Republished from Sonora Union Democrat Mother Lode Job Training, based in Sonora, has been awarded $250,000 in state grant funding to help more than 40 residents of the Resiliency Village program — for individuals trying to transition out of homelessness — to prepare for and secure quality jobs with self-sustaining wages of $18 an hour minimum. Karen Moore’s last job was driving for Courtesy Cab in Sonora and, even though she was employed, she ended up homeless for about a month in late 2020 and early 2021 because she couldn’t […]
Local Service Organizations Tapped For Statewide Homelessness Initiative
Republished from MyMotherlode.com Sonora, CA – A new statewide initiative to improve health and housing outcomes for people experiencing homelessness has chosen to partner with Resiliency Village, a non-profit working to reduce the homeless crisis in the Tuolumne County region, and the Mathiesen Memorial Medical Clinic. The team is one of eight selected to join Partnerships for Action: California Health Care & Homelessness Learning Collaborative. “We are honored and excited to be chosen to join the other incredible organizations from across California who are working to address the barriers people […]
The New Wave of Service Providers
Director’s Note, by Mark Dyken Homelessness has become one of the defining issues of our time. We can all see what the data confirm – more and more people are living without shelter. California, with at least 161,000 unsheltered people leads the nation in people experiencing homelessness. The tent cities and clusters of cars are visible all along our highways, city streets, vacant lots, campgrounds, and other accessible places. Even our sleepy rural towns are seeing the rise in tents on the streets. According to a recent Sacramento Bee article, about a quarter of […]
Meet a Villager: Chris S.
There are many ways people come to live without a home of their own. Some literally grow into it and have few options to find an off-ramp on the road to homelessness. Chris Smith moved to Tuolumne County with his family when he was three years old. His childhood home was never safe. Drugs, alcohol, violence, and abuse were a part of daily life for him and his three siblings. “I was the youngest and it seemed like it came down on me the hardest.” Chris says “At 11 years […]
Meet a Villager: Steven S.
“My name is Steven Smith, and I’ve had four strokes.” This is how one long-time Resiliency Village resident often introduces himself. Steven’s story is one of great loss, resilience, and ultimately redemption. For five years before he came into shelter with the RoomKey program, and then moved to Resiliency Village, Steven lived in a series of vehicles while dealing with intense health concerns, and complicated legal struggles. “You can’t understand it” he explains “Unless you’ve lived it.” “I went through many vehicles,” Steven says “I’d do everything the cops would […]