Home for Good is the Regional Grantee of ESG CARES Funds
COLUMBUS, GA – Home For Good, a program of United Way of the Chattahoochee Valley, announced Wednesday, September 16, during the Coronavirus Community Call they were named the regional recipient of the Emergency Solutions Grant (ESG) Cares funds in the amount of $1,378,515. The funding will cover the six-county regional implementation for: Chattahoochee, Harris, Marion, Muscogee, Stewart, Talbot, and Taylor counties.
The Georgia Department of Community Affairs (DCA) made available the opportunity to apply for implementation of ESG CARES funds for Non-Congregate Shelter, Homelessness Prevention, Rapid Rehousing and Street Outreach.
“The ESG CARES Funding is vital to the systemic transformation needed to combat homelessness in our region.” said Pat Frey, Executive Director of Home for Good.
The CARES Act provides for three allocations of homeless assistance funds to prevent, prepare for, and respond to the coronavirus, among individuals and families who are homeless or receiving homeless assistance. The CARES Act also provides additional support for homeless assistance and homelessness prevention activities to mitigate the impacts created by the coronavirus.
Services will be carried out in conjunction with community service provider sub grantees.
Home For Good will be conducting an informational session next Wednesday, September 23rd from 8:30am to 9:30am via Webex and soliciting partnership applications from community organizations. WebexMeeting Link
Eviction Moratorium Declaration Form – Under the CDC’s order you must provide a copy of this declaration to your landlord, owner of the residential property where you live, or other person who has a right to have you evicted or removed from where you live.
The Continuum of Care (CoC) Program is designed to promote communitywide goal commitment of ending homelessness. This goal includes providing funding for nonprofit providers’ efforts, and State and local governments to quickly rehouse homeless individuals and families while minimizing the trauma and dislocation caused to homeless individuals, families, and communities. Additionally, to promote access to and effect utilization of mainstream programs by homeless individuals and families, optimizing self-sufficiency.
Recently, when speaking with EM about his new home, he shared just how many people came together to enable him and EM III, his 3-year-old son, to exit homelessness to permanent housing. EM and his son found themselves homeless with little resources and no idea in what direction to turn. EM and EM III moved to Columbus from Florida to help care for an elderly family member but were displaced due to COVID-19. He was a homeless, single father in a new town with depleting resources amid a global pandemic. The enormity of the situation in which EM found himself seemed nearly insurmountable.
EM stated that, once he called 2-1-1 to “see what help I could get,” positive things started happening. That call put in motion the CoC’s foot soldiers on the mission to end this family’s homelessness. Countless individuals from agencies across the community stepped up and stepped in to assist in meeting the family’s needs. And – it took all of us doing what we are best at doing and encouraging our colleagues to do the same. Not one agency nor individual could have met all the needs without the “it takes a village” approach of the Continuum of Care.
EM emotionally recalls those who have assisted and continue to assist his family. The call to 211 resulted in a follow-up with Coordinated Entry and the Salvation Army’s introduction. That interaction led to working with the Housing Authority of Columbus and the Homeless Resource Network. PATH also helped the family navigate the system to access mainstream benefits while Goodwill is providing job training. EM III is enrolled in childcare through Enrichment Services.
Thanks to the partnerships and true collaboration for being United In This Together.
The truth is housing-first works. The truth is a strong Continuum of Care works. The truth is, having a by-name list works. Our community is fortunate; these initiatives were implemented and continue to prove they work – especially for those with lived experiences.
But if the Coronavirus has taught us anything, it’s that we need to do better, and we MUST choose equity as the foundation.
How? By asking our community members with lived experiences to be part of the process of improving it. Clients are subject matter experts; their voices should not only be heard but respected and valued. To make real change and real progress, we must include all demographics; race, ability, age, and gender. We must continually evaluate the data and ask what upstream factors lead to these findings. Finally, we must adjust our strategies, keeping in mind the impact these decisions make on our most vulnerable citizens.
As an example, SafeHouse Ministries offered a survey to share with those experiencing homelessness. They intend to collect responses and host a forum; asking clients with lived experience that are also diverse demographically, how the survey responses compare with their insight, what would they add, and how can SafeHouse improve. SafeHouse Ministries will then use these findings to adjust their programs and practices, improve their system, and create a more equitable environment.
The SafeHouse Ministries survey is the beginning of our community-wide focus group initiative. These focus groups will be facilitated by those with lived experience. We want to continue what is working – the Continuum of Care with shared knowledge and responsibility – while improving and altering the system to consider who is most impacted. We want to remind everyone that the actions or inactions of your organization affect our entire community.
During this prolonged period of difficulty, many of us feel overwhelmed. You may be wondering, how can we do more? The real question is, how can we not? Homelessness is the outcome, not the cause. In addition, homelessness disproportionately affects Black, Indigenous, People of Color. Our chance to make serious, systemic change is now. And we can get there – but equity has to be the first and fundamental goal.
Rehousing and Coordinated Investment Planning Meeting Thursday, July 2, 2020
As our Technical Advisor Rachel Post indicated during the presentation, this is and has to be a community wide effort. We need input from all aspects of our community as we are all experts in our experiences and have much to contribute. It is extremely important that we consistently pursue the engagement of marginalized populations throughout our planning and implementation.
