A series of discussions is planned next week in Springfield focusing on homelessness in southwest Missouri. And the organizers want anyone interested in helping to create a locally-based plan to end homelessness to come to the table.
Community Partnership of the Ozarks will host “Every Voice Counts: Community Conversations Welcome Open Discussions” at the Library Station and at the Springfield Art Museum.
Michelle Garand is deputy director of Affordable Housing and Homeless Prevention at Community Partnership.
"The issue of homelessness is really a community issue, and so what we'd like to do is hear from community residents, businesses, faith community representatives, everyone that is vested in trying to solve homelessness or address the issues around homelessness in our community," she said.
Discussions at the Library Station, 2535 N. Kansas Expressway, will include, “Aligning Local Goals with the Federal Plan to End Homelessness” from 9 to 11 am, “Strategies to Address Permanent Housing Needs” from noon to 2 and “Local Response to our Unsheltered Homeless Population” from 3 to 5 pm. Discussions at the Springfield Art Museum, 1111 E. Brookside, June 21 will include: “How do We Most Effectively Prioritize Local Funding?” from 10 am to noon followed by a discussion from 3 to 5 pm where results and recommendations from all sessions will be presented.
Garand said, here in Southwest Missouri, the focus is on creating a “system of care.” According to Garand, there are “some amazing partners in the community” that are working to address homelessness, but they can’t do it alone.
"So we really need to be moving forward with connecting the entire community to those agencies and to individuals to help re-stabilize individuals in the housing that they have or get them re-housed very quickly," she said.
Garand said there’s a federal goal to end homelessness for youth, young adults and families by 2020, veterans this year and chronic homelessness by 2017. The conversations next week will hopefully lead to ideas about where to go from here to try to meet those goals locally, according to Garand.
To learn more, click here.
