Archway wishes to create communities of dignity and respect for families, neighbors and staff. Creating community requires a commitment to seeing the humanity and interconnectedness of all that we do. It requires a willingness to step up with courage and decency, to do the hard tasks, and the ability to celebrate each triumph joyfully.
Who Archway Serves
Archway provides an array of services to a variety of populations including: individuals, families, youth, people aging in place, refugees, people who come from experiencing homelessness, and chronically homeless and homeless veterans.
Services Philosophy
The purpose of services is to support tenants as they adjust to life in their home and promote healthy, happy, and quality lives; this is done on an individual/family basis, in the onsite community, and as a part of the larger community.
The Supportive Services team responds to the needs of the onsite community and works with the tenants to identify building needs and connecting tenants to appropriate programming, resources, and activities. This takes the form of onsite programming, such as life skills groups, therapeutic support groups, advocacy opportunities, community integration, youth enrichment programming, and wellness activities. Supportive Services collaborate internally across sites and with agencies and community groups
Monthly Service Events
Each month, Supportive Services staff work together to create a monthly calendar of events at each community focusing on meeting the unique needs of our residents.
Community Meetings
Meetings include Property Management, Supportive Services, and tenants to address resident concerns and feedback.
Community Outings
These are opportunities designed to get residents engaged in their community. These outings could be trips to the farmer’s market, fishing day, gym visit, and any other activities done away from the residential community.
Guest Speakers
Sessions designed to bring education and awareness from an expert speaker to our residents. Speakers cover various topics, from time pertinent, such as Breast Cancer Awareness Month, to resident pertinent, such as a Veteran benefit education.
Skill Building Classes
Sessions designed to teach and develop various essential skills to our residents, including healthy cooking classes, green cleaning workshops, recovery groups, and more.
Health-Focused Activities
Activities designed to provide either beneficial healthcare or education on topics of health. Some examples of these are a speaker from the Diabetes Association, local pharmacy presenters for medication education, and onsite flu shot clinics.
Foodbank
Foodbank addresses food insecurity needs for our residents. Through our partnerships with Food Bank of the Rockies and the Action Center, we provide both fresh produce and nonperishable food at a minimum of once per week.
Youth Programming
This is weekly time for after school programming that offers further education, fitness, and art opportunities for our kids. Through our partnerships with programs like 4H and the Scouts, we are able to provide ample time each week for Youth Programming.
Archway Services Metrics
The Archway supportive services team has identified the below array of services to provide across the communities as needed on an individualized basis. These services are mission aligned and through provision of these services, we are elevating lives by providing access to affordable housing, food security, and the supportive social services people need to thrive. Data will be collected and evaluated for each of the below categories to document successful supportive services interventions that lead the tenants at Archway Communities to achieve stable housing and/or enhanced quality of life.
Groups to develop skills that may not have been learned or have been lost over the course of time/life circumstances – such as cleaning skills, budgeting of resources, money management, technology building, conflict management, etc. Groups or events expose tenants to different forms of therapeutic activities through art, community service, leisurely activities, and meaningful activities all while building relationships with their neighbors.
Staff and tenants will identify locations and transit route, prepare meals as needed, and attend alongside the tenants. Through these outings the tenants will find meaningful community spaces, learn how to replicate trips independently in the future, and practice relevant social skills. This includes trips to cultural centers such as museums, plays, galleries, zoos, botanical gardens, and seasonal specific opportunities.
Promotes youth education support, community building, and intergenerational activities that combine services with the adults building family unity. Strong educational and social support can enhance the quality of life and further developmental growth and lead to skill and career opportunities to end the cycle of poverty
Addressing food insecurity is a top priority in working with the tenants. Staff identify community partnerships for food resources to bring to the communities to provide healthy food options to all tenants.
Increasing income and employment support is an identified need to increase overall stability. Services staff assist tenants with their employment goals using tools and technology onsite. Staff offer 1-1 support and Indeed Website classes to learn interview skills and increase confidence for residents who have not worked or had an English speaking job. Resume building, weekly Indeed website applications and app support so residents can continue to apply on their own daily for new opportunities as well as basic typing skills are enhanced by this service.
Provide eviction prevention counseling, advocacy and intervention to develop and implement strategies to facilitate the early identification of issues that jeopardize clients’ housing stability and the assistance needed by tenants to prevent evictions. Work with property management staff and partners as applicable to help tenants resolve issues that threaten their housing stability. Meet jointly with tenants and property management staff to address issues and develop plans for improvement.
Establishing rapport and building a relationship with tenants is imperative to creating a community at the sites. To begin fostering the relationship building, the services team will outreach and engage the tenants at minimum 1x/month to encourage participation in site events. This includes door knocking, distributing event flyers and monthly calendars, and other effective forms of communication such as email or text to encourage ongoing engagement in services
Archway provides housing and services to a variety of tenants, and a portion of the tenants served are on a pathway to citizenship. The services staff have created a curriculum to help with preparation for the US Citizenship Exam. This curriculum is inclusive of the skills tested in the interview, such as reading, writing, speaking and the 100 Civics questions. Tenants learn to write what they hear and respond to questions about their lives in the USA since they moved here. The vocabulary for the reading and writing tests are provided and a weekly curriculum with homework to educate students on the history questions they will be asked.
Case management is a broad term used to ensure that tenants basic needs are met. This can include, but is not limited to any of the following.
- Assist tenants with accessing services and community resources to address their immediate needs (e.g. access to food, clothes, and other basic necessities.
- Assist tenants with obtaining income and/or establishing benefits. This includes coordinating the completion and submission of applications for health insurance benefits (e.g., Medicaid, Medicare, etc.), disability benefits (e.g., Supplemental Security Income [SSI], Supplemental Security Disability Income [SSDI], etc.), and other sources of financial assistance, (e.g., Unemployment, etc.), finding resources to pay rental arrears, working with PHA to lower tenant portion of rent if income decreases
- Provide advocacy on behalf of tenants, as appropriate.
- Respond to crisis situations and de-escalation as appropriate
- Assist tenants with monitoring any legal issues and making appropriate referrals to overcome any barriers to maintaining permanent housing (e.g., credit history, criminal records, and pending warrants).
- Provide transportation, as needed, by means of bus fare/pass, agency vehicle(s), or private vendor. Assist tenants with increasing their capacity to meet their own transportation needs. Educate clients on the appropriate use of crisis intervention services versus 911 emergency calls, etc.
- Educate tenants on tenant rights and responsibilities including, but not limited to, how to communicate effectively with property management staff and other entities; when and how to report maintenance problems or disclosure of financial problems; importance of complying with lease agreement, program policies, and house rules; importance of paying rent, budgeting appropriately, and participating in representative payee system; responsibility for apartment/house maintenance; getting along with neighbors; and crisis services resources.
- Develop and implement an individualized services plan in collaboration with and authorized by the tenant based on the tenants comprehensive needs assessment and/or reassessment. The service plan shall address the needs identified in the comprehensive needs assessment and describe tenants goals, steps to reach goals, timeframes for completing goals, and disposition of each goal as it is met or changed.
Many tenants experienced life barriers that did not allow them to obtain a HS diploma. The services team collaborates with partnerships who provide a path to obtaining a GED, which will open the door for countless opportunities. Online and local volunteer teachers provide a personalized class to support each student wherever they may be in their educational process and encourage growth in the areas covered in the GED exam such as mathematics, history, science and reading comprehension. There are also many resources available in different counties to assist students in their GED goals offsite.
Many tenants have barriers with health and mental health needs and navigating those systems can be complex and at times frustrating. Services can support the tenants by ensuring tenants are linked to and accessing health, mental health, and substance use disorder services as needed. This includes primary care, dental, vision, preventative, and specialty services.
Tenant participation gives opportunity to share important property management and services information that will assist tenants in retaining housing, learning about upcoming programing and create space for tenant leadership development
Taking a proactive approach in addressing tenant health can be beneficial to overall quality of life improvement. Health and Wellness activities can encourage engagement and can include a variety of opportunities to improve health outcomes. This can include guest speakers who educate on health topics, yoga or fitness classes, healthy cooking activities, slip and fall prevention, grief and loss, etc. Staff provide education on healthy meal preparation to enhance critical skills, including label understanding, knowledge of serving size, dietary swaps to meet specific needs (example – low carb/sugar for diabetics, not wheat for gluten sensitivity, heart healthy options, and culturally specific dietary needs).