Our current Challenge partner is Detroit COTS, which stands for “Coalition on Temporary Shelter”. “COTS” isn’t just a homeless shelter. It is an organization that aims to lift families out of generational poverty using a comprehensive five pillared system referred to as the Passport to Self Sufficiency. COTS recognizes that homelessness is a symptom of the greater issue of poverty. Homelessness would be a much easier issue to tackle if the only hurdle was finding individuals a home that they could afford. Diving into our Challenge with our partners we were able to learn more about the multi-layered issues preventing people from moving out of poverty and in to self-sufficiency.
The foundation of COTS five pillared system is housing. They choose to attack this obstacle first in order to create a more stable environment for the families they support. COTS does not limit the amount of time they will help a family. This alleviates the stress of worrying about when they will lose support and allows families to focus on other barriers that prevent them from being self-sufficient.
After securing housing COTS moves into the other four pillars which are: Health and Well Being, Education and Training, Employment and Career, and Financial. Every pillar addresses challenges stemming from generational poverty that would have never been apparent to me without hearing from the professionals at COTS. It seems obvious to most people to use a bank for your financial needs, but maybe you don’t have an I.D. or have made some mistakes and can’t access a bank. You have to use check cashing institutions that will take a portion of your already limited funds in order to have access to that money. You need an education to open up doors to opportunity but when you’re already living in poverty how do you find the time or money to get your education? Health and Well Being doesn’t simply mean access to health care. Well-being is also making sure you’re in a positive place, and having a loving positive support structure which is something a lot of folks that come to COTS are missing.
Support is the biggest thing COTS can provide for individuals. It isn’t just letting people know what they need to do to improve their situations in these five pillars, but being there when they stumble in their pursuits to let them know they still can improve their situation. They say it takes four generations to climb out of poverty but with places like COTS hopefully that transition can be expedited.