New Ground works with struggling Veterans and families to help break the cycle of homelessness and poverty. New Ground focuses support in key areas to achieve long-lasting success, including financial, literacy, career development, educational advancement, and more. Services are also provided to the children in the households to ensure the next generation will successfully complete school and move on to higher education programs and independent futures.

Shannon Boyle has been with New Ground since 2002, first serving as a front-line Social Worker, and then becoming Executive Director in 2006, She is a licensed clinical social worker in NY State with a master's degree in Social Work from Boston College. She has worked with the homeless for over twenty years, with experience also in psychiatric, addiction, and medical social work settings.

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Segment 1

The segment begins with a discussion about how Shannon became involved in the non-profit sector. She discusses her passion for community involvement and her work with homeless populations. Shannon and Danny then discuss homelessness as a social problem; Shannon describes the phenomenon of the ‘working homeless’ whereby homeless people may work one or multiple jobs and still be unable to afford rent. This keeps the homeless trapped in a cycle of poverty due to low wages and high rent costs in Long Island.

Segment 2 

This segment begins with a discussion about the unique challenges that families often face due to homelessness. Shannon also highlights the fact homelessness is often a long-term issue that can affect families and children for years. She shares some statistics of homelessness in Long Island, but she does state that many individuals and families are excluded from these figures. Shannon highlights that a large portion of the homeless population are composed of veterans, most of whom struggle with mental health issues that are related to PTSD. Finally, Tommy and Shannon briefly discuss the stigma around mental illness in our society. 

Segment 3 

This segment begins with more discussion about how homelessness keeps people trapped in a cycle of poverty. New Ground helps homeless people in many ways such as helping the homeless to manage their finances. Shannon also highlights the multiple barriers the homeless have to overcome and New Ground’s vision to support families through these challenges. For example, they help to pay for transportation to and from work and school, day-care fees and other expenses that need to be paid in order to keep a job and eventually maintain long-term stability.

Segment 4

In this final segment, Shannon shares some of the upcoming events her organization will be hosting. Shannon also states that New Ground is funded by private donations which allows them to be much more flexible in the services they are able to offer. Finally, Shannon shares that her organization is always looking for volunteers. Her organizations have different committees and boards that cover wide areas of interest- anyone can get involved with New Ground and support the organization’s mission.