Fayetteville showcases various community programs

FAYETTEVILLE — A lot of residents don’t know the city houses people, says the city’s community resources director, Yolanda Fields.

That’s why Fields’ division finds it important to showcase the various programs the city administers with federal Community Development Block Grant money. The annual Progress in Print event was Wednesday at the Town Center.

Nearly $2.8 million has gone toward services for low- to moderate-income residents in the past five years, according to the city. Services range from taxi rides to case management to providing pet food.

The Hearth program provides transitional and permanent supportive housing to residents. Since its inception in 2016, the program has housed 90 adults and 99 children.

But finding people homes isn’t the most difficult part, program workers say. It’s ensuring they overcome the barriers to stability, such as mental illness, no insurance or benefits, a lack of education or child care, Fields said.

“They’re not going to get to stability with just a roof over their head,” she said. “That’s protection, and that’s wonderful, but they could be dealing with any one of those things. And the case managers are the ones who are going to work with them to get them to that point.”

Robert Bradley, one of those case managers, said the idea is to sit with somebody and connect them to resources. The desire for a better life is evident in all of Hearth’s clients, he said.

Sometimes the job means getting a person the help they need to recover from a life of abuse or drugs, Bradley said. Sometimes it means instilling the most basic of basics, such as being accustomed to sleeping in a bed or using utensils to eat and drink, he said.

Years of sleeping in a car or under a bridge can have a lasting effect that causes the person to bring survival behavior into a home, Bradley said.

“To be able to see them make that transition — it’s just phenomenal,” he said. “It’s just something that words can’t even describe.”

Marv and Donna Wiseman said they came to see how the city is using the grant money to help the residents who need it most.

The couple got involved with 7 Hills Homeless Center when they first moved to the city about three years ago. They commended the city for working with other organizations to provide comprehensive services.

A lot of residents may not realize the effort it takes to make programs successful, the couple said.

“It is just caring about and loving people,” Marv Wiseman said. “Ultimately, all of these people, and especially the case workers, are working person to person. That’s what it’s about.”

Stacy Ryburn can be reached by email at [email protected] or on Twitter @stacyryburn.