ABOUT JAN LITTLE:
Jan Little is the current CEO of Michigan Ability Partners, an organization dedicated to empowering individuals with disabilities through affordable housing, financial services and employment opportunities. With a strong commitment to social justice and community development, Jan has spent over 39 years working in the nonprofit sector, focusing on affordable housing development and supporting underserved populations, including veterans, the homeless, and individuals with disabilities.
Under Jan’s leadership, Michigan Ability Partners has spearheaded numerous initiatives aimed at helping people with disabilities achieve independence and stability by enabling them to become housed and obtain income. Jan has played an instrumental role in the development of affordable housing projects that not only provide safe and accessible homes but also offer opportunities for community integration and empowerment.
In addition to their leadership at Michigan Ability Partners, Jan is an active board member of the Washtenaw County Continuum of Care, a collaborative effort to address homelessness and housing instability in the region. They also serve as a member of the Washtenaw Housing Alliance Operations Committee, contributing to key decisions that impact affordable housing and homelessness services in the area.
Before becoming CEO, Jan worked with various programs focused on providing employment programs for marginalized groups, including veterans and homeless individuals. These experiences have deeply influenced her approach to affordable housing, recognizing the powerful intersection between stable housing, employment opportunities, and personal empowerment.
Passionate about creating lasting change, Jan continues to advocate for policies and programs that improve the quality of life for people with disabilities and other vulnerable populations. Through her work, Jan remains dedicated to building communities where everyone has the opportunity to thrive, regardless of their background or abilities.
RESOURCES:
Michigan Ability Partners (MAP)
TRANSCRIPTION:
David Fair: This is 89 one WEMU, and today, we're going to talk about the inspirational work of helping people forge new pathways along life's journey. I'm David Fair, and this is Washtenaw United on 89 one WEMU. It is our weekly look at equity and opportunity in our community. Veterans and others with disabilities often run into barriers to personal progress that the rest of us don't have to contend with. Fortunately, help is available in carving out that path to a brighter future. Jan Little is chief executive officer of Michigan Ability Partners, and she's here today to talk about empowering people with disabilities. And thank you for making time! I appreciate it!
Jan Little: Yes! Thank you, David, for inviting me! I'm glad to be here and share some of the work that Michigan Ability Partners is doing!
David Fair: Well, it's been doing work for four decades now. Michigan Ability Partners serves Washtenaw, Jackson, Wayne and Monroe counties with office in Ann Arbor and Jackson. And in December of this year, you will officially mark the 40th anniversary of Michigan Ability Partners. First of all, congratulations!
Jan Little: Thank you! It's exciting!
David Fair: Big plans, huh?
Jan Little: Well, we are currently planning. We are underway with our board development committee and some of our team members here. We have some events planned for the summer, but really in December is our official 40-year anniversary, and we are planning on doing a larger celebration at the end of the year in December.
David Fair: How has Michigan Ability Partners grown as a nonprofit through its four decades of work?
Jan Little: Well, we started as just a little spin-off organization with support from Washtenaw County Community Mental Health, and the focus was really on giving support to people that were leaving institutions that really needed a lot of help with navigating through their challenges from their disabilities to get employed and to get some income. We very quickly realized it wasn't just income and employment and something significant to do with their time. It was housing. People were being just literally unloaded from mental health facilities and not having a place to live. And MAP, our agency, has always been a gap filler. So, when we saw the need for housing, we pivoted. We continued the employment services that we started with, but we pivoted to housing. And all of our services, including a significant portion of our services focusing on homeless veterans, all came out of looking at the community, specifically Washtenaw County, and determining what services were missing. What do people need that they weren't getting to help stabilize them in their life? Throughout the years, throughout all of these four decades, we have just continued to create services or pivot away from services that people no longer need and really focus on stability and what is needed for stability. So, for almost everyone, it's housing, affordable housing, having a safe place to live that you can afford. The people in our program pay 30% of their income toward housing. The majority have a subsidy voucher. And the biggest challenge is there just isn't enough affordable housing in Washtenaw County.
David Fair: I was going to ask. How many remain on a waiting list and cannot be served in a given year?
Jan Little: Well, that number is ever-changing. We work, through a community process with the entire housing community in Washtenaw County, to look at who is most in need. There's a committee that meets biweekly to look at the names on that list. And so, it's very much a community process. Even though we own and operate some of our own housing, we do not fill those units through our own process, we fill them through the community process. So, it's really meant to serve those who have been homeless the longest, have the most needs and really need the housing in order to be healthy and safe. I will say, on the veteran side, the number has continued to decrease. The number of homeless veterans needing MAP services has continued to decrease, and that is really because of the resources put into helping veterans find housing and get that brief amount of support that they need up front. We have an employment program specifically for veterans. So, annually, we're working with about 60 veterans to get employment that can sustain their housing, so they don't have to be on subsidy. And it's really, I mean, those services are needed for everyone. We're very fortunate that our veterans are being taken care of that way.
David Fair: This is Washtenaw United on 89 one WEMU, and today, we're talking with Jan Little. She is the CEO of Michigan Ability Partners. I wanted to ask you another question, Jan, about the housing that you do operate through Michigan Ability Partners. You have 44 units of affordable housing in the county that you own and operate. Is that at full capacity now?
Jan Little: Yes. We rarely have openings in our housing. The area that has the most capacity is really the transitional veteran housing. And as I mentioned earlier, we have been fortunate to get veterans into permanent housing very quickly and have really eliminated the need for the number of beds that we have, which, right now, is six for transitional housing. I think that that is a trend throughout the country. I feel like there is a lot of resources being put into permanent housing for homeless veterans. All of the other housing that MAP owns and operates is permanent supportive housing, meaning individuals who are chronically homeless, have been homeless more than a year with a disabling condition and a low income, those units are designated for those individuals. And the services that come with those units focus on the case management that's needed to help people with medical needs, transportation, food insecurity, anything that would affect their stability and housing. Mental health treatment--our case managers are all focused on helping those individuals with whatever service needs they have. So, I want to emphasize that, because the services are super key to helping people stay housed. The unit itself is important to get someone off the streets and into housing, but it's the services that help people stay housed.
David Fair: You have a staff of around 30 people, provide services to over 1200 a year, and own and manage affordable housing properties on seven different sites in Washtenaw County. What kind of budget does that require annually?
Jan Little: We have about a $3.7 million budget, and a lot of that is passed through funding. It comes to us through HUD, the VA, the Department of Labor--a lot of federal funding that comes through and allows us to pay rent subsidy as well as direct assistance to our participants. The 30 staff do a lot of work for the budget and for the amount of people we serve. They are hard working, and it is a labor of love!
David Fair: Given all of the uncertainty there is with the new federal administration and whether or not VA services are continued to be funded, and whether or not HUD funding will continue as is, what are you looking at in preparing for as you move through the rest of the fiscal year?
Jan Little: Yeah. That is on the forefront of, I think, probably every nonprofit director's mind right now. I mean, that is the biggest challenge. We don't know what's going to happen with the federal funding. And although we do have some funding that comes through nonfederal sources, it is not the majority. You know, we're not an agency that can just make more widgets or increase the price to our constituents because there are no fees to our clients for the services that we provide. Ramping up fundraising is certainly going to be a piece of that. We will be tying in some of our 40-year celebration events with some fundraising events, looking for other sources of support that is not tied to federal funding when executive orders come out and we don't know what they mean, and we're not hearing what it actually means from our federal partners either, because maybe they don't know. You know, we're left trying to come up with many solutions when we don't really know what the exact problem is going to be.
David Fair: I think we can all sit and imagine what the worst case scenario would be. So, how do you identify best case scenario? Is it just the stable funding that you're accustomed to today, or how would you characterize what is best for your ability to continue serving those in need?
Jan Little: I think best case scenario is we do not have any change in funding. We continue to operate with our current budget. We have the funding that comes in that pays for housing supports and housing subsidy for those that are involved in our housing program. On the Social Security side, we work with about 350 representative pay clients that get Social Security, that they continue to get their benefits and that, on the employment side with our veterans, making sure that on both the housing side and the employment side, that that revenue continues so that we can help those veterans get into housing, stay housing and get income, to be able to eventually get off the subsidy and provide for themselves.
David Fair: Well, I certainly wish you well on that endeavor, and we will keep our fingers crossed and so that, perhaps, there is true reason to celebrate when you hit the 40-year mark in December! Thank you so much for making time today, Jan! I appreciate it!
Jan Little: Thank you, David!
David Fair: That is Jan Little. She is chief executive officer of Michigan Ability Partners and has been our guest on Washtenaw United. For more information on the organization and the work it's doing, stop by our website at wemu.org. Washtenaw United is produced in partnership with the United Way for Southeastern Michigan. And you hear it every Monday. I'm David Fair, and this is your community NPR station, 89 one WEMU FM, Ypsilanti.
WEMU has partnered with the United Way for Southeastern Michigan to explore the people, organizations, and institutions creating opportunity and equity in our area. And, as part of this ongoing series, you’ll also hear from the people benefiting and growing from the investments being made in the areas of our community where there are gaps in available services. It is a community voice. It is 'Washtenaw United.'
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