The following is a grant report from New Hope for Families that was submitted to BHF earlier this year. The grant provides funding for Non-Emergency Medical Transportation (NEMT).
The report has been edited for brevity and clarity.
A New Hope for Families Home, courtesy of New Hope for Families website
New Hope for Families provides emergency shelter for people with custody of a child. Our focus is to help parents move into their next lease, and along the way, we empower parents to care for their children.
We utilized the BHF Non-Emergency Medical Transportation grant funds for gas and ride-hailing transportation expenses needed to get homeless families to medical appointments, including substance use disorder recovery therapy, transportation to COVID testing, pre and postnatal care, pediatric care, and more.
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- One family used the gas funds to transport their infant to appointments at Riley Children’s Hospital. There are no other shelters that allow fathers to remain with their children, so the family would have had to separate and potentially move to an Indianapolis shelter. Because of the grant, they were able to remain at New Hope together and receive the medical care they needed. Today, that family lives in an affordable, subsidized unit and has been reunified with their 3 additional children.
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- A different family used the transportation grant to attend disability verification appointments, which unlocked their ability to prove their medical disability and access the social security income needed to rent their next apartment.
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- Another family used the transportation grant to attend a specialist appointment, verifying their medical frailty and disabling conditions. The specialist’s verification allowed them to access housing subsidies, paving the way for their next lease.
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- A single mother used the grant to get her disabling condition verified for a Permanent Supportive Housing subsidy for herself and 3 children. PSH is an income-based housing voucher offered to the most vulnerable people experiencing homelessness and includes ongoing case management.
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- One couple with a 3-year-old child used the funding to attend therapy sessions that kept their relationship and family intact during their transition from homelessness into their next lease. Though they were close to separating under all the strain and anxiety of homelessness, their therapy appointments helped them overcome challenges and remain resilient. They moved into their new, income-based unit in February 2021.
courtesy of New Hope for Families website
New Hope has learned that the value of medical transportation is much higher than we originally thought. Not only are families attending their appointments on time, but the appointments directly impact housing. Like the examples listed above, families who can get certain diagnoses verified can access appropriate subsidies or benefits that help them move into and afford their next lease. Moreover, when people have access to mental health therapy, their stay in the shelter is more harmonious, and the trauma of homelessness is dampened. When we situate the transportation grant with our other activities, we have seen results above and beyond accessing medical care- we saw that NEMT funding drew a direct line to ending family homelessness one case at a time.
Based on the dramatically positive results of the funding, we are very interested in maintaining a partnership with Bloomington Health Foundation that increases family wellness in our community.
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