable segments of the population, many who have no supports, and may need multiple services over a long engagement period. 93% of LCSC adult clients fall into HUD’s extremely low-income bracket, which means a household of one can have a maximum annual gross income of only $16,500. These are extremely at-risk households with limited capacity to remain financially stable or able to access services on their own.