United Way Gives Family Stability Program Grant to Grassroots

United Way Gives Family Stability Program Grant to Grassroots

Homelessness Prevention Funding Helps Keep Families in Own Home and Children in School

The United Way of Central Maryland (UWCM) has selected Grassroots Crisis Intervention Center to receive a Family Stability Program grant of $110,000 to operate a Homelessness Prevention Program serving Howard County from Jan. 1, 2021-June 30, 2022, Grassroots Executive Director Dr. Mariana Izraelson has announced.

“We are grateful for this support from United Way,” Izraelson said. “Grassroots has been serving families facing housing instability and other crises for over 40 years. This grant will allow us to increase our capacity through an addition to the case management staff.”

Columbia-based Grassroots provides 24-hour crisis intervention, suicide prevention, and support to individuals and families with a mental health, substance use or homelessness crisis.

The UWCM Family Stability Program helps families at risk of losing their housing to regain self-sufficiency so that can stay in their homes and so that their children can avoid a disruptive school transfer. UWCM provides funding to program partner organizations, such as Grassroots, to realize these goals through case management, as well as linkages of clients to other community resources.

The desired outcome of the Family Stability Program and its grantees’ efforts is to increase the number of families served, prevent those served from becoming homeless, and keep families stable in their housing at the conclusion of services. Efforts are directed at the needs of children, parents, and the family as a whole instead of focusing exclusively on the needs of the head of household.

During the last year, Grassroots served 340 people in its shelter programs and 921 individuals at the Grassroots Day Resource Center, handled 33,474 calls to its Hotline, and made 2,825 face-to-face contacts. The Mobile Crisis Team made 721 community responses, and 143 clients were enrolled in the Substance Use Treatment program.

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