| Front View of One of the Mens Residences in Beach Park, IL. |
| Rear Yard, Wood Storage Shed, and Parking at the Above Residence |
| Housing Program |
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| Awakening A New Spirit |
| A Short History of our Housing Program and the Ideals it is trying to instill in its residents. The Grand Experiment Charities was formed originally with the idea in mind that filling the void of lack of housing in the social service structure as it was a few years ago when it related to the question: "Did a person graduating a treatment program for alcohol or drug abuse in the lake county area have any other option with regards to living environment other than returning to the old area where they used their alcohol or drugs?" |
| TGECI |
The Grand Experiment Charities, Inc.
| The Oxford House Model group home system of operation is a well designed model that has been in existence for many years and has been replicated in many ways by many other groups operating similar systems. The Oxford House Model designates the operation for each home to be self run and self governed by the members who live in the home. There is one steadfast rule that means immediate eviction...Use of alcohol or drugs either inside or outside the house by any resident....There are 2 other rules that are strictly monitored and can lead to immediate eviction. The first is no disruptive behavior inside or outside the house...The second is that each member must pay their equal share of household expenses including the lease payment. In becoming a member of an Oxford House the individual waives any due process from local landlord tenant laws and subjects himself/herself to a majority vote of the members with regards to admittance and eviction. The Oxford system has been a great success because it teaches the individual to live among others, share responsibilities, and regain self respect, and self confidence. The individual also lives with others in the same life circumstances as they are and they can support one another by sharing experience, strength, and hope. The suggested minimum requirement for membership in an Oxford House is having 30 days clean and sober and remains a solution for help in bridging the gap from active alcohol or drug use to independent living. |
The answer was the choice has been very limited. This caused a number of problems as we saw it and all it did was send people back to using or drinking and the behaviors that related to that life style; crime, homelessness, sexual abuse, and violence. This is the solution we decided was the best course to take. We decided to recruit property owners who were disenchanted with the idea of continuing relationships with their current renters and talked to them about offering people who were coming out of treatment a different option to what has existed in the past. The response has been wonderful to say the least. We started by suggesting the use of the Oxford Model for running the houses and were able to create 21 new beds in 26 months in 3 houses in the Lake County Area during 2005 -2006. Here is the upside of this as we see it. First and foremost we had helped give 21men hope for their future. Next we had helped take 21 men from a life of homelessness and physical, emotional, and material bankruptcy and given them an environment where they can grow into productive, law abiding citizens with an attitude of returning what they have learned to those who come behind them with volunteer service to the newcomer. Finally in the Fall of 2007 we were able to go to the next step of opening actual Grand Experiment Houses with our official approval of 501(c)3 status from the Internal Revenue Service. We are honored to be able to make this announcement: The opening of 3 new Grand Experiment Houses in our area. The first house to mention is the conversion of the Acorn House in Beach Park from an Oxford House to TGECI-Acorn. This house is now fully chartered through our housing committee and will be used as the model for the other houses in the housing group to follow. The second house to mention is the opening of the TGECI-Hope House in North Chicago and this house is temporarily chartered and has 4 new residents with room for a total of 7. We also are addressing needs of those communities outside of Lake County but which have shown an interest in what we are doing and in responding to that interest and fulfilling their need as well as showing commitment to our mission with replication of our program as a staple for our growth, we have opened the TGECI-Action House in Racine, Wisconsin where there are currently 4 residents with room for 8 total and the house is in the process of applying for their temporary charter. As we have grown as an organization and continued our mission we have seen both success and failure and have become stronger as an organization because of working through those experiences. We have expanded our knowledge base in dealing with people in the recovery process and addressing continuing needs that we find are not evident in all cases but yet become accute to the individual. We have learned that our successes have come from keeping things simple and keeping what works so when opening The Grand Experiment Houses we have instituted a new house manual for those to follow. This manual incorporates new rules for the houses to follow that address issues we have found to be common in a group living situation and not addressed in the Oxford Model. These new rules apply to behaviors demonstrated that help an individual reintegrate into the community as a fully functioning individual. The rules are designed to develop behaviors that seek to commit a person to either working in an existing community project or if one has the desire to then start their own project that they can involve their community in. The idea is to bring a person out of the sole existence of just recovery related situations and more in to the main stream of their community and thus expanding their life experiences, their friendship base, their spiritual balance and their life successes all working to improving self image and self sufficiency beyond the staples of working a recovery program through an independent 12 step group and gainful employment. We think the Experiment is a continuing success and ask any of you who are interested in knowing more to contact us at our phone number listed on the welcome page or fill out an information request on our contact page. We will be happy to share with you the joy of giving to others and living their successes with them. |
