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The founders of HP have many years experience in the social
service field and working in various state service delivery
systems. Both have college educations. Susan Campbell has a
degree in Counseling and Spirituality from the Graduate School
of Leslie College in Cambridge, Massachusetts.
The founders met while working for a non-profit serving
developmentally delayed adults. They use to spend their lunch
hours discussing ideas for opening a home for the disabled.
While doing some private consulting on the North Shore, Susan
Campbell became aware of how many of the homeless on the streets
of our communities were veterans. Of those veterans, many were
struggling with psychiatric disabilities. Due to her own
personal loss of her nineteen-year-old cousin, Stanley Egan, in
Vietnam, this population held a special place in her heart. Had
Stanley made it home alive, but with a disability, would he have
been relegated to living on the street?
As a result, she approached the Veterans Administration (VA) in
Boston to see what resources were available to this population.
She found that the VA had a Community Residential Care Program (CRCP).
This program operates on somewhat of a foster care model.
Members of the community, known as sponsors, who may have an
extra bedroom or two would bring a veteran into their home.
However, often what we heard from veterans was a feeling of
being the odd-man-out in this situation.
Susan and Bernadette felt it may be even more beneficial to
create a community of psychiatrically disabled veterans in a
group setting were they could get additional support not only
from the sponsor, but from each other, as well. In a group
situation the veterans could derive understanding and support
from their peers, who were struggling with the same types of
obstacles that each was facing, due to their disability.
Susan then went home and spent the better part of a year writing
a proposal to the VA for the purpose of establishing such a
home. Working with a social worker from the VA, Susan developed
a plan and met all the requirements for a Federally Licensed
Continuing Care Home and was granted status as a sponsor under
the Community Residential Care Program (CRCP) in 1989.
Although we were now federally licensed, the organization
received no federal or state funding. For the first eight years
of operation the home ran on the contributions of the veterans
as set by the CRCP guidelines and the remainder Susan and
Bernadette personally financed out of their own pockets. As the
founders could not afford to do this indefinitely, in 1995 they
sought out and were granted a 501(c)3 non-profit status and the
organization now known as Habitat P.L.U.S., Inc. was
established.
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The founders chose this name for the organization because they
wanted to be more than just a habitat in which to eat and sleep.
They wanted to create a home environment where people would be
learning useful skills that would keep them from decompensating
and thus break the cycle of re-hospitalization and homelessness.
In 1998 the legislature saw fit to award HP $100,000.00 in state
funding. We have been fortunate enough to be level funded at
that amount each year until the current state budget crisis hit
the commonwealth. In fiscal year 2003 we received a 10% funding
cut. Consequently, we have to do more with fewer resources, as
is the case for many human service organizations. This in turn
makes greater the need to appeal to the private sector for
donations.
(If you would like to help by making a
donation
please visit our
wish list & donations page.)
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