Welcome to our fall/winter blog series, Meet the Mentor: Hastings House Edition. Each week, you’ll meet a different mentor from Hastings House, EMPath’s largest family shelter and longest-running program.

Amanda is Hastings House’s fearless director. After working at Hastings for over six years, she stepped into this new role as Director of Residential and Program Mentoring last month. Amanda discusses the changes she’s seen at Hastings over the years, participants’ resilience, and the unjust policies in MA that keep families in poverty.

What is Hastings House?

Hastings House is a 58-family congregate shelter – dormitory style. With the pandemic right now, we are undersized for social distancing, so we have a small house. Our goal for full capacity during the pandemic is 40. Hastings in nutshell is like a little community.

How do people find out about or get referred to Hastings?

Our placements come straight from the state, from a person going to DTA [Department of Transitional Assistance] or DHCD [Department of Housing and Community Development] to get placed in shelter. Unfortunately, we do not have our own waitlist or application process, although we do get calls from families asking how they can get in. But we have to redirect them to DHCD.

What do you do in your new director role?

I wear many hats. I’m a Jill of all trades. I have to be versed in every aspect of the job and be able and willing to jump at any given point. I have to be able to zoom in and out like a camera lens to think about the overall bigger programmatic needs and goals, but also be able to pinpoint the nitty gritty things, the day-to-day too. Like later today I’m helping facilitate COVID testing, and then other days, I’ll be in a budget meeting. I also do Mobility Mentoring® [EMPath’s economic coaching approach] with a couple participants.

I think what I enjoy most about this job is the camaraderie – that it’s all hands-on deck. Everybody here at Hastings is motivated and driven by the same mission, to give Hastings House participants the best Mobility Mentoring® experience while they’re in shelter and help them to get to the next step on their goals.

How did you originally find your way to EMPath?

I originally applied for a program that actually no longer exists with EMPath, Healthy Families. Before coming to EMPath I worked at the Y for seven years and at the Salvation Army Kroc Center for two and a half. I’ve always worked in community-based organizations – a lot of work with youth and families. And that’s what drew me to the Healthy Families program initially. Then after interviewing, they suggested I might be a better fit for Hastings House. And at the time it was still Crittenton Women’s Union, so I was here for the change to EMPath.

When you were first hired, did you get hired as a Mobility Mentor?

No, I was actually hired as a case manager. Then when they did the transition from CWU to EMPath, we switched gears to Program Mentors and Mobility Mentoring. I remember that was definitely a mind shift for me, having done case management for about a year and a half, to switch gears to do things a little differently.

What is the difference between Mobility Mentoring and case management? What was that mindset shift like?

When you think of your traditional case management, it’s kind of like doing for the participant. You’re kind-of the Rolodex of resources and information– they sit in front of you, they tell you what they need, and you refer them to X, Y, and Z. It’s more like they’re a “case” that you just manage. Versus [with Mobility Mentoring], there’s that collaborative work. It’s a partnership. It was switching mindsets into not doing for the participant.

The way I describe it is the participant is the pilot, and the mentor is the copilot. Not even taking the lead, just a guiding force right by them. The work is participant-driven. When they leave here, participants have this toolkit of things that they can tap into, instead of feeling like they have to go to another agency for services. They’re then able to advocate for themselves, and also to give these skills to others in their family or community.

When that change from case management to Mobility Mentoring happened, did you notice any shift in participants’ mindsets or the goals they accomplished?

Definitely. It was a mindset shift for participants as well as staff. And even for participants that enter now who aren’t used to our model, they get here and they’ve gone through other shelter programs or have been engaged in other services, and there’s always a little bit of a learning curve. They’re kind of like, “What, you’re not doing this for me?” No. I can help you, we can do it together the first time, and then the next time you’re going to give it a try. It’s a shift in giving them the autonomy and the space to learn, explore, to be unsure, and to make some mistakes.

If you’re doing for them, it’s like a cookie cutter path. You need housing? Fill out these applications. You need a job? These are all the openings. The way we do things is more like, what are some things you envision in the next two, three, four, five years for you and your child? What do you enjoy? What do you want to do? I think a lot of our participants unfortunately have never had that in their life, someone that lets them do that self-exploration and work through ambivalence, and not have it be punitive. Having someone really believe in them. And I think that’s what really drives, participants’ intrinsic motivation. For long-lasting success, you really have to develop that internal drive. You are the expert in your own life, I’m here to guide, bounce ideas off of and be a sounding board.

Right. You learn by doing yourself. And having someone who encourages you that you can actually do the things you want to in life is key.

Yeah. I think a lot of our participants who are dealing with limited resources, basic needs not being met, they don’t have that bandwidth to think of dreams and hopes. It’s more the present, the now – where am I going to get the next diaper and formula to feed my child? They often don’t have the luxury to be like, “Where do I see myself in three years?” And unfortunately, when you’re operating in crisis mode on a day to day, those dreams, that executive functioning, becomes more and more what appears to be out of reach. When participants get to Hastings, we make sure they have their basic needs in the very beginning. Then they have that safe space to build executive functioning, aspire, learn, and ask questions.

I always tell participants when they achieve their goal of permanent housing and leave Hastings, that subsidized housing isn’t the end all be all. There’s so much more room for you to grow. You could be your own landlord one day. Think bigger. I want participants to believe in themselves and that this is only just a stepping stone. This isn’t the end of their journey.

It’s so wild how many issues in our world could just be solved if people’s basic needs were met.

Definitely. Experiencing homelessness is a trauma. On top of other things that could have happened in their lives. I try to remind myself that I’m meeting a person at a point in time where they’ve had X amount of years before. Hastings House is a very short program and we often don’t get see participants when they fully bloom into the person they want to be. I would love to see more longer-term programs, because these bigger issues don’t disappear. Even if someone measured at the top of the pillar of the Bridge, that doesn’t negate the trauma, the experiences they’ve had.

How has your work changed as a result of the pandemic?

I think the biggest thing that’s been impacted is the sense of community, which is a big part of Hastings House. A lot of participants, when they get here, might not have the strongest networks or people in their lives to help support them, so community is important. But now there’s literal distance encouraged. It’s so much quieter, it’s kind of eerie now when I walk the halls.

What are some systemic barriers that you see participants coming into Hastings facing?

I think it’s systemic and multi-generational. A lot of our participants grew up in households not having resources. Unfortunately, that set the tone for not having certain opportunities. It’s so deep-rooted though that it’s hard to say just one thing. You can go so many different routes – racial inequality, rent prices-redlining… That would be another three-hour conversation.

And unfortunately, with the limited benefits that participants have, it’s hard to think about bigger goals and dreams…. How do you make $491 last a month for a mom and child?

Is that how much cash assistance is?

Yes, it’s TAFDC (Transitional Aid for Families with Dependent Children – aka cash assistance (Transitional Aid for Families with Dependent Children –cash assistance) for a mom and child who are in shelter. The margin of the benefits and being able to make ends meet is so tight, they are living from month to month. There’s no breathing room. And participants who are working-they face the cliff effect, the moment you make more, you lose benefits. It’s this never-ending issue, it’s very cyclical.

If you were Mayor of Boston, Governor of Massachusetts, a MA state legislator, or in another position of power, what is one thing that you would do to improve people’s lives who are living in poverty and why?

I don’t know if I could pick one thing. The cliff effect is a big one. Given the pandemic I would also advocate for additional funding for housing vouchers/subsides. But I would love to have it tagged on with longer-term programs. With this voucher, you’re also now enrolled with a three-year program with supportive services is key to longer term success. And then the other piece of it, if I had multiple wishes, is greater funding for other social service programs so that caseloads are a lot smaller. Something that’s very glaring to me is that other services like the Department of Children and Families and the Department of Transactional Assistance are overwhelmed. Their caseloads are so high that it’s difficult to provide in-depth services. And these are the reasons why our participants have issues with their benefits or getting the supports they need.

Is there one moment or experience that stands out to you that you feel exemplifies EMPath’s work?

When participants come to a meeting and they’re just like, “I set this goal for myself and I did it already.” That’s amazing. That’s what I want them to do when they move out of here. Seeing how proud they are when they come into the meeting is what keeps mentors going. They’re ready to celebrate with you, and it doesn’t matter how big or small the goal is.

Of course, a few participants really resonate with me over the years who I’ve seen grow a lot. One particular participant was here for a while, longer than our usual average length of stay of a year to a year and a half – she was probably here closer to two and a half years. She was such a firecracker when she first started, she gave a lot of pushback on the floor, challenged every rule and sometimes got into arguments. I learned about her story and some of the challenges she had gone through and learned that a lot of her distrust in staff was deeply rooted in being institutionalized her whole life. She grew up in DCF foster care, went through a lot of trauma and didn’t trust anybody. But when she left here, she turned over a new leaf, she was such a breath of fresh air. She was thankful, telling us, “I may have complained and told you guys about yourselves a couple times and how I hated it here, but I’m gonna miss it here.” She’s like, “I really developed strong relationships here with the staff and other families. And you guys really changed my feelings on what a program like this is.” I think she genuinely felt the impact of EMPath’s model of coaching and us really believing in her. Every so often she still calls and checks in.

What do you like to do outside of work?

I like spending time with my family and my dog. I have a three-year-old Rottweiler named Phoenix. He’s a bit of a ham and thinks he’s a lap dog, but he’s 130 lbs. I spend a lot of time with my mom; she’s my rock in so many ways. She’s been there for me and has sacrificed a lot to give me the opportunities that I’ve had. One thing I miss being with the pandemic is going to Celtics games with her.

What brings you hope?

People and their ability to grow. There’s always room for growth and improvement in anything that we do. I think that’s applicable to not only the participants, but everyone.

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