What is Your Elevator Speech

What is your elevator speech?

Promise House has struggled with this for years.


How do we say what we do in a compelling, meaningful, impactful 30 second blip? I know we can't be the only agency struggling with this; particularly those of us who offer a myriad of services not only to teens, but to adults and families.


So, when someone asks me, "What is Promise House?", my first thought is, "Oh, god, here I go again......how can I do this without their eyes glazing over???"


Options:
"We drag kids off the street and save them".....a bit drastic.
"We shelter homeless, runaway, and at-risk teens"..........BORING.
"We embrace homeless, runaway, and at-risk teens, giving them individualized skills, encouragement, and hope to live a better life".......too long and a bit touchy-feely, even if it is our mission statement!
"We serve kids in crisis".......too short and doesn't tell the whole story.
"We offer a myriad of services for runaway, homeless, and at-risk teens"........again, true but boring.


You get my drift?

How do we get to the heart of what we do? How do we describe in 30 seconds the transformation we see EVERY day with kids who come to us with literally nothing and leave with an education, a job, money, an apartment, and most importantly, self confidence and hope for the future?

How do we say in an elevator ride that the young homeless parents who come to us become GREAT parents, breaking the cycle of poverty, homelessness, repeat pregnancies, and child abuse?

What are 25 words or less than can describe the energy, the creativity, the passion, and the beauty that are embodied in the teens with whom we work?

How do we change people's perceptions about teens in general, and in particular the teens we serve, in two sentences?

I'm stumped. Ideas are welcome.

What is YOUR elevator speech?

The End-All Ain't Gonna End It

So, here is why HUD's end-all to solving the homelessness problem, Permanent Supportive Housing, will NOT end homelessness.

Reason One: The requirements of eligibility for Permanent Supportive Housing i.e., persons with mental or physical disabilities, and chronically homeless individuals and families knocks at least 80% of the homeless population out of the running for housing. The chronically homeless make up only 10 - 15% of the total homeless population, and yet currently receive 90% of services. There is something wrong with this equation!

Reason Two: Permanent Supportive Housing does NOTHING to plug the pipeline into chronic homelessness i.e., homeless teens and young adults, teens aging out of foster care and the juvenile justice system (up to 38% of whom will be homeless at least once in the two years following emancipation). 95% of teens and young adults are NOT chronically homeless (on the street for at least a year or 4 homeless episodes in the past 2 years), and we do not want them labeled as such; BUT they WILL be if they are not assisted now. Additionally, most teens do not qualify as disabled (thank heavens!), and we don't want them labeled as such. The teens at Promise House are in school, working, raising kids, and functioning in the world. But they wouldn't be without our help.

Reason Three: Teens and young adults have very different needs than do chronically homeless adults. They need a phased program that moves from fairly high structure and supervision all the way to independent living, which includes housing and support services. You can't just stick a teen in an apartment, or give a teen a housing voucher or 3 month's rent, say "Go be successful", and expect success.

The only way to truly stop chronic homelessness is to plug the pipeline into it. If you were to ask 20 chronically homeless adults if they were homeless as teens or young adults, at least 15 would say yes.

I don't know why this is such a difficult concept to get. Maybe when the "end homelessness by" deadlines pass and there is still homelessness, folks that make the funding decisions will scratch their heads and wonder why.

Maybe they should ask me.

Echoes From Our Children

It's awesome and a bit scary to see your children speak out on issues about which they are passionate. I have two daughters, both of whom are extremely articulate, are passionate about many causes, and who sounded off recently about the Texas Legislature cutting funds to Planned Parenthood. My oldest, Kat, wrote a commentary on her website, and my youngest, Leslie, posted an article from the Austin paper, adding a few choice words, which I won't repeat here.

Both girls were raised in diametrically opposed environments---liberal feminist with their mother and conservative conservative with their dads. What this forced them to do was forge their own beliefs from the two, which they did very well. Lucky for me, their beliefs landed much closer to mine than their dads' (LOL!). This is not to say, however, that they track right down the line with my beliefs. Leslie, for instance, was heavily influenced by her church experience and holds very different beliefs from me about all that. Kat, on the other hand, is even more "radical" than I on many issues and is totally unafraid to speak out uncensored about them.

What we are very close in belief about, however, is women's health. Kat has used Planned Parenthood most of her adult life for low-cost well-woman check-ups, birth control, and treatment for female ailments. Having had no insurance since graduating from college, PP was a godsend for her. So, to lose that resource is devastating to her. Although Leslie has never used PP, many of her friends have, for the same stuff that Kat did. What none of them has ever used PP for is abortions.

But I am not here to debate that issue. What I am here to say is how strange it is sometimes to hear echoes of my voice in my daughters' voices......how fearful I am sometimes for them for speaking out.....and how aware I am that they are so much more politically savvy, so much more aware of what's happening in the world, and SO much more willing to speak out about it than I was at their ages, that I often stand in awe of both of them.

It has often been said that our children reflect both the best and worst of us. I think I lucked out with my girls. They seemed to have gotten the best of both their dads and me. And though it is a little scary to see and hear them stand up, speak out, take the heat for their beliefs, when I hear those echoes, it does my heart good to know they GOT what I wanted them to get........their OWN, strong voices.

"Repurpose" the Texas Legislature

My friend Larry James wrote about this today, and I just can't help chiming in with him about what a disgrace it is that the Texas Legislature actually "repurposed" funds that were raised by "six million Texas power customers paying a little extra each month to provide utility-bill assistance to those who otherwise couldn't afford to stay cool" (Dallas Morning News Editorial 8-2-11).

WHAT????

As leader of a nonprofit like my friend Larry, I, too, would be in BIG trouble if I "repurposed" restricted funds to fill holes in my budget. Why, then, is it OK for legislators to do it.....particularly when it is MY money they are repurposing!!!

I suggest we cut off all power to every legislator's home and office until they gain even a miniscule amount of compassion for those less fortunate than they.

And, I demand a reckoning and an audit of these funds AND an explanation of exactly how the representatives of ME will restore these funds for such needy folks.

I think if I keep writing about this, my head will explode. Suffice it to say, I am DONE with these hyjinks, both at the state and federal level.

It may be time to march......or "repurpose" the state legislature.

Same Old

So, here's a funny. Over the weekend, I was called at 12:30 a.m. Sunday morning to help the overnight shelter staff find the fire alarm key to disarm the alarm that had been pulled by a 9-year-old resident. The firefighters were going to break down the door of the office where the key was, so I decided to high-tail it up there.

I got to the shelter, unlocked the office, found the fire alarm key, gave it to the firefighters, laughed with them a bit about the false alarm (what IS it about firefighters that is SO engaging?), and then asked about the youngster who had pulled the alarm.

Upon learning his name, I wandered over to him and asked how he was doing. Crying, he said, "Not good." Me: "Why?" Him: "Cause I was trying to escape to find my mamaw." Me: "Did you pull the alarm?" Him: "No." Hmmmmm.......

Then he looks at me for the first time with tears running down his face and says, "You my mamaw!" Me: "You mean I look like her?" Him: "Yeah. Same old."

SAME OLD???? SAME OLD???? Now, I have to admit, I did NOT look my best after rolling out of bed to get here, but really? OLD???

Actually, I thought it was HILARIOUS. Only out of the mouths of kids would something like that come.

When I saw him the next day, he wasn't in a much better mood, but he did remember me. I was tempted to ask him if he thought I still looked "old", but decided not to risk it!

Gotta love 'em.

Were You Raised in a Barn??

My daughter FINALLY found a job in Austin. At 20 years of age, she was among the 24.5% of young people who are unemployed in this country. The report of 9.something% unemployment that we all hear about constantly is very misleading, since it applies only to "adults".

Looking for a job is stressful as it is, but these days, it is a total whippin'. Leslie did all the right things.....followed the directions......got many interviews......wrote thank you notes......made follow up calls.......and would get NO RESPONSE FROM ANYONE. Even when they told her they would call her back, THEY DIDN'T. What is that about??? What happened to business etiquette? Are the pickings that great that you don't even have to be civil to another human being anymore?

I can't tell you how discouraging it was for her, and for me having to hear it from her. Total silence. Total rudeness. Trying to answer her questions of how can people be so callous, so uncaring made my blood boil, made me want to call those people up and tell them a thing or two, like, "Were you raised in a barn???", "Were you raised by wolves?" "Have you ever heard of MANNERS??" Instead, all I could say was, "No matter how they act, YOU must do your part and follow good business etiquette. Something will pop."

And, finally, it did. After six months of discouragement, anger, anguish.....of "what's wrong with me?" something did pop. But not without collateral damage, not without a not-very-fun this-is-how-the-real-world-can-be lesson.

The one thing I hope Leslie takes from this is to NEVER treat others as she has been treated this past six months. If she is ever in a position to hire people, to think back on this experience and make sure she is NOT silent, NOT rude, DOES call back when she says she will, ESPECIALLY when she is not going to hire someone. That is the least she can do.

After all, isn't that what we all want? To be acknowledged, to be left with our honor and our egos in tact, even in rejection?

Seems little to ask.