Mecklenburg County and Charlotte Mecklenburg Housing and Homelessness Strategy Initiative (CMHHS) announce the creation of an Enduring Structure with United Way of Central Carolinas as the local nonprofit lead agency.
“We are thrilled that United Way of Central Carolinas has agreed to step into this role and provide their unique expertise and leadership as we create a structure that will advance this work,” said Dena R. Diorio, Mecklenburg County Manager. “This is the next step in this community-driven process, as recommended and described by the CMHHS Strategic Framework.”
The Enduring Structure will be supported through the Mecklenburg County Manager’s Office and Community Support Services through a contract with United Way, providing oversight, a program of work, staff and financial support.
“Bringing together partners from multiple sectors to solve our community’s greatest challenges is central to United Way’s mission,” said Laura Yates Clark, President and CEO of United Way of Central Carolinas. “We look forward to collaborating with nonprofit, government, business, philanthropic and faith partners to ensure our most vulnerable neighbors have the opportunity to achieve economic mobility.”
The Enduring Structure also includes two committees to support the work. The Advisory Committee will be comprised primarily of private sector representatives. The Technical Committee, currently chaired by Stacy Lowry, Director of Mecklenburg County’s Community Support Services, will be comprised primarily of technical experts and practitioners from public and private sectors. The voices of those with lived experience of homelessness will be included on both.
“We know from the inclusive process that created the Strategic Framework that this work must belong to the entire community; private, public and practitioners as well as the voice of lived experience,” said Michael Smith, CEO of Charlotte Center City Partners. “This is an exciting next step, and we look forward to quickly creating an Implementation Plan that will turn strategy into action and help us identify the necessary sources and uses.”
The next steps in the process are to identify short-term wins in partnership with the City, County and partner agencies that align with the strategic framework and continue developing the long-term implementation plan, which will include expanding United Way’s team to manage the work.
“This team of leaders has created a solid foundation and is ready to move to the next steps,” said Erin Barbee, Chief Strategy Officer for DreamKey Partners. “Putting this Enduring Structure in place will move us forward with a community vision to support our most vulnerable neighbors.”
The current project management team, made up of representatives from the City of Charlotte, Mecklenburg County, Charlotte Center City Partners, Bank of America, Atrium Health and McKinsey and Co., will continue to support the transition.
More information can be found at www.ahomeforallmeck.com.
Source: mecknc.gov
