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Misty Authier - President
The Salvation Army MATTS Shelter
Carol Shortt - Vice President
Macomb County Health Department
Deborah McPeek- Secretary
Turning Point, Inc.
April Fidler - Treasurer
Macomb County Rotating Emergency Shelter Team
(MCREST)
Jolyne Baarck
Family Youth Interventions
Joan Flynn
Macomb County Commissioner
Alice Franco
Macomb County Rotating Emergency Shelter Team
(MCREST)
Wendy Green
Community Central Bank
Major Michelle Heaver
The Salvation Army
Doreen McCardle
Solid Ground
James Perlacki
Common Ground Sanctuary
William Sherrill
Community Representitive
Amy Whitehead
Citizens State Bank
Goal: Promote an understanding of homelessness within
the community by:
- Soliciting press coverage, including newspaper articles and
public service
announcements to publicize the causes of homelessness and to portray
the “face” of homelessness
- Creating a panel of homeless & formerly homeless persons
to speak at community
and Coalition events
- Holding at least one public awareness event yearly
- Giving annual presentations about homelessness and ways to
combat homelessness
to businesses and corporations in Macomb County
Goal: Educate the community on preventing relapses
by:
- Promoting self-sufficiency by giving people the tools and allowing
them to help
themselves. Provide the following services in the community:
a. Employment services and job training
b. Substance abuse counseling
c. A full range of mental health services
d. Links to low income housing
e. Links to mainstream resources
f. Budgeting and banking classes
- Educating the public about available Prevention Resources through
the distribution of
booklets to agencies, organizations and people who come into contact
with the
homeless
- Including prevention services in an educational forum annually
- Collaborating with outside sources to help educate at-risk
and formerly homeless about housing issues, including their rights as
tenants. Direct these populations to relevant educational programs and
informational sessions hosted by financial institutions, consumer/community
groups (i.e. ACORN)
Goal: Address community barriers by:
- Addressing city and County zoning laws that preclude affordable
housing.
- Holding public awareness events to dispel the NIMBY (not in my backyard)
attitude toward shelters,
transitional housing and affordable housing in neighborhoods.
- Working with the SMART bus system to develop bus routes past
23 Mile Road and
Gratiot, and also work with SEMCOG’s ride share program.
- Continuing to develop and monitor discharge policies of the
Macomb County Jail,
local hospitals and the Department of Human Services’ foster care
system.
- Developing relationships with local temporary employment agencies
in order to
address low wages paid to homeless temporary workers.
Goal: Advocate to, Engage and Collaborate with Decision-Makers by:
- Advocating to the Michigan Department of Human Services and
the Social Security Administration to ensure that available financial
resources are reaching clients that qualify
- Conducting an outreach campaign to hospital administrators,
encouraging them to develop policies relating to the identification and
discharge of homeless persons. These policies should include the training
of hospital discharge planners and security personnel about how to connect
homeless persons to local shelters, financial assistance programs, information
and referral lines, transportation services and other free or low cost
services.
- Advocating to local, state and federal elected officials for
policy and funding changes
that would increase affordable housing and end homelessness.
- Supporting national organizations in their efforts to convince
HUD to broaden the
definition of “homeless”.
- Working with local businesses and landlords to create a “fresh
slate” program which
helps individuals with unfavorable credit, employment and criminal histories.
- Identifying and partnering with pre-existing community action and
volunteer groups (i.e.
ACORN) who advocate on behalf of citizens for fair and affordable housing.
Utilize these groups’ lobbying resources and clout to increase
the effectiveness of local needs campaigns.
- Creating a team whose specific purpose is to affect institutional
policy change.
- Engaging the Chambers of Commerce, local businesses and corporations
to realize their ability to help end homelessness in Macomb County.
Goal: Increase housing stock to include additional emergency shelter,
transitional housing, permanent supportive housing, and safe haven beds by:
- Creating 15 transitional housing beds and 25 permanent supportive
housing beds in
Macomb County every 18 months.
- Creating a Safe Haven in Macomb County, which will add 25 new
beds for the
chronically homeless.
- Extending warming center months of operation.
- Moving emergency shelter providers into a Housing First model
which will facilitate faster turnover of available shelter beds and will
result in more clients transitioning into permanent housing.
- Following the protocol of the Transitional Housing Committee
to create additional beds with services for certain populations who need
time to become housing ready.
- Increasing permanent housing beds by soliciting housing from
additional permanent supportive housing programs and sources.
Goal: Perform street outreach to the currently homeless population by:
- Holding yearly Community Connection Day events for the homeless
that include food,
clothing, and access to local providers of social services.
- Opening a “one-stop shop” for the homeless that
allows them to access safe haven, transitional housing, mainstream resource
programs, job training, life skills/soft skills training and services
such as health and dental care.
- Performing regular public awareness campaigns in areas frequented
by the
chronically homeless (laundry mats, soup kitchens, etc).
- Re-designing the current street outreach teams to include a
broader range of
participants (such as paid staff, professionals, etc) and additional
components (such as mentoring, advocates, health care, etc.).
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