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HISTORY OF THE HOMELESS CONSORTIUM
Prior to 1995, there were more than 30 associations, commissions, committees, and other groups meeting to discuss the issues related to homelessness. The 1995 Continuum of Care called for the establishment of a Homeless Consortium to bring together the diverse groups into one planning body. The City of Dallas took responsibility to facilitate the ongoing activities of the Consortium. The City of Dallas provides a staff member as liaison and provides funding for mailings, consultants, and other administrative matters. The Homeless Consortium welcomes anyone having an interest in issues relating to the homeless. The members meet on a bimonthly basis with more frequent subcommittee meetings. Projects are made possible by volunteer efforts of the membership.
To facilitate the process of developing and implementing the Continuum of Care, the Homeless Consortium will continue to act as the coordinating body to plan and evaluate the Continuum. Since January 1997, a total of 268 individuals representing 92 organizations, participated in 45 meetings. The Consortium, to be more effective, began a reorganization process in November 1997. The purpose of the process was to secure a broader base of participation, to give additional structure to the Consortium, to make plans to implement the strategies in the 1997/98 Continuum of Care, and to update the 1998/99 Continuum. To complete the objectives, the Consortium did the following:
- Adopted a mission statement
- Created a broad based steering committee and working subcommittees
- Reviewed the current and previous gaps in services analysis
- Facilitated focus groups for homeless persons who are victims of domestic violence, veterans, persons living with AIDS, substance abusers, mentally ill, families with children, and single individuals to gather insight from the consumer point of view and to assist in prioritizing the needs of the homeless
- Solicited data on homeless needs from 800 homeless persons attending the annual StandDown in December 1997
- Assigned City staff person to merge information from the Homeless Consortium, homeless persons, and service providers into a comprehensive Continuum of Care.
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