On December 3rd sixty members of the Greater Hartford community assembled at the Lumsden Center of CRT to begin planning for Greater Hartford’s 100-Day Rapid Results Campaign. This stakeholders meeting was a productive and powerful show of solidarity for a campaign that will depend on strong partnerships and innovative solutions to succeed. Led by Journey Home Executive Director Matt Morgan and co-facilitated by Nadim Matta of Rapid Results Institute, the conversation focused on collective problem solving and team building. “We will be looking for team members who are passionate about ending homelessness,” Matt Morgan said, “who are involved in direct service delivery while having sufficient status and credibility in their organization to influence the way things are done.”
In two short hours, representatives from a broad spectrum of state and federal agencies as well as housing, shelter and medical care providers identified the most prominent barriers to housing Greater Hartford’s chronically homeless. Areas of focus included: increasing the percentage of housing resources for the chronic/vulnerable population, preparing data systems to track progress and decreasing the number of requirements preventing clients from accessing housing. Task forces were established to tackle each of these areas, and begin preparing deliverable goals for the 100-Day kick-off in March. This productive session made it clear that there is a collective will to innovate and address what is not working for the homeless community. After the recent success of New Haven’s 100-Day Campaign, with 171 formerly homeless individuals housed, Journey Home and our partners are excited to see what can be achieved for Greater Hartford.