 With homelessness at an emergency level in King County, business leaders including the Starbucks Foundation, the Schultz Family
Foundation, Microsoft, Alaska Airlines, Weyerhaeuser, Expedia, Nordstrom,
Comcast, Bank of America, Key Bank Foundation, Group Health Cooperative, Dick’s
Drive-In, Seattle Mariners, as well as the Seattle Metropolitan Chamber of
Commerce and Downtown Seattle Association announced their support of the annual
No Child Sleeps Outside campaign. In an extraordinary effort to mobilize
the business community and our neighbors, they are contributing over $3 million
to provide safe emergency shelter for the estimated 500 unsheltered families in
King County.
This move by the Starbucks Foundation, Schultz Family
Foundation, Microsoft, and others includes an immediate expansion of emergency
shelter to bring unsheltered families inside and supports All Home’s
County-wide plan as well as the City of Seattle’s Pathways Home strategies to address
longer-term systemic change to truly make homelessness rare, brief and one-time.
“The 500 families with small children who are sleeping
outside in King County cannot wait for the promised reforms and housing that
will take a year or more,” said Howard Schultz, chairman and chief executive
officer of Starbucks and cofounder of the Schultz Family Foundation. “We need
to treat this daily tragedy with the same urgency that would follow any natural
disaster. This is a short-term but urgent humanitarian need, and we are proud
to join other Seattle employers in the No Child Sleeps Outside campaign.”
In addition to the Starbucks Foundation’s financial
contribution, for the first time, over 200 Starbucks stores in King County will
offer customers an opportunity to donate directly to Mary’s Place. Every dollar
donated by customers during the month of December will be matched by the
Starbucks Foundation, up to an additional $1 million dollars to help shelter
local families. The Starbucks Foundation is also investing an additional
$250,000 to connect homeless families and youth with job placement programs and
other critical services through local community partners such as the United
Way, YWCA, and YouthCare.
For additional details please visit: https://news.starbucks.com/news/no-child-sleeps-outside-announcement.
Or check out this Seattle Times article: http://www.seattletimes.com/business/starbucks/starbucks-enlists-in-no-child-sleeps-outside-campaign/.
January 27, 2017 is Count Us In, our community’s annual
Point in Time Count of individuals experiencing homelessness, formerly known as
the One Night Count.
Check out the story from KNKX: http://knkx.org/post/new-leader-new-tactics-king-countys-annual-count-homeless-people
This year, Count Us In will utilize new and improved data
collection methods for the full range of count activities including a street
count of people living unsheltered, a count of people living in shelter or
transitional housing, a qualitative survey of people experiencing homelessness
across King County, and specialized approaches to counting subpopulations,
including youth/young adults, families, and those living in vehicles. The Count
will be guided by a Steering Committee, made up of community members, to ensure
a strong and accurate Point in Time Count.
To participate in Count Us In and for the latest updates, please visit
our website.
This week, All Home submitted an application on behalf of
the CoC for HUD’s Youth Housing Demonstration Project (YHDP) Notice of Funding Availability (NOFA). This is a
process to select ten communities (four of which will be rural) that will develop
and implement coordinated community plans to prevent and end youth and young
adult homelessness. The application was largely a reflection of the
partnerships, structure, and past work in our community. If selected, All Home
will receive between $1-15 million to implement or expand effective project
models with technical assistance from HUD, and under the guidance of the YYA
Affinity Group and Youth Advisory Board. While the YHDP selection process is
highly competitive, we are hopeful that King County’s strong foundation and
strides in addressing YYA homelessness will lead the way to our being a part of
this exciting opportunity. We are incredibly grateful to our colleagues,
funders, and providers for informing and editing the application, and look
forward to HUD’s announcement of selected communities in early 2017.
HUD has recently posted two new resources on the HUD
Exchange on the Definition of Chronic Homelessness. The following new materials
are available via the Chronic Homelessness landing page:
-
Flowchart of HUD’s Definition of Chronic
Homelessness – This tool guides you through HUD’s
Chronically Homeless Definition through mostly “Yes” or “No” questions,
providing an interactive way to help understand who meets the definition
and what documentation requirements apply.
-
Sample Chronic Homelessness Documentation Checklist
– This sample checklist provides an optional way to help record Chronic
Homelessness for those projects that need documentation of Chronic
Homelessness (like a Permanent Supportive Housing program that exclusively
serves the Chronically Homeless). This sample checklist would not be
needed in projects where this requirement is not in place (like an
Emergency Shelter). This tool is a sample, is not required by HUD, and has
been provided in an editable format so communities may edit it and add to
their current forms, if they wish.
If
additional questions arise that are not addressed by these resources, submit
them online through the Ask A Question (AAQ) portal on the HUD
Exchange website.
Applications are now open for the
2017 Transatlantic Practice Exchange, and are due on Monday, December 18, 2017.
The Exchange is an opportunity for five homeless service providers to spend up
to two weeks researching responses to homelessness in the UK. The Exchange is a
partnership between the National Alliance to End Homelessness, Homeless Link,
and the Oak Foundation. Apply
here.
On December 13th, please join us for A Housing First System
– Our Solution to Own. This training is designed for leadership and
other staff of homeless housing programs (shelter, rapid re-housing, etc.),
local funding partners and other interested stakeholders to:
- Learn about what it means to be a Housing First system
- Increase understanding of the importance of Housing First in
responding to trauma and addressing racial equity
- Begin to identify Housing First strategies that can be incorporated
in all program types
Please remember to register for the Housing
First training by 12/6. We have reached capacity, but if you are interested
in attending, please do register. You will be placed on our waitlist and will
receive notification if we have additional capacity. For those already
registered, in order to ensure there is sufficient opportunities to
participate, we may need to contact some of your organizations who have
multiple representatives RSVP’d to free up a seat for another organization. We
appreciate your flexibility and understanding.
The Heartland Alliance is an international organization,
well known for providing services and leading policy efforts in ending poverty.
They are invested in supporting all people willing to work in their employment
goals, including those experiencing homelessness. On December 15th, 2016 from
1:00-4:00pm, the Heartland Alliance has an opportunity to work with our local
homeless employment navigators and specialists around creating opportunities
for homeless jobseekers. They will share evidence-based program models and
strategies, including emerging promising practices throughout the nation. If
you are interested in learning more or possibly attending the training, please
contact Danielle.winslow@allhomekc.org.
 This event
is free and open to the public. Please RSVP here: https://www.facebook.com/events/231466147283591/
Friends of Youth is hiring for a variety of positions
including:
- P/T Communications
Specialist (Kirkland, WA)
- Bilingual Program
Supervisor – Refugee & Immigrant Youth (Kirkland, WA)
- Bilingual Youth
Counselor, Griffin Home (Renton, WA)
- Substance Abuse
Treatment Counselor (Issaquah, WA)
- Bilingual
Individual Treatment Aide, Foster Care (Seattle, WA)
For more information, please visit their website.
Valley
Cities Counseling and Consultation is currently seeking the following
positions:
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