Help for the Homeless Hygiene Drive marks 34th year, runs through March 15 in Wisconsin
fox11online.com
The Help for the Homeless collection boxes have gone out into the community and will be there for the next three weeks.
The drive serves 21 communities statewide, including Appleton, Green Bay, Wausau/Stevens Point, Sheboygan, Eau Claire, and Milwaukee.
Through March 15th, community members can donate new hygiene and cleaning supplies at area Festival Foods, Walgreens, or participating workplaces, churches, and schools.
fox11online.com/good-day-wi/help-for-the-homeless-hygiene-drive-marks-34th-year-runs-through-marc...
Give Big Green Bay is February 25-26th where coalition members and community agencies are raising money that will be matched by Give Big Green Bay during this 24 hr period. We have so many great community agencies involved, please support them how you can - share events online, volunteer, donate good or with monetary donations all year but especially check our their missions during this event.
Coalition members:
Family Services of Northeast Wisconsin
Freedom House Green Bay
Golden House
JOSHUA-Green Bay
NeighborWorks Green Bay
New Community Shelter
Options for Independent Living
Wise Women Gathering Place
From this week's Ryan Dowd (homelesstraining.com/) email,
Homelessness is like Cholera
Cholera
In 1854, London had a bad cholera outbreak.
Doctors worked around the clock. They treated patient after patient — fever, cramps, dehydration. Some survived. Many didn't.
And every morning, there were new patients at the door.
Nobody stopped to ask why. They just worked tirelessly to treat the patients.
Then a doctor named John Snow (nope, not the character from Game of Thrones) did something simple. He drew a map. He marked every death in the neighborhood and looked for a pattern.
Every single one pointed back to the same water pump on Broad Street.
The water was contaminated. Everyone who drank from it got sick.
Dr. Snow walked over to Broad Street and removed the handle on the pump.
The outbreak stopped almost immediately.
Homelessness
In 2024, Veteran’s Administration (US) housed nearly 48,000 homeless veterans.
That’s fantastic, right?
Not so fast.
The total number of homeless vets in the United States only dropped by 2,700 people.
What the heck??? Why is that??
In the same year, about 45,300 veterans became homeless.
The math is simple:
48,000 vets left homelessness
45,300 vets entered homelessness
A total reduction of only 2,700 vets.
It is called the “inflow problem.”
About 10 years ago, I ran the numbers at the shelter where I worked.
In a typical week, 16 people became homeless and arrived at our door.
That meant just to keep our numbers the same, we had to get 16 people out of homelessness every single week.
Homelessness is Like Cholera
Our world’s approach to homelessness right now is like the doctors running around London in 1854.
We are working REALLY hard to get people out of homelessness back into homes.
And we are doing a great job!
So, why isn’t homelessness going down?
Because for every person we get out of homelessness, one (or more) people become homeless.
How do we remove the “pump handle” on homelessness?
The research is clear.
Lack of affordable housing is the contaminated well.
The good news is that affordable housing is fixable, therefore so is homelessness.
The bad news is it won’t be cheap or politically popular.
There are two realities that we cannot avoid:
• Until we get serious about affordable housing, homelessness is here to stay.
• If housing continues its current trend away from affordability, homelessness IS going to get worse.
Thank you to everyone working on creating more affordable housing and thank you to everyone working on the frontline of the homeless crisis (shelters, street outreach, etc.).
Peace,
Ryan
Source: "What Would It Take to End Homelessness in the United States?" — Colburn et al., Housing Policy Debate, 2025
BCHHC Facebook Page
TRAINING AND FUNDING OPPORTUNITIES
The BCHHC offers training and information about training presented by other organizations throughout the year.
Recorded trainings can be viewed here.
Funding opportunities are shared when available. Some opportunities are available through membership in and engagement with BCHHC.
More information about annual housing and homeless-related funding opportunities can be found here.
BCHHC CALENDAR
BCHHC Committee Calendar
BROWN COUNTY HEALTH AND EDUCATION IMPACT STUDY
Health and Education Impacts of Homelessness and Housing Services in Brown County
At the end of 2023, on behalf of the Brown County Homeless and Housing Coalition and the Greater Green Bay Blueprint to Prevent and End Homelessness, a grant from Brown County Public Health was received to integrate Homeless Management Information System (HMIS) data into the Community Information System (CIS), a database operated in partnership by Achieve Brown County and the Brown County United Way, as a response to strategies identified in the Brown County Community Health Improvement Plan.
Homeless service providers in Brown County, WI, with support from the Institute for Community Alliances, worked with local hospital systems and schools to explore how access to homeless services impacts health and education. The Impact Study shows that access to homeless services improves both health and education outcomes for youth in our community:
- Children/youth who accessed emergency shelter saw a 55% reduction in ER usage (1x per year to 1x per 2 years), AND children/youth who accessed stable housing saw a 76% reduction in ER usage (1x per year to 1x per 4 years).
- Of youth attending High School who received access to targeted youth outreach services, 100% return to full school attendance, an increase of nearly 30% in attendance rates.
HOMELESSNESS AWARENESS MONTH 2024
Partner Highlights: A Homelessness Awareness Month Series, November 2024
This Homelessness Awareness Month, we’re spotlighting some of the often-unseen partners who help prevent and address homelessness in our community. While shelters and housing agencies may come to mind first, creating sustainable solutions to homelessness requires a broad network of support. From healthcare providers and schools to businesses, faith groups, and community centers, each partner brings unique resources that help individuals and families achieve stability.
The Greater Green Bay Blueprint to Prevent and End Homelessness highlights that “Every Greater Green Bay stakeholder has the potential to bring solutions, expertise, and energy to the work to prevent and end homelessness….The insight, wisdom, perspective, and connections different members of a community bring creates the momentum, new solutions, power, and push needed to respond to the complex, multi-faceted community issue that is homelessness and housing instability.”
Join us in recognizing the vital contributions of a few of our local non-traditional allies and celebrating the impact we make together.
DATA
Data provided by the Institute for Community Alliances
Click on Brown County for HMIS data on homelessness
Monthly Dashboard
Point In Time
Homeless System Performance Measures
GREATER GREEN BAY BLUEPRINT TO PREVENT AND END HOMELESSNESS
The Greater Green Bay Blueprint to Prevent and End Homelessness is the outcome of a collaborative effort of the Greater Green Bay Community Housing Initiative Task Force. It is a roadmap for the community to address housing instability in Brown County.
Learn more at the links below and follow along for updates.
COORDINATED ENTRY BROWN COUNTY
Coordinated Entry in Brown County
Programs such as Rapid Rehousing and Permanent Housing use a process called Coordinated Entry to screen individuals and families who may be eligible for placement within those programs. The Coordinated Entry process was created to streamline access to the housing solution that fits the situation presented. Based on the assessment, you will be referred to a prioritization list for various program types and provided additional information upon request.
You can request access to a Coordinated Entry Assessment at any No Wrong Door agency in Brown County or you can contact House of Hope at (920) 884-6740.
