Fighting Homelessness, Loneliness & Poverty with Jodina Hicks, VOAPA | Rob Symes

0:02Hello everyone and welcome to the For Impact podcast. I'm Rob Sites and today I'm really lucky to be joined by Judena who's the president CEO of VFA APA. And Judena, thanks so much for joining me. >> Thank you for having me. >> So, we love to interview leaders in nonprofits and part of the reason is we like hearing the personal story. So, we love to know how did you how did you get into this job? What was your background and how did you start your journey? >> Well, sometimes you know, getting up there my journey's so long. I'll try to keep it concise. Thank you, Rob. Um I I guess from an early age uh I always

0:45had a heart and a passion uh to to help people, you know, and and to be concerned about uh the most marginalized people and communities. I would say uh a lot of that just comes from my mom's journey and her being in that most marginalized um having significant mental health um diagnoses and having a lot of mistreatment um connected to to her journey and also being Native American and and having a lot of uh racism and impacts on on that side of things. So, uh you know, I was the only daughter, the last child and I think a lot of my upbringing was like care, concern, and support of my mom and that just led me

1:40to uh I think be noticed and be more mindful, more concerned with communities uh that aren't treated equitably, people who aren't treated equitably. And um that led me to just really want to make a difference with my life. Uh I started at to university in the suburbs of Philadelphia really because of a professor there who was teaching preaching this message for young people to make a difference with their life by going to harder spaces um ignored places so that led me to go to Camden, New Jersey which was at the time the you know highest um impacted city by way of violence. It you know sometimes in the world and

2:33sometimes um in in um the country you know and and I just got drawn in there to working with young people and starting a community development basically community development organization and kids youth programming there and really invested myself and my life there for almost 20 years um during which time I I went to law school to focus on prison reform and juvenile justice reform so I that led me in a a journey of of working both in you know high risk urban areas and also prisons prison re-entry prison reform which evolved then eventually to going back to my Pennsylvania roots um when I I was at a place in my journey

3:25where I had adopted three children my my husband had died and I just I needed to find um a little work-life balance cuz I was kind of consumed with the work in Camden 24/7 and then my kids were growing up in it and I just really wanted something you know more for them and ability for me to separate a little bit between my life and my children's lives Um because I kind of had always blended raising kids. I raised a lot of kids along the way, but in this case I actually this is my family now. So, that led me to work for Volunteers of America PA and take on the challenge of helping the organization rebuild itself, refine

4:09itself um because it was teetering on on collapsing and the parent entity took it over to really um see if it could regain traction. So, we're really lucky to come along at that time and you know, engage in an organization that's been around for 130 years um helping, you know, in the in many of the same ways communities, individuals, families um that are most affected by poverty and all that comes along with that and and finding ways to equip and empower people to drive find their journey and find support and resources to live um independently and with choice. >> Yeah. And you me and you have talked a couple

4:54of times about some of the work that you do, but it's pretty broad and so and you have a bunch of different programs, a bunch of different initiatives that you're focused on. Why don't you just talk people through who haven't heard about the work that you do? What are the main programs and what are you particularly focused on? >> Okay. Thank you. Um Hold on one second. Um so, the the work we do has like three primary pillars of housing health equity. Oh, sorry. I thought that was disconnected. Hold on. Am I messing up the podcast? Can you hear me okay? Okay. >> You good. We going to edit it out.

5:38>> Okay. Housing, health equity and children, youth and families. Um so, we we work across Pennsylvania um with a variety of programs that kind of summarize or bubble up into these three big categories. Um, of course, you know, housing. We're We're in a housing crisis in the US. Um, in in some areas and communities and states more than others, but PA is certainly highly affected by the housing crisis. So, we develop housing, but more than that, we work with people who are homeless or um, housing insecure. So, we have shelters, transitional housing, permanent housing, supportive housing. We master lease for people who can't get

6:24their own housing and help them become independent so they can [clears throat] take over their leases. Um, on the health equity side, we're concerned with communities being able to access health care, both behavioral, mental, and physical. Um, and that looks different for people who are living outside in encampments or or people who are in shelters. Um, uh, families who are uh, in in transition. So, we uh, going to bridge the gap by utilizing community health workers and maternal home uh, care workers that we go to people and help them connect uh, with a good and solid, first of all, insurance and then

7:12finding medical care that they can access and that can support them. Um, so, our community health workers might make the first appointments, might transport people. And transportation is a huge part of what we end up doing with, you know, the maternal health deserts that we have in PA grew from 5 to 23 in just 2 years. So, that means in 23 uh, areas, uh, women, families can't access labor and delivery for over 60 miles or even, you know, solid maternal health. So, a lot of our community health work ends up being transporting and and going to and helping connect and finding virtual support and virtual options and at home

7:59devices where people can monitor their their health through Bluetooth with their doctor. So, that and then we have our children, youth, and family work. We have summer camps, after-school programs, scholarship, college scholarship initiatives. And all together, we uh are working with about 3,500 people a year through these different arms of our organization. And where where we see a crisis that we can fit into, we do try to do more in those spaces like the black maternal health crisis in PA and in the US for the maternal health crisis in addition. Um, we we find, you know, where there's alignment of work we're already doing

8:47and a crisis growing, we try to pull into that space and and do more. Our tagline is like doing the most good we can, you know, going where we're needed. So, that's been around for many, many years and, you know, since the beginning working in the space of homelessness was one of the two founding principles and prison reform was the other. And unfortunately, both those um realities have grown over time, you know, and and we're, you know, still as committed to those as as we were from the beginning. >> Let me know if you see this thing cuz one of the things you were talking about there is um some of your team going out

9:29to meet people at their houses, you know, interacting with them um face-to-face essentially. And one of the things that we keep hearing about with some of the other community action agencies we're talking to is this almost epidemic of loneliness that's happening both of where I'm originally from in the UK, but also in in America and and what it sounds like in Pennsylvania, too, from the conference I was just at. So, now the problem obviously everyone's got is that there's only so much resources and so much people to to go around. And so, how do you think about Uh let me just I can actually give you an

10:07example. There's We were just talking to someone in Tennessee who, you know, they do a Meals on Wheels program. Um and the it's generally the only time some of these seniors see anyone once a week when they when they bring stuff. How do you think about that in terms of what you can do and then in an ideal world how that would work differently? >> Yeah, thank you. It's so important. I I think the um data research around loneliness and isolation um has been so profound and alarming. Um but really started to bubble up quite a lot but right at the beginning of COVID and then of course we know it was

10:46only going to get worse. That really led us, Rob, to say we can do something in the space of maternal health. Um when we look at the maternal health crisis, it's also infant mortality crisis and a more maternal mortality crisis. Um and we found, you know, for me it was like, well, we're not nurses, we're not medical, we're not able going to we're not going to be able to make a dent in that um space. Why are we even in it? And then looking in the data more we found 80% of maternal death is preventable, but 50% of it is suicide and overdose. It's mental health. So, that was like, well, we can make a difference there.

11:32And so, we started ramping up to do maternal home in-home visits and supports of moms. Um of of siblings and of the household. Um and this this can be a very isolating, you know, time in the life uh the perinatal phase and then the uh postpartum depression that can hit. And I'm so proud of that work because it it really has led our team to build community. So, they're doing in-home work, but they're also creating mommies groups and mommies clubs where these moms are coming together for lunch um and bringing their children, their babies with them in a judgment-free zone where they're making connections and

12:19friendships. And so, you know, monthly or every other week, they're coming together and what what we found was um they're the ones bringing in uh the breast pumps and the the cribs and the clothes. You know, it's not all like buying more and more resources for people. They're pulling their resources for each other. And then they're each other's backbone and support system, maybe even babysitters sometimes to lean into. And so, you know, our support may be uh at time limited, but what's building out is community and and peer community relationships that will last forever and even into the second and

13:03third generations, you know, these babies are going to grow up together. We have 500 babies over the last year. These babies are going to grow up together and have a network of moms that are supporting each other. And you know, I think that's really rich. We We also drive seniors and that was a program that got um put on uh a brief hold during COVID and we were very concerned because we are also that kind of lifeline to our seniors who without a ride may not be able to get to a doctor, a pharmacy, a grocery store, or see another person. But what we found during that time right away was what our

13:45drivers could do was to call the seniors every day and check in on them and see how they're doing. And we just found such rich stories of the seniors we were driving through these phone calls happening. And so, you know, I do think it's one of our specialties, VOAPA, is being relational. And um I often I can look at our services and not know who is the client, who is the staff person because the engagement goes both ways and the growth goes both ways. And often our staff come from lived experience and so they come and they come with a different set of passion and commitment because of what they've gone

14:29through. So, think you know, how that looks and it's concerning, you know, there's been a breakdown of, you know, churches and mosques, synagogues really reaching people where they are, you know, and so what what what's there to replace that? You know, we have to find entities that can replace and can um connect with those uh with people in in similar ways um so that you know, we're not like that just dependent on technology as our friend. You know, we have to have those real relationships. So, I think wherever organizations can build community and build connections and bring people together, it's it's just very

15:12meaningful. >> Yeah, I agree. And but how obviously we got connected because of technology really, right? So, you know, we we're often at this intersection where we're trying to figure out in kind of an unusual way how does AI fit with a relational based organization? How does it actually enhance? How does actually So, how do you think about technology? >> Yeah, I mean, I think technology is an incredible tool for us. You know, for us to be able to um gain information, uh share information, partner around that information to be able to serve people more effectively. Um and even as a tool for individuals to be able to

15:56have richer, healthier lifestyles um and access to information, resources, and connections is is tremendous. It just can't be the end-all, be-all to life. You know, we we can't replace relationships. That's where I feel like, you know, it goes too far when people start, you know, leaning on their um their AI to give them advice or to know them and be able to give them feedback because we we need people who who truly know us and can have a a full relationship in order to be actualized as people. So, um but I I'm excited about the emerging technologies being applied to human services. I mean, we're we're not the

16:50place where money's going to be made, you know, so I think we're not often uh thought of in the evolving technologies outside of like hospital systems or like where the money is. But for a group like Fortel to be developing AI that will help enrich our individuals' lives and give more immediately immediate access and support is really, really exciting. And and I'm, you know, happy to have such a partner, a thought partner that's um coming from uh angle of human concern um in order to develop, to meet need as you are Robin is is really is most exciting. >> Very nice of you to say. And let me ask

17:36you one last question then cuz um I wanted to I always like hearing about the personal story. So, what is your from all the time running you know, um VOAP, what's your favorite story of transformation about one of your clients or something that's really resonated with you? >> Wow, there's so many stories. Okay, give me a second to think. Mhm. It's so hard to pick one story. Can I pick a couple of stories? There's so many. >> Like one of my favorite stories is about uh a man I did not have the privilege to meet. His name was Mountain Man John. And he lived outside for 33 years of his life. Um he grown up more probably, you know,

18:35lost family, became homeless, and eventually just lived out outside, lived very rough. Our team our our Give Hope Outreach team met him. And as they do, they don't try to make someone go into housing or make them make a choice, but they befriend them and connect with them and learn their name and learn their story and little by little by little Mountain Man John let them into his life, you know, so it might start with a can of spam or a bottle of water or you know, um during COVID, you know, taking out sanitation supplies to people and water to people. But, little by little he he connected with our uh outreach team, and

19:23he decided he wanted to come inside and try living uh and he decided to live in a small group home first. He didn't want his own apartment, but he went from there to a small apartment of his own to a full apartment of his own, and he um went through some ups and downs with the discomfort, but he was able to, you know, even later in life uh achieve some things and be able to live a healthier, happier life in in a different type of community. There's certain community in the encampments, but it's it's a bit maladapted, you know, so he was able to be empowered and equipped to make those changes. The up-front and personal

20:10stories, we we have a group of uh children and young people we work with in in the Pittsburgh area and in out of school um time so summer camp and after school programming, and I've gotten the chance to know them. So, we now have a group of six or seven, I guess seven young people on scholarship um that are board member created. Uh she was she's a volunteer who's known them much longer than me, but we've now seen these children come through our program. They're on a full scholarship uh or supplemental scholarship um so that they can go on and achieve their dreams and uh pursue their passions. And seeing

20:50these young people, especially our young men, achieving like 4.0s in their first year of college, and we have our first graduate um 2 weeks ago who graduated with like a 3.9 from University of Pittsburgh, already has a full engineering job, and we're talking, we know what that means. This intergenerational transformation, this is future generations being impacted by being able to be lifted out of poverty into different set of choices and trajectories in life. So, they're they're definitely right there like in my heart. >> Yeah, for sure. And they they're great stories, and thank you so much for

21:30sharing them. It means a lot. Um and I'm sure there are many others as well. So, we really appreciate all the work you do. Um but anyway, thanks so much for coming on the podcast today. I really appreciate it. >> Thank you for having me. Thanks for doing it, Rob. All right. Take care.