Jesuit Retreat House Cleveland Ohio

 

 

 

In case you don’t have time to read the history of this significant project as it is described below a “donation” reference is provided for your quick access.  Thank you for considering. 

 

Please Donate:  Get the details here.

The Need

Homelessness undoubtedly stands out as a stark social challenge that tremendously impacts people in the Cleveland area.  According to the Northeast Ohio Coalition for the Homeless (NEOCH), more than 26,000 individuals living in Cuyahoga County were homeless.  In short, homelessness is a serious problem that is heading in the wrong direction in Cuyahoga County, as it is elsewhere in the nation.  At the same time, service capacity to meet the needs of the homeless has not risen to the challenge.  According to an NEOCH estimate, there is an unmet need for 3,384 shelter units for homeless individuals and 170 units for homeless families.

 

In the face of such need stands the 2100 Lakeside shelter, which is administered by the Lutheran Metropolitan Ministry (LMM).  With 352 beds, 2100 Lakeside stands out as the largest shelter in the Midwest.  Yet even this is not enough, for more than 550 people head to the shelter for assistance every evening.  

 

Given such a shortage of beds, 2100 Lakeside has implemented an innovative multi-step process for personal transformation that empowers individuals to (a) move out of homelessness into housing and employment and (b) keep them there.   The inherent instability and chaos of the shelter environment, however, makes it difficult for participants to complete this process and better their lives.  Instead, they find themselves stuck in the hopelessness of homelessness.

 

Target Population

 

The Retreat Program for Homeless Men targets present or recent residents at the 2100 Lakeside Men’s Shelter who have chosen to participate in the shelter’s 7-stage Life Transformation program.  The participants of each retreat will be selected by the staff of the shelter.  It is important to note that members of the target population are heavily involved in program planning and evaluation.

 

Goals and Objectives

The goals of the Retreat Program for Homeless Men are twofold:

a)   to increase the number of men who complete the transformation process and move out of the 2100 Lakeside shelter into stable housing by 25%

b)   to reduce recidivism of those who have participated in the retreat program by 25% when compared to the general shelter population

This project works toward these goals by focusing upon one specific objective: to hold at least 30 retreat programs at the Jesuit Retreat House for homeless men immersed in the comprehensive spiritual enrichment process at LMM’s 2100 Lakeside Men’s Shelter.  The length and frequency of retreats vary for each stage of the transformation process.

 

 

Outcomes

 

In the long term, the Retreat Program for Homeless Men is designed to impact the poverty crisis in Cleveland by (a) reducing costs to the shelter and the public by helping homeless men transition out of the shelter and (b) stimulating the transformation of those individuals from social welfare recipients to positive social contributors.  Retreats are a critical component of the spiritual enrichment process that is designed to equip homeless men who now reside at 2100 Lakeside with those tools necessary to meet the critical challenges they face as they transition toward self-sufficiency. 

 

In the short term, the retreat program will provide at least 25 retreats that amplify the impact of the 2100 Lakeside shelter transformation track.  Retreats are planned by a 12-person team – 9 of whom were formerly homeless – and are scheduled as an ongoing series of the following four retreats:

 

  1. Connection – participants focus on confronting and breaking barriers within themselves and with others

 

  1. Trust – participants build off the Connection retreat by dealing with those fears that impede trust

 

  1. Purpose – participants spend this overnight retreat wrestling with issues of personal mission and calling

 

  1. Integration – participants examine issues of competence, patterns within relationship, and tendencies toward inclusiveness

 

The retreat program follows a reflection-and-action process that provides homeless men who have begun the process of rebuilding their lives with important life tools such as improved self-esteem, a clear-eyed view of the world they live in, and hope for the future based upon a step-by-step life plan.

 

In addition, staff at 2100 Lakeside will build community and bolster continuity for the retreat program by providing complementary classes in between retreats on a diverse array of subjects, including goals and strategies, service leadership, exercise, and nonviolent communication.

Finally, program staff will focus on continual improvement via the following evaluation methods:

 

1)   Participants will provide program feedback via (a) surveys and (b) after-program sessions.

 

2)   Program impact upon participants will also be gathered within the context of the 2100 Lakeside shelter’s extensive and long-standing systems of measurement and record-keeping.  For example, the recovery progress of retreat participants would be compared with that of non-participating members of the shelter population.

 

 

Timeframe

 

The retreat program is administered throughout the calendar year as an ongoing series of retreats.  The first two retreats of the four-retreat series, as described above, will be offered once per month, the third retreat 6 times, and the fourth retreat 3 times during the program year.  The first two retreats will accommodate approximately 40 participants per retreat, while the third and fourth retreats will serve 30 participants apiece.  

How To Keep The Project Going?

These retreats for the homeless are provided freely for obvious reasons. Funding for them is currently coming from the Annual Appeal of the Jesuit Retreat House and the help of some local foundations such as the Cleveland Foundation, Sullivan Family Foundation and the Bruening Foundation.

Contacts have also been made with other foundations. Our hope is that that those who want to help the homeless get their lives together will invest in the program that has been very effective. An Endowment Fund for this Homeless Program has been established and launched with a $50,00 generous gift of a local benefactor.  The hope is that this Endowment will make possible the continuation of this very meaningful program. Can you help this Endowment grow? A million and a half will sustain this program. This is the goal of the Endowment. Thank you for considering.

                      1) Please pray for this program to touch hearts and
                      
                       2) For financial support please click here:


This project is a significant new collaboration between four partners: 

1) Jesuit Retreat House, [JRH]
2) Lutheran Metropolitan Ministry’s 2100 Lakeside Men’s Shelter, [LMM]
3) Community Service Alliance, [CSA] and 
4) National Network of the Ignatian Spirituality Project for the Homeless

 

   History and Background Information on:
             the Jesuit Retreat House

Founded in 1898, the Jesuit Retreat House has operated on its current 57-acre site in Parma for 109 years. In its initial year of operation, JRH offered the first Catholic retreat for lay people in the United States. The Jesuit Retreat House’s mission statement is:

Inspired by the Gospel of Jesus Christ, rooted in the spirituality
of St. Ignatius, the Jesuit Retreat House provides a sacred setting
for retreats and programs of growth and development 
for people in the contemporary Church and society.

The Jesuit Retreat House offers two invaluable assets to this collaboration – sacred space and a century of effective spiritual programming. JRH is a 60 bedroom building set in the midst of 57 acres of woods and meadows – only 15 minutes from the shelter. It provides the men a chance to leave the chaos of an overcrowded shelter, and come to a quiet, peaceful place where they can listen to their hearts and learn to do the hard introspection needed to heal, grow, and change.

    Background information on:
           
Lutheran Metropolitan Ministry’s 2100 Lakeside Men’s Shelter

Lutheran Metropolitan Ministry’s mission is to “promote Shalom and Justice through a Christian Ministry of service and advocacy with those who are oppressed, forgotten and hurting.” LMM serves and advocates with 1) people with disabilities, 2) men and women who have been involved with the justice system, 3) people dealing with long-term care issues, 4) youth at risk to abuse and incarceration, and 5) people without housing. These five areas of service and advocacy are known as the Five Pillars of LMM.

LMM took over the administration of 2100 Lakeside Men’s Shelter in January 2005. The shelter has been in operation since 2000. It is the major men’s shelter in Cleveland and the largest in the Midwest. Currently, 350 men sleep there each night; 185 more men stay in the overflow shelter at Aviation High School. The programming at the shelter, done in partnership with the Community Service Alliance, grows out of a seven-stage community building transformation process, the Turning Point System. Its goal is to empower men to make the many changes needed to attain and maintain stable housing, steady employment and active community involvement. The purpose of the retreat program is to make this transformation process more effective, resulting in an increase in the number of graduates and a decrease in both the time residents stay in the shelter as well as the number of those who need to return.

    Background information on:  
            Community Service Alliance


The Community Service Alliance was founded in July 2004 to work with Cleveland’s shelters and social service agencies to facilitate the movement of homeless men and women from the shelters into stable housing and employment. Its mission is “to be a catalyst of targeted training, subsidized low-rent housing, and transitional job opportunities for homeless men so that shelter populations and accompanying public costs are reduced.”

CSA works closely with the staff of the 2100 Lakeside shelter to develop programs that help the men achieve the goals of the transformation process. Jeff Nichols, Executive Director of the Community Service Alliance, has participated in the planning for the retreat program at JRH.

     Background information on:
           
National Network of the Ignatian Spirituality Project for the Homeless

In 1997 a Chicago Jesuit priest, Fr. Bill Creed, SJ, was asked by his provincial to develop a spiritual program for homeless people. Since then Fr. Creed has conducted more than 50 weekend retreats for homeless men in Chicago and nine other cities, including Cleveland. In 2005 he convened representatives of the retreat efforts in all nine cities to develop a broader, more comprehensive and sustainable approach that could be implemented in cities around the country. The meeting included representatives of Jesuit retreat houses and homeless shelters. They formed the National Network of the Ignatian Spirituality Project for the Homeless.

The goals of the Network are to “sustain the retreat program in each of the cities in which it exists, to offer the retreats in new cities, and to develop other processes and programs with a spiritual focus that can be presented in collaboration with others who serve the homeless.” The collaboration between the Jesuit Retreat House of Cleveland, LMM’s 2100 Lakeside Men’s Shelter, the Community Service Alliance, and the National Network is the first such effort to develop a more comprehensive retreat program that becomes an integral part of a shelter’s transformation process. The Network is excited about this development, and is exploring ways to learn from Cleveland’s effort and develop similar models in cities across the country.