20060306newsmayorphc

Minneapolis Mayor R.T. Rybak opened a dramatically expanded Project Homeless Connect this week to engage people experiencing homelessness and connect them with a variety of available services and resources that may otherwise feel out of reach for them. First launched by Mayor Rybak in December, the Project is part of a new City-County initiative to end homelessness in Minneapolis. The event brought together more than 200 organizations and 450 volunteers (more than four times the prior event) to help the several hundred people who attended.

On Monday, March 6th Project Homeless Connect welcomed homeless men, women, children and youth to the Minneapolis Convention Center for a variety of resources, such as housing providers, employment specialists, medical care, mental health care, benefits specialists, eye doctors, haircuts, transportation assistance, food and clothing.

Mayor Rybak opened the event with public remarks at 11:00AM at the Convention Center. “Project Homeless Connect is a one-day, one-stop shop to deliver real services to people experiencing real homelessness in our community. But this is also about a commitment to move from simply managing homelessness towards really ending homelessness,” Rybak said.

Project Homeless Connect was launched in Minneapolis in coordination with the National Project Homeless Connect initiative sponsored by the United States Interagency Council on Homelessness. Revitalized by President Bush in 2002 and under the leadership of Executive Director Philip F. Mangano, the mission of the Council is to develop and implement a comprehensive national strategy to end chronic homelessness in the United States. Director Mangano attended the Minneapolis event.

“Minneapolis is joining 33 other cities across our country in our National Project Homeless Connect Initiative to focus political and civic will on our poorest neighbors,” said Director Mangano, the point person in the Bush Administration on the issue of homelessness. “Mayor Rybak, his staff and the citizens of Minneapolis are to be commended for their hospitality to those who are the most in need, welcoming them into full participation in the community.”

Project Homeless Connect began in San Francisco in 2004 and has grown into a nation-wide best practice with great potential for getting homeless people off of the streets and into more stable situations. Minneapolis and Hennepin County join cities around the country for Project Homeless Connect.

“Project Homeless Connect brings together faith communities, government, businesses, neighborhood groups, service providers and consumers to develop new and creative ways to end homelessness. Our hope is that by bringing people together in unique ways we can spur innovative ideas to end homelessness,” Rybak said.

“Ending homelessness is good for everyone. It's good for the person who needs a safe place to live. It's good for business, good for neighborhoods, good for visitors to our city, good for police officers, and good for taxpayers. Our goal to bring together multiple partners to implement a plan to end homelessness in Minneapolis is both realistic and visionary,” Rybak said.

In addition to the City of Minneapolis and Hennepin County, event sponsors include the Convention Center, Target, Kelber Catering, Priority Networks, Qwest, Second Harvest, Family Housing Fund, Downtown Eyes, Twin Cites Produce, Central Lutheran Church, Wesley United Methodist Church, Starbucks, Catholic Charities, and the Salvation Army.