Carpenter's Place Outreach Center

The Day Room is open Monday through Friday from 8:30 a.m. until 3:30 p.m.

Carpenters Place operates a Day Room with an open door policy as the first step to engaging a homeless person in the process of improving their life situation. As long as individuals are not violent or intoxicated, anyone who is homeless may come into the Day Room and receive a lunch ticket for 7 days. To continue receiving a lunch ticket after 7 days, they must meet with a case manager if they have not already done so.

The Day Room is a safe, structured space where people who live on the street can seek shelter for the day in a positive environment. An average of 90 100 guests per day make use of the Day Room. Practical and essential basic services are coordinated by Day Room staff and include: a comfortable common gathering area with tables and chairs, breakfast and lunch, a shower, a change of clothing, telephone for appropriate local calls, a message service for appropriate messages, referrals, and positive conversation.

By first meeting these most basic human needs, CP provides an atmosphere that allows the homeless person to focus on something other than moment-to-moment survival. Through the encouragement of Day Room staff and seeing their peers attain levels of success, guests are encouraged to actively participate with case managers and develop their own individualized Life Recovery Plan for success.

Supportive Transitional Housing
The main CP transitional housing program occupies a 12-unit apartment building composed of one-bedroom apartments. This program is funded by HUD through the Mayor's Homeless Task Force on Homelessness.
Participants in this program reside in a 12-unit, one bedroom apartment building, and may remain up to two years. There are two participants per unit. Participants share the apartment with a roommate to increase accountability and to avoid isolating behavior and loneliness. The number of participants at any point in time will be between 18 and 22.
This project is located in a healthy community neighborhood, on the bus route, close to shopping, hospital, addiction and mental health services, educational, employment, spiritual, and recreational opportunities.
A full time, Case Manager is responsible for the well-being and continued progress of current participants as well as for participants transitioning into or out of the program. The project's Case Manager assumes the primary role of relationship building and case management, including periodic assessment, monitoring, and advocacy for participants. The Case Manager meets weekly with all participants one-on-one, and holds group meetings for all program participants a minimum of once per week. Individual inspections of all rooms is performed weekly.

Woman's Housing Program
A housing and support services program for homeless women that have demonstrated a commitment to positive life changes.

Permanent Supportive Housing
This CP program received initial funding from HUD for a three-year period to provide Permanent Supported Housing for the Chronically Homeless. This project provides maximum flexibility in Permanent Supportive Housing options and Chronically Homeless participant mix to meet priorities as determined by the local Rockford, Winnebago, Boone Continuum of Care Gap analysis.
The project leases a mixture of available open market housing units consisting of twelve (12) one bedroom units that are utilized as Permanent Supportive Housing for Chronically Homeless adults.
This program allows for a focus on specific Chronically Homeless sub-populations in need in the community such as: persons with mental illness, substance abuse problems, or dual diagnosis; veterans; HIV/AIDS.
The program includes professional comprehensive and holistic Case Management services.

Veteran's Transitional Housing
Through a special Veteran's Administration program and private donations, CP was able to purchase a 3-bedroom brick ranch located in a northwest Rockford neighborhood for half the market price. This home provides transitional housing for three honorably discharged homeless Veterans, giving them a safe, secure place to call home, a place to get a fresh start and rebuild their lives here at home in Rockford, Illinois!
Family Services ProgramThe Carpenters Place Family Services program is based in accountability and full engagement of the family in rebuilding their lives.

The immediate goal is to address any crisis situation, especially where safety is involved, such as a family living in a car.
The intermediate goal is to identify and access services needed to help the family gain stability.
The long-term goal is to have families be self-supporting, contributing members of our community.

To maximize the collective impact of local organizations for the benefit of families in the Rock River Valley, Carpenters Place Family Services provides comprehensive case management. Through this case management program, sixteen areas of life are addressed for parents and children, and tracked on a database program. The initial step is a meeting with the family to identify needs, and work with them to set goals and steps for reaching those milestones. Although the needs are identified through our program, Carpenters Place is not the end provider for all services. We partner with local organizations who are experts in their field. By doing this, we avoid duplication of services and maximize the community resources targeted to help families in need of assistance. In addition to what is provided by Carpenters Place, resolution of need may be accomplished through referrals and telephone advocacy or by accompanying families to their appointments with other community agencies.