My Sister’s Place in Baltimore has become a safe haven for many women and their children that are struggling to get back on their feet. The Catholic Charities organization provides these women with meals and services that help them get back into the workplace and into their own homes.
The women and children who come to My Sister’s Place frequently reside in night shelters or on the streets of Baltimore. They face constant hardship and struggle as they are unable to provide themselves with housing, medical care, or support services.
The women who come to the center are either unemployed, marginally employed, or employed but confronted with serious obstacles. Women from all walks of life and women that are confronted with different problems all reside in the center. These women are all either survivors of physical abuse, suffers from chronic disabilities, teenage mothers, single heads of households, or face different addictions.
All of the women and children at the women’s center are vulnerable and homeless and many of them feel hopeless about the future. The staff at the Catholic Charities organization work to restore hope to these women and their children, and they provide the necessary resources to help the women start to rebuild their lives.
The center provides three meals a day to its residents along with multiple services. These services include education and life skills training, housing assistance, benefits advice and enrollment, case management, emergency financial assistance, linkages to other community providers (mental health and addiction services), financial literacy services, personal services (e.g., shower and laundry facilities, mail and telephone access, etc.). They center also makes life a little more enjoyable for their tenants by providing a day room with comfortable seating, a fireplace and television, three large classrooms for workshops, and an enclosed play area for children.
Valerie Tarantino, director of My Sister’s Place Women’s Center, explained just how much the program has benefitted women.
“We provide an array of services to these women and housing and employment is a piece of the work we do. We start with basic services, so we do three meals a day and any homeless women and children can come and get a meal. Last school year, we served over 83,000 meals to homeless women and children in Baltimore City. On the second floor, we have a day resource center here women can come and receive a host of services. Whether its mental health services, physical health, they can attend an array of workshops during the day,” said Tarantino.
Since January of this year to July, My Sister’s Place has provided 76, 251 meals, helped 80 people get health insurance, found housing for 56 women and their children, and placed 19 women in jobs.
They also provide numerous life and soft skills that help women find and retain a job.
“What we found in our work around employment with our women is that many of them don’t have the soft skills, in terms of keeping jobs, so what we have done is actually develop some internship programs, internal internship programs, where we can actually work on those skills with our women before we refer them on to employment services,” stated Tarantino.
The skills include resume writing, interview skills, conflict management, appropriate work behavior (such as showing up on time and calling employer if can’t make it in), and having good relationships with coworkers and supervisors.
Not only does the center have a significant impact on poverty, but it also holds a number of volunteer opportunities such as front desk assistant, meal service/preparation volunteer, and a casserole preparation group. Tarantino commented that over 1,100 new volunteers came through the center last fiscal year and helped facilitate groups and prepare and serve meals. The volunteers also helped the center through the arts or donations.