I couldn’t do what they do.
I just don’t think there is any way I could do it, day in and day out. I’m not cut from that cloth. But it’s inspiring to watch them work.
In my ongoing effort to let you see “behind the curtain” of the city manager’s office, I’d like to tell you about the meetings I’ve been hosting with various homeless service providers. I’ve invited the CEOs of these organizations and the chairpersons of their respective boards to get together quarterly to do just two things – identify areas of overlap in services and identify gaps in services.
The CEOs and one or two board chairs attend the meetings. I had hoped all of the board chairs would attend each meeting, because I think nothing would be more powerful in promoting coordination and collaboration than having every board “on board” with the collective vision we are trying to create. But alas, I understand the difficulty of coordinating schedules with volunteer board leaders, and I recognize they are volunteers. I’m extremely thankful for those who do attend and participate.
During our first few meetings, we focused on conducting a review of our strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats, aka a SWOT analysis, and we identified a few common topics of interest that were negatively impacting all of the agencies. Chief among the agencies was obvious – an increased demand for homeless services amid decreasing resources. A close second was dealing with an increasing population of homeless individuals with mental health issues. In response, we invited the National Alliance on Mental Illness and Burrell Behavioral Health to the table.
More recently, the group wondered whether our current model of offering food pantries was the best model for those in need and the most efficient for those offering the service. We invited representatives from area food pantries to participate in the next meeting, and about 10 accepted our invitation. After some discussion and brainstorming, the pantries in attendance accepted the challenge to evaluate whether a different model would be more effective and efficient, and they committed to report back to us in three months.
On a related note, the city is providing office space on Boonville Avenue for a new, formal housing office; the official name is still in development. This space will bring together Community Partnership of the Ozarks; One Door, a homelessness resource database under The Kitchen Inc. umbrella; and other partners to create a one-stop shop for those seeking affordable housing in our community.
My personal thanks and admiration go to those of you who support our community’s various homeless shelters with your time, talent and treasures. Without your help, none of this would happen to help those among us with the least. The city will continue to do its part to help.
Greg Burris is Springfield’s city manager. He can be reached at gburris@springfieldmo.gov.
