The Baylor Institute for Studies of Religion is publishing a study, led by ISR Director Byron Johnson and other colleagues, on the faith-based response to homelessness in America. It has been argued that poverty, social-class disparities, and poor social conditions are the world’s most pervasive public health problems and thus responsible for an enormous toll in health-related suffering. Poverty leads to disparities in morbidity, mortality, and disability, in terms of both physical and mental health. And poverty is directly linked to homelessness. The report was undertaken to provide an initial, credible estimate of the impact, socially and economically, of faith-based organizations (FBOs) in eleven cities across the country in responding to homelessness. The primary findings for the report focus on measuring the impact on homelessness by means of the percentage of emergency shelter beds provided through FBO homeless ministries, measured through Housing and Urban Development’s Housing Inventory Count. In addition to laying the foundation for a more in-depth, comprehensive, and rigorous study in the future, this report includes a 3-year Return-on-Investment projection of taxpayer savings, specifically focused on homeless ministries involved in Residential Recovery and Job Readiness programs.

Examples of Key Findings:

• Almost 60% of the Emergency Shelter Beds, what many consider the ‘safety net of all safety nets’ for the homeless, are provided through faith-based organizations.
• What Government agencies and Public Policy makers see as the cause of homelessness – a lack of housing – many FBOs see as a symptom of a deeper problem. As one FBO service provider told us: “People don’t become homeless when they run out of money, at least not right away. They become homeless when they run out of relationships.”
• FBO homeless ministries are at the forefront of program innovation and organizational transformation for improving positive outcomes for homeless individuals and families served.
• The program outcomes for successful participants from FBO Residential Recovery and Job Readiness programs in these eleven cities generate an estimated $119 million in taxpayer savings during the three years following program exit.

Read more at: Faith-Based Organizations Shoulder Majority of Crucial Services and Develop Creative Solutions for Homelessness, New Baylor University Study Says

The vocational rehabilitation program at the Department of Assistive and Rehabilitative Services annually recognizes employers that worked with the program to hire and retain qualified individuals with disabilities, and who promoted the inclusion of individuals with disabilities in their workplace and in their community. Local DARS offices identify these employers during the summer and recognize them each October during National Disability Employment Awareness Month.

In 2016, the DARS Division for Blind Services Waco Field Office selected Baylor University to receive the Employer of the Year Award for working proactively during 2015 to ensure that several employees who are blind or visually impaired received quality job accommodations to support their success, each one working in a department that promoted inclusion of individuals from all backgrounds and abilities.

Local employers recognized in prior years include Waco Independent School District, The Exchange Waco Distribution Center (Army & Air Force Exchange Service), The Central Texas Veterans Health Administration, Wal-Mart of Temple, Walgreens of Waco, and Region 12 Education Service Center.

Motivated by a desire to cultivate a lifelong habit and hunger for learning, Baylor’s Division of Constituent Engagement launches a new continuing education program this spring semester. Baylor professors and community experts will teach a range of noncredit courses that are open to the public. Continuing education students will have the opportunity to study everything from Latin dance with Craig and Kay Waldrop to Greek for Beginners with Dean Todd Still. A civic engagement lecture series also connects faculty research with the community development aims of Prosper Waco.

“We are so excited to move to Waco next month because we just learned that Baylor now has a continuing education program,” remarked a guest at a Baylor Parents Network event in San Antonio. This Baylor mother has moved to Waco to work in a local social service agency, and the possibility of taking Jeanne Dittmann’s calligraphy course through Baylor Continuing Education makes the transition to our community all the sweeter. It is an honor to know that Baylor Continuing Education has a place in the multitude of positive developments that make Waco an attractive community.

Baylor’s Lifelong Learning program has also returned under the umbrella of Baylor Continuing Education where it first originated in the 1990s. Lifelong Learning is a membership-based organization that offers twelve courses and several events during daytime hours to adults of primarily retirement-age. Courses this spring semester range from Women Writing for Women’s Rights with Dr. Lisa Shaver to a course on Korean culture and customs with Dr. Sonia Kim Uber, and a course on Language in Society with Dr. Clay Butler.

One retiring Baylor faculty member and Lifelong Learning member registered for an art class and commented, “All my life I have used only one half of my brain. Now I get to try out the other half!” Baylor Continuing Education aspires to support this desire we all have to learn something new and outside of one’s sphere of expertise in whatever season of life that spirit awakens.

To learn about and register for Personal Enrichment courses, visit: http://www.baylor.edu/continuingeducation/index.php?id=936494

To learn about and register for Lifelong Learning courses, visit: http://www.baylor.edu/continuingeducation/index.php?id=936876

In a nation as wealthy as ours, no one should go hungry. Yet more than 48 million Americans, including 4.5 million Texans, are at risk of hunger every day, largely because a lack of collaboration, inefficient programs, and ineffective policies prevent existing resources from getting to the people who need them most. The Texas Hunger Initiative (THI) at Baylor is coordinating efforts in Texas on all levels—local, state, and federal—to find comprehensive, sustainable solutions to food insecurity. THI brings together local individuals, organizations, businesses, and congregations, state agencies, officials, and corporations, and federal policies, programs, and legislators to work in sync, efficiently and effectively.

As part of THI’s efforts on the federal level, various THI staff members have testified before House of Representatives committees and presented at forums at the White House. Most recently, THI director Jeremy Everett and THI salesforce administrator Dustin Kunz testified before the House Committee on Agriculture, which completed a comprehensive review of the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) with the goal of providing a better understanding of SNAP and examining ways the program could be improved. The House Committee on Agriculture quoted both Everett and Kunz in its report on SNAP. Kunz testified, “Complex problems require complex, creative, and collaborative solutions. Public challenges, such as food insecurity, require a response that exceeds the capabilities and resources of any one department, organization, or jurisdiction. Collaboration provides a way to stretch those resources and accomplish more with less, and the benefits of these partnerships include cost savings and enhanced quality and quantity of services, while also addressing community needs, enhancing trust, and increasing citizen support.”

Since 2009, the THI model of coordination and collaboration has resulted in 10 million meals served in after school programs, 21 million meals served each summer, and 300,000 students who now eat school breakfast every day.