Needs

Our organization offers programs to approximately 3,500 children and adults. The numbers show our impact:

Roseland residents deal with numerous challenges in their daily lives, including extreme poverty, domestic violence, a deeply embedded drug culture, and an unemployment rate far higher than that of the city at large. During the summer of 2019, three children were shot to death in Roseland: Gregory Horton III and Zacchaeus Banks, both 17, were killed by gang members in a drive-by shooting on June 30, and 9-year-old Brandoniya Bennett was accidentally killed when a young man fired into her apartment on August 14, mistakenly believing it belonged to a rival.

In a door-to-door survey conducted in 2016, Roseland residents identified the following issues as among their most pressing needs: public safety, afterschool and summer programs for children and youth, affordable daycare for infants and toddlers, GED instruction, job training, access to living-wage employment, and access to affordable medical care. Administrators and teachers at the schools within Roseland’s geographic boundaries expressed significant need for trauma and mental health counseling, preschool opportunities to improve kindergarten readiness, consistent student attendance, and computer and internet availability at students’ homes. Other needs include childcare, life skills, financial and self-advocacy training, and emergency financial assistance.

The poverty, hunger, fear, and trauma that already existed in Roseland before COVID-19 have been exacerbated by school closures and mounting economic distress. Incarnation Place has observed an increasing demand for food, financial assistance, employment, technology, internet access, and school supplies. Incarnation Place has also seen heightened psychological and emotional needs caused by isolation. Stressors include a lack of physical activity, cramped quarters, loss of daily structure, the constant demands of children being home 24/7, unexpected home-schooling, increased levels of domestic violence, and fears of becoming sick and not being able to pay rent.