It was a great Friday for our first meeting of 2025! President Mark Sprosty reminded everyone of our January Service Project which is Read United on Friday, January 24th. Once all Rotary business items were discussed, Kim Campbell introduced our speaker, Stephanie Kaple, from the Interagency Council on Homelessness (ICH), an organization that serves as the convener and coordinator of homelessness services in our community. Stephanie presented the Five Year Strategic Plan to address homelessness in our community.
As entertaining as she was informative, Stephanie shared with us details from the Plan - including recommendations to increase the number of emergency beds, improve access and awareness of available services, expand encampment services, add additional low-barrier entry facilities, and develop an approach to assist unsheltered people during weather emergencies.
She shared that the assessment showed that our emergency shelters currently don’t have enough beds for families or couples. Stephanie also spoke about the need for more permanent supportive housing with comprehensive support services, homelessness prevention programs, and comprehensive policy reform.
It was a very engaging and insightful presentation. Thank you, Stephanie, for kicking off 2025 with such a important topic!