JACKSON, MISSISSIPPI. Jackson, a city that opened its doors to last year's Gulf Coast hurricane evacuees, this week announced a 10-year plan to end chronic homelessness "to bring together all available resources to address the longstanding problem of homelessness, as well as respond to the new challenges of actual and potential homelessness caused by Hurricanes Katrina and Rita, past inadequate planning, and future disasters." Destination Home: Jackson' s Ten Year Strategic Plan to End Chronic Homelessness was unveiled by Mayor Frank Melton at a City Council meeting on Tuesday, where it was unanimously approved by the Council. United States Interagency Council on Homelessness Regional Coordinator Michael German, who accompanied Council Director Philip Mangano to Jackson to meet with officials after Hurricane Katrina, attended Tuesday's meeting.

The Jackson Task Force to End Chronic Homelessness members were recognized individually by the City Council for their work and for the diversity of stakeholders who participated in developing the plan. Task Force members said that their goal was to "leave a legacy of compassion and action in our community. We are no longer content to manage homelessness, but are committed to ending it by employing strategies designed to address person-centered values of choice, voice, empowerment, dignity, respect, and hope." Pictured here are Mayor Melton (far right); Director of Human and Cultural Services and Task Force Chair Mike Raff (2nd from right); Council Regional Coordinator German, holding the City's 10- Year Plan; and members of the Task Force.

The City's 10-Year Plan, the result of a broad based and collaborative community process, formalizes the City's lead role, includes ongoing consumer involvement, and establishes a business-like Implementation/Operating Plan identifying actions, implementers, expected outcomes, benchmarks, and schedules for each of four priorities. The priorities are: provide permanent supportive housing; connect those who are chronically homeless or at risk to services that will help them access and retain permanent housing; provide optimal prevention and discharge planning; and engage the community, develop the infrastructure, and implement the plan. The Urban Research Center at Jackson State University will lead a local analysis of the current costs of chronic homelessness to public systems. Task Force Chair Raff indicated that at least 75 supportive housing units will be created over the next four years.

Wichita, Kansas. Last week the Wichita City Council and the Board of Sedgewick County Commissioners approved resolutions authorizing the creation of a joint Ad Hoc Task Force to Develop a Plan to End Chronic Homelessness. The Task Force, whose 15 members were appointed by County Manager Bill Buchanan and City Manager George Kolb, include representatives of the city and county governments, United Way, the National Conference for Community and Justice, the business community, service providers, homeless representatives, the Wichita School District, the local newspaper, and the faith- based community, including Wichita Diocese Bishop Michael Jackels and United Methodist Church Bishop Scott Jones. The Task Force will be chaired by attorney Jack Focht.

The creation of a regional 10-Year Plan has been under discussion in the community since a visit by United States Interagency Council on Homelessness Executive Director Philip Mangano last fall. During that visit at the invitation of Inter-Faith Ministries, Director Mangano toured the Inter-Faith Villa permanent housing program that provides housing for homeless persons with serious mental illness, met with Wichita Mayor Carlos Mayans and County Commission Chair David Unruh to discuss 10-year planning, and participated in a gathering of community leaders convened by philanthropist and business leader Helen Galloway. Wichita has been ranked by Money Magazine as one of the nation's 10 Best Big Cities in which to live.

ROCKFORD, ILLINOIS. The Carpenter's Place is a faith-based program in Rockford, Illinois that is balancing compassion with accountability, and utilizing extensive collaborations and alliances, to produce lasting outcomes in the lives of chronically homeless persons. In 2005, 302 homeless persons, referred to by the program as "Guests", were transitioned to stabilized housing and 194 attained full time employment.

Invited by Congressman Don Manzullo to visit the program, United States Interagency Council on Homelessness Executive Director Philip Mangano joined Congressman Manzullo and The Carpenter's Place Executive Director Allan Barsema on Tuesday for a tour of the program and a demonstration of its unique resource database. Congressman Manzullo has represented Rockford, the state's 3rd largest city, and Winnebago County seat, since 1993. Pictured here is Director Mangano and Congressman Manzullo (top) and The Carpenter's Place Executive Director Allan Barsema and Cathy Barsema touring the center with Congressman Manzullo and Director Mangano. Council Regional Coordinators John O'Brien and Daryl Hernandez also attended the day's events.

At a luncheon with community and elected leaders, including Congressman Manzullo, Rockford Mayor Larry Morrissey, Winnebago County Board Chair Scott Christianson, State Representatives Chuck Jefferson, Linda Chopa LaVia, and Dave Winters, and City Aldermen Doug Mark and Joe Sosnowski, Director Mangano spoke about "a son of Illinois who confronted a social wrong with the intent of ending it, and despite pessimistic and cynical voices who said it couldn't be done or shouldn't be done, the moral wrong was overcome." He noted, "Today we are confronted by another moral wrong in our country- the fact that some of our neighbors have no place to live. That may be because of failed public policy or bad personal decisions. Sometimes both. Our work together is to remedy this malady by having the right diagnosis to identify the appropriate treatment that will lead to recovery."

The Carpenter's Place was opened in June 2000 as a drop-in Day Room as the personal ministry of founders Allan and Cathy Barsema who wanted to help people they were seeing living on the streets of their community. The Barsemas soon recognized that while a variety of specialized homeless services were available in the community, persons living on the street "were not linked to those services in a coordinated manner or at any level of commitment." Over the next 18 months case managers and outreach staff were hired and The Carpenter's Place began to evolve as a "home base" for homeless persons looking to rebuild their lives. A transitional housing program was begun in March 2002 and expanded in May 2003 with support from the Mayor's Task Force on Homelessness and funding from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD). Weekly on- site physician and nurse services through the Crusader Clinic's Health Care for the Homeless program began in September 2002. Mental health services were made available beginning September 2003 through the development of a Homeless Mental Health Access Project, a collaborative venture of The Carpenter's Place, the Janet Wattles Mental Health Center, the American Red Cross Homeless Shelter, and the Crusader Clinic funded by a three year HUD grant.

When The Carpenter's Place opened in June 2000, it welcomed 8 Guests that first day. Today, an average of 95 homeless Guests access The Carpenter's Place on-site services each day. The program utilizes "a comprehensive and holistic case management model centered around a personalized 'Life Recovery Plan' process with extensive interagency collaboration. This holistic approach was developed by The Carpenter's Place in collaboration with Northern Illinois University and includes customized outreach and engagement, assessment, goal setting, outcome measurement, and other service planning tools. Each Guest develops a Life Recovery Plan with the help of a case manager and plan implementation is monitored for progress on goals and outcomes. Progress on the plan is required of the Guest in order to continue receiving extended services at The Carpenter's Place.

The Carpenter's Place staff also visit secluded individuals living in little known homeless camps in the community. A unique Relocation Program has been developed through alliances with a network of regional and national agencies and facilities to relocate Guests whose needs would best be met by relocating away from present influences to a collaborative supported recovery program in another community. Recognizing that many of their homeless Guests lack a positive support system, The Carpenter's Place and the Red Cross Shelter have collaborated to establish a Mentor program to match community volunteers with Guests to provide a "consistent, caring presence" in addition to the Guest's professional case manager.

The development of service collaborations and alliances, both inside and outside of the Rockford community, are at the heart of The Carpenter's Place model of wraparound services. The Carpenter's Place has developed a resource database of 400 agencies and organizations, including resources in at least 8 other states, to meet the needs of its Guests. Agencies that have the capacity to do so are encouraged to provide their services onsite at The Carpenter's Place 12,000 sq ft facility. The Carpenter's Place also participates in service planning throughout the community, serving on the Mayor's Task Force on Homelessness, the 10-Year Plan to End Chronic Homelessness Committee, the Mental Health Court Task Force (see related story), the Rockford Healthy Community Behavioral Health Committee, and various Red Cross, Salvation Army, and United Way committees.

The City of Rockford is currently developing a 10-year plan to end chronic homelessness, which is expected to be completed in January. The City has also committed to participating in the 2006 National Project Homeless Connect Week.

ROCKFORD, ILLINOIS. A profile of Illinois Seventeenth Circuit Chief Justice Kathryn Zenoff in a January 2006 newsletter of the Illinois State Bar Association recounts her efforts "to improve the local justice system to afford citizens greater access to services and to the courtroom." During his visit to Winnebago County, Illinois this week (see related story), United States Interagency Council on Homelessness Executive Director Philip Mangano had the opportunity to witness one of the ways Judge Zenoff has improved the local justice system when he accepted her invitation to witness the proceedings of the Winnebago County Mental Health Court, known as the Therapeutic Intervention Program (TIP). Prior to witnessing the formal court proceedings, Executive Director Mangano met with Judge Zenoff and the TIP court team (pictured here).

Judge Zenoff championed the creation of TIP, over which she now presides, as a way to "enhance and protect public safety while restoring the liberty and community functioning of defendants with severe mental illness through comprehensive and therapeutic judicial intervention." This specialized court opened in February 2005 after an 18-month planning process. A snapshot of the Winnebago County jail population in 2004 had revealed that an estimated 14% had a serious mental illness and an informal profile of 7 individuals showed they had cycled in and out of jail an average 8.4 times over a two year period, each spending an average of 231 days in jail at a cost of approximately $50 a day for person. TIP is a model team effort involving the court, prosecutors, defenders, probation officers, caseworkers and treatment providers to divert persons with a diagnosed mental illness that contributed to their arrest on misdemeanor or low level felony charges from being sent to jail. Instead they are supervised by the court which collaborates with the Janet Wattles Center to provide assessment and improved access to treatment and community services. The court holds a weekly progress hearing with the goal of aiding recovery, rather than just delivering punishment.

The 17th Judicial Court describes the TIP process: Soon after a person is arrested, a mental health professional conducts a detailed psychological assessment to diagnose any serious mental illness such as schizophrenia or bi-polar disorder, and then a team of legal, court services, and mental health professionals screen the case for eligibility. If acceptable and eligible, a defendant may agree to participate in the program and be released from jail with an individual treatment plan and services in place. Rigorous judicial monitoring, enhanced accountability, and continued linkage with community services follows and is designed to provide mentally ill defendants with the support and structure they need to adhere to treatment and avoid future criminal behavior." The TIP court is funded primarily by Winnebago County and through a state statute that permits counties to assess a $10 fee on criminal convictions to help defray the costs of mental health courts. Another facet of the community's jail diversion efforts is special Crisis Intervention Training (CIT) for Rockford Police Department and Winnebago County Sheriff's Department officers, to increase their ability to identify persons with mental illness in crisis who are not a danger to the public and may be diverted from the criminal justice system directly into community mental health services and treatment.

Records of the weekly court proceedings show that one of the challenges facing the court are the waiting lists for obtaining long term substance abuse treatment for persons with co-occurring disorders. September is National Alcohol and Drug Addiction Recovery Month. This year's Recovery Month theme is "Join the Voices for Recovery: Build a Stronger, Healthier Community." The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services' Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) has partnered with national organizations to create a comprehensive toolkit to help communities raise awareness about the effectiveness of treatment and recovery. The toolkit may be downloaded from SAMHSA's Recovery Month webpage. Of particular interest to communities interested in jail diversion programs is an archived webcast entitled, Addiction and the Justice Department: Deciphering the Maze.

RESOURCES TO LEARN MORE ABOUT JAIL DIVERSION EFFORTS ON THE LOCAL LEVEL, INCLUDING NACo TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE AND SEED GRANTS.

County governments have identified the jailing of non-violent mentally ill offenders as one of the more costly and perplexing issues they face. As reported in the August 9 e-news, the recent National Association of Counties (NACo) annual meeting included presentations on model diversion programs. For the past three years, NACo has been able to provide technical assistance to counties with funding from an education grant from Eli Lilly and Company. Last year that funding was also used to award seed grants to five NACo member counties to develop or expand diversion-related efforts. The grants were made to Polk County, Iowa to incorporate an integrated service model patterned on the successful Village Integrated Services program in Long Beach, CA and Baltimore, MD; Skagit County, WA to develop a crisis intervention training program for law enforcement officers based on a Memphis model; Maricopa County, AZ to complete a long term action plan and evaluation; Yolo County, CA for a community conference on mental illness and criminal justice; and to Portage County, OH to provide training to increase the number of trained Crisis Intervention Team officers.

On August 10, NACo announced that with continued support from Eli Lilly and Company, another round of up to 5 seed grants is available to help NACo member counties that demonstrate readiness to move forward with developing jail diversion programs. Applicants are encouraged to develop projects that demonstrate county leadership and include one or more evidence-based practices including crisis intervention teams (CIT), mental health courts, and re-entry/jail discharge planning. The complete RFP may be found on NACo's website. Applications are due September 15.

In addition to NACo's seed grants and technical assistance efforts, communities may find helpful the Council of State Governments Criminal Justice and Mental Health Consensus Project.

"Stand Downs have proven to work to help break the cycle of homelessness. Because you, the participants, earned extra help by virtue of your service to our country. Because you have proven you can complete a tough assignment in your past, we know you can do it again. This is a hand up, not a handout."-East Bay CA Stand Down purpose statement

East Bay, CA and Boston, MA. Over 1100 volunteers assisted nearly 400 homeless veterans at the third biennial 4-day LZ Burbine East Bay Veterans Stand Down camp August 10-13. Data gathered at the event, held this year at the Alameda County Fairgrounds, shows that 9% of the veterans were employed, 76% were unemployed and 16% were retired. Only 5% reported not having a high school diploma; 50% had some post high school education. Homeless veterans with misdemeanor violations were offered the opportunity of alternatives to sentencing by having their cases heard on site August 12 by the Superior Courts of several jurisdictions including Alameda, Contra Costa, San Francisco, San Joaquin, and Santa Clara Counties. Attorneys were also on site to provide guidance on child support, tax, bankruptcy, and other common problems. Medical care was available continuously. Nearly 300 veterans received dental care.

Approximately 600 homeless veterans from the Boston area attended a 2-day Stand Down August 11-12. Housing search efforts, led by the Metro Boston Housing Partnership and the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, were a highlighted feature of this Stand Down. This was the 15th annual Boston Veterans Stand Down. "Stand Down 2006 was blessed with great weather and the numbers of veterans serviced was the highest in the past 3 events -600 veterans served. We thank all of the volunteers especially VA, FEMA, all military units, and the individuals who took the time to help our nation's heroes that are in dire need of assistance. VBC and the Stand Down Committee appreciate your help in making this one of the most successful Stand Downs in recent years", said Ralph Cooper, Executive Director of the Veterans Benefits Clearinghouse in Roxbury, MA, coordinating organization for the Stand Down. Pictured here at the Stand Down, l to r, are Carol Klein, Health Care for the Homeless Veterans Program; VBC Executive Director Cooper; Taylor Caswell, Region I Director, U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development; and John O'Brien, Council Regional Coordinator who also serves as the Council's representative on the Secretary of Veterans Affairs Advisory Committee on Homeless Veterans. Please visit the Council's website for information about addressing the needs of homeless veterans in state and local 10-year plans to end chronic homelessness. If you are interested in volunteering your services at a Stand Down in your community, the VA maintains a list of scheduled Stand Downs on its website. Stand Downs for homeless veterans are one of the models that have given rise to the one-day, one-stop Project Homeless Connect events the Council is fostering through National Project Homeless Connect Week December 4-8.

SAN FRANCISCO HOSTS 12th PROJECT HOMELESS CONNECT

San Francisco held its 12th Project Homeless Connect event last week providing services to approximately 2500 homeless individuals with the help of over 1200 volunteers. The community continues to learn from each event, adding and refining services to break the cycle of homelessness. This most recent PHC event included a new partnership with business through which voice mail access was established for homeless individuals, an important tool for reconnecting to family and for employment searches. Among the preliminary data from the event: 145 individuals received housing assistance including shelter beds and more permanent housing, 270 persons received prescription eyeglasses, 245 received medical care and 140 received SSI benefit application assistance. Family reunification is an important element in the San Francisco effort and 15 individuals were successfully reunited with family during the event.

Since its inception in October 2004, Project Homeless Connect events in San Francisco have engaged over 11,000 homeless clients and over 20,000 volunteers. So successful has the effort been that it has spawned a citywide Project Connect program to mobilize citizens and sectors to volunteer their talent and time on many other vital issues facing San Francisco. Representatives of a number of communities in California, Nevada, and South Carolina interested in adopting the Project Homeless Connect model for their community attended last week's San Francisco event and received advice from Mayor Gavin Newsom's Deputy Chief of Staff Alex Tourk and United States Interagency Council on Homelessness Regional Coordinator Ed Cabrera to not be intimidated by the scope of the San Francisco event which has grown and evolved with the experience of each event. "Start small, be consumer centric, underpromise and overdeliver," they were advised.

Cities interested in implementing the Project Homeless Connect model in their community are encouraged to contact the United States Interagency Council on Homelessness for technical assistance. In particular, cities are encouraged to consider holding an event during the Council-facilitated National Project Homeless Connect Week December 4- 8. Please see related story in this issue and visit the Council's website for more information.

WASHINGTON, DC. Representatives of 25 cities in the US and Canada participated in the first of a series of peer-to-peer conference calls being sponsored by the United States Interagency Council on Homelessness to assist jurisdictions in designing and improving Project Homeless Connect events. These calls are being held in preparation for National Project Homeless Connect Week, which the Interagency Council recently announced will take place December 4-8.

Presenters Judith Klain, Director of San Francisco Project Homeless Connect, and Cathy ten Broeke, Homeless Coordinator for Minneapolis and Hennepin County, both pointed to mayoral and county leadership as a key ingredient for successful PHC events.

San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom launched the first Project Homeless Connect in 2004 and since that time the city has held 12 events. The most recent one included more than 1,200 volunteers, 200 corporations, and 2,500 homeless consumers who received services. While the initiative was originally met with skepticism, Klain said, the Mayor has built trust and enthusiasm by his continuing involvement in each event, including addressing volunteers at an opening rally and by publishing the results of each event.

Ten Broeke said that the United States Interagency Council on Homelessness' call for a National Homeless Connect Day last December was the impetus for Minneapolis' first PHC event which was put together in just over 4 ½ weeks by a broad network including city leaders, county leaders, service providers, employment specialists, homeless people, school officials and people from faith communities. She noted that the leadership and partnership shown by Minneapolis Mayor R.T. Ryback and Hennepin County Commissioner Gail Dorfman and other County leaders have been crucial in building and sustaining momentum for the community's two PHC events held to date. She cited as an example the Mayor's personal involvement in approaching and obtaining a commitment from the Convention Center to host two free PHC events a year when it became apparent that the project had outgrown the original venue. County Commissioner Dorfman has participated in both the PHC events, and has said that Project Homeless Connect is "changing the paradigm of how we deliver services in our community."

In both San Francisco and Minneapolis, the focus on immediate on site delivery of services at Project Homeless Connect events has created new partnerships and innovations."People are working together in ways they never have before," Ten Broeke said, citing as an example community service providers who had never met each other prior to participating in a PHC event. The spirit of Project Homeless Connect has also created a greater receptivity to services by homeless people, Klain said. In San Francisco, the "show-up rate for followup medical appointments has increased from around 10 percent to 70 percent since the start of Project Homeless Connect."

Several city and state leaders participated in the conference call Tuesday, including Santa Barbara Mayor Marty Blum and Martha Are, North Carolina's point person on homelessness. Representatives of the Michigan State Housing Development Authority, which has encouraged all 83 Michigan counties to develop ten-year plans, also participated.

Already 35 cities and counties have replicated the Project Homeless Connect model and more than two dozen have committed to participating in National Project Homeless Connect Week. The next peer-to-peer conference call will take place on August 29 at 1 p.m. The call will describe public-private partnerships created through PHC events and partnerships created with volunteers, sponsors, homeless persons, and the media. Communities interested in participating should contact the Council at usichevents@usich.gov

On September 7, the Interagency Council and the National League of Cities Institute for Youth, Education, and Families (IYEF) will sponsor a web seminar at 2 pm entitled Project Homeless Connect: Using Civic Engagement to Serve the Homeless. This webinar will provide practical advice and examples for cities interested in replicating the PHC model or improving upon their own past PHC events. Space for the webinar is limited, and reservations must be made through IYEF. Cities are encouraged to register early and to join with community partners to participate as a group. To register online, go to the IYEF webpage and click on the Project Homeless Connect webinar link. For more information on the webinar, you are asked to contact IYEF by email at pierce@nlc.org rather than calling.

For more information on the Council's National Project Homeless Connect Week, please visit the Council's website or contact usichevents@usich.gov

When senior officials of the US, the United Kingdom (UK), and South African governments met in Washington in 2003 at the invitation of United States Interagency Council on Homelessness Executive Director Philip Mangano to discuss national responses to homelessness, Director Mangano noted,

"Our intent is to ensure that our efforts are infused with the best ideas currently available and at work both within and outside our individual countries to eliminate the disgrace of homelessness. We recognize that we have much to learn from our colleagues beyond our own borders. That learning will be enhanced by an exchange of perspectives related to planful partnerships, strategic solutions, and innovative initiatives."

Over the past three years through continuing dialogue and formal Tripartite meetings, most recently held in Vancouver BC during the UN-sponsored World Urban Forum, the Council has continued the effort begun at that first international discussion to discover and disseminate information about the best practices of other nations. A recent research summary, Evaluating Homelessness Prevention, by the UK Department for Communities and Local Government (formerly known as the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister), has parallels to efforts in the US to more effectively address homelessness through increased attention to prevention efforts for families and individuals. The research was commissioned by the UK Government and carried out by Heriot Watt University through detailed case studies of ten local authorities actively involved in homelessness prevention efforts to:

• Evaluate the effectiveness of different approaches to preventing homelessness
• Provide evidence on value for money of homelessness prevention work
• Produce a good practice guide on homelessness prevention
• Make recommendations on the future monitoring of homelessness prevention work by local authorities and the central government

The study found that successful prevention efforts involved a pro-active rather than reactive approach- a "central focus on resolving applicants housing problems" that often "reshape" the roles of local authority staff with an "increased emphasis on networking, negotiation and creativity."

Other key findings:

1. "Housing options" interviews have a central role in a prevention focused framework, exploring in detail the feasibility of securing existing accommodation or failing that, examining the full range of possible routes to accessing a new tenancy, asking "how can we help", rather than "who can we help".

2. Rent deposit-type programs were found to play a growing role in rehousing potentially homeless households including ancillary services such as "introductory services for landlords and intensive housing advice assistance."

3. Increasingly, improved prevention efforts shift toward a greater role for "landlord liaisons"-which can create "early warning systems" that a family or individual's tenancy may be at risk. Targeting high risk tenancies can "take the form of outreach sessions staged in selected locations" such as community and employment centers.

4. Some local authorities were found to have "moved away from making returnable deposits to landlords, allowing landlords to instead keep the deposits as a premium payment" as a stronger incentive for landlord cooperation and simplifying administrative paperwork. The report notes that there is not a lot of data collected yet about the long term sustainability of the tenancies created under these circumstances.

5. Domestic violence was found to be the main reason for homelessness among 13% of the homeless families in 2004/2005. "Sanctuary" programs to enable those who have experienced domestic violence to remain in their own homes were found to be capable of being "highly cost effective when appropriately targeted" but the report does not discuss "appropriate targeting".

6. Identifying and addressing prisoner housing problems is seen as "crucial both at reception into, and at release, from prison." In addition to the importance of collaboration between prison-based housing advice staff and a range of external agencies, the research identified potential benefits of "peer involvement" models of prison-based housing advice. Prisoners trained to provide such housing advice were found to "benefit in terms of increased confidence, and the experience gained may boost their future employability.

7. The report notes that "tenancy sustainment services" for families and individuals such as benefit claim assistance, budgeting, furnishing expenses, and helping finding meaningful occupation are often cited by service providers as essential in enabling vulnerable people and those with complex support needs to maintain tenancies but "due to typically under developed monitoring systems, there is relatively little hard evidence to demonstrate service effectiveness.", particularly the proportion of supported tenancies remaining intact after a given period.

8. Nevertheless, the report concludes, evidence appears sufficient to confirm that a significant proportion of interventions to prevent homelessness for households succeed in their objective "as demonstrated on a national scale by the downward trend in homelessness since the introduction of homelessness strategies in 2003 despite the deteriorating housing affordability indexes."

The report recommends that local authorities should be more strongly encouraged to monitor the effectiveness of homelessness prevention at the level of individual projects to include recording of service user outcomes (homelessness averted) and tenancy sustainment rates over a given period of time.

For more than twenty years, Angela Alioto has focused her considerable intelligence, resources, and public service to remedy the privations of homeless people in San Francisco. She has been inspired by the Patron Saint of her beloved city in the moral and spiritual commitment she has made to homeless people in both her personal and professional life.

As a skilled attorney, and while a Supervisor and President of the Board of Supervisors in San Francisco, Angela Alioto has been a tireless companion to our poorest neighbors. Her appointment by San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom to lead that city's 10-year planning effort to end chronic homelessness led to the creation of a diverse and inclusive Planning Council that only her deep rooted and well known commitment to the disadvantaged in her law practice, her political career, and in her personal life would hold together. T.S. Eliot wrote that "between the intent and the reality, between the motion and the act falls the shadow." As 10-Year Planning Council Chair, Angela Alioto insured that the shadow that had long fallen across homelessness in her city would be dissipated in the light of the 10-year planning initiative.

The resulting 10-Year Plan to Abolish Chronic Homelessness' emphasis on solutions and results mirrored the partnership of Mayor and City Champion. The Plan called for the creation of 3000 permanent supportive housing units by 2010, nearly 1500 of which have already been created. The resulting decrease of homelessness on the streets of San Francisco has been documented.

Angela Alioto understands that it is in giving that we receive, and she gives to our most vulnerable neighbors the gifts of deliverance. She embodies the action recommended by St Francis: "Start by doing what's necessary, then what's possible, and suddenly you are doing the impossible." Ms. Alioto undertook the challenging work of leading a 10-year planning effort in a city many thought of as having an intractable street homeless problem and has followed that with the less public, but equally important task, of chairing the Implementation Committee. As co-chair of California Keys, an innovative collaboration of cities and counties in the state engaged in or planning to develop 10-year plans who meet bimonthly for peer support, to discuss legislative initiatives, and compile results, outcomes and accomplishments, she is ensuring that homeless people not just in her beloved city but throughout California will have a place to live.

For her passionate concern for our most vulnerable neighbors and her gifts of deliverance, the United States Interagency Council on Homelessness was pleased to present an inaugural A Home for Every American Award to Angela Alioto.

On Tuesday, August 15, the U.S. Census Bureau released the 2005 American Community Survey (ACS) data on social and demographic characteristics, covering the nation, all 50 states, the District of Columbia, counties and places with population of 65,000 or more, and every congressional district. This is the first time ACS data has been available for areas with populations of less than 250,000. When the survey is fully implemented by 2010, data will be updated annually for all levels of geography including census tracts and block groups. The ACS is a nationwide survey designed to provide communities a look at how they are changing.

The demographic and social characteristics data by geographic area released on Tuesday cover:

• race and ethnicity
• origins and language
• age and sex
• education
• marital status
• grandparents as caregivers
• veterans status
• disability
• citizenship and year of entry

On August 29, the Census Bureau will release the 2005 ACS economic data to include income, poverty and employment among other characteristics. Housing characteristics data are scheduled to be released on October 3rd and a planned November 14 release will include approximately 200 selected population tables with data by race, Hispanic origin, and ancestry.

In June, the Census Bureau released a 2005 American Community Survey Special Product for the Gulf Coast Areas, consisting of two data profiles for the areas affected by Hurricanes Katrina and Rita. The profiles include basic social, economic and housing information for the pre-hurricane period (an 8 month average) and for the post-hurricane period (a 4 month average) that allows a comparison of population characteristics before and after the hurricanes.