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COMMUNITY SUPPORT - LINKAGES

The National Alliance for the Mentally Ill, The Mental Health Association of Los Angeles, Riverside County Department of Mental Health, Regional Access Project, Agua Caliente Band of Cahuilla Indians, Eli Lilly & Co. and the County of Riverside, have all been very cooperative and supportive of DESERTSTAR'S efforts. The above agencies have provided our organization with valuable information, need statements, statistics and financial assistance.

PROGRAM DESIGN

The main goal of our nonprofit corporation is to build affordable housing, and establish a nationally known and respected Fountain House Program that offers vocational, residential and social services to adults suffering from a mental disorder. The uniqueness of our special project is that it will address all needs onsite for a successful transition from suffering to independent living. Our volunteers and employees will provide support in the unsupervised surrounding. Tenants will have the option of seeking volunteer help in daily functioning if they feel it is necessary. Our housing program will be a landlord/tenant relationship. The housing is long term, if desired, and will allow tenants independence in a non-board and care environment. Our tenants must be capable of independent living and be responsible for their own medication. Our tenants will need to show good citizenship as a neighbor would in any neighborhood. Our program will continue to seek support from our mental health community, including County Mental Health of Riverside, private psychiatrists, hospitals and volunteer programs throughout the Coachella Valley. Any community support services or activities will be provided to our tenants at their requests. Our nonprofit corporation will provide public information that will help our tenants improve their lives. Our Clubhouse programs will be available to non-tenants who live in the community and suffer from a mental disability. Although considerable progress has been made during the last decade to help the public understand mental illness, we have a long way to go. Our special program will provide mentally disabled persons a chance to have meaningful and productive lives in our community. We must do everything possible to provide mentally disabled persons adequate housing, resources, and service programs. Without housing and service programs, such as the future DESERTSTAR Special Project, mentally ill persons will continue to suffer the stigma of mental illness, and live in isolation in the community. The lack of proper housing, treatment, and support services has devastated the mentally ill, their families, and our communities.

HOUSING PROGRAM

PHASE 1.  DESERTSTAR'S housing program will consist of 140 - 163 units, built in four phases of 35 units each phase. Phase 1. Building Project Estimated Cost: 20 - 35 units plus Clubhouse - $1,400,000. 00 to 2,400,000.00. DESERTSTAR owns twenty (20) acres of hot mineral spring land in the County of Riverside, Desert Hot Springs, California. This twenty (20) acre parcel is zoned commercial and is completely paid for.

Housing will be affordable to persons on SSI disability income. A HUD 811 grant, tax credits, State Mental Health grants and private capital funding grants wiLL be sought to enable DESERTSTAR to build the housing units. Section 8 Vouchers, housing subsidies or a similar government assistance program will be sought to enable a mentally ill person to pay only 30% of a monthly rent fee. For example, if the unit has a rental value of $500.00, the mentally disabled person would pay only $150.00. Utilities will be included in the rent, thus, giving the tenant enough funds for food and clothing. The nonprofit corporation hopes to contract with a Meals on Wheels Food Program. This program offers a freshly cooked hot meal each day, including breakfast, thus, enabling a tenant to have proper nourishment each day.   The gated housing will have 24-hour emergency phone services in each apartment and a security guard at night, thus, creating a safe environment for our tenants.

Parents and siblings are overwhelmed in caring for their adult mentally ill loved one. Their work schedules and inexperience in coping with mental illness are very frustrating to them and to the family member with the mental disorder. Our project will provide safe housing and services to help families cope with the mental illness in their family. A family of a mentally disabled person will have confidence and peace of mind that their loved one has the opportunity to be independent, learn living, working, and social skills, and have friends.

Our tenants will be living in an environment with no stigma or pressure to perform beyond their own capabilities. The social and recreational programs will encourage our tenants to have friends, and fun.  Tenants will have pride in their homes and the support needed to excel and live fulfilling and rich lives. One hundred percent (100%) of our donations, grants, gifts and fund- raising dollars will directly benefit our tenants who need well-coordinated housing. Our Social programs will help our tenants live with dignity and in good health.

REHABILITATION CLUBHOUSE PROGRAM
Clubhouse View
PHASE 1.
Every effort by the Board of Directors will be made to acquire certification as a "Fountain House" Clubhouse, which is internationally known as one of the most effective means of psychiatric rehabilitation clubhouses in the world. Fountain House has more than 250 Clubhouses internationally, in 23 countries. Unfortunately, there are only three in Northern California and one in Southern California, Anaheim, which serves persons with traumatic brain injury. We do not have any type of Clubhouse Program for the mentally ill in Riverside County. In addition, the desert area has more than 15 private psychiatrists and more than 35 psychologists who serve private patients. A Fountain House Clubhouse Program would be very beneficial to all mentally disabled persons in the Coachella Valley. The clubhouse program will be open to persons in the community who are not tenants, thereby improving their life through the social and work programs available at our project.

WORK PROGRAM

DESERTSTAR will seek state funds to establish our own rehabilitation program that is geared to persons suffering with mental disabilities. Our work program will begin slowly, with volunteers from the community helping with the development of working skills, such as job interviews, grooming, and filling out applications and resume writing.

For those tenants who have work experience in the past we will offer transitional and permanent employment placement in the public sector. Every effort will be made to contact outside employers and encourage them to hire our tenants part time. When possible, a volunteer or employee of the nonprofit will initially work with the tenant at the outside job until the tenant feels secure in the work surroundings. We will model our work program, if we are certified, to comply with The Fountain House Standards for Clubhouse Programs.

One of our future goals, after we develop our housing community, is to have a separate employment industry building on commercial property near the housing complex for persons who need a more supervised work environment. Outside job contracts will be sought by our project for this industry building. This workshop will be for people who have never been able to work in the community. This will be an initial step to train our tenants and will help them develop work skills.
We are contemplating having our nonprofit own a number of small businesses, which will serve as training centers for our tenants. Our tenants who have job experience and are capable of working will be hired in our housing community for office, maintenance, gardening and other services needed by our project.

SOCIAL AND RECREATIONAL ACTIVITIES
Our community will have mineral baths, a swimming pool, volleyball court, basketball court and a recreational clubhouse room, which will also be a dining room for those who want to bring their meals in and eat with friends.

The recreational clubhouse room will be a place for social interchange, relaxation, movies, TV, card games, bingo, music and peer support. A member's social club will be promoted to encourage weekly or monthly dances, outings to fun community locations, special luncheons/dinners, etc.

The tenants will plan a monthly social calendar with the help of volunteers if necessary. Tenants will be actively involved in fund-raising for their community. Tenants will be involved in producing a weekly news bulletin for the tenants listing the next week's activities and menu for those using the Meals on Wheels Program.

Exercise classes and an exercise room will be provided in 'the main recreational clubhouse building. Volunteers from the community will be recruited to help the
tenants with personal fitness, diet, grooming classes, living skills such as financial /money management, bus training, personal safety, telephone communication, housekeeping, health and hygiene. Volunteers will be recruited to teach crafts,
art and music programs for our tenants.


EVALUATION OF OUR HOUSING PROGRAM AND SERVICES
A tenant association will be formed by the tenants and run exclusively by them. They will meet monthly with DESERTSTAR'S Program Coordinator to discuss the desires and complaints of the tenants. Prior to the monthly meeting of the Tenants Association, the Program Coordinator will measure the satisfaction of the tenants as to:

1. An increase in their independent living skills.
2. Social participation with other tenants.
3. Medication compliance. At the request of a tenant, a volunteer may remind a tenant to take their medications.
4. Their mental state.
5. Elimination of stigma in their living environment
6. Self-esteem
7. Elimination of fear. Are they feeling safe in'their environment?
8. Easier access to medical and psychiatric care?
9. Peer group support
10. Work training access
11. Employment access
12. Social opportunities
13. Recreational opportunities
14. Exercise classes
15. Support services -satisfaction and availability - County and private providers
16. Counseling services on site
17. Tenants satisfaction with the services offered, daily, weekly, monthly?
A monthly and yearly assessment of the evaluation report will be made and presented to. the Board of Directors of DESERTSTAR for there follow up. The tenants' association can ask the board for a special meeting at any time, and will be invited to special meetings of the Board of Directors to present their complaints and future desires.

OUTCOMES OF DESERTSTAR'S SUPPORTIVE HOUSING PROGRAM
DESERTSTAR anticipates that their tenants will become more socially active, content, have a feeling of belonging to the community, will gain acceptance from others, and will be more willing to take rehabilitation classes to achieve some type of work in the community.

DESERTSTAR expects their tenants will stay healthier and have a chance to live more productive lives. They will become assets to the community. Our entire program will focus on keeping our tenants healthy, in mind and body, and Hopefully, will prevent them from repeated hospitalization, homelessness, desperation and many times suicide. Our tenants will have support when they have a relapse and volunteers and staff will see that they have adequate medical and psychiatric attention during such a phase in their illness.

Neighborhoods will benefit from our program because mentally ill residents of the Coachella Valley will be housed in attractive, safe housing and will have the opportunity to contribute to society.

Our country is in a MENTAL HEALTH CRISIS. Currently there are approximately 7500 people with chronic and persistent mental illness in the Coachella Valley. It is estimated that one out of every 10 persons has a serious mental disorder. The impact of mental illness in our country is staggering. DESERTSTAR'S mission is to address this crisis. There is light at the end of the tunnel.