Macon Magazine

DECEMBER/JANUARY 2023 | maconmagazine.com 51 agencies, and people experiencing homelessness or housing vulnerability. "This is person-centered because it's about the lives of those underneath bridges, held in tenuous situations. It's solution- oriented. It's about affecting change in the system. It's held together by a common call for the common good," Hall said. Macon-Bibb County is unique in the sense of having many organizations in our community aimed to help people experiencing homelessness, whether it be giving them a cot, a warm meal, clothes, or housing vouchers. But these groups are often offering the same services and overlapping with one another. Hall's goal is to bring all of these organizations to the table to work together, ask for help, and find an approach that will ultimately end housing vulnerability. In October, United to End Homelessness held its first meeting with the Macon-Bibb County Fire Department, Sheriff 's Office, Emergency Management, Salvation Army, Daybreak, and Brookdale. Mayor Miller brought in an expert with Rethinking Homelessness into the Emergency Operations Center (EOC), which is a national initiative that brings together elected officials, nonprofit leaders, service providers, business executives, and other community leaders to build coalitions, create new best practice strategies, and advocate to transform and save lives impacted by homelessness and poverty. "We have too many people in our community that depend on us to make the right decision. To me, the right thing is taking care of the most vulnerable people in our community," Miller said. "We're in this for the right reasons. This will be transformational for our community, not 10 years down the road, but next year." United to End Homelessness held two strategy sessions with community members from the Eisenhower Business Improvement District, Community Foundation of Central Georgia, Mercer University, Middle Georgia State University, and elsewhere. The second session included service providers and organizations such as Depaul Daybreak USA, River Edge Behavioral Health Center, Macon Area Habitat for Humanity, Macon Mental Health Matters, the Mentor's Project of Bibb County, and many more. Representatives from each shared why the homelessness issue is so important to them and what they want to see done by coming together. "Scripture tells us the poor will always be among us. However, by all of us coming together to work for one mind and one accord, I think we'll get the most accomplished in this community," said Salvation Army Corps Administrator Sgt. Melissa White. "I'd like to see more collaboration and all of us not offering the same services in different ways, but to actually come up with a systematic approach on how we could each find our avenue, and stay in our lane, and move forward." Over the next three months, Hall will conduct a community- wide, data-driven assessment to identify the types of homelessness most prevalent in Macon-Bibb, whether that is chronic homelessness, veteran homelessness, family homelessness, or youth homelessness. The discovery and engagement process will involve national experts on homelessness and multiple gatherings of government officials, citizens, and primary providers. "We're all a piece of a puzzle," Bender said. "Let's put it together and create the bigger picture." As everyone gets on the same page and works together, these efforts will help in using the housing first model. "Housing first is the only strategy that has shown to work effectively, and it's been a federal strategy for a while now," Hall said. "This model lowers the bar between unsheltered IT'S ABOUT AFFECTING CHANGE IN THE SYSTEM. IT'S HELD TOGETHER BY A COMMON CALL FOR THE COMMON GOOD." — DR. JAKE HALL "

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