Erin Nixon
Mecklenburg County Community Support Services
This blog post provides an update on this important work, and what it means for the community.
PROJECT MILESTONES
Listed below are project milestones since November 2019. To read a prior update, click here.
CoC Governing Board: January 2020
After the new Governance Charter was approved on November 13, 2019, a call went out via email and the CoC website seeking applications for the 12 elected seats on the new Governing Board. The application period was open until December 4, 2019. There were 31 applications received. A First Board Nominating Committee was formed and included two members from the Housing Advisory Board and four members from the Homeless Services Network. All applicants who applied by the deadline were invited to an in-person interview with members from the Nominating Committee. During this period, Ex-Officio and Appointed seats were filled by the named organizations.
There are two seats on the Board reserved for people with lived experience in homelessness. The charter stated that a forum was to be held for people with lived experience to choose the two representatives that they wanted to have on the Board. This forum was held on January 2, 2020 at the Urban Ministry Center | Men’s Shelter of Charlotte. There were five candidates who presented at the forum and attendees voted for their top two choices. Those names were added to the recommended slate of Board nominees.
The Nominating Committee met on January 3, 2020 to review notes from the interviews and came to a final decision on the recommended slate. This recommended slate had two vacant elected seats, which will be up to the new Board to seek applications for and fill. The slate was presented to the CoC membership for a vote to approve on January 8, 2020. The membership voted to approve the slate and charged the Board to consider minority male candidates and mental health and substance use providers when filling the two open seats. A final slate can be found on the CoC website here.
Collaborative Applicant: January 2020
Also, on November 13, 2019, Abt Associates issued a request to the community for Letters of Interest to serve as the new Collaborative Applicant. This period was open until December 4, 2019. An Ad Hoc Committee to choose the First Collaborative Applicant was formed consisting of two representatives from the Ad Hoc Governance Committee, two representatives from the Homeless Services Network and one representative from the United Way. Mecklenburg County Community Support Services submitted a letter of interest and then responded to a Request For Qualifications from the committee. CSS was the only organization to apply. The CoC membership voted to approve Mecklenburg County CSS as the new Collaborative Applicant at its January 8, 2020 meeting.
NEXT STEPS
CoC Governing Board
The CoC Governing Board will have an orientation facilitated by Abt Associates, HUD Technical Assistance provider, and CSS Collaborative Applicant staff in February. During this orientation, they will set goals and strategies for the year ahead. They will also establish a meeting schedule for the Board and the CoC membership and form the new committees that are outlined in the charter. Meeting schedules for the Board, membership, CoC Committees and Workgroups will be published on the CoC website and are always open to the public.
CoC Membership
Both organization and unaffiliated individual membership applications are available on the CoC website. Only members will be able to vote at membership meetings. If you need assistance completing or submitting an application, please contact Erin Nixon at 980-314-8923.
SO, WHAT
The CoC Governing Board will set the priorities for the community’s Continuum of Care to address the full spectrum of need from housing instability to homelessness. The Collaborative Applicant will staff the Continuum of Care’s committees. It will also coordinate community efforts to prepare and submit the annual Notice of Funding Availability application to HUD and the NC DHHS Emergency Solutions Grant application, which brings funding into our community to address homelessness and housing instability.
HUD announced its funding awards for the CoC Program yesterday. The announcement can be found here. Our Continuum of Care was awarded $4,524,370, which includes a new project for survivors of Domestic Violence.
To sign up for updates, ask questions, or learn more about getting involved, please email [email protected].
Visit the Charlotte-Mecklenburg CoC webpage for more information.
Erin Nixon serves as the Sr. Social Services Manager in Mecklenburg County Community Support Services where her roles include engagement with the Continuum of Care. She previously supervised Mecklenburg County’s Shelter Plus Care program, which provides permanent supportive housing to chronically homeless households.
