By Andi Anderson
Clark County and the city of Springfield have partnered with United Way to develop a community wide plan to address homelessness. The initiative is titled ‘All In Clark County Addressing Homelessness Together’. A grant of $200K from the Ohio Department of Development is funding the effort.
United Way of Clark Champaign and Madison counties will lead the planning process. The organization will work with local agencies. It will involve residents who have experienced homelessness. Data collection will help identify root causes behind the growing housing challenge.
"I'm really excited that we have all the right players at the table. Everybody's been very open about being a part of this process. We're gonna have transparency and community input," said Chad Wilson, executive director of United Way of Clark, Champaign and Madison counties. "We're looking at faster pathways to housing and services, equitable outcomes and better coordination in the long-term on continuum of care."
Wilson stated the funding allows access to outside experts. Previous efforts lacked that resource.
"One of the things that we always lacked was having the funding to get the subject matter expert in to really help reset the conversation to best management practices. To ways that can really bring cross sector collaboration into the conversation. So it's a great thing that we're doing," he said.
Research shows financial strain across the county. Nearly half of residents struggle to meet basic needs. The situation worsened following the COVID period.
"People are facing things for the first time a lot of times and homelessness obviously is a spectrum," he said. "But ever since COVID, we're seeing a pretty steep increase in folks facing homelessness."
The project is in its first phase. A steering committee is forming. Work will continue for twelve to fifteen months. Community focus groups and interviews will guide strategy.
Consulting firm Element was hired to support planning.
“Not just build a plan that goes on a shelf, but to build a plan that has action items that will birth a coalition going forward and that continuum of care across that spectrum of homelessness will be addressed," he said.
Element consultant Tom Albanese emphasized prevention.
"I like to say, we're moving beyond just homeless crisis response, better shelters and housing assistance to first focusing on better prevention," he said.
The strategy aligns with Springfield 2051 planning goals. Community identity discussions influenced its direction.
"One of the things that came to the surface very quickly was 'How are we telling our story and what is our story? Where do we want to be as a community in the next 25 years as we celebrate our 250-year bicentennial," he said.
Community members will help shape solutions. "Not just the steering committee members, but the broader community," he said. "So, we'll bringing them in this summer to co-design what should the future response look like in Clark County."
Photo Credit: pexels-karolina-grabowska
Categories: Ohio, Rural Lifestyle