Womens Fund Aurora - Community Foundation Alliance

AURORA, INC.

Background Aurora's mission is creating solutions to prevent and end homelessness in our community. Since our founding in 1988, Aurora has successfully provided direct services and care to our community's most vulnerable populations. Aurora manages five programs that serve unique and complex needs, from re-entry out of incarceration, mental health and substance use, to physical disabilities co-occurring with homelessness. With core values that include compassion, competence and the dignity and worth of our clients, Aurora fights for justice, safety, and housing for our community's homeless citizens.

Statement of Need In order to best serve our clients, it is essential that Aurora's employees in each of our programs are out in the community each day. Our case managers use Aurora's six company vehicles to transport clients to appointments, help them find housing, provide services to them in shelters and on the streets, and deliver furniture and other household essentials in their new homes once they are housed. We have acquired each vehicle as pre-owned, either by donation or purchase at a discounted rate. Each makes an average of between 30 and 60 trips each month.

As a result, three have accumulated over 150,000 miles, and one has been driven 250,000 miles. These high-mileage vehicles have become costly to maintain. We spend over $12,000 annually on maintenance and repairs, or enough to purchase a used vehicle each year. Our 14-year-old red pickup, affectionately nicknamed "Ruby," is the most telling representation of the wear on our vehicles. Small, dinged-up, and requiring a quick prayer and crossed fingers to start, Ruby is often loaded with furniture, mattresses, and other home goods. We pick these items up from donors and deliver them to newly-housed clients on a near-daily basis. While we appreciate Ruby's dedicated service ? and the service of all of our company vehicles ? it is time that they enjoy retirement. Aurora is asking for $35,000 for the purchase of newer, safer and more dependable used vehicles needed for the daily delivery of our services--namely a pick-up truck, SUV, and a sedan.

Project Description We are seeking the support of the Women's Fund to ensure that our community-based programming and services can continue to be consistently and safely delivered. Vehicles are not only central to the work that Aurora does, they are an absolutely necessity to the day-to-day operations of the organization. The success of our programming is directly the result of our case managers' ability to connect with clients on a personal level, meeting them where they are, and having the flexibility to help them overcome the unique obstacles they face every day. Transportation is central to that.

Upon receipt of the Women's Fund grant, Aurora will actively partner with local car dealerships, seeking vehicles that both meet the needs of the organization while also being appropriately priced, so that the money we receive makes the greatest possible impact. A lightly-used, low-mileage pick-up truck with the capacity to handle frequent large hauls and furniture deliveries will be a priority when looking for vehicles. The strong relationship that Aurora has with Toyota Motor Manufacturing Indiana team will result in Toyota providing matching funds to us toward the purchase of a lightly-used certified pre-owned Toyota Highlander. Toyota's matching amount may be as much as $15,000. Any funds remaining after the purchase of the pick-up and SUV will go toward replacing Aurora's highest-mileage vehicle, a sedan.

Project Outcomes Imagine waking up at dawn in a sleeping bag under a bridge. To get some breakfast, you must walk a mile to the nearest day shelter. In order to get assistance, you need a state ID and a social security card, but the Social Security Administration Office is across town, and you cannot afford the bus fare. You wonder if your feet have frostbite, but you can't make the walk to the health clinic, get lunch, and make it back to your sleeping spot all in one day. Dealing with these struggles, how could you possibly have time to get help to look for housing?

Aurora case managers already know who is sleeping under the bridge. They pull up in their van at 6 a.m. to greet them with a bag of snacks and a clean pair of socks. They learn that this client needs a ride to get their social security card. On the way to the SSA office, our case manager helps the client make an appointment to the ECHO health clinic. On the return, they pick up some lunch and discuss housing options. By the end of the day, the client has been able to put down the burden of these worries and replace them with hope. Someone cares about them. There is someone who can help them. They can get housed, and they're ready to work toward that goal. Their future is looking brighter.

A few weeks go by and the Aurora case managers are meeting with the client regularly. Their SSI Disability application has been approved, and they now have an income. The client and the case manager get into an Aurora vehicle to look at apartments. The case manager uses this time to advocate for the client with the landlords and ensure that the house is clean, safe and dignifying. Then, when the client signs the lease, Aurora employees pile mattresses, a kitchen table, chairs, and dishes into the back of a pick-up truck. They pull in the driveway, where the client is waiting excitedly--hopeful. Today marks a fresh start, a second chance. Hope.

This is not a unique situation. Stories like this can happen every day at Aurora, but they won't without a reliable fleet of vehicles suited for daily use. The flexibility and dependability these vehicles provide our case managers empower them to work quickly and efficiently to accomplish great things for clients. With the help of the Women's Fund, Aurora can continue to sustain our ability to provide life-changing care and attention where our community needs it the most.

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