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Meeting and Event Calendar

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Committee Descriptions

	Steering Committee: This standing committee meets bi-monthly to provide strategic direction and leadership to the Continuum of Care process. Membership is comprised of stakeholders who wish to assist in the development and implementation of the Continuum of Care strategy. This committee will assign the Continuum of Care Goals and tasks to other committees for completion and monitor progress on the overall CoC goal achievements. The Steering Committee meets the Second Wednesday of every month, 1:30 p.m., ACCESS, Inc. conference room, 230 W. Market Street.
	Community Meeting: Membership is comprised of community stakeholders including homeless shelter, housing, service providers, foundations, and businesses. Members share information related to homeless population and receive an update on the progress of implementing the Continuum of Care Strategic Plan. This standing committee meets quarterly to review and discuss various homeless issues, policies, and other homeless related trends.
	Point-in-Time: This is an ad hoc committee that coordinates activities related to the annual count of the homeless population as required by HUD. The HUD point-in-time count is currently required in January. This committee will coordinate shelter, street, and other potential contacts such as police, hospitals, and food pantries. This committee may also work with the University of Akron to seek student-volunteers for the street count. In 2006/2007, this committee will work closely with the HMIS Advisory Committee to combine point-in-time count results with HMIS participating agency counts. Typically, this is a two-three month process, starting six weeks prior to the count, and ending with the final collection and reporting on data derived from the count.
	SuperNOFA: This committee will assist with the development and submission of the annual Continuum of Care Super NOFA application. Committee will meet February to June. Frequency of meetings will be dependent on the information required to develop the application for funding. Participation in this committee will be required for agencies requesting funding, and other stakeholders may also be invited to assist with obtaining and verifying information. The activities of the Review & Ranking Committee and the Monitoring Visits Committee will be planned in coordination with this application process.
	Project Homeless Connect: Responsibilities will include coordinating Project Homeless Connect event on Tuesday, April 29, 2008. This committee will meet monthly.
	Policy Committee: In response to HUD's request, this committee will develop a Continuum of Care policy document in 2007.
	HMIS Advisory Committee: The members of this committee will maintain the policies and procedures of the Akron/Summit County HMIS, provide direction and help to identify homeless trends within Summit County. The committee will also determine appropriate use of aggregate reports that will be published from the HMIS Database to the rest of the Akron/Summit County Community.

History of Continuum of Care (COC)
Since 1994, the U.S. Dept. of Housing and Urban Development has been encouraging communities to address the problems of housing and homelessness in a coordinated, comprehensive, and strategic fashion. This concept is designed to help communities develop the capacity to envision, organize, and plan comprehensive and long-term solutions to addressing the problem of homelessness in their community.

The Continuum of Care is a formal community plan with performance reviews submitted to HUD on an annual basis. The planned goals and action steps are created to organize and deliver housing and supportive services to meet the specific needs of people who are homeless or at risk of becoming homeless as they move to stable housing and maximum self-sufficiency. The community plan also includes action steps to end homelessness and prevent a return to homelessness.

The Continuum of Care planning process and committee tasks are on-going, yearly processes which culminate in a funding application being submitted to HUD requesting financial support for locally determined projects addressing the causes and needs of the homeless. Community participation and measurement of service provider collaboration and goal achievement are key factors for determining the levels of funding our Continuum of Care receives annually from HUD.