Laserfiche WebLink
Exhibit J—Award Nominee Testimonies <br />Testimony from Bridge House Recovery Housing Program <br />"A mother of two, ages 4 and 10, had been living in her car and couch surfing at friends' <br />houses after leaving an abusive relationship. Overwhelmed, exhausted, and without a <br />support system, she struggled to maintain stable employment while caring for her children <br />and living out of her car. <br />After moving into our recovery housing program, she began to stabilize with the help of <br />coordinated care and supportive community services. Her youngest child was recently <br />accepted into a free preschool, giving her both relief and time to stabilize. She has also• <br />started attending family and individual therapy to address the trauma of domestic violence. <br />Today, she is noticeably less timid, beginningto find her voice, and showing remarkable <br />growth in confidence and resilience" <br />Testimony from Project Vision Hawaii Street Outreach from Hilo to Kona <br />"The Homelessness & Housing Fund has helped Project Vision Hawaii expand its support <br />for people experiencing homelessness in Hawaii County. This resource enabled our <br />organization to develop from basic outreach offering mobile showers to our current <br />program providing street medicine, case management, and housing placement support. <br />Looking back to our first application to OHCD in 2021, Project Vision was providing hygiene <br />services on Hawaii Island but we were challenged to secure funding needed to expand <br />these resources. We applied to HHF to add medical personnel, which enabled us to bring <br />on a Registered Nurse who still serves this community today. Through this process, our <br />team increased its communication and collaboration with other providers on the island. In <br />2023, we increased program staff again to include a Medical Assistant and Case Manager, <br />which allowed for expanded resources including benefits navigation, case management, <br />and follow-up medical care. <br />Now in 2024, our program has the capacityto work directlywith participants, identifying <br />resources and supportingthem in movingto permanent housing. Without HHF grants, it <br />would have been very difficultto increase capacity at this rate. Additionally, withoutthe <br />networking and collaboration facilitated bythe OHCD team, ourteam would be struggling <br />to make connections with other providers. We are so gratefulforthe support of this <br />initiative:' <br />Res. 397-25 Homelessness and Housing Fund Yr 4 December 17, 2025 <br />