COMMUNITY FORUM

SEEKING SOLUTIONS FOR ENDING HOMELESSNESS

THURSDAY, APRIL 27, 2006

Community encouraged to participate.

DRAFT The Partnership to End Homelessness, a broad coalition of community groups and government officials will sponsor a forum to develop action steps and solutions for ending homelessness in Orange County. The Community Forum on Homelessness will be held Thursday, April 27, 2006 from 6-9pm at A.L. Stanback Middle School at 3700 NC Highway 86 South in Hillsborough, NC. Transportation, dinner, door prizes and information about community resources will be provided. All interested members of the community are invited to attend.

The purpose of the Orange County Partnership to End Homelessness is to address the following goals:

To educate the community by dispelling myths and putting a face on the homeless;
To develop a long term plan to end homelessness in Orange County; and
To encourage personal responsibility by inviting the community to address this issue individually.

The Forum is a component of the development of our local Ten-Year Plan to End Homelessness. The purpose of the Forum is to begin developing personal action steps and community-wide solutions that will effect change and assist in the goal of ending homelessness. We seek to involve a wide representative number of participants and new stakeholders including homeless individuals, consumers, community agency representatives, businesses, congregations, volunteers, civic clubs, neighborhood associations, elected officials, public employees, students, University officials and concerned citizens. Attendees will participate in small group discussions on the following topics:

Housing
Basic Necessities
Community Perceptions
Community Partnerships
Discharge Planning
Prevention
Employment/Education
Transportation
Connecting to Services
Successful Models of Service

These topics were identified as recurring themes throughout the County during a series of nineteen focus group sessions held in late February and early March 2006. In addition, an UNC-student team identified these themes during an intensive community assessment that involved individual interviews with people who are homeless or previously homeless, service providers and community members.

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