Frontline Worker Spotlight
Halle Gelman and Tasheana Price, LifeMoves
Case Manager Halle Gelman and Program Volunteer Coordinator Tasheana Price are frontline workers with LifeMoves, a PACF grantee organization on a mission to end homelessness. Together, Halle and Tasheana provide access to life-changing opportunities, supportive services, and interim housing for individuals experiencing homelessness, with the ultimate goal of helping them transition to permanent housing.
Halle discovered her passion for working with the unhoused community while volunteering at a young adult shelter after undergrad; now, she serves as a case manager at LifeMoves’ Opportunity Services Center, a site that serves as a support point for residents experiencing homelessness and a high population of vehicle and RV dwellers. “My role is just to be a guide and a light for the client,” Halle shares. “They're in charge of their own lives, and we're here to support them and be their guide and help them where they need and where they want.”
For oversized vehicle and RV dwellers, her role often involves helping them get their documents in order and their vehicles compliant—making sure their tags are up to date, their vehicles have current registration, and that they have auto insurance. Once their RVs or oversized vehicles are in compliance, they can refer them to one of the local safe parking sites and provide additional support services.
“Engagement is our priority,” says Halle, “because once we establish rapport with some of these folks who haven't been connected to any sort of support, we can really help guide them towards what they want to achieve—being housed, especially—and what that looks like, whether it's getting employment or getting on benefits.”
For many in the the community experiencing homelessness, their journey towards permanent housing is supported by the efforts of dedicated outreach professionals like Tasheana, who work with a team to coordinate support from volunteers and faith-based organizations, participate in donor outreach, work with and secure resources for clients, and connect with unhoused clients to meet them where they are. “We stay consistent, making sure that they see us, making sure that they know that we're here. We have resources for them, and they have the Opportunity (Services) Center to lean back on … and if they cannot come here, we take their names down, and when we go back out, we'll give them a little care package.”
For Tasheana, the LifeMoves mission is meaningful on a deeply personal level, having benefitted from LifeMoves services herself. “They didn’t look at me like another homeless person. They actually gave me good customer service … they hooked me up with case management. So, everything that Halle is doing right now, it's amazing. That's the support that I got.”
Her lived experience empowers her to show up now with authenticity and an openness that builds relationships and welcomes people in. “If I touch one person or help one person open the door for themselves, that is all I need to know that I'm doing my job well,” says Tasheana. “There’s sunshine on the other side, and doors that will open for you, as long as you keep on trucking forward to success. It can happen, and it is possible, especially when you have your support, and you actually connect the dots and do the things that you need to do, you will be successful. This program really does work.”
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To learn more about LifeMove’s solutions to homelessness and help support their mission of ending homelessness by providing interim housing, supportive services, and building collaborative partnerships, visit their website
A heartfelt thank you to our generous donors. By choosing to give where you live, you make it possible for PACF to support transformative organizations like LifeMoves. Your generosity is powering real change, right here in our community.
Photos from LifeMoves’ Friendsgiving celebration on November 25, which fed more than 50 people, approximately 40 of whom were welcomed from the RV dweller community.