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United Way offers to fund coordinator position for homelessness task force

November 21, 2019–6:09 p.m.

STAFF REPORTS

The effort to solve the issue of homelessness in Rome and Floyd County appears to be taking a big step forward.

During Thursday’s meeting of the homelessness task force, the United Way of Rome and Floyd County presented a proposal to fund a new position of a coordinator whose job it would be to ensure that a redesigned 2009 plan is fully implemented, according to United Way Executive Director Alli Mitchell.

“Most of you know Cathy Aiken-Freeman, she has expressed an interest in filling this role, helping to look for grant opportunities and helping to kind of guide the process as you go forward,” Mitchell told the task force.  “It gives stability for the task force.  Those of us who are in the room ten years ago when things kind of fell apart, it was because the plan didn’t have that permanent stability going forward. So, again it’s just a support role.”

According to the proposal, the Interagency Council on Poverty & Homelessness Coordinator would support efforts to revise the plan and implement the goals and action steps.

Again, the position would be funded by the United Way.

“They’re a gracious funding opportunity that will help us get this started,” said Rome City Manager Sammy Rich.  “However, at the end of the day guys this is your person, not the city’s person, not the United Way’s person, it’s this agency’s person.  So, I think we put our differences aside, we lock arms and we move forward.

Rich said the next step is to put together a committee to work out a job description and other details with implementation coming in January.

You can read the United Way proposal here.