Through Famine + Feast: The Joseph Center

Mona Highline. Photo by MacKennea Broyles.

Mona Highline can do it all. From faith ministering to dance coaching to her current position as executive director and founder of The Joseph Center, Highline is not someone to be underestimated.

Highline casually mentions she also does some modeling. “Just for stock photos,” she humbly adds. This unending amount of abilities often mirrors The Joseph Center’s comprehensive services for unhoused people in Mesa County.

More than a day shelter, The Joseph Center’s wraparound services include integrated financial services, parent advocacy and the Golden Girls shelter program. The center also houses an onsite therapist and frequently hosts other resources, such as full-service health clinics. All programs share the goal of maintaining dignity and helping guests regain self-sufficiency. Highline estimates that more than 85% of guests achieve this.

“The whole point of The Joseph Center is to be a bridge to sustainability,” Highline explains. “Having access to these services can make all the difference and, almost all of the time, it does.”

The Joseph Center began as a program designed to fill gaps. Highline and two friends conducted a feasibility study to find deficits in resources for unhoused people in Mesa County. The results indicated needs ranging from financial assistance to a place for babies to nap during the day.

HOME AWAY FROM HOME

Before The Joseph Center arrived in January of 2019, the current space was a music store. Thanks to an army of community volunteers, not much remains that resembles its former usage. Except, that is, for the small wood stage filled with amps and a keyboard, which Highline, a performing arts major, says she’s working on learning to play.

An inviting front room houses coffee makers, snacks, a microwave and a table where guests can work. An adjacent kitchen and dining room is set up as a home would be, with cozy groups of tables and chairs, all designed with families in mind.

“Families should get to eat like families,” Highline says. “We want people to feel like they’re at home here.” It’s common to find Highline, or any of the full or part-time staff members, in the kitchen cooking for the 42 or so guests that come for lunch each day.

Deeper into the building sits a well-stocked food pantry where anyone — “anyone,” Highline stresses — can visit on Tuesdays and Thursdays to pick up a box of food, no questions asked.

An adjacent room is filled with linens, clothes, sanitary items, dishes and diapers. Nearly all of the items go out just as quickly as they come in and, without fail, more come to take their place.

Highline gestures to a room filled with furniture for those who have recently been housed. “This will all be gone, soon. But then before we know it, we’ll be full again!” she laughs.

GOLDEN GIRLS

Behind a few work-in-progress rooms that will soon be a shower and laundry room is the Golden Girls program. Like many programs at The Joseph Center, the Golden Girls was born out of need.

The Golden Girls program started to address an issue that became more acute as a result of the pandemic. Seeing a sudden spike in the number of middle-aged and older women who lost their place of residence, Highline, staff and volunteers stepped in to convert a previously unused area of The Joseph Center into an evening shelter for nine women.

Originally, Highline admits, it was only supposed to serve four women. However, the need outstripped what was anticipated, and the program currently has seven participants. Four former residents have graduated into stable housing and several others are transitioning as well.

A current guest of the Golden Girls program, one on her way to permanent housing soon, insisted on sharing: “I just want you to know it’s a great program. Mona is really, really great,” she says.

NEVER ALONE

Highline is a firm believer that, “If we can put healthy people back in our community, they pay it forward,” and this is embodied by the staff of The Joseph Center.

“40% of our staff are former clients here,” Highline says, proudly. “Many of them loved it here and wanted to give back.” Highline points out a tool-filled workbench. “This is all Gerald’s. He was a guest a few years ago. If furniture comes to us in bad shape, he’ll strip, paint and fix it before it goes to its new home.”

Similarly, The Joseph Center’s intake services director was a former community service participant who served her hours there. “She tried a few different jobs, but nothing was clicking,” Highline recalls. “Then she started working as the Intake Director, and she loved it! She shines like a diamond!”

If it seems like between renovations and program expansions Highline and The Joseph Center never stop moving, it’s likely because that’s the case. “I’m working on my self-care, though,” Highline assures. For Highline, this means going back to school to pursue a degree in Nonprofit Management.

“I know, I know! That sounds strange,” she laughs, “But that’s self-care for me. Learning is self-care. I can always do better.”

Highline is also working on other forms of self-care, like rest. “When I get home, I try to shut everything down,” she says.

This is easier said than done. Last week, on a planned day off, Highline had to help a guest who had relapsed get to the hospital, and she admits to checking the security cameras remotely from her phone. “I care a lot. More than I should, maybe. But my heart’s in here,” she explains.

SETBACKS + SUCCESSES

Like many nonprofits, when COVID-19 hit, The Joseph Center was “slammed, slammed, slammed!” says Highline. “So many people lost someone they depended on, lost jobs they depended on.” Community members and foundations stepped in to help, and emergency funds poured in.

“Any money that came in went right back out to people who needed it,” Highline shares. “I know there’s advice out there to hold onto money, but it’s hard to not put it somewhere when needs are so immediate.”

The dizzying turns of the pandemic and the need for a fast-paced response also took its toll on the staff. So, for a week, Highline shut the doors of The Joseph Center and told everyone to “go home and rest.”

“You have to do what’s best for the sustainability of the program and the people.

You don’t want them getting burned out,” she explains. “This staff really pours themselves into clients and cases. It’s mind-blowing all the ways they maintain the clients’ dignity and our mission,” gushes Highline.

ALL IN A NAME

The Joseph Center’s name is particularly meaningful to Highline. “I didn’t have some rich uncle named Joseph,” Highline laughs, “which is what some people ask me.” The Joseph Center borrows its name from the Bible.

“Joseph was elevated at a time where there were seven years of feast and seven years of famine,” Highline explains. “People come here in their season of famine. We’ve all had a time where we needed a helping hand.” She gestures to a wall of cards, art and pictures on an office wall. “And it’s amazing, what can happen,” she nods, “just amazing.”

The Joseph Center Mission

The Joseph Center was created to support families in the intersection of homelessness and parenting. Our mission is to provide hope, establish stability, encourage resourcefulness and confer a sense of belonging to the greater community.

Originally published in the Summer 2021 issue.