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Why Johnny STILL can't read? 3 out of 4 children in Tennessee cannot read at grade level. Find out why at N2Reading. com or check out N2Reading on Facebook.
Nonprofit Spotlight: Step Up Nashville STEP UP NASHVILLE PUTS HOUSING FIRST FOR THOSE WITH MENTAL ILLNESS BY MAY HARTNESS Step Up is a community agency that believes all people who are struggling with mental health issues and homelessness can be housed. This organization, with sites spanning from Santa Monica, California to Atlanta, Georgia, extends their vision for homlessness alleviation into Music City as they launch their newest branch: Step Up Nashville. “Housing should be the first thing that we resolve,” says Arthur Murray, Vice President of Step Up Southeast Regions. “Without housing, we can’t begin to work on other challenges.” The Step Up team works to remove barriers that especially prevent those with mental illness from housing. Through a combination of scattered site housing units and their own Step Up properties, the agency hopes to “give clients opportunities when others won’t,” and provide tailored support to each individual they serve. This support aids members in acquiring long-term housing, and provides them a specialized treatment team. The treatment team could consist of a case manager, peer specialist, and a social worker if the client wants clinical treatment for their mental illness. A peer specialist is someone with their own lived experience of homelessness, mental health issues, or history with substance use. This member is included on the treatment team because of their capacity to relate to the client in a more personal way. “By tailoring support to people we can help them succeed,” Murray says. Step Up first began as a mental health services agency in Santa Monica, California in 1984. In the
past three years, the agency has doubled in size, and boasts a 96% housing retention rate after one year for their clients. As a new member of Nashville’s Continuum of Care, Step Up hopes to collaborate with other nonprofits in the area to help the city solve the problem of homelessness for good. “Not competition, collaboration,” says Terri Lawson, Program Manager for Step Up Nashville. Lawson believes that reaching out to other service providers in Nashville and working with other experts are key ways to build collaborative relationships within the community, one of the core values of Step Up. Other core values include hope, wellness, voice and choice, and respect. Out of these five values, Lawson and Murray believe that hope
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and voice and choice are the most necessary. “This agency tries to live out client centeredness,” Murray says. “And that means being okay when clients turn down housing and want to keep looking for something else.” Step Up wants their clients to feel free to speak up about their preferences, and they accomplish this goal through honoring individual voice and choice. “[They’re] not our lives to live, we’re just here to assist,” Murray says. The core value of hope stands out to Lawson. She hopes that Step Up will make a difference in the lives of people in this city as the agency begins its newest chapter in Nashville, Tennessee.
