[homeles_ot-l] Fwd: A Note from Philip Mangano at The American Round Table To Abolish Homelessness

[Tim D. Aubry]

FYI.

Begin forwarded message:

From: Quest AbolitionistRoundTable <quest at abolitionistroundtable.com<mailto:quest at abolitionistroundtable.com>>
Date: December 16, 2010 4:23:07 PM EST
To: Quest AbolitionistRoundTable <quest at abolitionistroundtable.com<mailto:quest at abolitionistroundtable.com>>
Subject: A Note from Philip Mangano at The American Round Table To Abolish Homelessness








INNOVATION . . . INFORMATION . . . INSPIRATION . . .

December 16, 2010                                           Issue IX





A NOTE FROM PHILIP MANGANO

Homelessness yields to business practices and innovations. New unprecedented decreases in chronic homelessness were reported across the nation this year. Our work to abolish homelessness at the American Round Table to Abolish Homelessness this year – sustaining our past federal partnership with jurisdictional leaders and innovators – has yielded new expression of our abolitionist intent.

The shift to a business mindset shaped around performance and results is making a difference.

New data and research. A 36 percent decrease in street and chronic homelessness was documented from 2005 to 2009.  That translates into an average of 9 percent annually, or just the right amount to keep us on track to our goal.
New Ten Year Plan commitments.  Plans continue to emerge with business-informed strategies. For example, in Fort Collins, Colorado, where I have visited over the last couple of years, the launch of the new Ten Year Plan in August was matched with a supportive series in the Coloradoan entitled “Road to Hope” and the page one headline: “A Radical Idea: Ending Homelessness.”
New results in ending homelessness. Results underscore the importance of a business mind-set that moves beyond “servicing” to solving. Last year, I addressed the Los Angeles Business Leaders Task Force on Homelessness convened by the United Way and urged them to create a business plan to end homelessness in the city that is “ground zero” for homelessness in our nation.  Just a month ago, the Task Force released its new blueprint to end chronic and veteran homelessness through housing solutions. Cities from Nashua to Asheville to Sacramento that were early adopters in creating business plans continue to report results. At the 5-year mark, Denver has posted a 64 percent reduction in chronic homelessness, and the state of Utah has reported a
58 percent decrease.
New sense of mission. We waited for more than a quarter century for this good news. Now, by the numbers, fewer of our most vulnerable and disabled neighbors are living on the streets or languishing in shelters. Increased resources, innovative initiatives, and a national partnership of every level of government with the private sector are the ingredients of the strategy that is making an impact across the country. Mayors and county executives deserve much credit as do agencies who have stepped up to create housing.

We need your support to continue that work. Strategies that correlate with reductions in homelessness need a persistent voice in our nation. Let me highlight a few developments from 2010.

§  RAPID DISSEMINATION OF INNOVATION. With a strategic vision for replication in place, this year I have met with jurisdictional leaders from more than 30 cities, counties, and states to encourage the adoption of innovation in housing, employment, and services.  The rapid dissemination of innovation so that every community has equal access to the best ideas that create results.


§  FIELD-TESTED, EVIDENCE-BASED STRATEGIES. This year, the Round Table partnered with cities, counties, and the United Way to re-convene the California Keys leaders of Ten Year Plans and continue the work of promoting peer-to-peer focus on results and “what’s working.” Keys supports the ongoing identification of those strategies that are field–tested and evidence-based, ideas that are at work in the nation and supported by data and research.


§  PARTNERSHIP TRUMPS PARTISANSHIP. Partnership with elected officials, the business community, and the non-profit sector is key. In September, I was privileged to join President Clinton and our partners at Step Up at the Clinton Global Initiative where an unprecedented commitment on ending homelessness was forwarded.


§  INSPIRATION FROM ACADEMIA TO ELECTED OFFICIALS. Inspiration, both inside and outside of government, that the mission can be accomplished. From speaking dates at Harvard to meeting with County and City electeds in Los Angeles, the mission and message are being relentlessly forwarded.


§  FORWARDING AN AGENDA THAT INCLUDES EMPLOYMENT AS A MEANS OF ENDING HOMELESSNESS. Having ensured that housing is a central focus and antidote across the country, the economic importance of jobs is now a focus of the Round Table.
The American Round Table promotes initiatives which create unprecedented resources, research, and results in ending homelessness.

With the release of data on new decreases in chronic homelessness earlier this year, an editorial in the Christian Science Monitor identified the Bush Administration’s record of results in ending the homelessness of the most vulnerable and disabled living long-term on our streets and languishing in shelters, underscoring the unprecedented shift from managing homelessness to ending it and providing the foundation for new federal strategy.  In crediting past federal leadership and results, the Monitor notes the documented cost of this vulnerable population randomly ricocheting through expensive public systems, unprecedented partnership in business planning we achieved with jurisdictional officials, and the widespread adoption of Housing First, which the Monitor termed a concept “elegant in its simplicity”(“Obama builds on Bush success to help the homeless,” June 22, 2010).

I hope you will invest in our work. Every dollar will be invested in the abolition of the long misery of homelessness. Our poorest neighbors need more than programs.  They need the strategies and innovations that end the human tragedy.

Yours in abolitionist intent,
Philip Mangano
President

P.S. Thanks to those who have extended your thoughts and prayers for my Mom. We just went through three weeks at Mass General Hospital where on three occasions the doctors prepared us for her departure. This week she has been discharged home. She’s adorably and feistily scrappy.



The American Round Table to Abolish Homelessness distributes regular e-news updates to inform and inspire partners and disseminate field-tested innovations that are achieving results in ending homelessness.  We hope you find these updates valuable.
If for any reason you prefer not to receive updates, just click on this link and email us at quest at abolitionistroundtable.com<mailto:quest at abolitionistroundtable.com>
Thank you for your partnership and your commitment to ending homelessness.



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