1. Advisory Board meeting Friday, September 24
The most recent quarterly Ten-Year Plan Advisory Board met Friday, September 24 at 8am at the Knox County Public Defender’s Community Law Office. The bulk of the meeting’s time was spent reviewing preliminary work on a statement of vision, mission, and values for the evolving Ten-Year Plan “version 2.0.” Brad Greene was the primary presenter and led the conversation.
A document was distributed for discussion, and its first paragraph reads: The community of service providers to homeless families and individuals in the city of Knoxville are in the process of developing a detailed, coordinated plan for the system of services that will allow us to work in a more effective and accountable way to serve individuals and families. This design process is part of evolving and improving upon the nine principles of the original Ten Year Plan. The following is an overview and explanation of the overall vision, mission and values of our newly designed system.
The TYP underscores that this statement of vision, mission and values represents an evolution of the nine strategies published in the TYP adopted by the City and County in October 2005. It represents some of the best of what we’ve learned in implementing the TYP over the past three years, and is a natural progression based on that knowledge. It also represents a significant reorientation of the homeless service delivery system to better coordinate its efforts to make them more efficient and effective. We’ll be talking about this a lot more, in a lot of different places, over the next several months.
2. City Council workshop: September 30
Knoxville City Council has scheduled a workshop to hear from the Office of the Ten Year Plan to End Chronic Homelessness.
The meeting will take place starting at 5 p.m. Thursday, September 30, in the main assembly room at the City-County Building. One topic of discussion will be the TYP’s efforts to communicate more effectively and more frequently with the general public on the goals of the TYP. Another will focus on the emerging TYP “version 2.0” discussed above.
The workshop is open to the public.
3. Community outreach update
The TYP seeks opportunities to engage neighborhood and civic groups in outreach activities. This week we conducted our sixth public conversation on Wednesday, September 22, and presented at the Island Home Park Neighborhood Association the following evening.
Our sixth public conversation took place at the Cansler YMCA from 6-7pm on Wednesday, September 22. The topic was Who Are the Homeless? and the main presenter was Dr. David Patterson of the UT College of Social Work. He was joined by Stacia West and Jennifer Lantz, who work at KnoxHMIS, Knoxville’s Homeless Management Information System. The conversation was very informative and the meeting was quite well-attended.
We’ll hold our seventh public conversation, and probably the last one of 2010, on Wednesday, November 17 at New Harvest Park, which is located close to Knoxville Center mall. Deborah Taylor of KCDC will discuss the role KCDC plays in making affordable housing available to people who need it, including people who are leaving the streets and moving into permanent supportive housing. We’re always looking for opportunities to converse with groups in the community about the TYP, the work already being done to end homelessness in our community, and what will be needed to move the TYP towards completion. If you know of groups who’d be interested in hearing from us, we’re interested in hearing about them. Please contact our office and let us know who we can call.
4. Flenniken update
City Council last Tuesday night denied an appeal of a Use-on-Review decision by the Metropolitan Planning Commission that allowed an increased number of spaces in the parking lot and allowed changes to a planned addition to a proposed permanent supportive housing development at the old Flenniken School. The denial of this appeal means that work on this development can proceed, and that’s what’s happening.
Southeastern Housing Foundation continues with general clean-up work, including asbestos and lead abatement. All necessary permits have been issued, and the work is being carried out by a qualified contractor with decades of relevant experience. The neighbors in the area surrounding Flenniken are being kept aware of what’s going on at the development site by regular communication provided by Southeastern Housing Foundation.
Thank you
Thank you for taking the time to be engaged with the issue of homelessness and our community’s work to address it. If you have questions or concerns about anything related to the TYP, please do not hesitate to let us know.