The Good Life – March-April 2018
Featuring the new FM Redhawks coach Michael Schlact. Local Heroes - Harwood Fire and Rescue, Having a Beer with Too Tall Tom Szymanski and more in Fargo Moorhead's only men's magazine.
Featuring the new FM Redhawks coach Michael Schlact. Local Heroes - Harwood Fire and Rescue, Having a Beer with Too Tall Tom Szymanski and more in Fargo Moorhead's only men's magazine.
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One of United Way’s Bold Community Goals is to Reduce<br />
Hunger and Homelessness. Thanks to support from our<br />
community, a team of innovative housing navigators are<br />
changing the way people, organizations, and systems<br />
work together when it comes to helping people who are<br />
homeless.<br />
Housing Navigators at Work<br />
Thanks to a housing navigator made possible by United<br />
Way, a local man named Dewayne had his life changed<br />
for good.<br />
If you were to meet Dewayne, it is hard to imagine that<br />
just one year ago, Dewayne was homeless and arrested<br />
for panhandling on a Fargo street corner with nowhere<br />
to go, no home, no job, and just the clothes on his back.<br />
Earlier that year, Dewayne and his life partner, Lisa, gave<br />
birth to a baby boy, but soon lost custody of him. Days<br />
after their arrest, Lisa suffered a medical emergency that<br />
left her on life support before passing away in her jail cell.<br />
Not only had Dewayne lost the opportunity to be a father<br />
to his son, but he had lost his life partner as well.<br />
“Once you lose everything, you lose hope. But I wanted<br />
my son back <strong>–</strong> that was the most important thing,” said<br />
Dewayne.<br />
When Dewayne got out of jail, like many individuals<br />
in our community, he fell back into the same cycle of<br />
homelessness and addiction <strong>–</strong> staying in shelters and<br />
passing out on the sidewalks of Fargo, until one day a<br />
housing navigator was standing over him.<br />
Many times, housing navigators literally pick up<br />
individuals off of the street. That is what people need<br />
<strong>–</strong> a connection to the community. <strong>The</strong>y need to know<br />
someone will be there for them and walk the path with<br />
them toward getting an apartment and stable home.<br />
That is exactly what United Way and the housing<br />
navigators are providing.<br />
Thanks to United Way, housing navigators are working<br />
every day in our community to provide support to the<br />
chronically homeless with a goal of helping them to<br />
remove the barriers to attaining and retaining stable<br />
housing.<br />
<strong>The</strong> ripple effect of housing<br />
<strong>The</strong> impact of a housing navigator goes beyond the<br />
people they help. Today, Dewayne is a successful<br />
member of our community, a part of our workforce,<br />
and is destined to achieve his goal of being a good<br />
example for his son. He is a “Force for <strong>Good</strong>” that<br />
impacts us all.<br />
26 / THE GOOD LIFE / urbantoadmedia.com