A Smooth Transition: Scott's Story

Three months ago, Scott was living in a sober living home, waiting for a spot at Grandma's House of Hope.  Substance abuse had landed him in jail, and when he got out, he was homeless.  Then the call came.

"It would have been a difficult situation,"  Scott says, thinking back on what might have happened if that call never came.  "It would have been more chaotic. Maybe there might have been some more homelessness."

Instead, Scott is one of the men living in our Bridge Re-Entry Program, working toward stability alongside guys who, like him, came to us through our partner Project Kinship. 

What he found at Grandma’s House of Hope was structure, and a home. 

"It's a house," Scott says.  "It's nice, has all the amenities, and it's comfortable.  It's a safe place, a safe environment, and it's a good community environment. We're always cooking and eating together as a group." 

Scott has lived in other sober living houses before.  He knows the difference. 

"There's a lot of in and out,"  he says of those other places, "this flow of traffic, new guys coming in. It makes the foundation of building relationships not as strong." 

At Grandma's House of Hope, that hasn't happened.  Case Manager, Joanna, eats with the guys, checks in, listens. 

"She's very open, and she's kind,"  Scott says. "Everybody here is really close to each other."

That closeness is by design.  Men's Program Manager, Bernard Kelly, has described the program as an extension of parole, not in the sense of surveillance, but in the sense that the work doesn't stop at housing.  It continues into who that person is becoming.  Scott feels that in the way Bernard talks with him, less about finding any job and more about finding the right one.

"He's really focused on me doing exactly what I'm passionate about,"  Scott says, "versus just going out and working at some dead end job that could lead to an old situation, an old behavior." 

Bernard has connected him with their partner, HireOC, an employment development program, to explore what a real career, not just a paycheck, might look like.  In the meantime, the plan is simple and unglamorous: work, save money, stay stable.

Scott is building a savings account, a housing plan with his Case Manager, a record clean of the probation that once hung over him.

"I just got off probation," he says.  "Thank God."

Scott is already telling people who ask about the program that it's a good one, that it's real.  Asked to describe Grandma's House of Hope in a few sentences, he doesn't hesitate.

"It offers a brand new opportunity to rebuild your life," he says.  "It gives you hope and opportunity to be able to move forward and start fresh, as a new person that you are."