Ending Chronic Homelessness in Wichita / Sedgwick County

Background

Face of Homelessness In 2006, the City of Wichita and Sedgwick County joined together at the urging of non-profit and faith-based organizations to form the Taskforce to End Chronic Homelessness (TECH). The enabling resolution charged the taskforce with identifying the issues related to ending chronic homelessness and making recommendations to the two governing bodies as to how the County and City can be effective partners with community advocate groups to address the needs of people experiencing chronic homelessness. Additionally, TECH was charged with developing a plan to end chronic homelessness in Sedgwick County to include short, intermediate and long range strategies, as well as potential funding options as appropriate and a mechanism for reporting on goal obtainment.

Announcements

FREE training for homeless service providers: in an effort to support the Plan to End Chronic Homelessness and better meet the needs of local homeless adults, Sedgwick County will host a Supplemental Security Income/Social Security Disability (SSI/SSDI) Outreach, Access and Recovery (SOAR) training on October 15 & 16, 2008. SOAR is a national program, recently implemented by the County; the program teaches case managers and others who work with homeless adults about the SSI/SSDI application process. The goal is to secure benefits for eligible individuals on the first application. Click here for more details on the FREE local training. For more information on SOAR, visit http://www.prainc.com/soar/

Oversight Committee

In March, the Wichita City Council and the Sedgwick County Board of County Commissioners endorsed the Task Force to End Chronic Homelessness (TECH) Plan. One of the five strategies in that plan was to create an oversight committee, with members being nominated by the City Manager (Wichita) and the County Manager (Sedgwick County). The members of the group were selected in May and all have accepted their positions. The members are:

Jack Focht - Chair
TJ Akin
Sue Castile
Ray Frederick
Ben Grisamore
Janet Miller
Melissa Walker

The group met for the first time on July 7. The next scheduled meeting is for Wednesday, August 20th at 1:30 p.m. at the Ark Valley Lodge, 615 N. Main. If you would like to contact the oversight committee with any feedback or thoughts, please email Jack Focht, Oversight Chair at jfocht@foulston.com.

Work of the Taskforce

TECH is comprised of representatives from various community sectors including business, the public school system, non-profits, people who experienced homelessness, faith communities, civic leaders, an urban neighborhood, and city and county governments. TECH has met over a period of 16 months and conducted its work in four phases:

Studying Homelessness and Available Resources in Wichita
Identifying Gaps in Service to the Chronically Homeless
Researching Best Practices Nationally
Developing Strategies to End Chronic Homelessness

After identifying and understanding the problem, the TECH has completed it's Plan to End Chronic Homelessness. If you would like to get a quick glance at what the plan entails, click here to read a two-page summary. If you would like to send comments or questions to the taskforce, please do so by clicking here. These comments will go to a County staff member assigned to the taskforce.