Well over 1,000 individuals (a third are children) are homeless in affluent Fairfax County. Most have limited education and work skills, chronic illness or addiction, histories of eviction, language challenges. They need rigorously tailored services to succeed and for 70 families annually, Homestretch provides just that: two years of housing, case management, employment assistance, scholarships for training and education, money management and debt reduction, life skills, parenting, computer, and ESOL classes, therapy for survivors of violence, and services for children, including a licensed preschool. Homestretch has a 90% retention rate and a full 95% of graduates remain permanently housed. Adults who were homeless and in crisis become nurses, accountants, teachers, plumbers, chefs, social workers, restaurant owners; many children go on to college. The array of intensive services is costly but has a significant payoff when previously homeless families begin ... to amaze themselves.
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