|
Kansas City/Jackson County, Missouri’s Continuum of Care (CoC) is coordinated by the Homeless Services Coalition of Greater Kansas City (HSC) whose mission is to “bring together organizations and individuals dedicated to creating opportunities for compassionate community responses to homelessness”. This collaborative effort, supported by more than 60 diverse organizations, is committed to creating and maintaining a continuum of care that responds to the complex needs of homeless individuals and families.
In order to effectively carry out community needs assessment, planning, and coordination, the HSC relies upon the Continuum of Care (CoC) Committee. In 1996, the HSC adopted a formal Continuum of Care strategy to strengthen its collaborative work and enable it to leverage increased funding and service delivery. The HSC took a further step in 1997 by forming a committee of over 30 organizations to coordinate the Continuum of Care process. This Committee has defined its purpose as: defining, evaluating, and enhancing the Continuum of Care system for the homeless in Kansas City. A primary function of this committee is the coordination of the community’s response to the Continuum of Care SuperNOFA.
HSC’s largest committee is the Continuum of Care (CoC) Committee. Since 1999, the Continuum of Care Committee has continued to meet on a monthly basis and annually revises the goals and action steps that are necessary to improve the Continuum of Care system. The members, meeting frequency, Continuum of Care Committee subcommittees, and the accomplishments are described in the following chart.
While many of the activities of the CoC focused on grant preparation, in June 2001 the committee restructured to guarantee that the focus of work be on the provision of services, the development needs of the Continuum and the facilitation of easy access by community members to the HUD grant process, as well as the increased involvement by community members. From the restructuring, three new subcommittees were formed including: the HUD grant process, which incorporated some of the previous committees such as the gaps committee as a subcommittee; the special needs population subcommittee which focused on chronic homelessness this year; and consumer involvement which was a revamping of two previous committees. During the year, a fourth subcommittee, which had previously been the central intake and assessment committee, was re-formed to address HMIS needs and development.
Each committee had a chairperson who coordinates the work of that group. Within each committee a group of community members form task groups with the purpose of accomplishing a particular task (e.g., gaps analysis and consumer involvement survey).
Please follow these links to the Exhibit One from previous year’s applications:
|
