Street Outreach (Beginning February 1, 2021)
Street Outreach provides essential services related to reaching out to unsheltered homeless individuals and families, connecting them with emergency shelter, housing, or critical services, and providing them with urgent, non-facility-based care. Through progressive engagement it can take up to eight visits with an individual or family living on the streets before they are willing or interested in moving into housing as we know it. The street outreach team will have funds available to meet immediate needs like healthcare, food, clothing, behavioral health treatment, etc. As this team continues to be built, we hope to be a resource for your local law enforcement.
Prevention
Funds may be used to provide housing relocation and stabilization services and short- and/or medium-term rental assistance necessary to prevent an individual or family from moving into an emergency shelter or another place not met for human habitation. People receiving services are “at-risk of homelessness.” Other requirements of the funds include participants must have an annual income below 30 percent of median family income for the area, as determined by Housing Urban Development (HUD). The costs of homelessness prevention are only eligible to the extent that the assistance is necessary to help the program participant regain stability in the program participant's current permanent housing or move into other permanent housing and achieve stability in that housing.
Rapid Re-Housing
Rapid re-housing is an intervention that is a critical part of a community’s effective homeless crisis response system. The program connects families and individuals experiencing homelessness to permanent housing through a tailored package of assistance, which may include the use of time-limited financial assistance and targeted supportive services. Rapid re-housing programs help families and individuals living on the streets or in emergency shelters solve the practical and immediate challenges to obtaining permanent housing. A fundamental goal of rapid re-housing is to reduce the amount of time a person is homeless.
Point in Time
From noon on January 27 to noon on January 28, many organizations will participate in the “Point in Time Count”, to get a snapshot of how many people are experiencing homelessness in a 24 hour period across the country. Many organizations in the Rolling Hills Coalition providing services to people experiencing homelessness will be participating in order to get an accurate count for your community. Our goal is to connect people in need with local resources. WE NEED YOUR HELP. Most likely your local law enforcement will know where we need to go and who we need to serve in the categories above. Please see the attached flier for more information.
If you know of someone experiencing homelessness, contact Waypoint Services, a Coordinated Entry system to connect them with available resources in our area. Phone number is 1-833-739-0065, or email at coordinatedentry2@gmail.com.
Envision Center Designation
On January 15, Central Iowa Shelter & Services was the first in the state to earn the Envision Center designation by HUD as a centralized hub for providing people with the resources and support needed to excel. With four pillars to success, the Economic Empowerment pillar is designed to improve the economic sustainability of individuals by empowering them with opportunities to improve their economic outlook. For this reason, CISS is expanding their three job training programs into the Coalition to support local residents in your communities regain self-sufficiency.
As the coalition of community members, housing authorities, local non-profits, churches, hospitals, workforce programs and shelters continue to grow, we hope you will join the Iowa League of Cities and Central Iowa Shelter & Services in joining the important work being done in the 15 counties making up the coalition (APPANOOSE, DAVIS, IOWA, JASPER, JEFFERSON, KEOKUK, LUCAS, MAHASKA, MARION, MONROE, POWESHIEK, VAN BUREN, WAPELLO, WARREN, & WAYNE COUNTIES). Together we can rise up and be a leading force meeting the critical housing and workforce needs in our communities.
For more information please reach out to the staff at Central Iowa Shelter & Services. They are excited to serve your communities.
Melissa O’Neil
Chief Executive Officer
moneil@centralIowashelter.org
(515) 280-2987
Hannah Garside
Director of Social Impact
hgardside@centraliowashelter.org
(515) 284-5719
Amber Tompkins
Director of the Rolling Hills Coalition
atompkins@centraliowashelter.org
(515) 284 5719
