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Hyde Park & Kenwood Hunger Program Hyde Park Transitional Housing Project |
Services for the Poor/Homeless
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Programs for the Poor and Homeless
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If you have a skill or skills (for example, accounting, legal, information technology, help with physical labor, tutoring, mentoring, etc.) that you would be willing to offer to any or all of the organizations helping the poor or homeless listed on this web site, please e-mail hpkifc@hotmail.com with your offer and it will be shared with all the organizations serving the poor or homeless listed on this web site, or with those organizations with whom you ask to have it shared. How to get into Chicago's adult homeless shelter system 1. Go to any hospital emergency room or police station. (Going to a hospital emergency room is preferable). 2. Using a cell phone, or pay phone, dial 311 (or ask hospital staff to call for you), or you may dial the Chicago Department of Human Services (CDHS) directly at 1-800-843-6154. 3. Tell the hospital staff, the person who answer the 311 call, and the CDHS person you are connected to, that you are homeless and need shelter. 4. You will normally have to wait a long time, sometimes a really long time, for the CDHS van to come to pick you up. Try to have something with you to do while you wait…like magazines, books, games, and toys if you have a child or children with you…in order to pass the time. 5. When the CDHS van comes, get in the van and it will take you to a shelter. If you decide you don't want to go to a shelter, the hospital staff (or police if at a police station) will probably ask you to leave. If they ask you to leave after the van comes they have the right to do so, and you should leave without a lot of drama if you might want to come back to that hospital again. 6. If hospital staff force you to leave the waiting room before the CDHS van comes, be polite but assertive and ask to speak to that person's supervisor. If the supervisor also tells you to leave, you may choose to wait outside for the CDHS van. Whether you choose to wait outside or not, please report your being forced out of the waiting space to the Chicago Coalition for the Homeless at 312-435-4548. |
