Thanks to Community Partners for Collaboration

The following opinion piece was submitted to the Fayetteville Observer by Alliance Supportive Housing Manager Laressa Witt.

I want to thank the community for caring for people facing homelessness during the cold weather and snowstorm. Often collaboration is unseen as agencies and organizations quietly connect people to needed support. Because of this unseen response, the community at large may think nothing is being done. That could not be further from the truth.

The COVID Omicron variant has impacted the homeless service system greatly. There have been shortages of staff, exposed people in the shelters, and increased need for hotels to safely house the medically vulnerable. In response, Cumberland County Emergency Management opened the Smith Recreation Center because COVID restrictions limited the number of people who could be safely housed during White Flag, when shelters open for inclement weather. The Manna Dream Center Shelter was shuttered due to COVID exposure but that did not stop Manna from providing meals to the Salvation Army, the COVID hotels, and the Recreation Center. Operation Inasmuch provided breakfast and delivered mail to the COVID hotels since people were in isolation due to COVID. Alliance Health and Loving Hands International provided care coordination and case management for those in the hotels. Loving Hands staff and the Fayetteville Police Department went throughout the community ensuring people knew where to shelter as information became available. Cumberland County Public Health provided COVID tests and masks to keep people safe. The storm is not an isolated event. The homeless service system collaborates every day. Cumberland HealthNet manages the Coordinated Entry System so people who are most in need are prioritized for the limited number of resources by calling 910-479-HOME.

Endeavors, Fayetteville Urban Ministries, Teague’s Home for Women, Connections of Cumberland County, the VA Medical Center, and others work to coordinate care for people who are homeless. Fayetteville Economic Development and Cumberland County Community Development manages the homeless initiative funds that provides financial support so people can move into housing. Alliance Health collaborates with the Fayetteville Metropolitan Housing Authority for vouchers for people with disabilities. There are many more examples of collaboration that agencies and faith-based organizations do each day. Homelessness is a community issue and there are many people working tirelessly to address it often quietly and unseen.

Laressa Witt
Supportive Housing Manager
Alliance Health