Recently, the EverTrust Foundation’s board voted to provide multi-year “start-up” funding to create a one-call, one-list single access system for emergency shelter. This initiative will connect shelter service providers into one efficient, centralized system: Volunteers of America Western Washington, Housing Hope, Interfaith Association, Monroe Women’s Gospel Mission, Salvation Army, YWCA, Everett Gospel Mission, Catholic Community Services, Compass Health and Cocoon House.
For the first time, homeless families and individuals in our community will be able to make one phone call to access all the emergency shelter providers in our community. For families in crisis, no resource is more precious than hope. The postive impact of this system will be great.
As Snohomish County has grown, so has the need for emergency shelter. We as a community must continue to find ways to use resources most efficiently. The EverTrust Foundation’s funding will maximize the productivity of community shelter resources to change the experience of homelessness. Its funding will create a system that streamlines shelter access and provides clear data.
This could not have happened without the effort and intensive collaboration that our community service agencies have built over the past several years. Volunteers of America Western Washington will house the new shelter access program, as an expansion of the services offered by their 2-1-1 Information and Referral Line. A coalition of service-enriched shelter providers and local government developed this true collaboration, as the first step in making the Snohomish County 10-Year Plan to End Homelessness initiative recommendations real.
We salute the vision of the EverTrust Foundation and the spirit of collaboration in Snohomish County’s Homeless Policy Task Force that made this decision possible. Through partnerships like these, our community continues to innovate and become a better place for all citizens.
Tom Robinson
President/CEO
Richard toyer
Treasurer, Board of Directors
Debbie jordan Manager, Communications and Volunteer Programs
Volunteers of America Western
Washington
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