1) Process through which purpose and goals of the campus will be established

Who should be the administrative arm to keep the process moving forward?
What should the balance of people from the community be?
Who should be able to get information from?

Transcription

1 1) Process through which purpose and goals of the campus will be established Tap into Existing Knowledge Research national best practices: what process other campuses used? Gather information from staff at other homeless campuses. Don t spend time trying to reinvent the wheel, go to the experts who have done this successfully. Lessons learned. BEACH organization has gone through a similar process so we need to seek their input/expertise. Process Suggestions Needs assessment / Identify specific needs of homeless populations o Make campus model fit the need of the city, look back at who is looking for services in homeless community, what does that look like and what are the gaps? o Ensure no duplication of services Regional assessment has already been conducted (Jan 2010): identified need for more emergency shelter beds Base goals on what is required for federal funding, changing requirements (i.e. HEARTH Act) Process is determined by our deadline, what is our target? Open and transparent meetings are vital to the process. Need a coalition of the willing a leader to facilitate the community voice (JCOC, for example) Completed staff work City-wide partnerships Like a sports league have a chair person that represents the community. To educate and inform the community about homelessness in general. Need to educate the public on homelessness. Educating the police is important. Need to have a better understanding of mental illness. Neighborhoods in VB are wide-spread. How does each neighborhood get to have a voice? o Encourage every civic league to get involved Two tier outreach and education in general: o What is the need? o Specific community input from the neighborhoods/areas that will be directly impacted Survey groups who we might want to be involved, get input on what services should be included. Need to establish focus groups and schedule a series of community meetings. Allow persons to submit comments in writing (some people don t like to attend meetings or speak in public) by posting a survey on the city website. Need to build self-examination/ criticism into the process. o There needs to be a continual feedback loop between DHNP and the community. o Conduct surveys to gain feedback from the community. Page 1 of 9

2 Table #8 scenario for order of process steps, summary: Establish steering committee structure Conduct education/outreach o Community at large o The press Engage in listening/receive feedback Establish values/goals/vision Formulate branding and communications strategy Table #8 process description: At the very beginning of the Campus planning process, there needs to be a series of meetings to serve two purposes: 1) Educate/inform the public (maybe 15 minutes presentation time) o Include background information: statistics as well as best practices from other cities o Explain the vision for the project and what the project is 2) Listen to attendees reactions and comments about where they see themselves fitting within the process. o Focus on a values-based discussion and issue framing Characteristics of the meetings would be: o Invite a huge group of any and all possible project partners, as well as potential opponents, and everyone in between. o Hold more than one meeting, but the meeting content/format will be exactly the same. o Meetings can be held in the same week. o o Hold meetings in the evening, for those who work. Meetings should be in different locations and at different times, to allow as many people to attend as possible. Following the initial meetings, take the temperature of how the meetings went. What values did people express at the meetings? What did we learn from the public that we did not know before? Must decide who processes all the info from every meeting. The next step is to establish the vision and goals of the project. This must be completed before any branding can be put in place. Must communicate how the project benefits homeless clients as well as the neighborhood(s) that will be hosting the campus. By the time BEACH has its regular fall meeting, that could be a forum to provide an update of the campus planning process. Page 2 of 9

3 2) Who should be involved? / Committee(s) structure Stakeholder List Homeless clients and formerly homeless o PATH o Helping Hands Government Departments & Agencies: o Human Services Mental health/substance abuse Foster care system o Housing o Police o Public Health o Re-entry program, local jails Re-entry initiative at the state level would potentially have impact locally o Law enforcement/police o Virginia Employment Commission o Elected officials / law-makers o Veterans Administration (in Hampton). Other veteran-related groups: Filipino community Women veterans with children Armed Forces YMCA o Veterans Affairs Supportive Housing (HUD) o VB adult learning services Providers: o Hope in the Upper Room o PIN o JCOC o Lighthouse o Samaritan House o Seton Youth Shelters Coalitions: o VB HARP o OHAC o BEACH o Regional Task Force Page 3 of 9

4 Faith organizations: o Union Mission o Area churches o Interfaith Alliance (Deborah Grant, co-chair) o Ministers Alliance o Hampton Roads Christian Business Chamber o Christian Broadcasting Network o Tidewater Baptist Ministers Conference Medical Community: o emergency room staff /EMS o Beach health clinic o Sentara o Family practice clinic on General Booth Blvd. o Mental health/substance abuse Human Rights: o Legal community o Human Rights Commission o VB Justice Initiative (launched 6 months ago focusing on trafficking victims) Education related: o Educational/vocational providers and trainers o Urban studies interns/college students Hampton Roads Chamber of Commerce Retail Alliance VB Council of Civic Organizations Homeowners Hampton Roads Transit Opportunities Inc. of Norfolk (has services within VB) Urban League of Hampton Roads NAACP, Virginia Beach Branch Kids Eat Free Page 4 of 9

5 Suggested committees Steering committee Service provider committee Sub-committees for specific services Finance committee Site committee buy in from various organizations through continued open forums Communications committee Design committee Outreach Committee Suggestions for Committee Structure Need a champion Need to establish a process owner before any education, PR, communication etc goes out to the community. Structure of top committee with sub-committees to focus on key areas (i.e. communication, fundraising, etc.) City to not lead groups - city provide administrative support DHNP should be the administrative arm to create agendas and keep the process moving forward, but ensuring that the process remains open and transparent. o It will be important to brand the process as an open process from the very beginning. Rather than DHNP owning the entire management structure, there could be a main advisory group/steering committee/task force that includes DHNP representation within it. Steering committee should be people maximum o Ensure that the committee does not become bogged down in procedure, quorums, voting etc. o The committee needs to be representative without growing too large and needs to be flexible to adapt to the process as it evolves. o As there are more and more meetings in the process, a core group of attendees will emerge. That core group could become the steering committee. Committees should have a balance/mix of persons from the community Should include concerned citizens wanting to help the homeless, not citizens who want to get rid of the homeless at the Beach area (not really an issue until a geographic location is decided on: NIMBY) Organization chart for ongoing work so people can decide where they want to concentrate their energies Won t know right people or enough people until proposal is being developed (i.e. homeless individuals, law enforcement) called in at specific times for expertise and input Some homeless have not felt appreciated at previous community meetings and are intimidated to attend community meetings. May be better to hold focus groups with the homeless on-site at service provider locations. Use BEACH as vehicle to develop proposal (new committee?): fits into partnership s goal, already has a lot of key players, Facilities Committee under BEACH? Page 5 of 9

6 3) Process to develop a long-term branding, fund raising, and communication strategy Branding Have a branding or naming contest among high school students. Communication strategy TV o Author report on project progress Internet o Set up a website specific to this project Include lots of educational components and background information o Social media o Infomercials o blasts o City website In person providing presentations and paper materials o libraries o churches o schools o services mapping o Civic leagues Seek their assistance to spread the word out to their own members Print / newspaper o Have the homeless do a personal appeal (highlight the plight of some homeless persons) via newspaper articles Radio Do weekly updates via one of the above media outlets: follow-the process o Insert human interest stories o Garner broad community interest o Use webcam once facility begins to be built o Celebrate successes Highlight good models and show these to the community during the process Mayor to do a press conference to launch the process. Advertise result of campus design competition with a non-homeless oriented city event (like a marathon) to reach broader community. Bring in a speaker from one of the successful campuses to talk about their process / and educate the public in Virginia Beach. o Video tape the presentation and post it on the project website, for those who could not attend the community meetings. Page 6 of 9

7 Fundraising Identify and apply for appropriate grants for bricks/mortar and ongoing operations Identify and use success stories who have been rehabilitated, positive stories Provide opportunity for partner organizations to contribute funds Get, use statistics from Union Mission model to show impact Campus will be more expensive initially but it could become sustainable over time and it can be a phased-in approach. View it as a continuum and that once people are in the system they will eventually be able to sustain themselves. Demonstrate the savings Fund raising ideas: o Series of benefit concerts o Marathon or walk, Run for shelter o Talk to Union Mission about their fund raising strategies o How many households are in Va. Beach and how much per household would it take to support the campus? o Golf tournaments o Get homeless involved to raise money for themselves (get them involved in the event). Many homeless have talents let them show us what they have to offer. o Car wash Make sure we educate the press on the campus vision and background. 4) Process to develop an outreach and community involvement strategy Establish design & review committee that would then reach out to developers. Request for Proposal (RFP) process. Bottom up process. More appealing to the community at large. Churches could help with outreach & community involvement. Contact the high schools. Already captured contact information on agencies and key players use contacts to get information out. As much proactive communication as possible. Key spokespeople to field questions, make sure consistent information is shared. Need community support, buy-in. Page 7 of 9

8 5) Process through which campus composition will be developed and decided upon Reach out to communities who have developed campus models (like Union Mission) and bring them in to provide guidance. Different philosophies from city to city. Understand how they differ and what we would want to see in VB. Need to identify the various problems associated with the homeless population in order to determine the appropriate services/providers, etc. o Where do we have gaps in the current homeless service delivery system? o What are the gaps? What part of the population is not being served? o So that we don t create a new campus that does not address gaps in service. Composition of campus is dependent upon the needs assessment and identified by campus goals. What is the most important thing to have on the campus? Create a wish list. Prioritize the needs. Committee puts forward the values and needs, then issues a competition for design. Make the campus a show place something to be proud of. Establish job training partnerships with the private sector. Have all of the current service providers bought into the campus idea? o Will they move to the facility if offered space? o Survey of current providers to gauge their interest and willingness to consolidate operations? How do you decide who runs the center and how do you make it competitive? 6) Questions, comments and other points to consider What happens to homeless individuals who are alcoholics? Would campus eliminate or augment services at Oceanfront? People who only want services near Beach won t access campus services. Transportation to/from campus: on bus line Likes the one-door idea / centralized intake Must be able to support and sustain whatever facility is developed If we are successful here, homeless from outside the area will come to VB. So we need to document who the homeless in VB before construction of the campus. Page 8 of 9

9 6) Questions, comments and other points to consider (continued) What does the city have to do?: Is there a long-term commitment? Ensure the city has ongoing commitment to their part. If problems arise, will the city be there? Locating the facility according to good land use conventions, from the beginning, to minimize the impact on neighborhoods. Transformational model that reintegrates the homeless back into mainstream society. Effective programs that support homeless clients throughout the transition process. Resources are a concern. Create a sense of community where no one gets left behind, including the ability to sustain an ongoing betterment of the community at-large. Within 6-9 months identify 10 sites throughout the city to vet. This will make it more tangible. Need to keep the goal in front of the process (like Kennedy s challenge to put a man on the moon). Goal definition process. Objectives, methodology and resources Understand that campus cannot help 100% of the people in need. Who might oppose this project? VB Taxpayers Alliance Neighborhood groups or Civic Leagues in proposed location A successful proposal must identify weaknesses, which may be brought up later by opponents, and incorporate solutions/answers into the body of the proposal. Page 9 of 9