A closer look at the Human Services Campus name change: What Keys to Change hopes it will achieve
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A lot has changed since the Human Services Campus began helping people experiencing homelessness in downtown Phoenix almost two decades ago. Starting next year, another change is coming – this time, to its name. But what’s in a name?
Turns out, a lot of thought and strategy went into the new moniker.
Starting next year, the 13-acre campus that offers over a dozen resources to unhoused people will go by ‘Key Campus.’
Amy Schwabenlender is the CEO of the nonprofit that organizes them, soon to be known as ‘Keys to Change.’ She said many people don’t know the nonprofit is a separate entity from the campus itself.
“In 2017, the county stopped owning the land, [and] deeded it to the nonprofit 501(c)3 that was created, called Human Services Campus Inc.” said Schwabenlender.
According to Schwabenlender, it was time for a change to better distinguish between the two.
“I've been in my role a little over five years and found myself with our Development Director and in marketing conversations,” she said, “always having to explain there's a difference between this place and the organization that essentially owns property and works with the partners … at this place called the Human Services Campus.”
It took about a year to develop new names and visuals to represent the organization and its mission, she said, but eventually they landed on using keys as a symbol of putting the power in clients’ hands, to “unlock the way home” as the services on campus give them the boost they need.
“There's a lot of different things that we can do to prevent homelessness, keep people housed, serve people that have episodes of homelessness,” said Shwabenlender. “And then: How can we support more in different types of housing intervention? Those are all what we're calling keys to making that happen.”
Holding on tight to those keys in the coming year as $14 million in American Rescue Plan funds dry up will be crucial, as the flow of people into homelessness remains steady.
“For the Maricopa County Regional Continuum of Care, it's an inflow of essentially two people for every one household that we can house,” Schwabenlender said. “And so the end of this ARPA money is going to be extremely detrimental.”
But she added that the campus and its partners will still be there, serving whoever needs them every day of the new year – and what a year it’s been.
Between May and November this year, a judge ordered the City of Phoenix to clear out the roughly 15-block encampment that developed around the Human Services Campus location downtown.
Since the dust has settled, those who work and volunteer there have noticed a difference.
“The number of people on the campus proper at least stayed the same,” said Schwabenlender, “and the foot traffic may be increased. Because people can't really live right outside of our gates, the good news is they're coming in and they're potentially engaging in more services than they were beforehand. The downside is especially for an outreach team, to know where everybody went.”
While the HSC shelters around 900 people a night, according to Schwabenlender, it can be difficult to keep track of people who they were not able to get indoors the next day.
For example: “Where do they go for the night? And do they come back here the next day? Or how can an outreach team that's been working with them find them, and know where to do the follow up?”
While Schwabenlender notes that, yes, the streets are cleaner after street sweepers went over each one following every block clearing, when it comes to the people HSC serves, “I’m not sure yet, at the end of the day, if they’ll feel like it’s better or not.”
“Our goal is to help people stay on a path to housing, and that can involve a lot of different steps along the way,” she said. “And so we don't know yet. It's too soon, I think, to know – is it adding more time in the process? What do the people we serve actually have to say about it?”
Outreach teams still go out daily to attempt counts of where people are staying. They also check in with people at the Safe Outdoor Space, a structured campground that the City of Phoenix’s Office of Homeless Solutions opened in November at 15th and Jackson Street.
“People, they've moved a little farther away,” said Shwabenlender. “People aren't building structures so much, using tents and tarps and things as [much as] just being outside. Which now that it's cooling off, potentially exposes them to some negative weather.”
Looking ahead to next year with the looming loss of ARPA funds, Schwabenlender said they’ll be working hard to keep people housed. The bridge housing programs and services made possible with that funding, she said, are currently sheltering several hundred people.
“There's nothing new in that for 2024,” Schwabenlender said of the impending loss. “It's: How do we preserve what's been working? And how do we potentially use our voice as Keys to Change to work on advocating for some of the things that we may not do ourselves as an organization. Things that we believe will help to make that bigger system change, and prevent and end more homelessness.”
