The Chicago Alliance to End Homelessness works to advance policy and funding solutions for ending homelessness.  In collaboration with service providers, consumers, and other nonprofit and government partners, the Chicago Alliance mobilizes those most directly affected by homelessness to improve the effectiveness of policies relevant to homelessness, influence the use of public funds to end homelessness, and help more people rebuild stable lives.
 

Illinois Congressional Legislative Briefing on McKinney-Vento Reauthorization

On Friday March 14th, 2008 the Chicago Alliance held a legislative briefing on McKinney-Vento Reauthorization in Washington, D.C. for the Illinois Congressional Delegation. Speakers included Congresswoman Jan Schakowsky, Nancy Radner (Chicago Alliance), Dorothy Yancy (Chicago Alliance), Sue Augustus (Corporation for Supportive Housing), and Steve Berg (National Alliance to End Homelessness). The briefing was organized to inform Illinois legislators on the reauthorization of McKinney-Vento Homeless Assistance programs now underway, and to educate them on important changes to the bill. Proposed changes would further the priorities of the Chicago Alliance and enable communities across the country to use HUD Homeless Assistance funds more effectively to prevent and end homelessness. These priorities include increased flexibility and local control of funds, and the inclusion of families and prevention funding in the program. For additional information, view the Chicago Alliance’s Policy Priorities and the Resolution on McKinney-Vento Reauthorization. In addition to briefing congressional staff on the reauthorizing legislation, the Chicago Alliance provided specific information on the impact of this funding in Illinois’ congressional districts. For current information on the status of McKinney-Vento reauthorization, visit the National Alliance to End Homelessness. 
 

Chicago Alliance Advocacy Training

The Chicago Alliance launched its Advocacy Team with an Advocacy Training on April 18, 2008. The Advocacy Training brought together members of the Chicago Alliance’s Consumers Commission and Service Providers Commission. Fifty-five people attended the training and learned the “how-tos” of Advocacy; how to navigate the political process; how to effectively talk with their legislators; the power of telling their story and how to do it; and what they can do in their own agencies and communities to advocate for programs, policies and funding to end homelessness.

View the Chicago Alliance Advocacy Training presentation to learn how you can become an advocate.

“Krispy Kremes” State Legislative Breakfast on Ending Homelessness

The Chicago Alliance, in partnership with the Supportive Housing Providers Association, held a legislative breakfast in Springfield on April 30, 2008. The “Krispy Kremes” legislative breakfast raised awareness about solutions to ending homelessness and educated legislators and their staff on key initiatives in this effort. In the most visible and well attended “Krispy Kremes” event to date, 35 advocates, 20 legislators, and dozens of political staff came together to learn about and advocate for important state policy and funding priorities including: Supportive Services in Supportive Housing, Emergency Food and Shelter Program (Fact Sheet), and Homeless Youth funding.
 

Countywide Forum on Discharge Planning and Homelessness

The Countywide Forum on Discharge Planning and Homelessness brought together over 200 people from the three Cook County homeless continuums of care, along with county, state and federal agencies, to discuss the policies of discharging institutions and how they impact homelessness. The day long interactive discussion was an opportunity to learn about current discharging policies and plan for new solutions and collaborations to help end homelessness.

View Press Release Here.

Organizers took time from their brainstorming sessions to honor keynote speaker Congresswoman Jan Schakowsky and Cook County Commissioner Earleen Collins, also a speaker at the forum, for “Their Leadership and Contributions to the Collaborative Effort to Prevent and End Homelessness."

Participants received added insights from an expert panel featuring Cook County Sheriff Tom Dart; Theodora Binion Taylor, Director, Illinois Division of Alcoholism and Substance Abuse; David R. Buchanan, M.D., M.S., Chief Medical Officer Erie Family Health Center; Dan Wasmer, Regional Director, Illinois Division of Mental Health; Eugene Herskovic, Homeless Coordinator, U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs; John Cheney Egan, Head of the Office of Housing and Cash Assistance, Illinois Department of Children & Family Services; and Roberta Fews, Deputy Director, Office of Programs & Support Services, Illinois Department of Corrections.

The forum was sponsored by the Chicago Alliance to End Homelessness, the Corporation for Supportive Housing, the Alliance to End Homelessness in Suburban Cook County, Evanston Alliance on Homelessness, Treatment Alternatives for Safe Communities (TASC, Inc.), and Loyola University Chicago Center for Urban Research and Learning.

The Forum generated an initial set of recommendations to improve discharge planning practices and policies, which guide the work of the Discharge Planning Committee. For more information on the work of the Discharge Planning Committee - including any of its seven population-specific subcommittees – please contact the Chicago Alliance.