2022 COMBAT Funding: $75,000.00

In Artists Helping The Homeless' Own Words

About AHH

Founded in 2008, the original purpose of Artists Helping the Homeless (AHH) was to provide a Sunday meal program in Kansas City's Mill Creek Park, supported through local art events and sales. However, as AHH founder Kar Woo and his staff learned the depth of the needs of those experiencing homelessness in Kansas City, AHH expanded its services to meet the demand they witnessed. AHH now provides critical, gap-filling services to over 2,000 people experiencing homelessness in the greater Kansas City area each year. 

Mission

The mission of AHH is to reduce the need for and cost of care for individuals experiencing homelessness in our communities by providing aid with respect, addressing underlying issues such as substance use disorder, providing advocacy for those wishing to reintegrate, working with existing services—rather than duplicating them—and raising awareness of homelessness issues.

In 2009, at the suggestion of patients experiencing homelessness, Saint Luke’s Hospital invited Kar Woo to a meeting to discuss ways to address the reliance of area homeless on community emergency services. The BTC program was launched to meet the critical safety net gap of transportation identified at that meeting. While the greater Kansas City region has a network of dedicated agencies that address homelessness and recovery issues, they often operate in silos or collaborate only with a limited pipeline of other agencies. When gaps in service develop, individuals fall in and out of service in a cycle of homelessness, substance abuse, detox and, with nowhere to go, back to homelessness. Thus, AHH’s longitudinal approach to disrupting this cycle improves the capacity of the safety net. 

Services

AHH’s BTC program targets three distinct beneficiaries: people experiencing homelessness, the agencies that serve them and the Greater Kansas City community as a whole. 

The overarching goal of the program is to address the individualized, underlying needs of each client, using a longitudinal approach in collaboration with community agencies to ultimately improve collective impact of the local safety net. AHH works with clients as they progress from agency to agency. This unique approach fosters communication, coordination, and client engagement. 

Three Key Focuses

AHH’s BTC program provides a holistic approach with three primary tiers of services:

1) Transportation for individuals to and from safety net service appointments (medical, outpatient treatment, mental health services, etc.);

2) Discharge planning and execution for individuals leaving hospitals, detox facilities, treatment centers, incarceration, etc. These activities help individuals to identify and access the next step, bridging gaps; and

3) Residential options for both short-term and transitional housing. This tier of service focuses on young adults whose behavior alienates them from family and the very agencies that could help them.

Not all AHH clients require all three tiers of service, nor do they necessarily move through the tiers in order. Rather, these services are available according to individual needs. AHH coordinates with various community support sectors and members, such as hospitals, recovery centers, first responders and other service agencies to maximize efficiencies.

Going To The Individuals In Need

As part of BTC’s discharge activities, AHH comes to the hospital or wherever individuals in need are located (detox facilities, mental health centers, detention centers, drug court, etc.) to perform assessments to identify the services they need (e.g., medical, detox, short-term shelter, long-term housing, etc.), works with the clients to fulfill immediate needs and arrange housing or facility placement if necessary, and then transports the person to their destination.

Prior to the BTC program, many individuals with substance use disorder were being discharged while awaiting a bed in a treatment facility—a waitlist that averages four to eight weeks long.

Addressing Substance Use Disorders

Early into the evolution of the BTC program, it became apparent to AHH staff that addressing substance use disorders would be integral to their mission, as these conditions can be both a cause and effect of homelessness. Thus, the BTC program has staffing, assets and programming devoted to direct intervention and reintegration services for individuals experiencing homelessness and substance use disorders. One of AHH’s transitional housing programs, the Bodhi House respite residence, offers full wraparound services to support these efforts.

Bodhi House

Bodhi House opened in 2015 and was primarily designed to keep individuals completing detox or other services for substance use disorder from having to return to the streets. Like the BTC program, this function grew organically out of client needs witnessed by AHH staff.

Bodhi House addresses the largest underserved group with the highest need, adult males ages 18-35 living in the Greater Kansas City area. The goal of residing in Bodhi House is to prevent substance abuse relapse ,while maintaining contact and support for each individual served, including compliance with court and treatment plans, until they can safely transition into long-term housing options. Some clients arrive to AHH immediately upon release from drug court, sometimes while still under court monitoring and supervision.

In 2019, Bodhi House served 87 individuals with housing and supportive services. This facility has a capacity of 11 residents.

Finnegan Place Apartments

For individuals who desire transitioning to more independent living, AHH operates the Finnegan Place Apartments. Finnegan provides clean and sober apartment housing with peer support and access to the full menu of AHH services. In 2019, Finnegan housed 54 individuals, with 30 residents at year-end. Of those who moved on, 70% moved to their own housing or to reside with family, 9% transitioned to the more structured environment of Bodhi House, 9% graduated and became employed at Kairos House (AHH’s housing program in Lawrence, Kansas), and 4% transitioned to another (non-AHH) housing program.

Kairos House

AHH opened Kairos House in May 2019 at the request of Douglas County (Kansas) to replicate AHH’s existing Jackson County housing program model. This 3-year pilot program is fully funded by Douglas County and funded through COMBAT; however, this opportunity to expand impact is a direct result of the success AHH has achieved in Jackson County.

Resident Requirements

All AHH residents are required to attend case management sessions, actively participate in their recovery and/or discharge plan, and be medication-compliant. In addition, all residents are expected to attend Alcoholics Anonymous /Narcotics Anonymous (AA/NA) meetings, group counseling/life skills sessions and community service activities. They are encouraged to participate in physical fitness and healthy, sober social reintegration activities.

Residents are assigned a case manager who contacts them at least weekly, and on-site case workers and house staff address residents’ in-person, immediate needs and supports the work of the case managers. Residents also have access to AHH’s full menu of supportive services, based on their own unique needs. Residents create and work toward individualized goals to ultimately graduate the program to sobriety, safe long-term housing, gainful employment and continued self-sufficiency. 

Goals & Outcomes

AHH expects the following outcomes for 2021:

• AHH staff will perform a needs assessment for 300 unduplicated individuals who identify as Jackson County residents or who are referred by an agency in Jackson County (e.g., hospitals, substance use facilities, treatment centers, law enforcement, etc.).

• AHH staff will plan and execute individualized discharge plans for supportive services and/or short-term housing programs for 225 Jackson County individuals.

• AHH will provide extensive care coordination for 50 of the individuals whom are housed in Bodhi House.

• At least 80% of AHH residential clients will maintain sobriety while in AHH housing.

• 85% of able residential clients will make progress toward individual goals such as education, job training, employment, or placement in treatment, after the first 30 days of receiving services in AHH housing.

Filling The Gaps

The BTC program provides supportive, gap-filling services in Jackson County as part of a longitudinal approach that improves outcomes and efficiencies for other recovery and emergency services. For those clients who need housing support, AHH provides a structured, sober living environment to prevent clients from relapsing into substance abuse behaviors. The program’s strengths-based approach empowers clients and allows them to have personal choice in developing the goals they want to accomplish.

Since the program began, BTC has grown to accommodate emerging needs while demonstrating profound success: 85% of program graduates move on to the treatment they need or to independent living.