Founded in 1979, Central City Concern has been helping people create meaningful, long-term change by providing affordable and supportive housing, person-centered health care, addiction recovery and employment assistance to those experiencing or at risk of homelessness. Today, CCC serves more than 13,000 people.
CCC maintains 2,136 units in 27 properties for low income individuals and families. In addition to housing nearly 3,800 people, CCC provides many programs to help community members struggling with illness, addiction and homelessness. CCC operates 12 health center sites which serve almost 10,000 patients a year. As people recover, CCC provides programs that help people find jobs. As CCC moves into their fifth decade, they continue to invest their resources, reserves and hearts into their mission.
Impact: Turning her life around
Charlette was homeless and addicted to heroin for six years — living in cars, sleeping in bus stops, or just walking around all night. When six friends died of overdoses in one week, she knew she had to turn her life around. She was one of the first people to walk into CCC’s new Blackburn Center.
Charlette
- Saw a primary care provider, who treated her for her chronic thyroid condition.
- Saw a psychiatric nurse practitioner, who started her on buprenorphine (also known as Suboxone) for acute opioid withdrawal.
- Immediately filled her buprenorphine prescription via the Blackburn Pharmacy.
Over the next few weeks, Charlette saw a drug counselor and became active in groups and one-on-one counseling. She also became one the first residents of Blackburn’s alcohol- and drug-free transitional housing.
“Having my housing and health care together under in one building is a big thing!” Charlette says. “I can just go right downstairs and get my Suboxone at the pharmacy, or go to a group meeting, without ever leaving the building. That’s huge.”
Within less than six months, Charlette graduated from her outpatient program and, guided by Blackburn’s on-site employment specialist, began training as an on-call employee in CCC buildings. Clearly, the full slate of services available at Blackburn Center is working well for Charlette.
She says, “I’m paying back everything that CCC has given me by being a success. That’s exactly what I want to be.”
The Praxis commitment
Praxis Mutual Funds supports organizations such as Azure Source Capital through investments in Calvert Impact Capital, an impact-investing institution that helps people around the world through community development financing. It’s part of the Praxis commitment to place approximately 1% of each of its funds to benefit neighborhoods and individuals through community development investments.
Learn more about the Praxis family of funds.