Hunger and Homelessness Awareness Week Activities Draw Attention to Needs of Area Homeless Families with Children

Homelessness is a devastating experience for families with children. The Project Recovery Rapid Re-housing program administered by The University of Southern Mississippi Institute for Disability Studies (IDS) is available to assist homeless families with children in Forrest, Adams, Pike, Lauderdale and Marion counties.

National Hunger and Homelessness Week is set for Nov. 10-18. In honor of this annual event, IDS is launching a “Gifting to the Needy” drive and will collect monetary gift cards or household items for clients as they transition from shelters into stable housing. On Nov. 20, IDS will host the fourth “Voices of Homelessness Seminar” where formerly homeless clients will voice their stories of the transition from homelessness to stable community housing.

Project Recovery specializes in providing services for eligible homeless families with children. To be eligible for the program, families must be homeless — which is defined as living on the street or sleeping in places not meant for human habitation such as cars, abandoned buildings, or parks or residing in shelters.

Services available include from one to three months of financial assistance toward locating, obtaining and maintaining permanent housing, and it is expected that families have the capacity to financially maintain housing. Transitioning back into the community can be difficult for Project Recovery (PR) clients. During this process, case managers refer homeless families to every possible resource to assist them in maintaining housing.

Project Recovery is funded by Mississippi United to End Homelessness Continuum of Care Permanent Housing with funding from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD).

For more information, call IDS case managers Tracy Coleman at 601.266.5627, Tanya Smith at 601.266.6063 or DeMetra Bates at 601.266.5853.