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Collaboration with Other Local Agencies Getting involved with other local nonprofits and even your local Continuum of Care COC can be critical when developing relationships with your community. The COC is a federal program under HUD designed to promote commitment to ending homelessness on a local level. It provides funding and resources to quickly rehouse indi- viduals and families to prevent further homeless- ness. Agencies that receive HUD funding and housing vouchers have direct access to services that can support the stability of your residents. Contact your local COC head and see how you can get involved. You can find local resources on the HUDexhange.info website. Large organizations might be able to keep staff on-site to do assessments clinical time housing applications and more without having to pay for the service. HUD requires their funded organiza- tions to go where the homeless reside which many times is rescue missions. Mental health agencies are held accountable to keep their patients stable in treatment. If your residents are connected to a provider andor an agency it might be worth taking the time to meet with the leadership. Ideas on how you can work together can be a win-win situation. The residents will get the services while the agency can increase their success of treatment outcomes. Formal contracts can be composed or simply write an agreement so that roles are understood. The financial cost for these services is very high so any kind of partner- ship is a gain to your program. POSITIVE IMPACT ONYOUR STAFF T hrough these types of partnerships and collaborations your staff can focus on running the program and not on the medical and psychiatric needs of clients. If you find that your staff is more confident with training then education or training is one way to help. Classes andor online curriculum are available to increase knowledge of basic mental illnesses crisis protocols and more. The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Administration www.SAMHSA.gov has many resources on training and technical assistance for staff at low or no cost. The SOAR SSISSDI Outreach and Access to Recovery model is successful for assisting your disabled clients in expediting their SSI claim to provide income and medical insurance. This assistance allows residents to have access to a stable income insurance and social service resources. SAMHSA also has a partnership with Health and Human Services HHS to provide assis- tance to faith-based and charitable organiza- tions for fostering relationships with government agencies. These are only a few organizations out of many that are available for partnership. We cant solve homelessness alone so the more we work together the better. If your mission is opposed to taking government funding look for programs that provide funding to the indi- vidual being treated instead again this could be a win-win-win situation for the resident your mission and the programs providing the funding. These ideas might sound overwhelming at first however over time they will make your program run smoother and increase positive outcomes to end homelessness in your community. This will open doors to funding partnerships and more importantly success for those you are called to serve. Remember that this path is never linear there will always be ups and downs. But with faith and commitment together we will move forward for a greater purpose. 34 WWW.AGRM.ORG MARCHAPRIL 2016 Brooks who holds a mas- ters of social work degree is director for the Community Medical Respite Program at Raleigh Rescue Mission and a former treatment coordina- tor for Denver Rescue MissionChampa House. FREE HELP One AGRM contract part- ner Safe Harbor provides Christian-based clinically sound counseling services by licensed mental health professionals often at no cost to rescue missions. For more information and to see if the program is available in your state visit www.thecaregroupllc.com or email Ken Guise at kenguisesafeharbor1.com.