Two groups at the forefront of area homelessness plan to partner up in a more cohesive and effective effort to address the issue in Orange County.
The Orange County Continuum of Care and the Inter-Faith Council's Community Involvement Committee are in talks to create an initiative geared toward improving homeless services.
"This is a renewal time for people not to become anesthetized to the issue but to really be proactive about the solutions," said Chris Moran, IFC's executive director.
Dubbed the Community Initiative to End Homelessness, some of the drafted goals of the effort include securing funding for housing services, providing community education about homelessness issues and encouraging the homeless to advocate for themselves, said Billie Guthrie, chairwoman of the continuum.
The initiative will be composed of many groups currently involved with the continuum, including businesses, congregations, nonprofit organizations, local governments and mental health and substance abuse facilities, Guthrie said.
Plans are for the initiative to be led by an eight-member steering committee consisting of representatives of the community involved in the continuum, Guthrie said.
"I think in the first year, we're going to ask them to be involved," Guthrie said of the committee members. "From there, they can appoint who they'd like from their constituency groups to be involved."
The initiative plans to have its basic structure together in January.
The creation of the initiative stems from a meeting between the continuum and the IFC's committee, which was formed by the town of Chapel Hill. During the meeting, it was apparent that the goals of both the IFC's committee and the continuum were similar, Guthrie said.
