236: We’re All A Part of the Same Family — Shara Gonzales with New Beginnings

Connecting pieces of the community together so that everyone rises up.

Shara Gonzales is the President and CEO of New Beginnings, an organization that helps those who have been displaced in Hutchinson, Kansas. The goal is simple, to achieve permanent and affordable housing for the disadvantaged, and to create successful outcomes for all members of the community. Shara has dedicated 27 years of her life to serving her community in a sustainable way. Find out more about her and her story on today’s show!

“The Oxford house has 80% success rate of a sober living environment for 12 to 18 months. 80% never go back to addiction.”

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Key Takeaways:

[3:30] Who is Shara and why did she create New Beginnings?

[6:40] To help people out of homelessness and bring them back into the community, a ‘one size fits all’ approach simply doesn’t work.

[9:35] Shara’s work focuses on creating stability so that people can go to work without being worried about where they’re going to sleep that night.

[12:10] What is an Oxford house and why does Shara like that housing model?

[17:00] How does Shara screen for people?

[21:25] How does New Beginnings get funded?

[25:00] You can’t have a house without a job, so why don’t we employ people to build houses?

[28:55] Shara started New Beginnings 27 years ago!

[29:45] How can Shara take this model that she’s created and apply it to bigger cities and communities?

[33:00] Where is the affordable housing located in your community?

[38:00] The next step for Shara is to help create social enterprises to employ more people in the community.

[45:55] Systems and businesses are failing. In the 1970’s, America started losing manufacturing jobs, and it still hasn’t recovered or replaced those jobs.

[48:35] Most people don’t really know or understand the root cause of why homelessness happens.

[57:00] Remember, we’re all a part of the same family.

[58:00] Shara shares a story of how her organization helps displaced people.

[1:03:05] You just don’t know when/if it’ll happen to you. No one is immune to a rainy day, and some of us don’t have the connections to recover.

“People have to move in steps. You can’t just go from here to there, and that’s why people give up so often.”

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