Cindy Parr takes on new role as coalition executive director,
hopes to expand funding
Cindy Parr has long spent the entire year working with the
homeless population in San Benito County, but her recent
appointment as executive director of the San Benito Homeless
Coalition has made it official. First as a volunteer in 2005, then
as a staff member and shelter manager, a role she took on in 2007,
Parr has been employed seasonally while the shelter is open. But
she can be found visiting with homeless residents and advocating
for them even in the months the shelter is closed.
”
An awful lot of our decision was based on her passion,
”
said Doug Emerson, a member of the San Benito County Homeless
Coalition Board and a Hollister city councilman.
”
No one has more passion than she does.
”
The board announced Parr’s new position at the Coalition’s
annual
”
Jazz Under the Stars
”
fundraiser in July. The event netted more than $10,000 toward
the cause. It highlighted one of the things about her work that
Parr is most passionate about
– the success stories.
Cindy Parr takes on new role as coalition executive director, hopes to expand funding
Cindy Parr has long spent the entire year working with the homeless population in San Benito County, but her recent appointment as executive director of the San Benito Homeless Coalition has made it official. First as a volunteer in 2005, then as a staff member and shelter manager, a role she took on in 2007, Parr has been employed seasonally while the shelter is open. But she can be found visiting with homeless residents and advocating for them even in the months the shelter is closed.
“An awful lot of our decision was based on her passion,” said Doug Emerson, a member of the San Benito County Homeless Coalition Board and a Hollister city councilman. “No one has more passion than she does.”
The board announced Parr’s new position at the Coalition’s annual “Jazz Under the Stars” fundraiser in July. The event netted more than $10,000 toward the cause. It highlighted one of the things about her work that Parr is most passionate about – the success stories.
“We had two guest speakers, two more successes from last year,” she said. “If we help two people a year, our job is done.”
Last year, the shelter, open the end of November through March, served 68 new clients and 30 returning clients. Parr said the trend seems to be younger clients, ages 18 or 19, as well as newly homeless people who have been hit hard by the economic downturn.
Parr said when a new client fills out an intake form, she can tell if they are ready to work on getting a job and permanent housing. For the intake form, the clients are asked about their short-term and long-term goals.
“We get probably 10 in a season that don’t want to be where they are,” she said. “We work to get them proper referrals, but they have to want it inside.”
For other clients, she said they know the shelter is open for five months and when it closes they will need to pitch a tent. She added that many of those clients suffer from mental illness.
“It’s not a judgmental thing,” Parr said. “None of us want to see any of them on the streets.”
In her position as executive director, some of her key responsibilities will be collaborating with agencies in San Benito County to offer services to clients; continuing efforts to open a year-round shelter facility; and working with Monterey County to create a continuum of care.
The federal government has grants available through Housing and Urban Development through what they refer to as continuum of care homeless programs. San Benito is not part of a continuum of care, but Parr attended a workshop in Monterey County on July 30 in which early discussions have started about including San Benito under that county’s umbrella so that it will be eligible for more federal grants. Parr added that federal grants are highly competitive.
“(Monterey has) 12 different nonprofits so now we have access to how they do things,” Emerson said. “We needed an executive director to drive through this.”
Parr added that the continuum of care is focused not just on emergency shelters, but on addressing the long-term issue of homelessness.
“It’s not so much about emergency shelters as ending homelessness,” she said. “There is no money for transitional housing, but there is for permanent housing.”
Emerson and Parr said this year the local coalition is eligible for a federal emergency shelter grant of $100,000. In the past, San Benito has applied and has not received the grant. Points are awarded to counties that have received the grant in the past, so San Benito has always been at a disadvantage. This fiscal year, counties that do not have a continuum of care will receive extra points so San Benito has a chance of receiving money this year.
Randy Brown, the chair of the Homeless Coalition, first approached Parr about the executive director position on Mother’s Day.
“He talked about joining Monterey to start a program,” she said. “He said it would be a lot of daytime, consuming work.”
The new position will require keeping data of the clients that use the shelter facilities, which is something Parr said she already does as shelter manager.
“I am still overseeing the shelter, but like I said it will be more of the data, meetings and strategic planning,” she said.
She said she still plans to visit the shelter in the evenings, but it will be on her own time since she will be working during the day on her executive director duties.
Parr will continue to work with the board to find a permanent site. Emerson said the board is still considering locations outside the city limits in unincorporated county and in the city’s designated zone. The north gateway is the area in the city designated for a shelter, and Emerson said, that means the board would not need special permits to build or renovate a facility in that area.
“It’s away from schools and residential,” Parr said. “Out there it doesn’t have that much residential. It is near the One-Stop Center and mental health, which would be ideal.”
Parr said she believes a year-round facility will allow the Homeless Coalition to have more success stories each year.
“These people who can remain clean and sober (when the shelter is open), go out onto the streets and, what are you going to do?” Parr asked. “They are lost. Every year we see it happen. They spiral down into survival techniques.”
Though the shelter does not open until November, Parr will be working on gathering memorandums of understanding with agencies to provide services at the homeless shelter. In the past, the services have included substance abuse and mental health counseling, dental and medical services and employment services.
“The major thing is getting the commitments,” she said.
She will also hold a meeting in September for people who want to volunteer to cook dinner at the shelter. After two years of cooking off site at the Community Center and shuttling food up to the facility, the renovation of the kitchen at the homeless shelter is complete. Emerson and Parr both said the facility is excellent.
“Volunteers really missed a vital part of the program when they weren’t in the kitchen,” Emerson said.
