Housing Action Illinois subgranted $10,000 to Catholic Urban Programs—thanks to the Illinois COVID-19 Response Fund—to support the agency’s work providing interim housing and emergency shelter to families and individuals experiencing homelessness.
When COVID-19 hit at Holy Angels—an eighteen-bed emergency shelter operated by Catholic Urban Programs for women and children who are experiencing homelessness—the staff worked to create as much social distance as possible for the families they serve.
“Once COVID-19 had really hit, we wanted to be safer,” said Lady Gywanna Montague, Program Manager at Catholic Urban Programs, in a video highlighting the work the agency has been able to accomplish with a $10,000 subgrant from Housing Action Illinois, thanks to the Illinois COVID-19 Response Fund.
“A lot of the ladies were still working, and they were working at warehouses, or nursing homes, or security, and they were still around a lot of people,” she said.
The funding allowed Catholic Urban Programs to pay for thirty days of interim housing/emergency shelter in the form of motel rooms, providing six families with their own spaces to improve social distancing. The families participate in virtual case management sessions and have emergency access to case managers. Each day, in a socially distant manner, shelter staff deliver hot meals and and make sure the children have snacks.
Lady Gywanna Montague discusses the work Catholic Urban Programs has been able to accomplish with the subgrant.
Catholic Urban Programs serves St. Clair County in southwest central Illinois.
Watch Catholic Urban Programs’ video on Facebook »