Reaching a milestone of 25 years with a single organization speaks volumes for an individual’s dedication, passion, and commitment. This year, DuPagePads is thrilled to celebrate an extraordinary journey that began with an eager intern 20 years ago, whose compassion, leadership, and expertise led her to become the Director of Client Services today.

Hear from Jen Coyer below as she shares her unique perspective on how DuPagePads has grown as an organization over the decades, and what your support has helped us accomplish. Thank you, Jen, for the transformative impact you have had on our community!

____________

Dear Friends:

This June marks my 25th year helping to end homelessness at DuPagePads, and as we approach Mother’s Day while celebrating 40 years of service, I am grateful to share my perspective of what our services have meant for families over time—from my internship back in 1998, to when I became a full-time employee in 2000, to my time as Director of Client Services today.

When I started my internship at DuPagePads, it was a small non-profit partnering with a network of churches and congregations across DuPage County to provide basic shelter and meals nightly. Donors at that time helped us maintain a daytime drop-in center in Wheaton for clients who walked or took the bus to reach us. The building was a large, open room where families and individuals would sit and wait for lunch to be served. It also had a small open children’s play area. In the corner there was a table with telephones for clients to make calls as cell phones were not as common then. The staff at the time was so small that I could meet with the Executive Director weekly to complete my required intern supervision sessions.

When I began my job search after my internship, DuPagePads was hiring a case manager, and I knew I needed to return. Fortunately, I was hired, and over time advanced to become a supervisor. Today, I serve as the Director of Client Services, supporting case managers – just as I once was – helping clients in our shelter system. I also oversee our Rapid Rehousing programs, helping even more clients successfully transition into housing opportunities.

It’s been such a privilege working alongside so many different staff and volunteers over the last 25 years, all of whom shared their time and talents to accomplish one common goal: working together toward our mission to end homelessness in DuPage County. DuPagePads has always taken a front-line approach to serving our most vulnerable families and individuals when they need it most. Our humble beginnings started with donors and volunteers providing the basic needs such as food, clothing, and shelter through a few churches and congregations in our community.

In the early 2000s, our understanding of what was needed to end homelessness grew and we focused on something more permanent than only shelter: housing. Donors like you helped us to grow again and start case management and employment programs to help families to establish income and housing goals for the future. After several years of providing these services, we determined families with children were among the most vulnerable we were serving. We saw the long-term effects of instability – moving locations nightly, sleeping on floors with strangers, and the inability to be in a quiet place for homework or a consistent bedtime – take a toll on families who were desperately trying to find safe places to stay. Often this meant staying with family or friends, or occasionally a hotel room when they were able to save enough for that costly option.

Using what we learned, DuPagePads again asked the community for support and developed a Family Outreach program, working with families who were moving in and out of nightly shelter sites and staying in other unsafe or inconsistent places. Our case management staff sought out homeless mothers and fathers in community settings to help them work toward housing plans, and to address the complex needs of our youngest clients: nutrition, education, physical health, and social and emotional health needs.

By 2010, DuPagePads was helping more neighbors than ever before, including more than 100 homeless families. It was clear that providing more permanent and affordable housing was a big piece of the puzzle we needed to solve in order to move families and neighbors off the street. Seeing the need, we grew our Permanent Supportive Housing, and over time established the Transitional Housing and Rapid Rehousing programs. With your help, each of these supportive housing options provided families and individuals with different housing solutions and programs offered by our community partners. Over time, clients with the most critical needs, often single mothers with children, were coming to our doors after fleeing an unsafe, abusive situation. With support like yours, we established the Haven of Hope Rapid Rehousing program in 2022, providing parents and children fleeing abuse the opportunity to start fresh in a new home of their own.

DuPagePads has always been a learning, growing and adaptive organization. When the pandemic arrived, it presented one of the largest challenges our clients, volunteers, and staff had ever faced. Shelter locations closed for safety as did community service provider offices. With your help, we worked quickly to establish an emergency shelter program in hotels (similar to our medical respite model) that protected clients who were medically vulnerable. Families and individuals quickly moved to these “temporary” locations.

This led to our greatest lesson yet! We saw the significant improvement that the dignity of a door brought to each person you helped us bring into shelter. By having neighbors in a stable and safe environment every night, the ability to focus on housing and income drastically improved, and more children were attending school and sleeping in beds.

Three years ago, you made our vision for safer and better solutions possible by helping us purchase the Interim Housing Center. Today, you’re helping our model become the way of the future. Our youngest clients are seeing vast improvements in their stability, making attending school and other children-related activities a consistent part of their lives. Our education program was developed to meet their growing needs, providing fun and educational activities at the IHC.

As we begin our 40th year of service, we are proud to say our little ones can enjoy a new playground at their temporary home while their parent continues to work towards a new permanent home for their family. Clients can also enjoy hot meals made by volunteers in our new kitchen, and get care items donated by donors like you from the on-site pantry.

As I sit here on this crisp spring day, I am astonished by all you have helped us accomplish over the last 40 years, and I know we will continue to evaluate and improve our programs and services for those who come to us for help. When someone believes in you, everything can change. That is not just a tagline for us — it is truly at the heart of all we do.

With Gratitude,

Jen Coyer

Director of Client Services