Project Homeless Connect
Today Kent County embarks on a great project!
With the cooperation and leadership of both the City and the County, Grand Rapids is joining the ranks of 43 other major cities across the United States in implementing a Project Homeless Connect event today, to be held at the Van Andel Arena.
The event’s focus is to link persons who are homeless or about to be with immediate services in an effort to promote stability.
The Grand Rapids Area Coalition to End Homelessness is overseeing this community effort, which will invite and coordinate participation of housing and service providers, and volunteers from throughout the government, business, education, health, and faith communities. The Coalition estimated there were nearly 2,000 homeless persons in Grand Rapids between January and June of 2006. They expect this number does not include all those who are staying on the street or in places not meant for habitation, and also does not represent the hundreds more who are at risk of homelessness, including many who are living "doubled-up" with other family members and friends.
The Coalition intends to use Project Homeless Connect as a way to identify homeless persons and to provide them with important housing information along with a variety of immediate services and activities, such as health screening/care, public services, legal services, benefits assistance, employment opportunities, personal care services and a meal.
The Grand Rapids Public Library will also be at Project Homeless Connect, working to provide library cards for as many as possible, as well as clearing old, outstanding accounts to provide those in need with a fresh start.
Hundreds of other volunteers are participating in Project Homeless Connect, while many organizations have donated goods to make it possible. For further information about the Coalition to End Homelessness or about Project Homeless Connect, visit www.grahcoc.org.
The Coalition is the community planning body that aims to prevent and end homelessness by coordinating our community’s resources and services for homeless and precariously-housed families and individuals. More than 70 local housing and service providers participate in the Coalition. Mayor George Heartwell and Roger Morgan, Chair of the Kent County Commission, led the community “Vision to End Homelessness” initiative. This project is a tangible product of this effort.