Mark Watson has a tried and true routine. As the director of outreach at GRACE, an organization focused on combating homelessness in Gainesville, Florida, he has a schedule to keep that is an important part of the group’s overall work.
Watson starts his weeks by taking inventory of the organization’s outreach van. He ensures it is stocked with supplies like mouthwash, socks and bag lunches — items that many take for granted but are critical to individuals who are experiencing homelessness. Then he drives through town to pass out these supplies and build relationships with people.
“We go out and we find folks who don’t go to shelters,” he said as he left the parking lot of GRACE Marketplace one recent Monday morning.
A big part of Watson’s job is making small talk to build trust. He rolls down the window to say hello to people he knows and introduces himself when he sees someone new. What may seem like simple conversations are how Watson plants seeds for meaningful change. That’s because if Watson can’t build trust with these individuals, other staff members from GRACE will have trouble, too.
Mondays and Tuesdays are for basic needs. Watson gives out the lunches, cold drinks and other items people need to get them through a day living outside in extreme conditions. Then on Wednesdays and Thursdays, other staff members spend more time with the homeless to learn more about their needs. Outreach on Fridays is specifically for homeless veterans, a group that GRACE focuses much time, energy and resources to support.
With his routes done early in the week, Watson described the rest of his time each week as when “we solve problems.” GRACE received a $20,000 grant from VyStar Foundation as part of its first military grant cycle to help solve these problems. A portion of that money is being used to keep the outreach van stocked with a wide variety of supplies, which Watson estimates costs about $5,000 a year.
The problems GRACE help solve can vary. Some people living in the streets are ready for help right away, while others take months or even years to come around. While each individual has a unique story and their own challenges to overcome, the eventual goal is always the same: find permanent homes for as many individuals as possible.
“Some of our folks just need time,” Watson said.
One Stop Assistance Center and Emergency Shelter
While Watson and the outreach team are finding people to help in the streets, the rest of the GRACE staff is hard at work operating a low-barrier shelter at a converted correctional institute. The 23-acre campus has 15 buildings where people can take care of their personal needs, from indoor beds to food to laundry or even getting items they’ll need when they move into a home of their own.
“We understood we were asking people much too much to get off the streets,” said Jon DeCarmine, executive director of GRACE.
DeCarmine said at other shelters across the region, people get turned away if they don’t have identification. They also get turned away if they have problems with substance abuse. They get turned away for all sorts of reasons. GRACE, however, tries to open more doors than they shut.
“Low-barrier services are designed to make things as easy as possible for people,” he said.
If someone shows up without identification, the staff will help them get that through the proper channels. But first, they make sure they have a place to sleep and three meals a day.
While GRACE provides all the basic necessities for someone looking to get off the streets, they don’t want people to get too comfortable. The shelter is temporary and the end goal is to find permanent housing for individuals.
Dormitory Exclusively for Veterans
DeCarmine walks around the campus like the mayor of a small city. People come up to him with needs and he helps them find the right resources. His staff is made up of people who can relate with those they’re trying to help, and that goes a long way when you’re trying to build relationships.
“Seventy percent of people who work here are in recovery,” he said. “Sixty percent have been homeless.”
The dining area still looks a lot like it did when the facility served as the Gainesville Correctional Institute, but it has a fancy name. They call it Café 131 because of an ordinance against serving more than 131 meals at a time. It also looks better on a resume when people who’ve served the meals are trying to get work elsewhere. Café 131 serves roughly 150,000 meals a year.
People come from all over the campus to eat the meals. Some live in gender-specific housing, others live in co-ed dorms where they push beds together so significant others don’t have to be split up. One of the dorms is exclusively reserved for male homeless veterans.
DeCarmine said grants like the one from VyStar Foundation are instrumental in helping the veteran population. He said they can house 26 veterans at a time in their low-barrier shelter, but a lot of the funding they receive is already spoken for by the time the checks come in. With the money from VyStar Foundation, they can use it to help get former military members into permanent homes of their own.
The good news is the overall number of homeless veterans in Florida is trending in the right direction. There were reportedly 7,794 homeless veterans in the state in 2010, according to the 2020 Florida Council of Homelessness Annual Report. That number dropped to 2,472 in 2019.
“The true work that we're doing is generally not done in $50,000 increments,” DeCarmine said. “It's done in $500 checks for first month's rent and $1,500 checks for security deposits, or $20 Lyfts to go to a case appointment somewhere. And there's no funding for that in most of the grants.”
Success Stories Make the Work Worth It
GRACE Marketplace is full of success stories. Those stories are what keep people like DeCarmine and Watson going. Watson makes the initial contact to build the strong relationships and DeCarmine continues that personal care when people come to the shelter for help.
On that hot Monday in the middle of the Gainesville summer, Watson eagerly talked about being close to getting one specific man off the streets. He said it’s a slow process but it’s a process that works.
“If we’re there consistently and they’re aware that we’re there, when they decide they want something they turn to us,” Watson said.
He smiled as he remembered one recent success story. Watson got to know a homeless man so well that he would regularly talk about his famous meatloaf recipe. Eventually, the veteran decided to utilize GRACE to get the help he needed and ended up with a home of his own.
A short time later, the man reached out to Watson and told him there was an emergency. Watson rushed to the man’s home fearing the worst, but when he got there, he was greeted by the smell of fresh meatloaf.
It was the man’s way of saying thank you for getting him back on his feet.
Please visit the GRACE website to learn more about the services the organization offers.