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Mesilla Valley Community of Hope

Individual and Family Services

999 West Amador Avenue
Las Cruces, NM 88005
Mailing Address:
P.O. Box 6875
Las Cruces, NM 88006
PH: (575) 523-2219
FX: (575) 523-8684
Email: hope@zianet.com
Website: www.mvcommunityofhope.org

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Contents

Mission Statement

Mesilla Valley Community of Hope is an alliance of agencies that addresses homelessness and poverty in Las Cruces, New Mexico.

Its mission is to provide and operate a single facility for alliance agencies that will enhance efficiency and provide for the delivery of services in a more effective manner. Mesilla Valley Community of Hope provides this unified delivery of services while maintaining the independence of the organizations of the alliance.

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History of the Community of Hope

Mesilla Valley Community of Hope (MVCH) is an alliance of agencies on one campus that addresses homelessness and poverty in Las Cruces and Doña Ana County. MVCH manages the building and property at 999 West Amador Avenue that are owned by the City of Las Cruces. In addition, MVCH is a provider of direct services to people who are homeless or near homeless.

The alliance has its roots in 1991 as a shared dream among Las Cruces’ homeless service providers: to create a single campus to house agencies whose services provide basic human needs and offer life-changing opportunities such as education, counseling and job training.

The Community of Hope was incorporated in March 1993. Today, it consists of five agencies with a long history of serving the poor and homeless. In this continuum of care facility, each agency is independently managed and responsible for its own staff and funding.

Construction of the multi-agency complex began in 1997 and was divided into three phases. Phase I was completed in March 1998 and is home to St. Luke's Health Care Clinic and El Caldito Soup Kitchen. The family shelter is now closed and the space is available for service organization offices or as an emergency or transitional shelter. Interested parties should contact MVCH at 523-2219 or hope@zianet.com.

In September, 2001 Jardín de los Niños, a daycare center for homeless and near-homeless children, moved into the Phase II building on the campus.

Phase III, the final project of the initial dream, was finished in 2005, and Casa de Peregrinos Emergency Food Bank, the Closet de Mesilla Valley Clothes Bank, and the Community of Hope Individual and Family Services agencies moved in.

Ideas for future phases include a Community Garden and a Day Labor Center. MVCH is open to other ideas and suggestions. These should be emailed to hope@zianet.com and will be forwarded to the board of directors and campus planning committee.

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Clients and Referrals

Nearly all of the Community of Hope’s clients are homeless. Others are on the brink of homelessness and face living their lives on the streets in a matter of weeks or even days. A catastrophic medical condition, the loss of a job, the end of a relationship, a domestic violence situation or a lifetime of physical or emotional abuse, substance abuse, poor physical health, or mental health issues are some of the life-altering crises that contribute to homelessness. Combine these causes with a lack of affordable housing and you have the equation for homelessness.

MVCH Annual Comparison
Annual Year Client Sign-Ins Case Mgt. Clients Housing Assistance
2005 2891 347 132
2006 3593 746 397
Increase 702 399 265
05-06% Change +24% +115% +201%
2006 3593 746 397
2007 3928 894 328
Increase 335 148 -69
06-07 % Change +9% +19% -17%
2007 3928 894 328
2008 3794 940 265
Increase -134 46 -63
07-08 % Change -3.5% 4.9% -19.2%

The Community of Hope provides support through a myriad of services to help people get back on their feet and off the streets. In addition, our case managers provide people with referrals to other agencies where they can obtain help, such as the Veteran’s Administration, the Social Security Administration, mental health care providers, and local income support centers.

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Community of Hope Services

While Mesilla Valley Community of Hope is the umbrella name for the alliance of agencies, as an independent agency it offers distinct programs and other client services that include


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Volunteers and Community Support

Current Volunteer Opportunities:

For more information on volunteer oppportunities, please contact Maria Doria at (575) 523-2219 ext. 117 or mdoria999@gmail.com

Community support includes our Good Samaritan program where church donations are used to pay for ID cards, bus tickets and other client support necessities. Local businesses and service clubs frequently contribute to the Community of Hope with donations of money, goods or services.

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MVCH Board of Directors

Doug Boberg
President
Jill Grammer
Vice President
Susan Wells
Secretary
Harry Hansen
Treasurer
D. Kent Evans
Community Member
Lynford Ames
Community Member
Doug Baron
Community Member
Allison Kuper
Jardin de los Ninos Rep.
Mary Lou Amacher
St. Luke's Rep.
George Miller
Casa de Peregrinos Rep.
Don Murphy
Community Member
Lesa Royse
Community Member
Tom Taylor
Homeless Rep.
Donna Wood
El Caldito

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Funding Sources

Government Sources: The Community of Hope receives funding from a variety of sources. It seeks grants from the Department of Housing and Urban Development; the NM Department of Veterans Services; the state legislature’s Homeless Program Assistance, which is distributed by the New Mexico Mortgage Finance Authority; Community Development Block Grant; Doña Ana County External Agency Grant; and the City’s Health and Human Services Grant.

Private Foundations: Assistance from private foundations includes the Stocker Foundation, the Wolslager Foundation; and the McCune Charitable Trust.

Corporate Funds: Grants and donations have been received from Con Agra, Wal-Mart, and Lowe’s; and local businesses, such as Aldershot Nurseries, are also consistent contributors.

Good Samaritan Fund: Churches contribute regularly to the Community of Hope in the form of donations to the Good Samaritan fund. This fund helps provide for birth certificates, IDs, gas vouchers, bus tickets, tokens and disability bus passes, and other emergency needs of our homeless clients, e.g., prescriptions, work boots and emergency housing assistance.

Individual and Private Contributions: Many people contribute regularly and make up the bulk of donations received during the Thanksgiving and Christmas holidays.

Since government funding restricts the use of funds to programs and clients only, unrestricted funds from some of the aforementioned sources help us with basic operating expenses such as utilities, staff benefits and building repair costs.

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Classes and Activities

Mesilla Valley Community of Hope has a wonderful Resource Room and actively strive to bring in classes, activities, and events. Classes include meal preparation, cooking, sewing and crafts, health related classes and many more. Activities and events include Friday Movies, sign ups for various programs such as state insurance, housing, etc. From time to time individuals and groups will come and perform and everyone is welcome at almost all of these activities.

Upcoming Class

Computer Class: Every Monday 12:30-1:30 and 1:30-2:30. Participants must be clients of Mesilla Valley Community of Hope. Space is limited, so please sign up with Maria.

Accomplishments / Goals Achieved

Mesilla Valley Community of Hope received the prestigious Audrey Nelson National Community Development Association Award in 2006. This national award recognizes agencies that make a difference in their community through their use of Community Development of Block Grant funds.

The Community of Hope served 3,593 people in 2006, providing aid from the simple act of offering a drink of cold water or a shower with hot water, to the complex process of assisting them in obtaining and maintaining their own apartment.

The Community of Hope recently received a new housing grant in collaboration with the City of Las Cruces, the Las Cruces Housing Authority and Southwest Counseling Center. The grant money provides monthly rental assistance to fourteen homeless people with mental illness for a minimum of five years.

As grants or funding sources allow, the Community of Hope will continue to develop its housing assistance programs to include intensive case management aimed at helping people who have been homeless for months, years or decades to adjust to their new condition of stability.

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Spotlight


Pamela Angell: A true humanitarian
Respect and dignity come first for Community of Hope executive director
BY: Natisha Hales
The Las Cruces Bulletin

As community director for the Community of Hope, Pamela Angell makes it a point to provide homeless people with respect. Here she is pictured with Johnny Barton, left, and Bob Lindsay, who are traveling “coast to coast.” NATISHA HALES The Las Cruces Bulletin

Before she even became executive director of the nonprofit organization that provides services to homeless people, Angell learned the importance of these values firsthand. After graduating from high school in Connecticut, she said she got in an argument with her family about where to go to college – she wanted to go to Boston, but her family wanted her to stay in Connecticut. “I took my financial aid and my 1967 Volvo and drove to Boston, but I couldn’t find a place to live,” she said. “School didn’t start for another month.” Interviewing to be a roommate with college students who attended Harvard and MIT, she couldn’t prove that she had a reliable income, and no one was willing to take a chance on her. So she lived in her car for a month, sleeping in the back seat. “I parked at the YWCA in Cambridge (Mass.), and I would throw clothes over my head so no one would see me,” she said. “Every five nights or so, I’d pay $8 to stay at the Y and take a shower. I couldn’t get a job because there was no way for them (employers) to contact me.” She finally got a job after her brother begged his friend, who owned a café, to take a chance and hire her as a bus girl. “I was able to get on my feet about four months later, and I was on positive terms with my family again,” she said. “It taught me never to quit a job before finding another one. Security became really important to me.” Her situation, she said, was different than many of those who come to the Community of Hope for its services. “I was white, well-educated, female and well-loved,” she said. “My family wasn’t rich, but we were definitely middle class. Even then I had a safety net, and in my adult life, my parents have helped me financially. “A lot of people have families that are just as poor or poorer than they are, or they have no association with their families at all. A lot of homeless people come from very broken lives.” Angell survived her short stint of homelessness and moved to New Mexico. She received her bachelor’s degree in professional writing from the University of New Mexico and embarked on a career as a journalist, starting as a reporter for the Grants Daily Beacon. Within three months, she was promoted to an editor position. After two years, she said she decided to live in a “bigger city,” so she moved to Las Cruces and took a position as copy editor for the Las Cruces Sun-News. Within months, she was promoted to city editor, overseeing a staff of 10 to 12 reporters. “I missed reporting,” she said. “I was stuck in the office all the time, so after a year, I took a reporter position. I covered the courts for the Sun-News.” Her new beat included cases of gang murders and DWI tragedies. “It was really depressing. I would see families get crushed by murder,” she said. “I covered murders and funerals of young people and children, so on the side, I did fun stories.” Her “fun stories” took her on different escapades – she rounded up buffalo on Ted Turner’s ranch and studied mountain lions in the San Andres Mountains. She also wrote stories relating to social services, including homelessness. For two days and a night, Angell posed as a homeless person. “I had a dollar in my pocket, and I kind of spread dirt on my jeans so I would look dirty,” she said. “I hung out and slept at the old Gospel Rescue Mission.” She learned how to panhandle, and she said what shocked her was that people she knew turned away from her. “There was a judge I knew, and when I approached him to panhandle, he looked at me and walked away swiftly,” she said. When she came away to write her story, it wasn’t about the fact that it was a little cool at night that bothered her or she didn’t have a place to stay. “The thing that struck me the most was how lonely and disrespected I felt in those two days,” she said. “People I knew saw me panhandling, and I was invisible to them, like garbage. They didn’t want to walk near me. The loneliness and the lack of acceptance really struck me. “From that time on, I always made it a point to show kindness. That’s one of the most important things you can give people. All humans who make a reasonable sum of money have a certain responsibility to give back, and it’s great if that money is directed toward agencies, at least they’ll know it’s going toward good.” Angell left her job as a reporter for the Sun-News to become the executive director of the Doņa Ana County Humane Society. After almost six years there, she saw the opening for the Community of Hope executive director position and applied. “The boards knew who I was by then,” she said. “I had gotten the animal shelter a lot of publicity, and they recognized my name as a reporter. So when I was interviewed, I had a reputation.” She started her job on Dec. 1, 2001. Taking what she learned as executive director of the humane society, Angell said she introduced change slowly and incorporated the staff in the decision making process, but she is ultimately responsible for the organization. “As the executive director of a nonprofit organization, I wear a lot of hats,” she said. “I’m grant writer, HR director, and I network with other agencies and people.” Angell also oversees and develops the community’s programs, which includes laundry services and showering. Clients can also have a locker to store their items, as well as a mailbox and voicemail service, so they can efficiently look for a job and receive communication without losing their dignity. In 2006, the Community of Hope, which acts as a day shelter for homeless individuals, provided almost 4,000 showers, and clients did 2,200 loads of laundry. “It’s important to get clean because there’s a stigma associated with homeless people being very dirty,” Angell said. “These services are nice because it’s important that they don’t lose that final dignity.” In the six years she has been the Community of Hope executive director, Angell said the budget and staff have more than doubled, and although they may see more clients, treating everyone with respect is a priority. “I try to greet people, look them in the eye and smile,” she said. “I try to set a tone of love, acceptance and respect, and the staff has really helped with that.”

 

Group Speaks for Homeless

By Polly Summar
Journal Staff Writer
    Fifteen minutes in the 10-degree cold Thursday morning was about all the homeless advocates could stand as they gathered outside the Roundhouse: a reminder to the community that most of the homeless have to survive the frigid temperatures full time.
    The kind of exposure the advocates were looking for was a different kind. "We're trying to get homelessness and the lack of affordable housing on the Legislative agenda," said Bud Ryan, a photographer who serves on the board of St. Elizabeth's Shelter.
    At a podium set up outside for the occasion, state Sen. Jerry Ortiz y Pino, D-Albuquerque, told the group that "for too long we've treated homelessness as a personal failing."
    Ortiz y Pino said he wants the Legislature to look at housing as a strategy to end homelessness. "Let's provide it as a boost for them," he said, "not something they have to earn." He added that he hopes the advocates can get "money and a change in attitude" this legislative session.
    Sue Campbell, who was formerly homeless and is now a case manager at the Mesilla Valley Community of Hope in Las Cruces, said it was the help she received at Community of Hope that turned her life around. The community is an alliance of agencies providing care for the homeless, from a shelter and soup kitchen to health care and day care for children.
    "Because I got clean clothes and was able to shower," said Campbell, "I realized, 'I'm going to try one more time.' ''
    After becoming a volunteer at the shelter, Campbell said, the staff gave her a "little tiny trailer" to live in. She stopped drinking and went back to school, eventually becoming a case manager: "Every human needs a roof."
    Campbell said she became homeless when she was laid off from her job in California's Silicon Valley after 35 years. "I had a nervous breakdown and even ended up in jail," she said. "But some old lady in a wildlife refuge told me to come to Las Cruces, New Mexico, and I've been blessed ever since."
    The advocates, members of the New Mexico Coalition to End Homelessness, are lobbying legislators to support their four priorities this session:
   
  • To create a Housing First Task Force, through a Senate memorial, that would develop a workable alliance among the Departments of Human Services, Health, Education and Corrections for finding affordable housing.
       
  • To secure $15 million in new funding for the New Mexico Housing Trust Fund.
        The New Mexico Mortgage Finance Authority, which administers the fund, has already awarded about $12 million of fund appropriations, leveraging more than $163 million in other housing funding and will create 960 housing unit throughout the state. But more is needed, say the advocates.
       
  • Increase funding for the Human Services Department's new supportive housing program by $1 million.
        Supportive housing is a model that consists of creating affordable housing plus supportive services. Of the funds requested, $300,000 will be used to provide vouchers for people with serious mental illness and for homeless youth.
       
  • Increase funding by $760,000 for supportive housing for youth transitioning out of foster care.
        Advocates say the Children Youth and Families Department will be seeking these funds. Of the $760,000, some $610,000 would be for a Transitional Living program to provide youth with education, employment and housing services; $150,000 would be for a permanent supportive housing pilot project in Albuquerque for youth.
        Research shows that former foster youth are at high risk of becoming homeless as adults; supportive housing helps prevent that.


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    Highlights



    Candlelight vigil held for those homeless who lost their lives during the past year Jim Bryant holds up a small clay pot with a candle inside, Wednesday evening, Dec. 19, during the Community of Hope’s candlelight vigil for homeless people who have died during the past year. After the vigil, a dinner of chile, cornbread and salad, followed at the El Caldito Soup Kitchen.


    Many of Las Cruces’ homeless were able to enjoy some good food during the Community of Hope’s candlelight vigil.
    PHOTOS BY J.M. CRAMER


    Members of the Mesilla Valley Chorale were on hand to provide entertainment during the Mesilla Valley Community of Hope’s candlelight vigil and Christmas dinner for the homeless Wednesday evening, Dec. 19, at El Caldito Soup Kitchen.


    Pamela Angell, executive director of the Mesilla Valley Community of Hope, holds aloft a candle for Fairlight Lucia, the Las Cruces grants administrator, and tells why she was special to the MVCOH during the candlelight vigil and Christmas dinner for the homeless, Wednesday evening, Dec. 19, at El Caldito Soup Kitchen. Fairlight died in October.


    Mesilla Valley Community of Hope research and data manager Gary Clute entertains the guests during the MVCOH’s candle light vigil and Christmas dinner for the homeless, Wednesday evening, Dec. 19, at El Caldito Soup Kitchen. (Reprinted by Permission – The Las Cruces Bulletin)

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    Vision//New Goals

    The Community of Hope will be starting a committee to plan and design a Community Garden on our campus. This garden will hopefully provide nutritional fresh produce to our area shelters, soup kitchen and food bank, and will be a valuable training and community facility. Other ideas include developing a portion of the garden to be an enterprise industry to help homeless people obtain income.

    The Community of Hope is constantly seeking grant funding to increase its ability to assist people with permanent housing. Housing cures homelessness! And to that end we have received funds from HUD for a scattered-site housing program to help at least eight chronically homeless individuals obtain their own apartment. We also are seeking funds to help us assist up to 50 individuals and families in obtaining an apartment through a transitional housing grant that will provide intensive case management and goal setting to help the individual or family move toward housing permanency.

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    Fairlight Community Gardens

    "Growing Community"

    Our Vision: A community where all people have equal access to fresh and healthy food and make educated decisions about what they eat

    Our Mission: To unite, strengthen, educate, and provide our diverse community with fresh, healthy food through the process of gardening.

     

    Our Projects:
    1. Work/trade low-income CSA; low-income individuals and families work an hour a week in the garden and receive a weekly share (a selection of in-season vegetables, to supply 5-7 meals) of veggies from the garden, usually picked that same day with members help.
    2. Donate extra produce to the local food bank and soup kitchen.
    3. Monthly garden talks by local farmers and gardeners on a variety of subjects free to the community.
    4. Volunteerism; the garden has one part-time employee and relies on volunteers to help with garden tasks, spending as much time as they are able.
    5. Gardening, demonstrating and educating participants about sustainable/organic growing joining a long tradition of growing in the southwest. Utilizing techniques that are appropriate for our specific local and climate: such as planting and preserving southwestern native seeds.

     

    Fairlight Community Gardens (FCG) Facts:

    Now in our third season we are searching for more ways to get healthy, produce to the underprivileged and re-connect the larger community to local foods and traditions.

    We are now accepting new members for our low-income Work/Trade CSA!
    Work 1 hour a week and get a box of fresh produce from the garden (about enough veggise for a family for a week).     For more information, contact Eric Luther at (575) 523-2219 ext 108 or hopegarden999@yahoo.com

     

    EnlargingGarden

    Building Coldframe

    Last Summer, from June to October, Fairlight Community Gardens produced over 800 pounds of produce for El Caldito, Casa Peregrinos, and Jardin de los Ninos. In October, we doubled the size of the garden and built our first cold frame. The cold frame and covered row plantings have continued production of the garden throughout the winter.

    Now, it's time for some garden maintenance - mulching, composting, and tilling. Volunteers from the Newman Center at NMSU spent a hard morning in February doing just that.

     

    Volunteers help maintain the garden - Others learn how to install a drip irrigation system.

     

    Fairlight Community Gardens

     

    Garden this!
    Once more, we find ourselves in the trenches and vines of the garden path, which way to turn, to run, to plant. Alas, the hardy winds slow us down and drive dust into every crack and crevice; make fine the rough edges and tatters of everything that remains un-battened. But the temperatures are on the rise, bringing out the green and that means good, fresh garden eats are on their way.


    This is another hip and happenin’ month at Fairlight Community Gardens. Listed below are a bunch of great community events.

    Garden Events


    Garden Work Day: NO work day this month. Instead, join the Crop Mob at our garden on Saturday May 1st. Regular garden work days will resume next month.


    Crop Mob: Saturday May1st 9am FCG
    cropmoblascruces.blogspot.com, cropmoblascruces@gmail.com
     We are proud to host the first Mobbing and look forward to getting to know and help out other local farms and gardens. This is a new and exciting group starting in Las Cruces, connecting wannabes and dirt lovers with and real farm(s)ers and garden(s)ers. Mobbing a new farm or garden each month getting dirty, meeting local growers and community members, have fun, and sharing some potluck. Check out the websites and info above to learn more about this cool new movement.


    Garden Meeting: NO meeting this month
    But your ideas and suggestion are still welcome, contact info is below.


    Garden Talk #11: Tuesday May 4th at 5:30, Resource Room COH
    Carbon and Biology, Creating and Sustaining The Soil Food Web
    Speakers; Charles Martin, Jack Noel and Conrad Nelson will share their knowledge and experience using and encouraging soil microbes to create healthy, disease fighting, soil. This will be a lively talk about how to bring soil back to life, revitalize diseased and toxic soils and sustain plant growth and vigor.


    Volunteer Days: Every Saturday from 9 a.m.-1 p.m.
    No experience necessary! Just come dressed and ready to work outside. Drop ins are welcome. Please make arrangements for large groups.

     

    Sunday Growers Market:

    Sundays from 10-2 throughout the summer and fall.
    Mountain View Market Co-op Parking Lot, 1300 El Paseo at Idaho

    Call 523-0436 or email mountainviewgrowers@gmail.com for more info.

    LOCAL VEGGIES! LOCAL EGGS!LOCAL MUSIC! KIDS TABLE!
    Support a local food system and taste the freshest foods you can find!

     

     

    For more information on Fairlight Community Gardens, contact Eric Luther at (575) 523-2219 ext 108 or hopegarden999@yahoo.com

    See you in the Garden!

    Eric Luther, Garden Coordinator
    Fairlight Community Gardens
    Growing Community

    .


    We are rolling, however bumpy into spring.  The sun is starting to show its power, the wind is starting to share its thoughts and green sprouts are popping up in the garden. It has been a cold and long winter, I know I am ready for a little more sun and warmth.

    The new Monthly work days have been a great success. With 20+ volunteers each time we have gotten so much done I can just sit back and... write more emails! More than half the garden was seeded last weekend with saved and donated seeds at the patient and furious fingers of our awesome crew. Thanks to everyone who has taken the time to help us keep FCG growing.  

    We are participating in a nationally competitive grant for a fruit tree and berry orchard. This grant requires community members to vote for their garden, the most votes will receive the orchard, including a fruit tree class, irrigation system and expert installation help.  Please vote for Fairlight Community Gardens at Communities Take Root

    Thanks to everyone who has helped in the garden. Thanks also to everyone who hasn’t made it out but thought about it; we were thinking of you ever time we pulled a really stubborn weed but not when we had to sample sun-warmed pear tomatoes, maybe next time. See you in the garden!


    Non-Profit Status

    Mesilla Valley Community of Hope, Inc. is incorporated in the State of New Mexico as a Nonprofit Corporation. We are designated as a 501(c)(3) organization by the Department of Treasury, Internal Revenue Service, and are authorized to accepted donations which are tax deductible at fair value for the donor. No goods or services are granted in exchange for donations.

     

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