United Way I&R caseworkers Debbie Norris, Kayla Foor, and Madonna Johnson. Not pictured, Cheryl Graham

United Way’s Information and Referral tracks needs and meets them

This article is brought to you by Solidarity Community Federal Credit Union. 🔊 Cars, trucks and bikes...oh, my! Our 14th Annual Car, Truck and Bike Show kicks off on Saturday, June 8, but before all of that, it's time to register! Click here bit.ly/3UtWWyG.

#14thAnnualCarTruckAndBikeShow #RegisterNow

A single mom has two weeks to find a new home for her and her children. An elderly man is facing his electricity being cut off as his fixed income no longer covers his basic needs. A job loss. A broken-down vehicle. A loss of hope.

These stories and many like them are heard every week by the Information and Referral (I&R) service provided by the United Way Serving Howard and Tipton Counties. The calls come in a time of crisis, and the caseworkers jump into action. A resource provided. A connection to services made. Hope restored.

Debbie Norris, the lead caseworker for I&R, recently revealed that the needs of the community are changing. In a report to United Way’s board of directors, she showed that the need for food and transportation – once the highest priorities for Howard County – have been surpassed by housing as the most acute crisis facing local families and individuals.

“Housing has just exploded,” said Norris. We get so many calls. A single mom with four kids has to move out in two weeks. Some of them call and have to be out in two days. That's a pretty common thing. It's hard to find shelter.”

Norris indicated that there were 87 people on I&R’s “coordinated entry” list in need of housing. Six months earlier that number stood at 30. With a jump that significant, one has to wonder what caused it. A small portion of it can be attributed to the end of the COVID-era moratorium on evictions, but the largest impact from that change has already been absorbed, Norris said.

The greatest influence on the rising need for housing stems from other barriers: a lack of identification documents, a criminal record, a lack of employment, and a lack of landlords willing to take a risk on the people checking the previous three boxes.

“I got a call from one of the landlords we work with a lot,” said Norris. “He's one who takes all the people nobody else will. But he's bombarded. He's just overwhelmed. He asked about a tenant-based rental assistance grant.”

I&R had such grants, though the window for that assistance closed last month. Fortunately, the State of Indiana recognizes the need and will have more grants, Norris said. It’s one piece in solving the housing puzzle, but it isn’t enough.

As far as the other barriers are concerned, I&R is uniquely equipped to address them. People simply need to reach out.

“We've made a big turnaround from previous years, where the majority of calls went to voicemail,” said Norris. “We're able to actually take calls live again, though there are just four of us. But it’s key to have a live voice on the line.”

Working in real time with the person in crisis makes all the difference, Norris explained.

“You listen to them; that's the key,” said Norris. “And when you do, you may learn some other things. If they can't pay their electric bill, there's some other reason or other things going on. They probably can't pay their rent. They probably need a job.”

I&R works to connect those people with assistance or services to address the immediate problems as well as the underlying causes. The caller might need a gas card to get back and forth to a new job. They may have suffered a tragedy, like a fire, and are need of clothing and shelter. They may have just left prison or just relocated to the community without identification. I&R can address these needs directly.

The service also can connect with other agencies, like the Kokomo Housing Authority and the Center Township Trustee, to meet other needs. And then there are the emergencies. The I&R caseworkers are equipped to handle those, too.

“We’ve gotten calls asking for the Department of Child Services,” said Norris. “I've personally taken numerous ladies to the police station because of domestic violence. We even get suicide calls. Two of us have been trained to handle that, too.”

I&R is the community’s lifeline, and it is one of six vital services provided by the United Way locally. When a donor gives to United Way, information and referral is a direct beneficiary. Those dollars literally keep I&R on the line.

In light of housing becoming the biggest community need, I&R is attacking an underlying cause to try to make an impact. While the trustee and the housing authority try to place the client in shelter, I&R and United Way are working on transportation. In conjunction with Coordinated Assistance Ministries (CAM), the two charities operated and maintained Howard County Connect, a bare-bones transportation system.

“It came about because we kept getting phone calls about transportation,” said Norris. “We had a client whose mom was getting released from the hospital at 4:30 a.m. She had to have a handicap-accessible van, but nothing existed to take her home.

“The city’s Spirit of Kokomo vans don’t run at 4:30 a.m. We didn’t have an answer. She had to pay an ambulance to take her home. That's where it started.”

United Way purchased a handicap-accessible van and paid for gasoline and insurance on it for the first year. CAM operated the van. If someone working the late shift at a restaurant had no way home, Howard County Connect was an option. Getting places to and from outside of Kokomo became possible, insofar as a single van and volunteers could take them.

Unfortunately, the van’s transmission recently went out. United Way and CAM are in need of a replacement, which will come. Norris is confident that people will provide, just as they have when the nonprofit community turned its efforts toward housing homeless veterans a decade ago, or how it aggressively opened food banks to combat hunger.

The problems may not disappear, but they become manageable. And I&R is the glue connecting it all. United Way’s Information and Referral service helps clients understand government assistance programs, locate financial assistance for identifications, prescriptions, rent and utilities, education, housing, food assistance, and help during times of disaster.

For those interested in becoming a resource for I&R, or for those who want to learn more or even seek assistance, it takes a single phone call to 765-457-4357.