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Home Suite Hope adds Homeward Bound to its toolkit by Julia Le Oakville Beaver Staff 17 | Friday, February 28, 2014 | OAKVILLE BEAVER | www.insideHALTON.com The lives of five single mothers in Halton are about to change drastically. Home Suite Hope (HSH) announced Wednesday in Oakville it is replicating a successful Toronto program run by WoodGreen Community Services to provide five struggling mother-led, single-parent families with a furnished apartment for up to four years and fullyfunded daycare while each mom gets a college education, job internship opportunities and career placements. "We need to address the needs of almost 2,000 mother-led families at or below the poverty line in this region," said Glen Herring, HSH board chair. "And, as we do, Halton will become a leader in poverty initiatives." Screening and finding the right families for the four-year program, dubbed Homeward Bound Halton, will begin this spring with a goal of adding five new families next year and in 2016. It mirrors the Toronto social service's Homeward Bound program, which launched 10 years ago to bring struggling single mothers and their families out of poverty. "Without affordable childcare, a mother can't go out to work. Without safe and affordable housing, she can't focus on either school or work or taking care of her children. Getting into post-secondary school is cost prohibitive for people living below the poverty line so knowing Home Suite Hope (HSH) board chair Glen Herring, from left, WoodGreen Community Services Chief Operating Officer Anne Babcock, and HSH Executive Director Michelle Pommells sign an agreement to launch the first replication of WoodGreen's very successful Homeward Bound Program for mother-led single parent families facing the prospect of homelessness in Halton. | photo by Nikki Wesley ­ Oakville Beaver (Follow on Twitter @halton_ photog or facebook.com/HaltonPhotog) all of these things, WoodGreen said we could do something about it by putting together this Homeward Bound program," said Anne Babcock, WoodGreen chief operating officer. She said she's thrilled Halton is taking on the initiative of bringing in Homeward Bound, giving families the opportunity to make "real change in their lives." She noted how an independent analysis of the program done by the Boston Consulting Group found for every dollar invested into it, Homeward Bound graduates returned $4 back to society. "The program makes sense. It makes financial sense, it makes real sense and we know it changes lives," said Babcock. "We've seen it over and over again in Toronto and now we know what will happen here in Halton." Michelle Pommells, executive director of HSH, said she's excited about the program. "The introduction of Homeward Bound Halton, in partnership with WoodGreen Community Services, is going to make such a difference in helping many struggling single moms break the cycle of poverty, not only for themselves, but for their children and future generations." The new program arrives as HSH celebrates 10 years of providing transitional housing to a growing homeless population in Halton that needs support beyond emergency shelters. HSH Interim Executive Director Peter Kolisnyk said coupled with HSH's current two-year ReStart Halton program, which offers housing and a wide range of support services like job search training, life skills coaching and financial and computer literacy education, Homeward Bound Halton will help families get out into the marketplace, become self-sufficient and help them re-engage in their community. "You wouldn't expect poverty to be such a growing trend, but the reality is, it's grown exponentially," he said. "As much as we are happy about growing this new program and adding it to our existing ReStart Halton program, the fact is, that represents more than a two-year waitlist." Kolisnyk said HSH is looking at new ways to continue offering transformational solutions to tackle poverty, but needs community support. For information, visit www.homesuitehope. org. CLEARANCE FLOOR MODEL SALE ER Y V O DA LD ON 0th E H M R1 TO MA of Novelties with every 10" cake or larger (Val. $14) Expires Mar. 30th Free Box 295 Hays Blvd., Oakville Oakpark Plaza All trademarks owned or licensed by Am. D.Q. Corp. ©2014. 905-257-4441