City Mission-Living Stones receive grants
City Mission-Living Stones Inc. of Uniontown recently received two grants from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development to support the City Mission’s transitional housing and youth shelter programs. A $133,416 grant will help fund operating costs of the Gallatin School Living Center, which provides transitional housing for homeless people, said City Mission Executive Director Irmi Gaut.
Homeless families and individuals can stay at the 30-unit Gallatin School for up to two years and are required to participate in life skills training aimed at helping them become independent.
“We try to deal with the root cause of their homelessness,” Gaut said.
The transitional housing program was the first of its type in Fayette County when the City Mission opened the Gallatin School Living Center in 1998, Gaut said.
She said 90 percent of the people who go through the transitional housing program move on to permanent housing.
The City Mission also received a $108,582 grant for its Home Again youth shelter on Cleveland Avenue.
The shelter, which opened in 2002, provides temporary housing for youths between 12 and 17 years old who have run away, become homeless or have been placed there by Fayette County Children and Youth Services or the juvenile probation office.
Gaut said youths can become homeless for a variety of reasons, but the shelter’s goal for the youths is reunification with their families.
Both grants came from HUD’s Supportive Housing Program, she said.
U.S. Rep. John P. Murtha, D-Johnstown, announced the release of the grants for the City Mission and other grants for other agencies that work with the homeless in Fayette and Washington counties.
“These grants will help to continue the progress made by these organizations by helping to provide appropriate housing and supportive services to the homeless of our area,” Murtha said. “I’m proud of these organizations for committing to these important community programs.”