Welcome  to  Ending  Student  Homelessness, a  podcast  that  brings  together  folks  who  are committed  to  understanding  and  finding  housing  solutions. I  am  Misty  Blue,  a  researcher  at the  University  of  Minnesota's Center  for  Advanced  Studies  and  Child  Welfare, and  I've  had  the  honor  of  interviewing a  series  of  guests  committed  to  this  work. Today's  conversation  features  four  professionals  working together  to  address  homelessness in  Northwestern  Minnesota. Brandy  Wilkie  is  the  Rental  Assistance  Specialist  for Clay  County  HRA. Amy  Ricio  is  the  Transitional  Student  Support  and Homeless  Liaison  for  Morehead  School  District. Sierra  Neilan  Martinez  is the  Youth  Self  Sufficiency  Advocate for  Lakes  and  Prairies  Community  Action. And  Sandra  Click  is the  family  case  manager for  Churches  United  Micah's  mission. Take  a  listen  to  this  two  part  episode  where this  group  of  professionals  is  in  conversation about  challenges  and  opportunities to  address  homelessness  within their  respective  roles  and  in greater  Minnesota.  Thank  you  all.  Welcome. Thanks  for  joining  me  today. Thank  you.  Thank  you  for  having  us. Thanks  for  having  us. Can  you  all  please  introduce  yourself  to  our  listeners? My  name  is  Brandy  Wilkie. She  her  hers. I  come  from  Clay  County  HRE. I'm  a  Rental  Assistance  Specialist  and I've  been  with  Clay  County  HR  for  four  years. Some  things  about  me  that  I  like  to  share  is  that my  background  is  in  criminal  justice with  a  bachelor's  in  social  work. I  also  have  lived  experience  as  a  young  adult. I  was  a  pregnant  homeless  young  adult, and  a  single  parent  for  seven  years. In  the  15  years. In  my  role  in  my  roles, I've  done  DSP  work,  mental  health  services, case  management,  and  now  providing  rental  assistance. Hello,  my  name  is  Sierra  Neil  Martinez. I  currently  work  for Lakes  and  Prairies  Community  Action  Partnership here  in  Moorhead,  Minnesota. I  work  as  their  Youth  Self  Sufficiency  advocate and  I've  been  with  Lakes  and Prairies  for  about  3.5  years. I  actually  started  here  working  as  an  intern  with their  Family  Homelessness  Prevention and  Assistance  program. Then  from  there,  I  moved  into  my  current  role  as one  of  their  two  youth  self  sufficiency  advocates. Yeah,  I'm  Chandra  likes. I  am  a  family  keys  manager  at Churches  United  Micah's  Mission  Shelter. I  have  about  24  years  of  combined  experience  working with  families  that  are either  at  risk  or  currently  experiencing  homelessness. I've  served  many  roles, such  as  I  was  an  educator, I  worked  in  child  protection as  a  family  support  services  provider, and  then  the  last  18  months, I  have  been  the  family  case  manager  here  at  our  shelter. Okay.  I'm  Amy  Riccio  I  am the  District  Homeless  Liaison  for Morehead  Area  Public  Schools. I  recently  started  this  position just  this  year  in  September. Previous  to  that,  I  was  employed  as a  school  social  worker  with Fargo  Public  Schools  for  the  past  28  years. In  that  role,  I  worked  with  homeless  as  well  as  um, at  risk  students  and  families  that we're  facing  many  different  barriers, whether  it  be  poverty, homelessness,  mental  health  concerns,  behavior  concerns. I  have  switched  over  to Morehead  and  continue  to  work  just specifically  with  homeless  students  and families  in  grades  pre  K  through  12th  grade. I  have  a  bachelor's  degree  in social  work  and  a  master's  degree  in  administration. Can  you  speak  a  little  bit  to  how  living in  Northwest  Minnesota  is  unique? And  especially  around  the, either  travel  back  and  forth  between  North  Dakota, which  would  be  Fargo,  and  then  Moorhead,  Minnesota. I  would  comment  that working  as  a  district  homeless  liaison  in  the  school, it's  very  interesting  because  we're  a  border  city, so  we  have  the  state  line  that  makes a  very  interesting  dynamic for  our  students  and  our  families. What  I've  seen  in  the  years  that  I've  lived  here, there  are  many  families  that live  in  the  North  Dakota  side  or  in the  Fargo  area  because there  seems  to  be  more  openings  or  opportunities  there. However,  there  isn't  the  financial  support or  the  case  management  support  like  it  is  in  Minnesota. It  causes  a  really  difficult  situation for  families  to  how  do  they  balance  that? How  do  they  find affordable  housing  and  be  able  to  sustain  that. It's  just  that  state  line. It's  different  state  laws, it's  different  ways  our  legislators  work. It's  just  a  little  bit  of a  different  dynamic  rather  than  just  being  in  the Or  the  Northwest  side  of  a  state. It's  having  the  state  line  there that  causes  some  barriers. I  would  echo  that. When  you're  working  with people  experiencing  homelessness, it's  a  very  highly  mobile  group  of  people. We  have  them  moving  back  and  forth  because  we  have a  total  of  four  shelters  in  our  area. But  we  are  the  only  shelter  within  a  240  mile  radius  that serves  families  that  have  a  male  adult  in  the  household. We  have  people  that  will  jump  back  and  forth. It  becomes  interesting  as far  as  people  getting  and  keeping  their  benefits, if  they  come  from  Fargo  to  Morehead, they  have  to  stop  all  their benefits  there  and  restart  here. Then  they  end  up  with  this  gap  in between,  and  vice  versa. As  Brandy  was  saying, there  is  a  lot  more  housing  opportunities  in  Fargo. Affordable  housing  opportunities  in  Fargo. Yeah,  we  have  a  lot of  that  mobility  with  people  moving  around. It's  just  a  mile  away  and  we're  in  Fargo. Definitely.  All  of  these  ladies  were explaining  is  just  being  on  the  border  so  close, like  you  said,  a  mile  away. It  just  very  interesting  dynamic. We  have  a  lot  of  people  who  are  on  the  North  Dakota  side because  of  those  housing opportunities  that  they  mentioned. It  just  very  tricky. It's  a  tricky  situation  when  a  lot of  the  families  we're  seeing  are kind  of  bouncing  back  and  forth. And  then  speaking  from the  housing  provider  side  here  at  the  community  Action, we  really  can  only  provide that  assistance  in  Moorhead,  Minnesota  as  well. There's  really  no  working  on the  other  side  even  though  it's  so  close, makes  it  very  difficult. And  then  all  those  other  Minnesota  requirements, they  have  to  be  a  resident  or  have a  connection,  Things  like  that  as  well. I  imagine,  yeah,  being  adaptive  and having  skills  for  recognizing  how  to keep  people  getting  the  resources  that  they  need  in the  moment  and  in  this  moment  of  crisis for  them  is  something  that  you  all  develop. Could  you  speak  a  little  bit about  how  you  all  work  together? How  we  work  together. I  specifically  hand  picked  Amy,  Chandra, and  Sierra  because  they  are the  focal  point  of  homework  search with  home  in  the  referral  process, how  people  get  filtered  is  they  are  maybe staying  at  the  shelter  or the  school  identifies  a  homeless  family, they  get  referred  to  LP  where  Sierra  is  working. Then  they  compile  the  referral  information  for  home. Er  starts  with  home.  That  would include  the  school  verification. Currently  we  do  the  VS  Bat  or  the  Mpa. And  they  compile  all  this  information and  determine  they're  eligible, then  they  send  it  over  to  me. And  I  have  all  that  information  in  front of  me  so  I  don't  have  to  re  traumatize  them, I  don't  have  to  ask  them  questions, I  don't  have  to  go  back. But  it's  also  a  way  to  cross  check different  resources  to  make  sure  that  they  are  indeed eligible  and  to  make  sure  that we  have  the  correct  information that  was  set  forth  in  front  of  us. Could  you  talk  a  little  bit about  what  led  you  to  this  work? Personally,  for  me, it  was  in  the  various  positions that  I've  held  over  the  years, seeing  that  homelessness  pervades so  much  of  a  family's  life. I've  seen  too  many  families  be  split  up because  of  homelessness  in  our  community. Like  I  said,  we're  the  only  shelter  in this  huge  radius  that  includes  men  in  the  household. Otherwise,  we  have  the  Y  DCA  where  people  can  go, but  the  men  aren't  able  to  go  there. The  men  have  to  go  to  one  of the  other  shelters  if  they  have  an  opening, you  see  families  split  up. I  have  the  philosophy  of  I'm  more  of  a  micro  person. So  if  I  can  make  a  difference  with  this  one, then  that's  made  a  difference. More  difference  to  that  one  person, to  the  whole  broad  spectrum  of  things. Thank  you.  How  about  others? What  led  me  to  this  work? I  remember  growing  up by  the  Werth  reservation  here  in  Minnesota. And  homelessness,  to  me, it  looked  a  lot  different. I  didn't  really  realize  it  was  like  homelessness looked  different  over  there  in a  sense  where  there  was  a  lot of  families  that  stayed  together  in  the  same  household. When  I  got  over  to  Morehead  for  college, I  worked  at  Walgreens  right  on  Main  Avenue  here, which  is  C  homeless  shelter and  our  social  service  building  in. Was  learning  about  it  informally  in  that  way, and  it  was  kind  of  hard  to  wrap  my  mind  around. But  I  realized,  too, one  day  that  Lakes and  Prairies  had  social  work  internships, and  that's  really  how  I  got  my  foot  in  the  door, was  first  volunteering  to  their  tax  site, and  then  talking  to  their  housing  advocates who  told  me  they  wish  they  had a  social  work  internship  in  this  agency with  all  the  things  that  they  do  and  coming  into  it, not  really  understanding  it, I  was  pretty  interested  to  see  what  they  had  to  offer, and  that's  when  I  ended  up  at  Lakes  and  Prairies, and  in  their  housing  division, they  asked  me  if  I  wanted  to  do  a  Head  Start  internship. I  told  them  I  would  respectfully like  to  get  exposure  to  different  populations. And  that's  when  I  was  able  to complete  my  internship  here  at  Lakes  and  Prairies. And  then  that  was  again  with the  Housing  and  Homeless  Prevention  Program. And  then  now  into  my  current  role  as their  youth  housing  advocate. But  it  really  did  show  me  working  with a  lot  of  people  who  were  experiencing  homelessness, how  resilient  that  this  community  is, and  that's  what  inspires  me  to  keep going  on.  That's  lovely. This  is  Amy  from  Morehead  Schools  what  led  me  to  this? Well,  there's  so  many  different  facets  to  it, I  would  say  working  with  anybody  that has  had  faced  or  has  overcome  any  adversities, homeless,  being  one  of  them. The  amount  of  resilience  that  you  see  in these  families  and  the  students  is  incredible, just  just  watching  them  work through  one  barrier  after  another  and  never  giving  up. Um,  it's  very  empowering  to  watch, and  I  always  say  that  I  am honored  to  do  the  work  because  I  actually  get  to learn  more  about  just  being  a  human  being from  the  people  that  I  work with  than  I  would  in  any  other  profession. It's  amazing  the  different  challenges that  they  face  and  that  never  give up  attitude  is  amazing, just  to  be  a  part  of  their  life. What  led  me  up  to  this  work  obviously  is  the  big  picture, the  personal  lived  experience. But  I,  when  I  was the  first  female  intern  at  more  police  department, I  had  an  Aha  moment  at  a  call  that  I  wanted  to  be  a  help, but  not  this  kind  of  help. And  so  I  pursued  my  goal  into  the bachelor's  of  social  work  life. My  life  was  kind  of  just  brought  me  into the  direction  of  rental  assistance because  when  I  was  doing  case  management, I  always  felt  that  my  calling  was  a  little  different. I  cried  every  time  I  left a  case  management  role  because I  didn't  want  to  leave  my  clients. But  I  truly  feel  like  I  found  my  niche  where I'm  at  a  distance  with  the  population. Not  so  far  that  I'm  still  able  to  connect  and provide  help  and  be the  help  that  I  can  manage  personally. And  then  also  coordinate  with case  managers  in  the  community and  partners  and  that  thing. In  your  responses,  I  heard  that  there is  a  way  for families  to  reach  success for  what  it  looks  like  for  them. Could  you  describe  a  little  bit  about ways  that  you  support  them  to  get  to  that  point? I  can  speak  a  little  bit  about  helping  them,  um, I  guess  reach  whatever their  goals  are  with  housing  in  that  sense, I'm  working  at  Lakes  and  Prairies  with, with  the  youth  housing  program, which  is  basically  anyone  between  the  ages  of  16.25, that  are  enrolled  in  our  program. And  they  were  previously experiencing  homelessness  or  were at  risk  of  homelessness  when  I  began  working  with  them. Really,  if  they're  not  housed  yet, my  first  step  is  to  help  them  find that  housing  if  there's  any  barriers. Sometimes  it's  criminal  history, sometimes  it's  bad  rental  history. Depending  on  if  they  have  any  at  that  point, then  if  they  are  just  at  risk  of  homelessness, it's  really  just  getting  them  how it's  getting  them  caught  up. Linking  them  to  mainstream  resources or  additional  resources  or  support  says  needed. Just  really  getting  to  know  each  person  and figuring  out  what  it  is  that they  need  or  what  they  want  to  work  on. Because  everybody  is  in  such  different  places when  I  begin  to  work  with  them. Just  really  figuring  that  out  and  then  helping them  understand  what  those  next  steps  are, when  and  where,  and  how  to  pay  their  rent. And  teaching  them  how  to  manage  their  money, where  to  pay  their  rent  again, and  then  also  what  it means  to  be  a  responsible renter  and  what  that  looks  like. Thank  you.  It's  meeting families  exactly  where  they're at  and  they're  all  different. You  can't  just  go  in  and assume  that  they  know  something  or that  they  should  have  done this  or  that  you  got  to  meet  them. Where  they're  at,  being a  low  barrier  housing  focused  shelter, we  come  from  it,  from  that  a  perspective  too, that  there's  no  other  expectation other  than  working  toward  housing. You  don't  have  to  attend treatment  before  you  can  get  house. You  don't  have  to  or  mental  health before  you  get  house  because  again, you're  meeting  them  where  they're  at and  addressing  those  things when  they're  ready  to  address  those  things. Yeah.  Yeah.  It  sounds  like  having a  flexible  practices  and  policies  allow the  families  to  access  the  support  they  need  more  easily. I'm  also  imagining  that  it  really honors  you  all  as  experts  in  this  to really  match  people  with  the  right  programs that  they  need  as  well and  you  having  the  flexibility  to  do  that. We've  talked  a  little  bit  about  how  being a  border  state  has  its  own  unique  challenges. Could  you  talk  about different  types  of  inequities that  present  themselves  in  your  work? Like  what  do  they  show  up  like? Or  what  does  inequity  look  like  for  you? This  is  schara,  our  shelter  population. I  mean,  we  know  that  homelessness disproportionately  affects  minorities. It's  just  really  striking  when  I  look  at  it  and  realize, okay,  83%  of  our  community  is  white. And  that  makes  up  about  22%  of  our  homeless  population, but  8%  of  our  community  are  people  of  color, mostly  black  or  Native  American. But  yet  they  make  up  45%  of  the  homeless  population. There's  just  this  disparity between  who  experiences  homelessness, all  the  causes  that  go  along  with  that, such  as  domestic  violence,  evictions, lack  of  support  is  a  huge  one  too, that  all  just  combines  together. It  just  really  affects  people  of  color  a  lot broader  and  deeply  then  the  general  population. Yeah,  we  serve  a  large  amount of  Native  American  folks  in  our  community. By  large,  it's  not  an  issue  of  them  finding housing  or  finding  a  unit, or  getting  assistance  and  that  type  of  thing. It's  more  of  them  getting  into  a  unit. And  culturally,  they  get lease  violations  or  evictions  because  in  their  mind, it's  culturally  acceptable  to have  your  whole  family  live  with  you. Landlords  and  property  managers  do  not  see  that they  ended  up  getting  a  lease  violation or  an  eviction  and  now  are  returning  to  homelessness. By  far,  we  see  people  of  Native  American  descent returning  back  to  homelessness  because they  prioritize  their  family, culturally  over  actual  housing  stability. We  do  see  that  in  our  community  quite  a  bit. It  sounds  like  landlords  and property  owners  have  different  rules and  policies  that  they  have  to  follow. That  there  is  some  disconnect  with cultural  values  of  living  with  extended  family. Right?  The  more  that  we  can  do  to  increase  institutions, being  able  to  be  adaptive  to  cultural  way  is  important. And  this  is  Amy  from  the  schools will  just  spin  off a  little  bit  of  what  Brandy  was  saying. One  way  that  I've  seen  it  happen  in  a  couple  of  families, just  in  the  two  months  I've  been  in  Morehead, is  we've  been  able  to  help  them  get  housing  maybe  across the  hall  or  across  the  street  or  maybe  two  houses  down. And  they  feel  like  they're  being  honored  at the  same  time  they're  going  to  be  able  to  stay  housed. It  is  a  challenge  to  try  to compromise  and  honor  their  culture. Some  of  the  other  inequities  that  I  was thinking  of  working  in  a  school, I  see  a  lot  of  inequities  in  education. The  level  of  education. I  always  say  this  is  no  one's  fault, but  we  need  to  be  aware  of  it. Many  of  our  students  will  come  in  and they  have  such  gaps  in  their  education. It's  because  they've  been  moving  around, they've  not  been  enrolled  in  school. Maybe  where  they  were  enrolled, they  did  a  different  type  of curriculum  that  we  do  in  Morehead  Schools. They  come  in  and  they're  at  completely  different  levels. It's  not  fair  to  anyone. It's  a  challenge  to  try  to  get  them almost  the  same  starting  spot  with  the  rest  of their  classmates  so  that  they  can  bridge  those  gaps. The  other  piece  that  goes  with  that, along  with  education,  is  the  access  to  the  information. Just  being  aware  of  that  and  trying  to  figure  out  how  can we  better  communicate  and get  that  information  to  the  people  that  need  it. Just  bouncing  off  of all  the  ladies  to  just  some  of  the  inequities that  stick  out  to  me  a  lot  is  a  lot  of, again,  like  the  racial  inequities  and economic  inequities  that  we are  seeing  in  our  communities. And  I  almost  feel  like  they're  all  intersectional and  they  all  affect  one  another. In  some  sense,  we  have  a  lot  of people  in  our  workforce  that  are  in  service  jobs, that  are  minority  workers. That  upward  mobility  is  very  difficult  because  it  also, with  the  educational  inequities  and  things  like  that, it  affects  all  of  these  pieces together  and  all  of  these  systems. I  feel  like  they  work  against  each  other  in  a  sense. So  it's  very  difficult. Cool.  Thank  you.  Today's  conversation  is  half  of a  two  part  episode  that  Chadslight  on teams  that  support  individuals and  families  experiencing  homelessness. Please  take  a  listen  to  the  other  episode. Thank  you  for  listening  to  the ending  student  homelessness  podcast. This  podcast  was  recorded  on Initanab  and  Dakota  ancestral  homelands. Indigenous  people  have  historically  and  paradoxically faced  homelessness  at disproportion  rates  in  the  state  of  Minnesota. Please  visit  our  podcast  page  to  learn  about  ways  you can  support  local  organizations committed  to  addressing  this  issue. This  special  podcast  series  has  been  created by  the  Homework  Starts  with  Home  Research  Partnership. We  are  a  collaborative  state university  school  community  project designed  to  integrate multi  system  administrative  data  and analyze  it  in  order  to  produce  and  disseminate high  quality  evidence  pertinent  to  addressing the  state  and  national  challenge  of  student  homelessness.