Greetings!
We're excited to report that the Leadership Council has been formed. The selection process was difficult because so many people - nearly 80 - expressed an interest in joining. This was a good problem to have, though we then had to focus on establishing a group that balanced stakeholder and geographic criteria with the need to have a workable size. We believe we've come close to accomplishing this with the twenty-five people who have been initially selected to kick off this important new community working group.
The group selected comprises a broad base of stakeholders, representing all parts of Santa Cruz County, from the San Lorenzo Valley to Watsonville, and places in between. There may be additional and ongoing efforts to recruit specific stakeholders to fill any gaps, but that will be a decision for the new "council" to make. For now, this group of twenty-five committed community members will hold their first meeting on March 13. One of the agenda items for this meeting, as promised, will be to review feedback gathered from the Summit, and a discussion on what to do with this valuable input.
And, we're making fairly good progress on the other "next steps" that were outlined in the previous update (Jan. 17), though we're running a little bit behind our original ambitious timetable.
▪ We are ready to move forward on education and advocacy work and want to invite all of you, especially everyone who expressed an interest in community (public) education and advocacy, to join us on Thursday, April 18 at 7pm at United Way in Capitola for a discussion on both these topics and areas of interest. Please RSVP if you plan to attend by emailing info@smartsolutionstohomelessness.org.
▪ Significant progress has been made on engaging the business community. On Friday, Feb. 15, twenty-three business people gathered at United Way for a discussion on "The Business Case for Smart Solutions to Homelessness". This group plans to meet again, to work on identifying specific areas where they can have the greatest impact. There is great potential for synergy and partnership, with the leadership council, as a few of the business leaders are also on teh newly formed council.
▪ A great number of you also expressed interest in volunteering. While we're not able to provide a comprehensive list of all volunteer opportunities here, or to personalize them based on your area of interest, here are a few excellent resources and opportunities to get involved, including the huge one-day event in Santa Cruz called Project Homeless Connect, on Tuesday, April 9. Click here to sign up.
A great resource for a multitude of volunteer opportunities is The Volunteer Center of Santa Cruz. And, here are just a few of many other volunteer opportunities with organizations that work on issues related to homelessness:
▪ 180/180 campaign
▪ Community Action Board
▪ Homeless Garden Project
▪ Homeless Services Center
▪ Mountain Community Resources
▪ Pajaro Valley Loaves & Fishes
▪ Santa Cruz County AIDS Project
If there are other volunteers you'd like highlighted in the future please email info@smartsolutionstohomelessness.org.
We look forward to working with all of you on our shared goal to reduce and end homelessness in Santa Cruz County. By working together as a community we can make it happen!
Sincerely,
The Summit Planning Team
