FAYETTEVILLE -- Some people want to give money but don't know how. Others need help and don't know where to turn. The city wants to provide a simple option for both.
The City Council on Tuesday will consider putting $5,000 toward development of a Help a Neighbor Fund. The fund, which Hark at the Center for Collaborative Care will administer, will help homeless and low-income residents with basic financial needs and services.
Help a Neighbor Fund
To donate, text FAY to 50155. Or, if you need resources, call (479) 709-2492. Go to harknwa.com for more.
Source: Fayetteville, Center for Collaborative Care
Hark in Springdale connects needy Northwest Arkansas residents and families with partnering nonprofit organizations and resources through a web portal and its community liaisons on the ground. In the past 15 months, Hark brought together 1,200 providers from 429 regional and national organizations to assist 2,700 residents and families, according to Heather Paul, director of finance and development for Hark.
The idea for the fund stemmed from previous city dealings on panhandling. The City Council passed an ordinance in 2016 prohibiting walking or standing in the street and deleted all mentions of panhandling, begging or soliciting donations from city code. The council in March further defined a roadway as being from curb to curb.
Neither measure was intended to target panhandlers, but to promote safety, City Attorney Kit Williams said at the time. However, the indirect effect is that anyone asking for money on the street must do so on one side or another, and not in a median. A discussion sprang up during the council meeting in March about how to provide panhandlers some better options. The administration discussed the matter internally and collaborated with Hark.
Drivers around town will see signs beginning in early October notifying them of the fund. Those who want to give money can text a number to donate. Anyone who needs assistance can call a hotline to get connected.
Texting FAY to 50155 will prompt a response from the program's software provider, Qgiv. The user responds with the amount he wants to donate, which will pull up a link for first-time donors to complete the gift.
From there, the user can fill out the necessary credit card and contact information and create an account. Creating an account will keep the information saved for the next time a donation is made.
On the other hand, someone who needs help can call (479) 709-2492 to get connected to someone from Hark. That person, called a community liaison, will help direct resources where they need to go. Assistance can range from getting diapers to a new belt for a car or paying a utility bill on time.
The neighborhood fund program provides a more holistic approach to helping someone, Paul said.
"We would find out what the foundational, core issues are in their situation, and then build a relationship and keep in contact with them to get those things mitigated," she said
The city's Community Resources Division will oversee the program and provide regular reports to the City Council, Community Resources Director Yolanda Fields said. The $5,000 the council is set to approve Tuesday will pay Hark for creating the program, which is mostly done. That is a one-time payment. The city's Community Development Block Grant fund will cover a $49 monthly fee with Qgiv and associated transactional fees.
Only people in Fayetteville will be able to receive assistance from the fund, Fields said. Anyone can donate, however.
"These are all our neighbors," she said. "When they have challenges, we're hoping that those individuals who want to donate and can donate will donate to this particular catalyst fund. We're calling it that because it is assistance that can help people move forward."
The division will keep tabs on who's being helped with what, although it won't have specific names divulged for public record. Rather, city officials and the public will know the demographics of those helped and what kind of services they received, such as the number of single mothers who needed diapers or households that needed assistance to pay a bill, Fields said.
About a dozen similar programs exist in the United States, according the city of Albuquerque's website. Albuquerque started the first program in 2015, and other cities followed.
"There's a Better Way" phase 1 of the program involved setting up street signs where panhandlers typically would solicit donations. The signs encouraged people in need of food or shelter to call the city's 311 service, according to the program's webpage.
The signs also listed a website where prospective donors can contribute to a local charitable organization. The United Way of Central New Mexico charges the city no administrative costs as the program's fiscal agent.
Albuquerque's program goes a step further with a city-funded work program. The city partnered with a local nonprofit group, which uses a van to pick up panhandlers and pays them at an hourly rate to pick up trash or do basic landscape work.
Fayetteville is interested in that kind of a program, but the city needs a charitable or nonprofit partner to make it happen, Fields said.
"I have been actively seeking partnerships for at least two years," she said. "I've had different meetings with different people and I've had no takers."
Rob Qualls, a resident who met with the administration after the March meeting to bring such a program to the city, said he was glad to see the administration taking steps in the right direction. The program certainly won't solve homelessness or eliminate panhandling, but it will at least provide another option, he said.
"I'm happy that the discussion surrounding panhandling led to taking some action to inform the public and inform those who may be affected about some other programs they can take part in," Qualls said. "If somebody wants to help, and they feel like panhandling is a problem, then they have a way to do that. If someone is panhandling and they need a solution to issues impacting them, they can get in touch with Hark.
"I feel like it's a really positive thing," he said.
NW News on 10/01/2018