At Streets To Success Foundation, we pride ourselves on being ‘forever students.’ We want to ensure we are constantly learning, evolving, and growing. After a few years working in Kisenyi and getting to know the boys, the community, and their families, we decided to move forward with a harm reduction, low barrier, and independent model. After extensive discussions, research, and trial runs, we have found this to be the most empowering, prosperous, and inclusive way forward. From the beginning, we have carefully and intentionally worked with the older kids in Kisenyi (ages 16-21) due to the lack of support given to older youth in Kisenyi.
We want to ensure we allow the highest potential to end their homelessness. The only way to end homelessness is to provide homes. We want to eliminate co-dependency. We wish to support and empower without enabling or creating reliance on us or anyone. We want to make sustainable growth and careers and encourage independence. We want the community to learn skills and knowledge that can take them beyond just a sponsorship or an outreach.
The boys and their families should generate and grow their businesses and be able to feel the pride and independent growth they deserve. We want to focus on community growth and aid in supporting not just the boys themselves but also their siblings, families, neighbors, and friends. It takes a village to raise a child, and we want to nurture and support that village. We will give without expectations and rules and allow the boys and families to find the business model that best fits them, their needs, and the community. No one will be able to know the needs and support needed more than the locals themselves. As a team, we have decided what the best support we can give; here are guidelines for our support. They must meet with the social worker to discuss their stability plan. This will include – what business they will have, the income they expect to receive from said business, a budget, and a survey of where and when they will buy needed supplies. As well as point out their strengths and weaknesses, how we can highlight and focus on their strengths, and how we can work on their weaknesses and mitigate any concerns that arise. Once the stability plan is completed, the social worker will continue to work with the family with follow-ups regarding any financial literacy classes required, general concerns within their business or personal lives, and how the social worker can assist them.
Our Kisenyi outreach will also have a revamp. Our feeding program will stay – a biweekly event to offer complimentary food, water, and games to any residents of Kisenyi. While also implementing more events and educational opportunities. We will begin to implement opportunities for the boys by bringing in local professionals and experts in their fields to teach the boys life skills. This will include first aid and CPR classes, nurses for testing and treating illnesses and wounds, sex education, drug abuse with a harm reduction focus, mental health education and support, and various basketball, football, art, and other events. We want to educate the boys in valuable life skills that could keep them and their friends alive and healthy, bring them into the community, and provide events to obtain joy, creativity, and life skills within and outside of Kisenyi.
Our new model will be monitored in 4 major stages.
Stage One: Kisenyi outreach. Our outreach will be used to better the lives of the current residents of Kisenyi and connect with the boys we hope to support and sponsor. We can identify these boys' needs and desires to leave Kisenyi during this stage. We will locate their family or next of kin. Access their education level, mental health, and physical health needs. We will be sure to describe our new model and emphasize the difference between our new model vs. our previous model. A previous Kisenyi resident and our director / social worker will direct this.
Stage Two: Prepping for home resettlement. The boys will work with the social worker to create an individualized growth plan to highlight their strengths and ways to minimize their weaknesses. We will use this time to ensure the boys have enough clothes and necessities before returning home and receiving medical and dental care. Discuss any thoughts, concerns, or worries about moving home, and discuss with the boy's families to ease the transition.
Stage Three: Moving home and business model. We will finalize their business plan once the boy is resettled within their family. This may include a shop, a food stand, a pig farm, or whatever they find best fit for their family. This will be a family business to support everyone in the family. Our social worker will help advise and recommend different business ideas and how to run them, but the family will give the final say. During this time, we will provide our one-time donation to the boys and the family. They will use this fund to build and begin their business. They will have complete control and ownership of their business, and there is no dependency or control by us; we will support any questions or discussions they wish to have, but this will be all theirs to keep and run.
Stage Four: Upkeep and support. Depending on the family's needs, we will provide fieldwork once a month. Our social worker will visit the families and hold discussions regarding relevant topics. This includes financial classes, ways to build and improve their business, and family counseling. While we are always willing to talk over the phone, this will be a good day to have your undivided attention, and we can dig deeper into these discussions. Suppose the family wants to expand their business into other ventures or learn new trades. In that case, we will discuss our recommendations on how to budget and save to do so and assist in finding local resources and teachers to work with them to make this dream come to fruition. We will slowly visit less and less, and while we will always hope to connect and communicate with these families, our aim and goal is complete independence and self-sustainability.
Our goal and mission have always been to uplift the Kisenyi community and end homelessness in Uganda. We are confident in our new model. The families and Kisenyi residents have blown us away with their self-sustainability and community-building techniques. We have always focused less on the number of boys we help – and more on how successful we have been with the boys we have worked with. This is a continuation of that model. This model helps not just the child – but their family and community. We hope you join us in bringing these kids from the streets into success.
