From Homelessness to Stability: Inspiration Corporation

Triggered by the desire to serve people with dignity and respect, an unassuming police officer found a unique approach 20 years ago to helping the homeless.

In 1989, Lisa Nigro decided to barrow her nephew’s little red wagon. She filled it with sandwiches and coffee then dragged it around Uptown Chicago. She handed the homeless men and women not just good food but also a dash of hope.

Her once impulsive move has transformed into a non profit raising millions annually while preserving the core values. With three sections including housing, employment and social services, Inspiration Corporation now serves 3,000 people a year. Nigro was also featured in a True North Snacks commercial during the 2009 Oscars.

Although there is no definite answer to how many people are homeless in the U.S., an approximate of 3.5 million people, with 1.35 million of them children, are likely to experience homelessness in a given year, according to the National Law Center on Homelessness and Poverty in 2007.

Learn more about Inspiration Corporation in this week’s MD Spotlight, where I caught up with Executive Director and CEO John Pfeiffer, who has been with the agency for over three years.

Tell us about Inspiration Corporation (IC).
We touch the lives of about 3,000 people a year. We see ourselves as a catalyst for self-reliance and help people make transformation possible from homelessness to stability. They gain greater skills for the marketplace and durability to succeed, not just for [their] first job but to climb the ladder and have earning potential.

We have three sections, employment, housing and social services. With the economy slipping, we’re seeing a double digit growth in all those areas. A lot of people are at risk of homelessness – they need emergency grants and we’re serving many more meals. We’re on track to serve 40,000 meals this year [at Inspiration Cafe]. We’re trying to be as helpful as we can for the people coming to us.

What sets IC apart from other non-profits helping the homeless?
One interesting point is our culture. Our core value is treating people with dignity and respect. Homeless people are really treated undignified – homelessness is very identity stripping, it could be isolating and you lose a sense of yourself. We try to create a warm area for the person, when you come to Inspiration Cafe, you can choose your meal from a menu, you can choose the quantity, we serve it in china, no plastics. It’s uplifting with art work and caring volunteers who know your name. Another point is when people come here and graduate [meaning, get a job or a house] they have privileges to use our services for life.

You can talk to a staff member, access meals or food from our pantry, access dollars for emergency or transitional grants [ for clothes for a job interview] or money for school. We try to provide tools that are durable and transitional. We [also] have people that come in once a month or twice a month – these people are no longer homeless and they become a role model.

How did your organization make the transformation from one kitchen to what it is today?
We had an intern from the University of Chicago who decided to replicate a model of another cafe here. We decided to merge in 2003. Our primary restaurant serves homeless  people. We also have a public restaurant that serves to people who work – it helps raise money. We [also] have an employment prep-program and provide community voicemail [services].

We had organic, incremental growth all around the city.

What’s in store for the future?
As part of our capital campaign, we’re looking for another culinary restaurant on the west side of Chicago.

Biggest challenges up to date?
Managing growth, maintaining environments that are really responsive to the people in need. With growth comes more management.

We have to preserve the inspiration, we have to make sure that the program and culture doesn’t suffer – and that everyone gets that personal attention. So we don’t want to grow too big. A smaller ratio of staff is more helpful, has a better outcome.

What do you like most about your job?
Well, I like a lot [of things] about my job. I like talking to participants. They pass through certain thresholds – people are so ecstatic when they graduate, go to school, get jobs. They have kids but are not in custody of them. They have the capacity then to bring their kids in for a meal – it’s heartwarming.

We have over 900 volunteers and tons of  people who give very deeply of themselves. It’s a real pleasure to get to know these people. They’re very socially minded and it’s great to be in their company, it keeps me charged.

What’s do you like least about your job?
Oh, the volume of correspondence, I get 100 emails a day. We try to be lean and mean so we [usually] don’t have assistants or interns. But we have a lot of  people to share the burden and it’s the best people  to work with. I’ve worked with government and other nonprofits but this is an A-team – really smart and dedicated.

How has your organization spread the word about its cause?
The traditional way. [We have a] printed newsletter, annual reports, e-newsletters, a Facebook cause page and we hooked up with Yelp.

How much do you raise annually and how is this money raised?
A little over $3 million. It’s a big mix between public and private. Forty-five percent is government, the rest is earned through (10%) restaurant sales and private funds.

What did you do before you joined IC?
I was on staff for America’s Second Harvest - ‘Feeding America.’ I was in charge of national fundraising.

What are some of your favorite causes?
I’m a big supporter of Doctors Without Borders, Amnesty International, Oxfam International. I’m a big supporter of providing opportunities to people that may not have it otherwise and have a passion for political dissidence.

Favorite pastime outside of work?
Cooking. We’re all about food at inspiration, I lived in Thailand so I love to cook Thai food.

Do you have any mentors?
Lots, from colleagues to board members.

Favorite book?
Brideshead Revisited. It’s a great story about growing in the world.

Anything you’d like to add?
Inspiration is all about helping people reconnect and transform their lives – we’re all about the impulse of our finder, [Lisa Nigro], who twenty years ago reached out and said, “Hey, I’m Lisa, tell me about you.”

There’s not a lot of people who think beyond the thought of helping and doing the action. Lisa says it’s about acting on impulse – [it's] then we exercise our humanity. If we stay withdrawn and stay passive, we don’t connect. It’s a great engine for peace making and progress but running a non-profit is tough.

Best practical advice to pass along?
Act on your impulses, find a way to help. If you can’t do it yourself then help somebody else who’s already doing it.

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Credit: Urmi Rahman, a freelance journalist residing in California. She received her B.A. in political science with minors in English and journalism from Cal State Fullerton. Urmi, 25, is also the editor and co-founder of Minority Dreams Magazine. Contact her at Urmi AT minoritydreams DOT com.