Atlanta's Own Named White House "Champion for Change" in the Fight Against Youth Homelessness

As Director of Project Community Connections Inc., Margaret Schuelke oversees an organization that connects people with homes. PCCI assists individuals and families experiencing homelessness with permanent housing placements and connections to mainstream resources.

The White House has recognized her as a "Champion of Change" for her innovative efforts in building the DeKalb KidsHome Collaborative to help end youth homelessness in Atlanta, GA!

Find out more here!

Self-Sufficiency is a Success in South Carolina - Dr. Michael Chesser

by Pharren Adams

Dr. Michael Chesser is Executive Director of the Upstate Homeless Coalition of South Carolina with over 100 service providers offering assistance to those experiencing homelessness. Dr. Chesser has more than 20 years of experience in direct practice helping people get out of homelessness. He has been involved with local and state advocacy groups, and participations in national forums.

The Home At Last (H.A.L.) program offers immediate assistance to homeless people to help them off the street and get into their own apartments, allowing them to be self sufficient and in charge of themselves.  They are then connected to numerous resources that enable them to get jobs, go to school, or overcome feats which were not possible while they were homeless.

Dr. Chesser says through the work of the Upstate Homeless Coalition of South Carolina, “we have demonstrated that people can come in, can stay housed, and govern themselves.”

Check out their website to read more about their programs! There are even audio success stories you can listen to!

 http://www.upstatehomeless.com/pages/contact_admin.html

Southern Collaborative On the Move! - Durham, NC

Lloyd Schmeidler, Project Manager for the Department of Community Development for the City of Durham in North Carolina, recently engaged the Southern Collaborative in discussion around a potential regional effort. He noticed a strong interest in Durham for adopting the Vulnerability Assessment Tool (VAT), so he organized a conference call to gauge interest in organizing a training for the Southeast region.

Some people feel the VAT is a more objective and complete assessment than the 100K Homes Campaigns Vulnerability Index Assessment (VI), which focuses mostly on medical vulnerability.

There were more than 10 participants on the call from the following cities:

• Greensboro, Chapel Hill, Greenville, and Durham, NC
• Savannah, GA

Two representatives from Seattle’s DESC, the organization that created the VAT, presented a brief overview of the development of the tool and their training methods. The rest of the call was spent with questions about the use of the tool itself and about how we would potentially run a training in the Southeast.

“There are a lot of best practices to reduce and end homelessness being implemented throughout the Southeast and the nation. The Southern Collaborative enables us to easily share information with one another, to take advantage of learning opportunities in the region, and to encourage one another in the difficult work that we are doing.”

Currently Schmeidler is waiting for approval on his proposal to sponsor a VAT training.

Are you interested in learning more about VAT and participating in a training? Let us know your thoughts! Comment and share here!