New York City issues a Code Blue Weather Emergency when the temperature drops to 32°For less between 4pm and 8am. Should you see a homeless individual out in the cold, please call 311 and an outreach team will be dispatched to offer assistance. Learn more here.
Unique challenges attract unique talents. At the forefront of the effort to mitigate homelessness in New York City are dedicated shelter staff like Tamara Gayle, Residence Director of the BronxWorks Jerome Avenue Men’s Shelter (JAMS). Tamara was born and raised in Queens, NY. She still lives in Queens to this day. Her family immigrated from Panama, and as the first daughter of an immigrant parent, Tamara holds onto that first-generation identity closely.
I strive to make sure that I am doing what my family came here for, to attain that dream. It is a beauty and also a burden.”
Tamara completed her Bachelor’s Degree at City College and received her Master of Social Work from Fordham University. She first joined BronxWorks in 2017 as a Case Manager Supervisor for the EXCEL Program and Young Adult Workforce Program within our Children & Youth Department. In 2019, she joined the Jerome Avenue Men’s Shelter as the Assistant Program Director, and in January 2021 she was promoted to Residence Director.
Tamara brings a range of experience to the position. She started her career working with women with young children to develop parenting skills and prevent abuse. She then worked in a 100-bed adult homeless men’s shelter as an evening Case Manager. Tamara still remembers her first housing placement, from the interview to the day she physically helped move the client out of the shelter and into the unit. After that, she worked in harm reduction at Planned Parenthood with individuals living with HIV/AIDS. All of this experience drives the way Tamara and her team manage the caseload at JAMS.
This work is heavy, demanding, and task-oriented. It’s a beast. That’s why I have always been very firm about onboarding, training, and coaching my staff.”
To this end, Tamara has recently developed a sort of boot camp for preparing new staff for the challenges of working at JAMS. The boot camp lasts for nearly two weeks and covers everything from education on the population, trainings on typical diagnoses and what their presentations may look like, an overview of crisis prevention and intervention, case management skills such as interviewing, de-escalation, case writing, service planning, and an in-depth explanation of the housing process. The boot camp also includes bi-annual refreshers for all staff.
Whether it is with young people or adults, Tamara brings the same qualities in her approach to working with every population. “Any population you work with, people just want to know that you care about them,” she says. “There is more in common between working with young people and adults than there is different. You’re met with the same resistance at first, and you go through the same motions showing up for them, earning their trust, and supporting them in their journeys.” As the Residence Director, Tamara still carries a case load and loves to work with the more challenging cases. “When you see what they are able to accomplish with the support of staff, that’s why you work so hard.”
Outside of work, Tamara is all about her family and her dog, Blu. She loves sharing meals with the people she cares about, and also volunteers as a mentor for young adults on their own paths to finding their passions.
Unique challenges attract unique talents. At the forefront of the effort to mitigate homelessness in New York City are dedicated shelter staff like Tamara Gayle, Residence Director of the BronxWorks Jerome Avenue Men’s Shelter (JAMS). Tamara was born and raised in Queens, NY. She still lives in Queens to this day. Her family immigrated from Panama, and as the first daughter of an immigrant parent, Tamara holds onto that first-generation identity closely.
I strive to make sure that I am doing what my family came here for, to attain that dream. It is a beauty and also a burden.”
Tamara completed her Bachelor’s Degree at City College and received her Master of Social Work from Fordham University. She first joined BronxWorks in 2017 as a Case Manager Supervisor for the EXCEL Program and Young Adult Workforce Program within our Children & Youth Department. In 2019, she joined the Jerome Avenue Men’s Shelter as the Assistant Program Director, and in January 2021 she was promoted to Residence Director.
Tamara brings a range of experience to the position. She started her career working with women with young children to develop parenting skills and prevent abuse. She then worked in a 100-bed adult homeless men’s shelter as an evening Case Manager. Tamara still remembers her first housing placement, from the interview to the day she physically helped move the client out of the shelter and into the unit. After that, she worked in harm reduction at Planned Parenthood with individuals living with HIV/AIDS. All of this experience drives the way Tamara and her team manage the caseload at JAMS.
This work is heavy, demanding, and task-oriented. It’s a beast. That’s why I have always been very firm about onboarding, training, and coaching my staff.”
To this end, Tamara has recently developed a sort of boot camp for preparing new staff for the challenges of working at JAMS. The boot camp lasts for nearly two weeks and covers everything from education on the population, trainings on typical diagnoses and what their presentations may look like, an overview of crisis prevention and intervention, case management skills such as interviewing, de-escalation, case writing, service planning, and an in-depth explanation of the housing process. The boot camp also includes bi-annual refreshers for all staff.
Whether it is with young people or adults, Tamara brings the same qualities in her approach to working with every population. “Any population you work with, people just want to know that you care about them,” she says. “There is more in common between working with young people and adults than there is different. You’re met with the same resistance at first, and you go through the same motions showing up for them, earning their trust, and supporting them in their journeys.” As the Residence Director, Tamara still carries a case load and loves to work with the more challenging cases. “When you see what they are able to accomplish with the support of staff, that’s why you work so hard.”
Outside of work, Tamara is all about her family and her dog, Blu. She loves sharing meals with the people she cares about, and also volunteers as a mentor for young adults on their own paths to finding their passions.
The BronxWorks Jerome Avenue Men’s Shelter (JAMS) is a 200-bed behavioral health shelter that provides transitional housing to adult homeless men with mental illness and, oftentimes, co-occurring substance use disorder. It is a key resource in the effort to address homelessness in New York City. Over the course of 2021, JAMS completed 82 housing placements, over 40% of the program’s census. In total, the BronxWorks Adult Homeless Department made 197 housing placements in 2021 across six different programs that also includes three safe havens, the Living Room Drop-in Center, and the Homeless Outreach Team.
Tamara Gayle, the Residence Director of JAMS, says her program, as a component of the overall Adult Homeless Department, was so successful in housing placements over the past year for a number of reasons.
It all starts with intake: clients come to JAMS from sites and programs throughout the city. When they arrive, JAMS assigns each client to a Case Manager, who schedules a client meeting to collect the necessary consent forms that allow staff to pull a client’s incident history, past assessments and psychosocial analyses, and any old or active housing applications. Clients are quickly registered for the onsite medical clinic run by Care for the Homeless and scheduled for a psychiatric evaluation within the first 30 days of arrival. Case Managers meet with clients regularly to create a personalized service plan and to assist them with other resources like obtaining vital documents or entitlements and benefits. Every client arrives with a different story to tell, and it is up to JAMS staff to record their histories accurately and thoroughly to complete the best and most competitive housing application available to them.
Staff at the BronxWorks Jerome Avenue Men’s Shelter working through cases.
Successful housing placements, though, go beyond the completion of a housing application; they rely on an array of surrounding support that prepares a client for the housing process and long-term success after placement. Successful placements start with a frank and open relationship with clients, educating them on the process and preparing them for realistic housing expectations. The process can take a long time, and clients can become easily discouraged. To help manage the uncertainty, Tamara ensures that her team regularly meets with each client to provide timely updates throughout the entire process.
Preparation also involves psychoeducation, helping clients develop insight into their own diagnoses. While clients are living at JAMS, staff work to connect them to treatment for their diagnoses or substance use and encourage proper medication adherence. For the more complicated cases, staff complete applications for Assertive Community Treatment (ACT) or Intensive Mobile Treatment (IMT) teams to secure an additional level of support and outpatient care for clients once they move out, giving housing providers and clients more confidence in the long-term success of the placement.
The work does not end when a client’s housing application is accepted; one of the most critical components is aftercare, or the work done with the client after they are placed to ensure success. JAMS staff establish open communication with each housing provider throughout the placement process. They are present during housing interviews and they physically assist with move-ins and transitioning clients to the new housing provider, known as a “warm hand off”. As a reward for a successful move-out, JAMS gives each client a housing starter kit containing the essential items needed for independent living, like cleaning supplies, kitchen utensils, and toiletries. For the three months after a client moves out, JAMS schedules and conducts home visits to ensure that they are adjusting comfortably to their new housing situation, keeping up with their activities of daily living, making sure that rent is paid, and that there are no disruptions within the community.
It is this holistic, person-centered strategy, rooted in the belief in the Housing First approach, that has led JAMS to achieve so many successful housing placements over the past year. Housing First is the belief that providing permanent housing and thereby resolving a client’s homelessness can serve as a platform from which they can pursue their goals and improve their quality of life.
It must be noted that COVID-19 did bring challenges to the work, including a complete move of the program and its entire census to a hotel in Manhattan, along with a corresponding move back to the Bronx and delays in the housing application process, just to name a few. Throughout it all, the team at JAMS, as well as the entire BronxWorks Adult Homeless Services Department, have persevered, coming in day after day to end homelessness for a remarkable number of clients.
The BronxWorks Jerome Avenue Men’s Shelter (JAMS) is a 200-bed behavioral health shelter that provides transitional housing to adult homeless men with mental illness and, oftentimes, co-occurring substance use disorder. It is a key resource in the effort to address homelessness in New York City. Over the course of 2021, JAMS completed 82 housing placements, over 40% of the program’s census. In total, the BronxWorks Adult Homeless Department made 197 housing placements in 2021 across six different programs that also includes three safe havens, the Living Room Drop-in Center, and the Homeless Outreach Team.
Tamara Gayle, the Residence Director of JAMS, says her program, as a component of the overall Adult Homeless Department, was so successful in housing placements over the past year for a number of reasons.
It all starts with intake: clients come to JAMS from sites and programs throughout the city. When they arrive, JAMS assigns each client to a Case Manager, who schedules a client meeting to collect the necessary consent forms that allow staff to pull a client’s incident history, past assessments and psychosocial analyses, and any old or active housing applications. Clients are quickly registered for the onsite medical clinic run by Care for the Homeless and scheduled for a psychiatric evaluation within the first 30 days of arrival. Case Managers meet with clients regularly to create a personalized service plan and to assist them with other resources like obtaining vital documents or entitlements and benefits. Every client arrives with a different story to tell, and it is up to JAMS staff to record their histories accurately and thoroughly to complete the best and most competitive housing application available to them.
Staff at the BronxWorks Jerome Avenue Men’s Shelter working through cases.
Successful housing placements, though, go beyond the completion of a housing application; they rely on an array of surrounding support that prepares a client for the housing process and long-term success after placement. Successful placements start with a frank and open relationship with clients, educating them on the process and preparing them for realistic housing expectations. The process can take a long time, and clients can become easily discouraged. To help manage the uncertainty, Tamara ensures that her team regularly meets with each client to provide timely updates throughout the entire process.
Preparation also involves psychoeducation, helping clients develop insight into their own diagnoses. While clients are living at JAMS, staff work to connect them to treatment for their diagnoses or substance use and encourage proper medication adherence. For the more complicated cases, staff complete applications for Assertive Community Treatment (ACT) or Intensive Mobile Treatment (IMT) teams to secure an additional level of support and outpatient care for clients once they move out, giving housing providers and clients more confidence in the long-term success of the placement.
The work does not end when a client’s housing application is accepted; one of the most critical components is aftercare, or the work done with the client after they are placed to ensure success. JAMS staff establish open communication with each housing provider throughout the placement process. They are present during housing interviews and they physically assist with move-ins and transitioning clients to the new housing provider, known as a “warm hand off”. As a reward for a successful move-out, JAMS gives each client a housing starter kit containing the essential items needed for independent living, like cleaning supplies, kitchen utensils, and toiletries. For the three months after a client moves out, JAMS schedules and conducts home visits to ensure that they are adjusting comfortably to their new housing situation, keeping up with their activities of daily living, making sure that rent is paid, and that there are no disruptions within the community.
It is this holistic, person-centered strategy, rooted in the belief in the Housing First approach, that has led JAMS to achieve so many successful housing placements over the past year. Housing First is the belief that providing permanent housing and thereby resolving a client’s homelessness can serve as a platform from which they can pursue their goals and improve their quality of life.
It must be noted that COVID-19 did bring challenges to the work, including a complete move of the program and its entire census to a hotel in Manhattan, along with a corresponding move back to the Bronx and delays in the housing application process, just to name a few. Throughout it all, the team at JAMS, as well as the entire BronxWorks Adult Homeless Services Department, have persevered, coming in day after day to end homelessness for a remarkable number of clients.
