Homelessness News: Making Progress takes Heart!

Northeast Florida CoC | February 2018

Homelessness News: Making Progress takes Heart

“ Homelessness is not a crime.”

That’s what Mike Williams, Jacksonville’s very own Sheriff said in an article he authored on Jacksonville.com, The Final Word: A revitalized core brings complex and challenging issues .

In his commentary, Sheriff Williams discusses more than homelessness but underlines its relevancy to the urban core and how stakeholders should come together. We can all agree on that.

Fortunately, the Northeast Florida Continuum of Care represents many organizations working on the mission and collaborating with various partners to deliver solutions that address the overarching needs of our community.

Regardless of where we are in the process, having community leaders speak up and raise their voices about homelessness can only help further our vision to prevent and end homelessness.

Do you have a story you’d like to share? Contact Monique Elton at melton@changinghomelessness.org.

Thank YOU for Making It Count at the January Point-In-Time!

Before most people were out of bed on Wednesday, January 24th, more than 150 volunteers were dispatched throughout the greater Jacksonville region including Clay, Duval, and Nassau counties to conduct the annual Point-In-Time count.

With coffee and clipboards in hand, the Continuum member agencies were out in force! You rallied the teams, providing leadership and direction to new and seasoned volunteers. Because of your dedication, volunteers counted a total of 344 people, surveyed 182 individuals and observed 162 folks.

How did this year compare to years past? This year volunteer teams included students from Florida State College at Jacksonville and the University of North Florida. Our future leaders are making a difference. Not only on the streets counting people who are homeless, but also in the willingness to do more. And we couldn't

be happier! We're signing up volunteers to help input data, and that means a faster turnaround time for reporting.

This year we learned a lot. Northeast Florida is growing, and it's time for us to evaluate how we count our community. If you participated, we’d love to hear from you regarding your experience. Please email us at info@changinghomelessness.org.

If you haven’t been a part of the Point-In-Time count, you should add it to your list of things to do.

Stay tuned for the Make It Count, Point-In-Time Volunteer Breakfast announcement . We’re looking at dates in April, and we’ll be sharing the notice soon.

We Know YOU Know - Knowledge is Power!

On January 11th, Community Solutions facilitated a one-day workshop that focused on our Continuum of Care's Coordinated Entry System and how it helps to reduce the number of households experiencing street (chronic) homelessness.

The two trainers guided us through the conversation, highlighting specific areas of interest for frontline/direct care staff and program managers. During this time, we introduced attendees to the Coordinated Entry System and By Name List to provide a better understanding of how these tools work together to help achieve our goals of preventing and ending homelessness within our community.

Upcoming training…

On March 1st, join us for the monthly HMIS New User and HMIS Report training.

HMIS New User is 9 am - 12 pm
Report training is 1 pm - 3 pm

If you need more info, email the HMIS team at HMIS@changinghomelessness.org

Partnering Up - Youth Homelessness Demonstration Program

HUD recently released the Youth Homelessness Demonstration Program Notice of Funding Availability – due April 17th. This program is the youth-specific Continuum of Care and funds will likely roll up to the annual CoC funding for our community (when we're awarded - nothing wrong with being optimistic - is there?).

This announcement is HUD’s 2nd notice released for this program. The first one was in late 2016. We applied but unfortunately did not receive funding. However, we scored well in all categories except funding. This time around we’re on the hunt for funds to support our planning. If you’d like to contribute, let us know!

With the United States Interagency Council on Homelessness looking to prevent and end youth homelessness by 2020, we’re planning ahead to make this happen.

HUD's goal of the Youth Homelessness Demonstration program is to support up to 11 communities, at least 5 of which will be rural, in the development and implementation of a coordinated community approach to preventing and ending youth homelessness, and sharing that experience with and mobilizing communities around the country toward the same end.

The funding will serve youth experiencing homelessness, including unaccompanied and pregnant or parenting youth, where no member of the household is older than 24.

The five primary objectives are:

Build national momentum
Evaluate the coordinated community approach
Expand capacity
Evaluate performance measures
Establish a framework for federal program and technical assistance collaboration

HUD expects to make approximately 11 awards (total of $43 million appropriated).

Minimum of $1 million per community
Maximum of $15 million per community

HUD will determine funding by proportionate weighting of the size of a community’s total youth population and youth poverty rate. What does that mean for Northeast Florida? Advanced math and somewhere between $1.5 to $3 million (we're estimating).

So you know...

The Youth Action Council (youth members) is meeting on February 15th, and we are planning our next partners meeting the week of March 12th. Official invite coming soon.

Are you a youth service provider or advocate? If so and you'd like to be involved, please reach out to Monique Elton at melton@changinghomelessness.org .

Now - Let's Check the Numbers!

PSH: Permanent Support Housing

RRH: Rapid Rehousing

Northeast Florida CoC