SPRINGDALE -- The regional organization working to address homelessness is looking for a full-time director after relying for years on volunteer leadership.
Northwest Arkansas Continuum of Care received an anonymous donation to offer a paid position, the group's board chairwoman, Angela Belford, said this week. The gift comes as the group and its members raise hundreds of thousands of other dollars in grants and donations for their efforts, she and another member said.
Web watch
For more information about the Northwest Arkansas Continuum of Care, the director job posting and the homelessness count, go to nwacoc.com.
The director job's posting says the salary hasn't been decided yet and will depend on the applicants' qualifications. It calls for someone who can work with policymakers, service providers and others, help rally the community and manage budgets.
Belford called it a turning point for the Continuum of Care, which aims to push down the number of people in shelters or on the streets to essentially zero by connecting people in need with shelters, case managers and homeless assistance groups throughout the region.
She and Kevin Fitzpatrick, a sociology professor at the University of Arkansas, and longtime researcher of local homelessness, have long said overcoming the homelessness problem requires someone who isn't tied to any particular nonprofit and is focused on the overall problem every day.
"We feel like this is going to throw gasoline on the fire of what we've been doing this last year," Belford said. "I want someone that is going to immediately be able to win the confidence of our existing nonprofit directors."
The Continuum of Care found about 600 children and adults were unsheltered or staying in emergency or transitional shelters in Benton, Carroll, Madison and Washington counties during a 24-hour survey in January. Hundreds, perhaps thousands more are likely doubled up with friends and family or otherwise went uncounted, based on the survey and previous ones organized by Fitzpatrick.
The Continuum in the past couple of years doubled its work, holding community forums, generating a by-name list of people experiencing homelessness and using an online network to connect them with the groups that can help meet their specific needs.
Its leaders typically work at member nonprofit groups under the Continuum umbrella. Belford runs her own marketing business, and another board member is an assistant professor.
This setup limits the group's potential, Belford said. One member, a shelter called Havenwood in Bentonville, handles the Continuum's primary yearly grant requests for about $400,000 from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. Other officials would help on their own time. Belford said the team in January had to forgo an available grant of $500,000 from the U.S. Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration.
"We just run out of time, all the time," she said.
A director, on the other hand, would make it possible to accept such opportunities. The Continuum could start to model itself on the one in Tulsa, Okla., which owns its own housing units, or Mobile, Ala., which manages grants for all of its members.
The Northwest Arkansas group is advertising nationally for applicants. In the meantime, it will also be handling two other major projects, said Belford and Nick Ogle, director of the Center for Collaborative Care and of mental and behavioral health at Mercy Northwest Arkansas. The care center developed the online system used by the Continuum.
The Arkansas Economic Development Commission recently awarded about $60,000 to the Continuum to use for rapid rehousing, essentially helping people who lose their homes or apartments because of some one-off event or life change. The program could cover deposits and help with rent, stepping down the assistance over a few months as the clients get back on their feet.
The grant required an equal match, which Ogle said he secured from unnamed donors. So the Continuum now has $120,000 it needs to spend before August. Belford said it's enough to help up to 50 families or so.
"That's a lot of placements," Belford said -- enough to house every homeless veteran on the by-name list and then some.
There's still more to come, Ogle said Friday. He, the Sisters of Mercy group that includes the local Mercy system, and others are working on bringing together a community-wide fund of $250,000 or more to help work on homelessness and other needs.
Belford and others discussed such a fund during a meeting in March with officials from several area cities. The money could provide security for property owners wary of accepting Continuum clients to cover any property damage, for instance, though experts said that need would be very rare.
Ogle said the money could help churches and other groups when people they help just need a few dollars for utility payments or food. It could also be used to match grants when needed, avoiding a last-minute scramble.
"We should never lose an opportunity like that," he said. "There's a lot of energy and positive momentum."
NW News on 04/07/2018