2019 CIIP Program Book CIIP Booklet 2019 | Page 44

Community Partner:
St. Ambrose Housing Aid Center
Intern: Angela Zhu
Site Supervisor: Gail MacInnes
What is St. Ambrose Housing
Aid Center?
St. Ambrose Housing Aid Center
provides comprehensive housing
services and quality affordable
homes to meet the challenges
facing homeowners, renters and
neighborhoods in the Baltimore
Area.
Fun facts about the St. Ambrose Housing Aid Center: 1) Founded in 1968, it’s Baltimore’s oldest
nonprofit providing housing services. 2) It was created by a Jesuit priest named Vinnie- actually ex-
priest, he left the order and married a nun.
Although St. Ambrose has been around for decades, I worked primarily with a program that St.
Ambrose just joined last year -- Housing Upgrades to Benefit Seniors (HUBS), which provides home
repairs to ensure that low- to moderate-income seniors can safely age in place in their residences.
It’s certainly filling a huge need in Baltimore. I vividly remember meeting a woman who owned her
row house since the 1970s. Her roof was leaking, but she couldn’t repair it on her own because she
was experiencing health issues and financial difficulties. As soon as my supervisor and I walked in,
she hugged us and said, “Bless you”.
When I’m not going with my supervisor on home visits, I’m at my computer. Writing a report to the
city government about the demographics of our clients, looking up clients’ deeds online, recording
in Microsoft Excel the kinds of home repairs that our clients requested - all in a day’s work. I also
worked on creating program evaluation for the St. Ambrose branch of HUBS. For instance, I creat-
ed a 5-question survey, administered by phone or mail, to determine seniors’ satisfaction with their
repairs and whether it helped them stay in their homes.
While I don’t always see the end results of my work, I keep them in mind. All of my little tasks help
my supervisor process our clients’ applications more quickly, and thus deliver the home repairs that
they need- whether it’s a stair lift, a new furnace, or patches on a leaky roof. Before my internship,
I didn’t think much about elderly health, but now I’ve realized what an important issue it is. Seniors
face a variety of challenges as they age. Thus, services like HUBS offer crucial support to ensure
their safety and well-being. It is especially important in Baltimore, where black and low-income res-
idents have long been denied of resources. I am proud that I was able to support St. Ambrose this
summer in its mission.
• Supported HUBS (Housing Upgrades to Benefit Seniors) program in providing
home modifications which allow seniors to remain in their homes by visiting se-
niors to determine their home repair needs and gathering the paperwork needed
for their applications
• Analyzed data on St. Ambrose’s clients to write reports on the agency’s work to
funders
• Developed a survey and called clients to collect their feedback on the quality of
repairs received
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