Collaborative Funding Helps Move the Needle on Homelessness
by Angie Matthiessen, Executive Director – United Way of Charlotte County
In 2017 the United Way of Charlotte County (UWCC) Board of Directors took a leap of faith. They made a firm decision to only fund programs that required agencies to work together to solve a problem.
Beginning that year, UWCC offered grant funding for collaborative programs that aimed to address one of our three bold goals related to educational success, financial stability and health and wellbeing. At UWCC we know that together we are better.
In the funding requests we received, one stood out that painted a picture of a community that refused to accept lengthy bouts of homelessness for any individual or family. It demanded that compassion combine with action to address the primary challenges that lead to chronic homelessness, a significant element of the Ten-Year Plan to End Homelessness in Charlotte County. (One of the many faces of homelessness, a chronically homeless individual has been continuously homeless for a year or more or has had a minimum of four episodes of homelessness in the previous three years and has a disabling condition.)
To address these challenges, an integrated care model took shape between Gulf Coast Partnership, Virginia B. Andes Volunteer Community Clinic, Charlotte County Homeless Coalition, and Charlotte Behavioral Health Care. With adequate starter funding from UWCC, these partners proposed to simultaneously address issues related to mental health, medical care, pharmacy services, housing and increasing financial resources for each client.
The Ending Chronic Homelessness program was granted UWCC Community Collaboration funding in its inaugural year to tackle its own bold goal of effectively ending chronic homelessness in our community. It goes without saying that COVID-19 threw the proverbial wrench into this plan, but successful collective impact was not to be deterred.
In partnership with the local homeless services team, One Charlotte, the announcement was recently made that they have effectively ended chronic homelessness in our community.
Between April 2017 and December 2020, more than one hundred and fifty chronically homeless persons were housed. These individuals receive further support to ensure they are able to remain in housing after their initial placement, which is essential in their overall success. Of those housed, more than 85 percent have remained permanently housed, far exceeding the national average of 52 percent.
UWCC’s Board of Directors were among the first to hear the news and share their enthusiasm at the results that were accomplished through collaboration. Board member Stephen Curasco said, “Ending chronic homelessness sounds like an aspirational goal on paper and yet through all of the hard work of many people, that goal was achieved.”
We are proud to have funded this program with over $550,000 since its inception, only a percentage of the true cost to accomplish such a monumental goal in our community. Angela Hogan, CEO of Gulf Coast Partnership said, “The United Way funding is incredibly important to our State and Federal partners, knowing that our local community is investing in this and providing match or leveraged funds to our State and Federal dollars.”
This achievement for Charlotte County comes on the heels of the accomplishment of ending Veteran homelessness and will be followed by the new goal of ending homelessness for unaccompanied youth and families with children.
United Way of Charlotte County is thrilled to see the collective impact that has resulted from this community collaboration. We took the leap in 2017 to begin funding collaborative work, knowing that that our donor dollars would see exponential results. Please join us in thanking these agencies for their amazing work and congratulate them on moving the needle in Charlotte County.
For more information, please visit www.unitedwayccfl.org/financial-stability or call the United Way of Charlotte County at 941-627-3539. Mission: Mobilizing the power of our community to break the cycle of poverty. Angie Matthiessen is the Executive Director of United Way of Charlotte County. She can be reached at director@unitedwayccfl.org.