| Housing | Job Training | Support Services | Outreach & Prevention |

The Sharing Community, Inc. is a 15 year-old community-based organization in southwest Yonkers which provides a continuum of services – from street outreach, and an array of support services, to housing and employment training – for people who are homeless, for those who are infected or affected by HIV/AIDS, those who lack job skills, or are in need of health, mental or substance abuse treatment. What began in 1983 as a simple soup kitchen and homeless shelter has evolved and grown as we are in the habit of creating services as the need arises. Staff in all Sharing Community programs are bi-lingual and bi-cultural. A brief description, with contacts and telephone numbers, follows:

HOUSING

The Sharing Community, Inc. operates three facilities (a total of 97 units) with transitional and permanent housing for formerly homeless individuals with special housing needs. Two are newly-constructed buildings (TRAVERS HOUSE and LOCUST HILL), the other (BROADWAY MANOR) a renovated historic building. The eligibility criteria, housing accommodations, and program/service plan are different at each facility: one provides transitional and permanent housing for individuals with one or more disabilities; another provides permanent housing for individuals who are HIV+; another provides transitional (and soon will offer permanent) housing in an SRO-type setting. For more information, to obtain an application, or make a referral, contact: Locust Hill (Luis Santos, House Manager) - 378.1739; Travers House (Karl Wilkinson, House Manager) - 963.4063; or Broadway Manor (Terri Turner, House Manager) - 476.7864.

JOB TRAINING

The Sharing Community is one of the collaborators in the Yonkers O.W.N. ("One-stop Workforce Network") project, offering a twelve-week job training program in food services. As with all components of the O.W.N. collaborative, the members operate as a whole to provide educational remediation, job readiness skills-building, and hands-on training. The food service training is conducted at The Sharing Community's central kitchen at 118 New Main Street, where over 150,000 meals are prepared each year.

Contact: Nadine Burns-Lyons, Food Service Coordinator, at 963.2626x22.

SUPPORT SERVICES

• Shelter: One of our first programs, the homeless men's shelter continues to this day - 14 years later. Guests must be referred by DSS's Housing Office (a process our HOST workers can oftentimes expedite). Using a service-intensive model, each guest is provided an array of on-site services - case management, mental health assessment, health assessment, and substance abuse counseling.

Contact Renssalaer Lee, Shelter Supervisor at 963-2626x39.

• Kitchen: Our commercial kitchen at 118 New Main Street provides a hot, nutritious, midday meal 7 days/week to the +/- 200 community residents who come to our door. We begin serving at 12:30p.m. and continue until approximately 2:30…. Until everyone has eaten. No eligibility criteria.

• Homebound Meals: Three prepared healthy meals are delivered to the homes of 35 individuals each day by volunteers. The recipients must be HIV+, confined to their residence, and unable (either due to the debilitations of the disease or because they lack cooking facilities) to prepare meals for themselves and their significant others. This initiative also provides a nutritional assessment and ongoing case management.

Contact Jerry Gaines, Case Manager at 963-2211x25.

• Substance Abuse Harm Reduction: A peer Educator and two CASAC’s (certified alcohol and substance abuse counselors) engage active substance abusers through education and counseling to assist them in the development of risk reduction strategies. Not every active substance abuser is ready for treatment or recovery: this project is tailored to such persons in order to reduce the risks their abuse presents to themselves and others. Counseling, especially, serves as a "bridge to treatment".

Contact: Wendell Williams or Samuel Ortega at 963-2211x17

• The Upper Room: The only HIV drop-in center in southern Westchester provides HIV/AIDS counseling, case management, peer support and substance abuse counseling for those who are infected or affected by HIV/AIDS. Open weekdays and two evenings, The Upper Room is (temporarily) located at 101 North Broadway, Yonkers.

Contact: Gladys Diaz, HIV & Outreach Supervisor at 963-2211x21, or Digna Baez, Case Mgr. at 963-2211

 

OUTREACH & PREVENTION

• Mobile Outreach Project: Street outreach and services at point-of-contact provided from a specially equipped van with regular routes throughout southwest Yonkers. Linkage to HIV testing, shelter, medical care, substance abuse treatment and other community services. Targeted particularly to IVDU’s, their sex partners, and others at-risk for HIV. Distributes food, condoms and bleach kits. 6am – 10pm, seven days per week.

Contact: Luis Laboy/Rodney Irby at 963-2626x27

• H.O.S.T. (Homeless Outreach and Service Team): Two teams of case managers engage unsheltered homeless individuals who are outside county’s shelter or transitional housing system. They provide rapid assessment, referral, and advocacy to bring them (back) into the service loop: this may mean anything from providing them shelter or food, to getting them admitted to medical or psychiatric care of substance abuse treatment.

Contact: Nathaniel Johnson, Carlos Mercado or Leo Perez at 963-2626x17

• HIV Outreach to Women and Teens: The AIDS Institute provides support for an initiative aimed at reducing the increase in HIV infection among women and teenagers. Through peer outreach and professional staff, prevention education is provided one-to-one and in group presentations.

Contact: Gladys Diaz, HIV & Outreach Supervisor at 963-2211x21

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