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Newsletter for March 2025
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Great News! Our Permits Were Awarded! by CEO Kris Olson-Garewal and Raj Garewal If you’ve been holding your breath as long as we have, here is some news to let you breathe again: we finally got our permits, and construction officially starts March 24th! Thanks to Corey Thompson, the Civil Engineer who not only oversaw the site design but took the lead in getting this very unique village (therefore a permitting nightmare!) through the City of Tucson’s permitting process. Thanks to Greg Fahr for helping Corey out. We can’t thank you two enough! Joshua Hart, civil engineer and owner of Modular Solutions, obtained approval of our micro-shelters by the City of Tucson, seemingly overnight. Thanks, Joshua. Many thanks to Southern Arizona Land Trust for use of the property, to Jane Evans, owner of Plants for the Southwest Nursery, for suggesting the 2934 N. Estrella Ave site, and to the Keeling Neighborhood Association for supporting Jane’s suggestion. Thanks neighbors! Special thanks to the City of Tucson Department of Planning and Development, thanks to Ward 3 Council Member Kevin Dahl, Naomi Lee, and C J Boyd (CJ now is with County Supervisor Jen Allen’s office). Ward 3’s advocacy for The Homing Project made a difference. And finally, Michael Egurola, General Contractor and owner of Complete Earthworx, will be in charge of getting things going on the 24th. His generous and affordable bid won the contract! Thank you very much, Michael! In the week before Michael brings in the bulldozer, Homing Project volunteers will clean the site of all trash, dead trees, and weeds. If you'd like to sign up to work at the site this very week, please sign up using our new volunteer system which is found on the Volunteer page of our website. Thanks in advance for saving us several thousand dollars! And thanks to all our supporters: everyone who has shown up to an event, set up a fundraiser, or donated money. | |
Kevin Adler, author of When We Walk By, TFoB event a Success
This past weekend The Homing Project sponsored Kevin Adler, co-author of When We Walk By: Forgotten Humanity, Broken Systems, and the Role We Can Each Play in Ending Homelessness in America. The author was at our booth autographing his book, a thorough analysis of America’s housing crisis and a research-based, solutions-focused guide to ending it. Visitors to our booth commented on how important the work of The Homing Project is: "Tucson definitely needs options like your village," said one visitor. Another commented on the efficacy of seeing the mini shelter at previous events: "When I saw [the mini-shelter], your project made a lot of sense."
Thanks again to Pat DeConcini for his generous contribution covering THP's registration fee for the Tucson Festival of Books. | | | | | | | | Susan Cordts on “happily helping” Arizonans A THP Newsletter exclusive
Founding THP Board Member Susan Cordts will receive the Sustained Impact Award on March 18, 2025 from Women Business Leaders, a membership organization supporting senior executive women in the healthcare industry. The Homing Project Newsletter Editors caught up with Ms. Cordts by phone recently to learn more.
Ms. Cordts is the Founder, President, and CEO of Catalytic Health Partners, or CHP, a health services organization that works with the sickest of the sick and the poorest of the poor in Arizona. Ms. Cordts said that Catalytic Health Partners’ members are “people whom no one else wants to care for and who have extraordinary needs. Our members have very complex cases often exacerbated by economic conditions such as homelessness.” Members of CHP are the top 3% highest cost and highest need individuals in Arizona. CHP’s services reduce the burden on community-based health care by up to 40%. “Our role is to help members get well enough that they can integrate back into community-based health care. We see them as often as five to six times a month,” said Ms. Cordts. Catalytic Health Partners has about 1200 to 1500 members at any given time, and care providers don’t just see members at offices or clinics: “We see members where they are.”
Ms. Cordts describes herself as a “serial entrepreneur” – CHP is her fourth innovative health care start-up. As a teenager, Ms. Cordts found herself homeless, and the bad treatment she experienced while unhoused makes her both passionate about health care and informs the services that CHP provides. A nurse by training, Ms. Cordts spent 20 years in hospital settings where she developed her own ethos for care. “I call it happily helping. Care starts with showing up for people, making eye contact, smiling, showing kindness - all these things are free, and they make a huge difference,” Ms. Cordts said.
Ms. Cordts is passionate about The Homing Project’s mission because she’s seen the impact that life circumstances can have on health. “Having running water, a roof over our head, these things matter to our social, behavioral, and physical health.” Ms. Cordts believes that tiny homes and mini shelters just make sense for people coming back from being unhoused. Ms. Cordts said, “A small home is manageable, and there are real benefits to the true sense of ownership that a person can have over a small space that is uniquely theirs.”
| | | | Volunteer at Cyclovia to show off the mini-shelter! by Yolanda Sethi
We're excited about taking the mini-shelter to Cyclovia again this year, and we need your help! Join us on April 6th, 2025, from 9am-3pm at Cyclovia, for a day of car-free fun on a dedicated street in Tucson. Last year, the community loved seeing our mini-shelter and learning about how we support unhoused residents of Tucson. A number of new volunteers found us there last year, and we hope to recruit more support in April. To do that, we need YOU!
Volunteers make The Homing Project possible and we're improving our volunteer outreach. We ask that all new and current volunteers create a profile in our new system. Once logged in, you'll be able to sign up for upcoming volunteer opportunities and be notified first when new opportunities open. If you have any questions, please email the volunteer coordinator, Yolanda Sethi, at yolanda.sethi@thehomingproject.org.
Head over to the volunteer page to create your profile and join us at Cyclovia on April 6th!
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Jim Click Charity Raffle kicks off by Yolanda Sethi The 2025 Jim Click Raffle for charity got kicked off with a bang on February 26, 2025. The Grand Prize is a new 2025 Kia Carnival Hybrid SX Prestige (MSRP $54,510). The second prize is two round-trip, first-class airline tickets to anywhere in the world (some restrictions apply) and the third prize is $5,000 in cash. As a participating non-profit, The Homing Project keeps ALL the proceeds from ticket sales. Last year, THP sold about $15,000 worth of tickets! This year, we hope to raise even more money to support the micro-shelter community launch. There are 168 charities participating and the raffle is limited to 120,000 entries. Please consider getting some tickets to sell to friends and family. Contact Julie Gunther at juliegunther@comcast.net to buy tickets and /or get some tickets to sell.
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Meet the neighbors at the Poverello Open House
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Join the City of Tucson Housing First Initiative |
to create care packages for unhoused Tucsonans twice a month | Join your neighbors in making a positive impact in our community by assembling care packets for the Housing First initiative. This volunteer event takes place at 195 W Irvington Building 15, where we gather to put together essential items for the unsheltered community such as warm hats, gloves, and socks, toiletry items, first aid kits, period products, snacks and bottled water. Your participation will help provide much-needed support and comfort to individuals transitioning into stable housing. Let's work together to make a difference! | | | | | |
The Homing Project Board Meeting and Volunteer Meeting Dates
Month Board Mtg Volunteers Mtg
March 2025 Wed. 19th Sat. 22nd
April 2025 Wed. 23rd Sat. 26th
May 2025 Wed. 28th Sat. 31st
June 2025 Wed. 25th Sat. 28th
July 2025 Wed. 23rd Sat. 26th
August 2025 Wed. 27th Sat. 30th
September 2025 Wed. 24th Sat. 27th
October 2025 Wed. 22nd Sat. 25th
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Board Meetings convene at Kris Olson’s home at 5:30 PM. Volunteers are welcome to attend.
Volunteer Meetings are held at 10 AM at St. Phillips in the Hills in the Children’s Chapel Room. Park in the North parking lot. Join us to plan new events and to discuss past ones. |
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Thank you for choosing to serve our community with us, from the Board and Newsletter Staff of The Homing Project!
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The Homing Project Newsletter Joe Vaughan and Paula R. produced this month’s newsletter. Email suggestions of items for inclusion to: newsletter@thehomingproject.org | | | | | | | | | | | |
