PROGRAM NEWS

City to City, The Boston Foundation

October 22, 2008 - Today we hosted a group of 30 civic, business and philanthropic leaders from Boston. The represented local colleges and universities, banks, non-profit organizations and government entities. We listened to our Executive Director, Dan Vincent talk about the “sea of homeless” people that lived under our expressways and how Mr. Chapman felt called to get involved. There was no plan and no coordination of services back in 1992; through hard work and dedication a coalition of Miami-Dade leaders, working with Governor Lawton Chiles, created positive change. The Miami-Dade Homeless Plan was established, a 1% food and beverage tax was approved by the Florida legislature and the Miami-Dade Homeless Trust was created to implement the Plan and levy the tax.

We’ve come along way, as they say, since then. We talked about facts and figures over lunch, viewed our National Program video then Mr. Brown took our visitors on a tour of the Chapman Center. Please see the pictures below. Each tour takes anywhere from 45 minutes up to 90 minutes, depending upon time constraints. City to City was with us for just a few hours so we moved quickly for this tour. There’s a lot to see at our centers, from the Family Resource Centers to our adult classrooms, Head Start, baby and toddler child care rooms then upstairs to our dormitories that provide residence for 402 people each night. Our guests viewed our medical clinic and mobile dental unit that travels between our two centers each week. They were escorted through our Program Services Department where case managers meet with every resident and work up a case plan to help them on to the next step in the continuum-of-care. Our last stop was through the kitchen and dining room then back to our Multi-purpose room for follow-up discussion.

A question and answer session took place before the group boarded a bus for their next stop. It seemed like we could have talked for hours and we feel that this visit was very informative and enjoyable for all concerned. Our guests thanked us for the hospitality and left with a birds-eye view of what we do here at CPH every day. We think there’s a lot more we can talk about and hope to hear from City to City in the near future.

To learn more about the City to City Program of the Boston Foundation please go to www.tbf.org

 


 

City to City Initiative of The Boston Foundation, Boston, Massachusetts – October 22, 2008

CPH was visited by a representative of the City to City initiative in late April, 2008. As a part of The Boston Foundation, City to City travels to one urban community each year to examine and learn about the best practices there in the hopes these lessons will contribute to the betterment of the Greater Boston area. The mission of The Boston Foundation is:

As Greater Boston’s community foundation, the Boston Foundation devotes its resources to building and sustaining a vital, prosperous city and region, where justice and opportunity are extended to everyone. We fulfill this mission in three principal ways:

Making grants to nonprofit organizations and designing special funding initiatives to address this community’s critical challenges;
Working in partnership with donors and other funders to achieve high-impact philanthropy; and Serving as a civic hub and center of information, where ideas are shared, levers for change are identified, and common agendas for the future are developed.

Community Partnership looks forward to this opportunity to present our model program to this prestigious group consisting of 57 of civic, business and philanthropic leaders from Boston. To learn more about the Boston Foundation please go to: www.bostonfoundation.org.

 

The Midlands Housing Alliance of Columbia, South Carolina
October 2, 2008

Community Partnership for Homeless National Program hosted a second visit from the Midlands Housing Alliance in less than a month. This group consisted of 33 people. It included Mayor Bob Coble, City Manager Charles P. Austin, United Way of the Midlands President & CEO, J. Mac Bennett, Midland’s Board Chair, Cathy B. Novinger, five members of the Columbia City Council, civic and neighborhood leaders as well as the Superintendent of the Richland School District, a representative from the Columbia Police Department and a local pastor.

Our day began at 10:30 when the group arrived in a coach dispatched by the office of Mayor Manny Diaz. We proceeded through introductions followed by a history of CPH given by our Executive Director, Dan Vincent, followed with remarks by our Chairman, Robert Chisholm.

When we have large groups we separate our tours into smaller units so that each person can get a more personal view of our center. These tours take over an hour as we walk through our classrooms, resource center, Head Start and childcare rooms then go upstairs to the dormitories. Guests walk through the family dormitory and single women and single men’s dormitories where our residents total nearly 402 people every day. We then walk through our Program Services Department where case managers work with each resident in establishing a case plan and working towards the next step in the Miami-Dade Continuum-of-care. The tour ends in our dining area after walking through our kitchen where culinary arts classes are held in addition to the preparation of three meals each day, every day of the year.

After the tours we reassembled for lunch and watched our National Program video (please see the bottom of our NEWS page for your own look at the video). A representative from the Miami-Dade School Board discussed our partnership which provides GED and ABE classes on site as well as many other offerings at a local vocational school. Our neighborhood resource officers from the Miami-Dade Police Department then talked about their close relationship with CPH and how our presence in the neighborhood has been beneficial to everyone. Our next speaker was Mr. Ron Book, Chairman of the Miami-Dade Homeless Trust who spoke eloquently about the accomplishments of the Trust and CPH as well as its’ other community partners.

Many questions were asked by our guests and in-depth discussion took place throughout the day. The visit concluded with a bus tour of the neighborhood around CPH and a stop at the Lyric Theater in Overtown. Dr. Dorothy Jenkins Fields, one of our board members gave a history of the neighborhood before the group left for Miami International Airport.

Our Director of Marketing, Patricia Vila was interviewed by a reporter from The State newspaper in Columbia on October 1st. Please click the link below to read the article published on October 2nd.

http://www.thestate.com/local/story/542126.html 



Family Dorm


Men’s Dorm


Men’s Dorm
 

Columbia, South Carolina Midlands Housing Alliance Visit, September 10, 2008

CPH staff met with a group from the Midlands Housing Alliance on September 10th. The group consisted of Mr. Mac Bennett, the President and CEO of the United Way of the Midlands; Ms. Susan Patterson, Knight Foundation Community Partners Program Director; Ms. Cathy B. Novinger, Chair of the Board of Directors, MHA; the Honorable E.W. Cromartie, II, Councilman, Columbia City Council; Mr. Robby Aull of Stevens & Wilkinson of South Carolina, Inc. (architects); Mr. Jim Prater of the Earlewood Community Association and Mr. David E. Roberts of the Elmwood Park Neighborhood Association.

The group toured the Chapman Center then participated in a telephone conference with Mayor Alex Penelas who served with Mr. Chapman on the Governors Homeless Task Force which led to the establishment of CPH. After lunch there was an open forum of discussion covering such topics as the food and beverage tax in Miami-Dade County and the Homeless Trust; neighborhood involvement to engage all players i.e.; business, residents, advocates, philanthropists and civic leaders; our holistic approach to providing services to our residents and many other subjects. The meeting adjourned with a plan for the alliance to return in early October with two busloads of Columbia stakeholders. This meeting will begin on October 2nd and end the following day, mid afternoon.

Please see the picture below of our meeting on September 10, 2008. If you wish further information regarding CPH efforts to help the Midlands Housing Alliance please contact Mr. Alfredo K. Brown at 3050329-3013 or at www.abrown@cphi.org



CPH National Program visits Columbia, South Carolina to lend support to a new homeless initiative.

In April 2009 Mr. Alfredo K. Brown, our Director of National Program Development was asked to visit Columbia, South Carolina by Ms. Susan Patterson, Program Director of the Knight Foundation there. Mr. Brown reviewed plans for a new homeless assistance center and provided a written assessment of its strengths and weaknesses as well as suggestions. This report was included in a grant request made to the Knight Foundation and was also given to the Midlands Housing Alliance, the group behind the homeless assistance center plan. As a result of the grant request by the Alliance and the CPH National Program assessment, Columbia was awarded a $5 million dollar grant by the Knight Foundation.

Please click on the link below to view the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation press release of June 26, 2008.

http://www.knightfoundation.org/news/press_room/knight_press_releases/detail.dot?id=331205 



Republic of Colombia, Senator Luz Elena Restrepo – July, 2008


Colombia is the 26th largest nation in the world and has a population of over 44 million people. It is the third most populous country in South America. Some reports indicate a 17% rate of homelessness and an extreme rate of poverty in 45% of the general population. Senator Restrepo had read about CPH and requested to visit our Homestead center. She was escorted by our Director of National Program Development, Mr. Alfredo K. Brown, on a tour then met with CPH staff over lunch to discuss her country’s situation. The Senator indicated her intentions to return in the near future with a contingent of her fellow Senators and their goal of submitting a report to the full Colombian Senate on their findings. We were very pleased to host this meeting and look forward to the next visit from Senator Restrepo and her colleagues.
 

June 20 - 24, 2008

U.S. Conference of Mayors Annual Meeting in Miami, Florida

The 76th U.S. Conference of Mayors (USCM) annual meeting took place at the Intercontinental Hotel. City of Miami Mayor Manny Diaz not only hosted the event but was inaugurated as the 66th president of the organization on June 24th.

Mayor Diaz gave CPH the incredible opportunity to introduce our National Program initiative at this event. We produced a very informative brochure containing our new video which was included in the 1200 give-away bags of the participants. If you wish to review the brochure please see the link on our website or use the contact page and we will forward a hard copy to you immediately.

The brochure introduces the fundamentals of our homeless plan along with the stories of four former residents who have become self-sufficient. The video highlights our model concept with interviews of local leaders and former residents discussing CPH philosophy and programs as well as footage of both facilities and the grounds and amenities which provide on-site services to a total of 702 residents.

CPH also hosted the Hunger and Homelessness Task Force meeting of the USCM at our downtown Chapman Center. This meeting was hosted by Mayor T.M. Franklin Cownie of Des Moines, Iowa and Mayor Gavin Newsom of San Francisco, California. Mr. George McDonald, founder of The Doe Fund made a video presentation of their efforts to help homeless men in New York City and Mr. Philip Mangano, Executive Director of the United States Interagency Council on Homelessness (USICH) presented a PowerPoint entitled “The National Partnership: Investment, Innovation and Results in Ending Homelessness”. Ms. Patience Butler, Senior Manager of Share our Strength reported on her organization’s efforts to end child hunger.

CPH presented our video to the group after which they were escorted on a tour of our facility. The response to our facility was extremely positive and we received many inquiries for further information about our programs.

USICH Newsletters:
 

CityLink Center, Cincinnati, Ohio – March, 2008

Several organizations are collaborating to establish a multi-service center to provide integrated services in helping move people out of poverty and into a life of self-sufficiency. We hosted four representatives in March, 2008 who toured both of our facilities. The group presented a series of questions covering the following topics:

  • Background Public Relations/Communications
  • Integration Staffing/Human Resources
  • Overall Metrics Volunteer Management
  • Case Management Social Entrepreneurship
  • Health Center Mentoring and Aftercare
  • Security/Facilities

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