Alachua County Coalition for the Homeless and Hungry
Board Meeting Minutes
August 7, 2007

Present: Theresa Harrison, Kent Vann, Randy Stacey, Gail Monahan, Radha Selvester (by phone), Jim Wright

There was no treasurer’s report since Beth Nazaro is on vacation. A report will be given at the general meeting next week.

Jim talked about his meeting with Lee Ann Lowery and the proposals that will be brought this Monday by the City Manager’s Office to the City Commission for the One Stop and Tent City. The Board shared their thoughts about the One Stop proposal. There were concerns expressed about the proposal, but agreement that we would participate in and seek to make the One Stop a success wherever it is eventually located. With regard to the Tent City proposal there was a lot of discussion but no firm consensus reached as to a position to take. There was continuing concern expressed about needing to address the low income housing shortage in Gainesville.

The Board talked about the city’s Give a Better Way campaign, which involves meters that would collect donations that would go to the Coalition, and a website on which people can make PayPal donations to the Coalition. The kick-off press conference is this Thursday at 2:15 p.m. at the Downtown parking garage. It was agreed that the funds collected would go directly to the Coalition and be managed by Jim as a discretionary fund. The funds would be used, either directly by Jim or through member agencies, to help meet daily, basic needs of the homeless (ID’s, birth certificates, transportation, food, personal care items, etc.).

The Breakfast on the Plaza was discussed. The Hunger Workgroup recommended moving the Breakfast to the spring because the Vet Stand Down is scheduled for Friday, Nov. 16 th and the Homeless Night Out will probably be on either Wednesday, Nov. 14 th or Thursday, Nov. 15 th. To add the Breakfast to that would be too much. The Workgroup recommends having a Service Fair from 4:00 – 6:00 p.m. immediately before the Homeless Night Out begins and to serve dinner on the plaza between the Service Fair and the Homeless Night Out events. We would support and participate in the Night Out and the Vet Stand Down, but would plan our own Coalition event in the spring which would involve a real breakfast in the morning, combined with service events and agency representation. The Board approved this recommendation.

Jim reported on the Florida Homeless Coalition Policy Council meeting. They set their legislative agenda. The first priority revolves around seeking increased funding for local coalitions, the Challenge Grants, the HHA Grants, and EFAH, and also reinstating the luxury tax with a portion of revenues going to homeless assistance programs. The other priorities are: (1) fully fund the Sadowski Housing Trust Fund, (2) revise the definition of homelessness to make it easier for families with children to get assistance, (3) add homeless status to Florida’s Hate Crimes statute, and (4) repeal the habitual misdemeanor offender law.

It was noted that we need to vote on the proposed amendments to the bylaws at the general meeting.

Randy will be calling an HMIS committee meeting to review implementation and how agencies are doing. Jim, and possibly Mike Mullis, will be going to HMIS training and will bring back ideas for increased implementation of the system.

We discussed the possibility of an increased number of Coalition meetings in the evening so that we are more accessible to those, both homeless and non-homeless, who are interested in the Coalition but cannot attend our monthly meetings because they occur during normal working hours. It was agreed that once per quarter we will replace a general member business meeting with an evening dinner meeting at St. Francis House. Coalition members will serve dinner to the homeless, and anyone else interested in supporting the work of the Coalition is welcome as well. Either before or after dinner we will have time for discussion and sharing from the homeless and anyone else who has something they would like to talk about. The focus will be on fellowship, service and discussion, rather than business. The first dinner will be in September and will replace the regular Sept. meeting. Kent will review the SFH calendar and then we will set the date. It was noted that we need to make sure we keep a record of the agencies who are represented at these dinners.

There being no other business, the meeting was adjourned.

Recorded by Jim Wright in absence of the Secretary.