Alexander Coker was completing substance abuse treatment when his Drug Court of Champaign County officer introduced him to C-U at Home, a local organization in Champaign providing resources and transitional housing to the most vulnerable experiencing homelessness.
Now a one-year client, Coker is in phase three of C-U at Home’s four-phase program, Pathways to Progress, for unhoused individuals in the Champaign-Urbana community.
“(C-U at Home) changed my whole perspective on recovery and my ability to maintain sobriety and a clean, healthy way of life,” said Coker. “It felt like somebody believed in me finally and was giving me a chance.”
Shelters operate on different levels. Low-barrier shelters prioritize immediate safety and offer people a place to stay for the night, whereas mid- and high-barrier shelters may require sobriety, identification, or other prerequisites for participation.
While other organizations in the Champaign-Urbana community offer mostly low-barrier shelter, C-U at Home focuses on assisting those facing long-term, chronic homelessness to regain stability over the period of months or years through mid- and high-barrier programs.
“We call our mid-barrier program Pathways to Progress, and it’s a 12-to-18-month program where we address … key points of instability,” said C-U at Home Executive Director Melissa Courtwright.
These key points of instability are substance abuse disorder treatment, mental health, physical health, financial health, life skills, and housing.
C-U at Home’s mid-barrier program features four 90-day phases where clients work on their goals in their areas of instability with a case manager, leveling up until they reach the end of the 18-month period.
After that, clients may go on to enter the “Advanced Shelter” or high-barrier portion of the program, where they meet with their case manager weekly while locating permanent housing. Some may go on to live in apartments around the community with a voucher from the Housing Authority of Champaign County.
Clients can remain in the Advanced Shelter program for up to 18 months, said Courtwright.
The mid-barrier program offers two shelters for eight men and eight women. The high-barrier shelter program offers five homes with an occupancy of ten each.
Coker is currently living in one of C-U at Home’s mid-barrier homes for men.
“It’s a house with four bedrooms right now, and two beds in each room,” Coker said. “I have a roommate, and the guys in the other three rooms have a roommate too. So it houses eight of us, and there’s staff on-site 24 hours a day.”
After Coker saves $1000 from his job, he will be considered in phase four of Pathways to Progress, with more independent housing and case management.
Before Coker started programming at C-U at Home, he was struggling with drug use and housing insecurity in the Champaign-Urbana community.
Coker first started using drugs following his withdrawal from college and his parents’ divorce.
“I came home from college, and I was staying with my dad again,” said Coker. “The drinking and the drug use didn’t stop … I couldn’t get many jobs in the small town I was living in. And so I decided to move to Champaign with my mom.”
When he moved to the Champaign-Urbana area, Coker said he became involved in drug use again.
“Then (my mom) kicked me out of her house,” Coker said. “When she kicked me out, I couldn’t (find) a job or a place to live or shower. I just started stealing and getting in trouble and going to jail.”
Coker said he started to panhandle at a local homeless shelter to get by, recalling instances like sleeping under bridges or trees when he couldn’t get into a shelter that night.
“(When homeless) … you won’t receive any kind of help, or generosity, or kindness,” Coker said. “There’s no love on the streets. We tend to go unnoticed.”
Courtwright emphasized the mental and physical implications of facing homelessness.
“Homeless people feel absolutely on the margins,” Courtwright said. “They don’t feel seen, they don’t feel cared about. They don’t feel hope, a lot of the time. People working through that and seeing themselves in a different way is really important.”
When working with clients, C-U at Home case managers focus on helping them gain job skills, employment and experience, in addition to addressing mental health concerns. Clients may receive counseling or cognitive behavioral therapy sessions through local organizations.
“The first barrier we really try to help with is the mindset, because people have been in survival (mode) for a really long time,” Courtwright said. “We really start from ground zero and try to work up that way.”
Clients also gain employment and volunteer experience around the community.
C-U at Home works with organizations like Salt & Light Ministries, a local organization offering assistance programs for people in need, and Express, a company that helps with employment and placement in jobs, Courtwright said.
Some clients have also worked at Kraft or volunteered at Prosperity Gardens through the City of Champaign Township.
Going forward, Courtwright has thought about creating a workforce development program or long-term, permanent housing and programming.
“Most of our clients have a low-level skillset,” Courtwright said. “Sometimes, some of our clients just need a, ‘Hey, I can do this.’ And just starting to show up for something regularly and do a good job is really important.”
Since starting C-U at Home programming, Coker has started pursuing a degree in radiology at Parkland College and working a part-time job. He has also started fishing, playing ping-pong, and gardening.
“Things you take for granted, maybe, like having a bed to sleep in, to shower, and have a self-care routine,” he said. “I think people overlook if you haven’t been on the streets before, to have a place like this to call home.”
In her work with C-U at Home clients, Courtwright focuses on prioritizing “wins,” hosting award ceremonies to celebrate clients’ achievements.
“The really cool thing to me is that we see our clients have wins every day,” Courtwright said. “For people who’ve never experienced homelessness, from the outside, it may look small. But it’s a really big deal.”
“This whole process, I have a certain amount of pride that doesn’t come from just one thing,” Coker said. “My whole life has improved tremendously because of what C-U at Home has done for me in giving me the opportunity to be a contributing member of society again.”
Coker emphasized that to receive help from C-U at Home, one has to be willing to make a change. Prior to starting programming at C-U at Home, Coker said he resisted resources from the legal system.
“I tried many times, going to treatment, and they allow you to leave anytime you want,” Coker said. “There’s lots of times where I didn’t think I had a problem with drugs, so I just left. I ended up back on drugs.”
At C-U at Home, clients are encouraged to seek treatment and assistance. Coker has now been sober for 13 months and credits C-U at Home with the motivation.
“When I was homeless, there was a lack of help,” Coker said. “C-U at Home provided that when they opened the door for me to walk into.
“I didn’t have much but clothes, a toothbrush, and some soap, stuff like that, to bring with me, and C-U at Home helped me so much. They’ve given me the opportunity to go and get myself where I couldn’t before.”
