Invitation to Join the Roanoke City and County/Salem CoC (a/k/a Blue Ridge Continuum of Care)
Dear Community Members,
It is with great excitement that we invite you to join the Blue Ridge Continuum of Care (CoC) as we incorporate changes to emphasize best practices, collaboration, and invite conversation and dialogue in promoting progress within our community. There are no fees associated with joining the CoC.
The lead entity for Roanoke’s Continuum of Care planning process is the Blue Ridge Interagency Council on Homelessness (BRICH). The focus of this governance body is making homelessness rare, brief and non-recurring in our CoC. The Council of Community Services is the regional planning body that coordinates the community’s policies, strategies, and activities toward preventing and ending homelessness.
Through the CoC, community stakeholders engage on the issues facing our CoC’s low-income population, homeless individuals and families, and other at-risk populations, and become part of the solutions being offered to address those challenges. Our CoC provides regular updates on funding opportunities, community training events and other opportunities!
Community members are encouraged to join the upcoming CoC meeting on July 17, 2018, which will also serve as the CoC General Membership Meeting.
We have made good progress over the last few years and there are many promising initiatives that are active throughout our community, yet there are still many people without a safe and secure place to live. We invite you to collaborate with us to continue the work we have started and increase our ability to end homelessness.
We hope to hear from you soon!
Sincerely,
Matthew Crookshank, CoC Chair
Blue Ridge Continuum of Care
Membership in the Blue Ridge CoC is open to any organization connected to the CoC’s service area that is interested and committed to making homelessness rare, brief, and non-recurring in the Blue Ridge region. CoC membership offers many benefits, including but not limited to:
- Joining a robust network of agencies working together to end homelessness
- Helping coordinate and implement housing and service systems within our region
- Developing measures and interventions that advocate for eradicating homelessness in the Blue Ridge region
- Defining the CoC’s leadership and governance by voting in periodic elections
Each organization will be represented by a primary representative with this voting right. In their absence, an alternate representative can vote on behalf of the organization.
The CoC encourages people with lived experience of homelessness (PWLE) to join its action and offer
important perspective in shaping strategic leadership and informing CoC policies and practices.