Vista, CA — April 7, 2007 — The Kiwanis Club of Solutions for Change is bringing the spirit of service alive in Vista, CA by hosting A Day in the Park on April 7, 2007 at Brengle Terrace Park for the families currently housed at Solutions for Change, and will include sports activities and a scavenger hunt.

These activities are being held as part of Kiwanis One Day, a global volunteer action day uniting the entire Kiwanis family, including Kiwanis, Circle K, Key Club, Builder’s Club, Atkion Club, K-Kids and Kiwanis Junior. On this day, club volunteers of Kiwanis Club of Solutions for Change are expected to join nearly 600,000 volunteers around the world in devoting a few hours to hands-on volunteer service. Kiwanis expects that Kiwanis One Day will contribute nearly one million service hours around the world in just one day.

“We are proud to join our fellow Kiwanis family members around the globe to participate in Kiwanis One Day,” said Tammy Megison, President. “The energy, commitment and camaraderie surrounding this single day make the experience of hands-on service even more gratifying for our members as they make an immediate, measurable impact on the North County community.”

Kiwanis One Day (“One Way, One Day, One K”) was designated by Kiwanis International in order to unite all youth and adult members from different parts of the Kiwanis family together in service. For more information on the Kiwanis Club of Solutions for Change’s service activities, please contact Christine Palmer at 760-941-6545 orchristine@solutionsforchange.org. For more information about Kiwanis of Solutions for Change, please visit www.solutionsforchange.org/khome.html

About Kiwanis
Founded in 1915, Kiwanis is a global organization of volunteers dedicated to changing the world one child and one community at a time. Kiwanis International and its service leadership programs for young people, including Circle K, Key Club, Key Leader, Builders Club, K-Kids, Kiwanis Junior and Aktion Club dedicate more than 19 million volunteer hours and invest US$100 million to strengthen communities and serve children annually. The Kiwanis International family comprises 600,000 adult and youth members and 15,000 clubs in 90 countries and geographic areas. Kiwanis members make their mark by responding to the needs of their communities and pooling their resources to address worldwide issues. Globally, Kiwanis International has focused humanitarian efforts on eliminating iodine deficiency disorders (IDD), through the Worldwide Service Project, a US$75 million campaign in partnership with UNICEF, which began in 1994. For more information about Kiwanis International, please visit www.kiwanis.org.

Published Sunday, May 27, 2007: North County Times

What does solving homelessness for a community look like? Community homelessness is a complex social problem, but it can be solved with the right approach. We should not gauge our success based on how many social service programs a community can produce, or how many beds can be created, but rather how those programs or beds are being used to actually solve the causative factors of homelessness.

It should be about solving the homeless problem, shouldn’t it? But, is it being solved in North County? Or, is there a system, a default system perhaps, which only manages the symptoms of the problem, tries to contain homelessness, and simply reacts to homelessness?

I recently posed a question to my executive director peers from other local human service agencies that caused some spirited discussion. Here was the question: Collectively, as a North County region, and as a community of non profits dealing with the homeless, have we been effective in solving the homeless problem? If not, why?

I believe we have not been collectively effective. We are not solving the homeless problem for North County. Sure, as independent organizations, we can and we do solve homelessness for people. But, open the paper on any given day and you can read about what I mean when I say regional reactions vs. regional solutions. Together, as a community, we aren’t solving it.

Why aren’t we solving it? Perhaps one of the top reasons is because outdated federal policies and funding strategies have ineffectively filtered down from above and into our North County service providers. In turn, those agencies have done what they were supposed to do, yet the problem still exists.

Homeless service providers in San Diego County have received hundreds of millions of dollars in federal and state funding over the past two decades to “help” the homeless.

That funding has created dozens of programs. Services within those programs were then delivered to the homeless. This funding was given to the non profits for them to try and address the problems of homelessness, yet it only seems to have largely contained the problem. Twenty years worth of funding based on an input-driven model instead of an outcome-driven model has not solved the problem. Is that an acceptable model for our community?

What do I mean by inputs as opposed to outcomes? Inputs are the number of beds filled, meals provided, service units given, etc. A heavier weight must be placed on outcomes achieved: people equipped to maintain their own housing, people equipped to feed themselves, income increased by “X” number of dollars, amount of money in savings, college courses completed, causative factors eliminated or greatly reduced (relapse-free, mental health episodes diminished, etc.). The real proof in solving community homelessness should ultimately be measured in the eye of the public. Can we stroll through our parks or walk into our supermarket without being aggressively panhandled? Can we drive through town without seeing groups of homeless people huddled in our public places? If not, are we really solving the problem?

If we truly want to solve community homelessness, we must stop simply managing the symptoms of the underlying problems that cause homelessness. The problems that come from active addiction, untreated mental illness, unemployment, lack of education, and poverty cannot be addressed with the same old reactive containment model. We end up stuck in a default, automatic pilot containment mode, or disguising faulty models with new language, like “ten-year plans”, and “strength-based” systems.

We can dress it up all you want, but after another 10 years and another 20 billion dollars, we’ll still be scratching our heads. North County must stop calling what we’ve been doing for the homeless a “good” model which we are now going to try and make “better”. We must decide that we are now going to completely scrap that faulty model and rebuild from new core values based on a model of accountability that will result in new, congruent practices with real outcomes.

Enabling hurts the homeless person. When a community stops enabling, many homeless will stop being homeless.

Yes, feed the hungry. Yes, shelter the homeless. But, do so in conjunction with a solid plan, a real plan that includes a real partnership based on mutually agreed upon accountability structures with mutual goals and objectives that will help them solve the problems that have contributed to their homelessness. That is real compassion. That is real love. Only then will North County truly solve their homeless problem. Until then, it’s more of the same ol’, same ol’.

Chris Megison
President and Executive Director
North County Solutions for Change
www.SolutionsForChange.org

By CRAIG TENBROECK – Staff Writer
Published Wednesday, January 7, 2009: North County Times

VISTA — Several local cities have agreed to give homeless services agency North County Solutions for Change thousands of dollars in emergency funding to help cover a budget shortfall.

Solutions requested the money last month, saying private sector donations had dried up in the slumping economy. San Marcos, Vista and Carlsbad will chip in a combined $86,000. Oceanside’s City Council will consider adding $40,000 later this month.

“We’re talking really about a crisis situation with homeless families that should be viewed by each city as very top priority,” said Chris Megison, Solutions’ executive director, on Wednesday. “Thankfully, so far, almost all of them have.”

Based in Vista, Solutions for Change assists families with children at its 120-bed family center on West California Avenue and at a 40-bed intake center on East Vista Way. Both buildings are at capacity, Megison said.

The organization’s annual budget is around $1 million. Megison said $200,000 in revenue that was expected to come from the private sector didn’t come through in 2008.

Solutions for Change isn’t the only organization feeling the economic pinch. A national survey of more than 2,700 nonprofits last October reported that 35 percent had seen contributions decrease in 2008.

In his funding request, Megison asked each North County city for a different amount, based on the number of homeless families from those cities that were enrolled in Solutions’ program.

San Marcos, Carlsbad and Vista dipped into various funding pots and chipped in $21,000, $25,000 and $40,000, respectively.

Oceanside already gives Solutions $20,000 per year, while Vista gives $15,000 to $20,000 and Carlsbad gives $5,000.

When the emergency request came in, San Marcos already had money set aside for homeless winter support, said Karl Schwarm, director of housing and neighborhood services for San Marcos. Vista and Carlsbad used money from housing funds.

Megison said he asked Escondido for $35,000, but it “doesn’t look like they’re going to give us any money.”

Jerry Van Leeuwen, that city’s director of community services, said the city just doesn’t have the resources right now.

Carlsbad Mayor Bud Lewis said the city’s contribution may open the door to other nonprofit funding requests, but he isn’t concerned.

“We could always say no,” Lewis said.

Making up the rest of Solutions’ deficit will probably require appeals “to various other public and private sources,” Megison said.

The agency has laid off one employee in recent months and reduced hours for three others.

“The next thing we would have to do is actually cut beds, and that’s unacceptable,” Megison said. “We can’t cut beds right now.”