Minutes

May 8, 2019, at 6:30PM

Covenant Presbyterian Church, 550 Madison Ave., Scranton PA (parking on Vine or Olive).

1 Announcements

Keystone Mission seeks help unloading food truck on May 13 and May 14 at the 8 West Olive Street location in Scranton. Help from 10AM to 2PM. Contact Hailey at Keystone at HAILEYRAMNARINE@KEYSTONEMISSION.ORG.

Reimagining Christianity event at Lebanon Valley College, Mund Center on May 14, 2019, from 6:15PM to 9:15PM. Free event on Toxic Charity.

May 16, 2019, at 10:00AM at the NEPA Youth Shelter on Wyoming in Scranton. Youth housing feasibility study meeting. Open to all.

Lackawanna Pro Bono received an extension to register youth now 18-24 who have a juvenile record. Please contact Lackawanna Pro Bono before the end of May for the youth expungement program. Youth expungements may give income-qualified youth a second chance to clear a juvenile record! Take advantage.

Rev. Mark Terwilliger discussed efforts to create a full-time staff position for the Greater Scranton Homeless Coalition efforts.

2 Presentation

Siemong Wang of SAFETY NET at Covenant Presbyterian Church gave an in-depth tour of the on-site social service agency. Safety Net is a non-profit social service agency providing emergency assistance to poor & needy who have exhausted limits, resources, or services of other agencies. The agency operates with volunteers and helps provide a true safety-net for special situations and needs by referral. Five city churches currently support SafetyNet. The agency works to help individuals and families become self-sustaining.

3 Small Group

- Homelessness Prevention & Immediate Needs

• July 12 Listening Session with Homeless Individuals scheduled for Keystone Mission on Friday night, July 12 at 5PM. Sandy W. will coordinate this event. We will need volunteers to help prepare and serve the meal along with time to talk with the participants. The meal is a picnic--hamburgers, hot dogs, baked beans, ice cream sundae bar, and watermelon.

- Reentry

• The Reentry Group had a lively Q&A session about re-entry needs in our area.
• May 21 from 9AM to 10 Am there is a Re-entry Task Force meeting on 7th Ave.
• May 9 at 5PM Re-Entry Task Force Outreach Meeting will debate the better method for re-entry including community support groups or peer-support groups. Meeting at PathStone on Penn Ave off Mulberry behind Chamber of Commerce.

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4 Take Action

An issue was raised and confirmed that some individuals re-entering after release from incarceration may lack identification documents. This may create an impediment to re-entry as many programs require an ID. The process for obtaining an ID can be formidable and expensive to low income individuals--involving getting a SSN, birth certificate, a trip out to the DMV center, and replacement ID fee. Inquiries being made to determine why this might be happening and how we can correct it.

{While accidentally omitted from reporting, the GSHC is also already looking at extreme weather needs for next season and evaluating overflow shelter needs.}

5 Next Meeting Coordination

TBD

Thank you to Covenant Presbyterian for graciously offering space and support for this meeting.