The Chicago Planning Council on Homelessness is a 23-member body whose mission is to understand the progress being made in Chicago toward preventing and ending homelessness.

Functions

1. Establish policies, principles and priorities and select the applicant for the Department of Housing and Urban Development SuperNOFA process each year in relation to Chicago’s 10-Year Plan to End Homelessness, “Getting Housed, Staying Housed.”

2. Establish policies for data release and monitor the Homeless Management Information System (HMIS) Standard Operating Procedures as approved by the Governing Board of the former Chicago Continuum of Care.

3. Annually oversee the competitive process for State of Illinois Prevention funding and any other funding whose guidelines request a public/private partnership and designate an agency to manage those funds or delegate this process to the Chicago Alliance to End Homelessness.

4. Use HMIS and other quantitative/qualitative data to understand the needs and changes in Chicago’s homeless system, review the progress and impact of the priorities and strategies of Chicago’s 10-Year Plan to End Homelessness, to inform local priorities for the SuperNOFA funding, and to identify and promote with appropriate stakeholders new ways to respond.

5. Adopt other functions as appropriate.
 

Scope of Work

While the Chicago Planning Council on Homelessness (CPCH) does not have the authority or capacity to perform work, it is the intention of the CPCH to understand in the broadest sense, the progress on systems change envisioned in Chicago’s 10-Year Plan to End Homelessness.

The scope of work for the CPCH can most clearly be seen in relation to function #4 above. Rather than evaluate specific programs, services, and tasks, the CPCH would review data collected by the Chicago Alliance and staff of the City of Chicago to determine progress and impact of various strategies on ending homelessness. For example, the CPCH would not evaluate the operation of the Homelessness Prevention Call Center. Rather it might review how this strategy impacted prevention of homelessness.

Composition

The Chicago Planning Council on Homelessness is comprised of 23 members representing the following groups: members of the Chicago Alliance to End Homelessness (including consumers, providers and members of the Alliance Board of Directors), members designated by government entities, and members representing private funders.

Members:

Michael Banghart, Chicago Alliance SPC – Renaissance Social Services    
Betsy Benito, Chicago Dept. of Family and Support Services
Irene Cabello, Chicago Alliance Consumers Commission
John Cheney Egan, Illinois Dept. of Children and Family Services
Ceandra Daniels, Chicago Alliance SPC – The Inner Voice
Randall Doubet King, Chicago Alliance Board
Fred Friedman, Chicago Alliance Consumers Commission           
Lonnie Fulton, Chicago Alliance Consumers Commission
Linda Gibson, Chicago Alliance Consumers Commission
David Granberry, Chicago Alliance Consumers Commission
Gene Herskovic, U.S. Dept. of Veterans Affairs
Bill Koll, Grantmakers Concerned with Ending Homelessness – McCormick Foundation
Maura McCauley, Chicago Alliance SPC – Heartland Human Care Services
Audalee McLoughlin, Chicago Alliance SPC – New Moms
Khen Nickele, Illinois Dept. of Human Services
Nancy Radner, Chicago Alliance
Susan Reyna-Guerrero, Chicago Alliance SPC – Beacon Therapeutic
Debbie Reznick, Chicago Alliance Board
Patricia Rivera , Chicago Public Schools    
Britt Shawver, Chicago Alliance SPC – Housing Opportunities for Women
Timothy Soderlund, U.S. Dept. of Labor            
Dorothy Yancy, Chicago Alliance Consumers Commission           

Recent Planning Council Meeting Minutes:
May 2010
March 2010
January 2010
October 2009