OUR VISION
Individuals experiencing homelessness are best served by local, integrated, and personalized services. Making use of existing services is time consuming, complex, and arduous. Many offices are open during limited hours, and individuals must travel across town to make numerous appointments. Our goal is not to replicate existing services, but act as a mentor or friend by helping our fellows make use of the services already out there.
Homeward Bound requires and connects our fellows with the specific resources they need, including counseling, group counseling, substance use counseling, primary care, resume writing, job training, and more. We envision a Steubenville where all people flourish, both by receiving compassionate help, and by providing personalized assistance to others.
Our Programs
What is Transitional Housing?
Homeward Bound fills a significant gap in local homeless services: transitional housing. Individuals experiencing homelessness typically start out in emergency housing (ie homeless shelters) where they stabilize for 30 - 90 days. It is best if these individuals can then move into transitional housing, which typically lasts 1-3 years and gives more time for stabilization and rebuilding before moving into permanent housing.
There is currently extremely limited transitional housing in Steubenvile. It is common for individuals to then move into government housing (ie Section 8 or Housing Choice Voucher), but our goal is to help our fellows save up and sustain employment to become self sufficient and move into their own private housing that they fund.
Fellowship Program
All clients we serve are enrolled in our Fellowship Program. Recognizing the critical role of community support, we pair clients with local citizens who are motivated to accompany others on the road to self-sufficiency. We believe that lifelong healing from trauma, abuse, PTSD, substance use disorder, and other struggles faced by homeless individuals requires the love and support of a community.
We aim to provide individuals experiencing homelessness with comprehensive and individualized services and genuine interest in their wellbeing. We connect our clients with existing local services, such as the Ohio Valley Health Clinic and the
Jefferson County Community Action Council. For needs that aren’t currently met with local resources, we organize and coordinate support from the local community.
Our Values
Fully-Integrated Homeless Services
Homeward Bound of Steubenville entered a lively scene of local homeless outreach initiatives, including The Urban Mission, Jefferson County Resource Network Center, The Friendship Room, Ohio Valley Health Center, and more. We deeply value local relationships with service providers and aim to improve local outreach by partnering with established organizations for the benefit of our clients.
Community is Critical
In an increasingly digital world, vibrant community is harder to find. However, we believe that community is an absolute necessity for human flourishing. Founded in 1795, Steubenville is a city with a population of 18,000 people spread across 10 square miles. We connect our clients with the local communities that exist within our beloved town; in so doing, we meet a critical prerequisite for human flourishing: community involvement. We feel that the community that embraces and serves its poor is better for it, and that serving the homeless improves the lives of both the volunteer and recipient.
True and Lasting Healing Is Possible
Although Individuals experiencing homelessness are a varied group, a significant percentage struggle with substance use disorders. A unique challenge to achieving drug sobriety is the increasingly addictive nature of illegal substances. Addicted individuals may have to try 30 to 40 times before finally achieving lasting abstinence. This process is extremely difficult for the user and those close to him or her. Many give up on their loved one who is facing this challenge. While it seems that numerous relapses means that someone will never change, we believe that true and lasting change is always possible, and that everyone can permanently change, no matter how many times they've failed.
Our Methodology
The Housing First Model
Homeless shelters are often set up dorm style, housing 20-30 people in a single building with a high ratio of residents per bathroom and cafeteria. Homeless individuals are often unstable, unpredictable, psychotic, high, and difficult to live with. Permanent housing is often set up apartment style, emphasizing privacy with the potential pitfalls of loneliness and isolation. Homeward Bound is renting a three bed, one bath single family home in Steubenville.
Our first house is for men, and a grad student currently resides there as the house director. He works full time but is a calming, stabilizing presence in the house and fosters communal living. The two remaining rooms are for one homeless man each. Our vision is to facilitate stabilization and lasting healing by requiring the men to get along with only 1-2 other men in the house, while avoiding isolation and loneliness.