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The Key Alliance Participates in Vulnerability
Index Survey for Housing First
In October, more than 40 local volunteers scanned the streets of Downtown during the early morning hours to conduct the third Vulnerability Index survey in Nashville.
The Key Alliance is continuing the Metropolitan Homelessness Commission’s approach to utilize the Vulnerability Index in determining who among the chronically homeless individuals in Nashville is in dire need of getting into the Housing First program.
“Housing First takes the most vulnerable homeless individuals off Nashville’s streets and offers them housing coupled with intensive case management,” Clifton Harris, executive director of The Key Alliance, said. “To determine who is in most need of housing because of their health – some individuals face death if left trying to survive in the streets, we are utilizing the Vulnerability Index.”
The Vulnerability Index is an invention of the Common Ground Institute, a national technical assistance initiative based in New York City. Common Ground Director Becky Kanis visited Nashville in 2008 and helped Park Center, a local nonprofit organization supporting people with mental illness, create its own Vulnerability Index applicable to Nashville’s homeless population.
Questions in the survey mainly focus on physical and mental well-being.
The findings over the past three years show that of the 443 of the 885 individuals surveyed are medically vulnerable.
Additional findings:
- 45% receive mental health treatment;
- 22% of respondents are veterans, of which 59% are vulnerable;
- 33% have a physical disability or mobility limitations;
- 39% have been the victim of a violent attack since they have been homeless;
- 30% work;
- 64% have abused substances in the past or present;
- 44% have received substance abuse treatment;
- 67% are uninsured;
- 82% have been to jail and 29% to prison; and
- 14% have been in foster care, of which 54% are vulnerable.
Project Homeless Connect
Our third annual Project Homeless Connect (PHC) event is Dec. 8, 2010, at the Tennessee State Fairgrounds. Many of you participated in the prior years at this one-day event that helps remove barriers to housing for individuals and families struggling with homelessness.
 On any given night, more than 4,000 individuals including children are homeless in Nashville. PHC provides an outreach opportunity to help members of our community. Last year, more than 60 service providers and 700 volunteers offered 9,500 services to 1,558 individuals and families in need.
PHC makes a powerful impact on homeless individuals’ and families’ lives by providing a wide range of assistance including medical and foot care, legal services, employment support, pet care, food, toiletries and more.
It takes the collective effort of everyone in our community to help us end chronic homelessness and reduce overall homelessness in Nashville. PHC is a valuable service that moves individuals and families who find themselves homeless or on the brink of homelessness one step closer to securing housing.
The overhead for PHC covers the cost of the venue, equipment rental, meals, replacing lost identification, bus passes, and other services needed to make PHC a success. Sponsorship dollars help cover some of this expense, but we also rely on the gifts of individual donors to pay for the services we provide to our homeless community.
To send a check via snail mail, please fill it out to benefit "The Key Alliance/PHC" and address it to:
The Key Alliance
Mary Beth Ritchie
P.O. Box 23168
Nashville, TN 37202
Or donate online with your Mastercard or Visa.
Corporate or congregational sponsors will have the opportunity to be recognized in our newsletter, print materials, social media campaign, and media relations outreach. In the past our event has gained national recognition with U.S. representatives from the White House in attendance. City leaders including Mayor Karl Dean have recognized PHC as a forceful awareness campaign that promotes solutions to homelessness in Nashville. For sponsorship opportunities contact Laura Jumonville at 780-7014 or
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Volunteer sign ups began Nov. 1. Please sign up by visiting Hands on Nashville. Sign up information is also provided on our Website. We are looking for 500 volunteers.
If you are looking for other ways to help, we are encouraging toiletry and clothing drives to collect items that will be distributed at PHC. We need 1,500 to 2,000 of each of the following items listed here.
If you would like to host a drive to collect toiletry or clothing items, please contact Mary Beth Ritchie at 252-8573 or email
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Community Partner: Room In The Inn
The Key Alliance is collaborating with Room In The Inn to provide technical assistance on the fundraising and communications front in an effort to raise the remaining $2.5 million RITI needs to finish its expansion project.
“We believe in permanent solutions,” Clifton Harris, executive director of The Key Alliance, said. “And Room In The Inn’s programming is focused on permanent solutions.”
The $2.5 million is needed to complete Phase II of the project, which is the renovation of the original 20,000-square-foot building that will expand and improve the Guest House Respite Center.
The Respite Center offers, among other services:
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Recuperative care for individuals discharged from area hospitals;
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Social detox for the publicly intoxicated, followed by assessments and referrals for alcohol and drug treatment;
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Shelter and supportive services for individuals pending drug and alcohol treatment, and individuals stabilizing on mental health medications;
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Residential services for individuals participating in outpatient alcohol and drug treatment; and
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Long-term recovery and transitional housing programs for homeless veterans and the chronically homeless.
Phase I of the RITI expansion was the construction of a new 45,000-square-foot building that was recently completed. RITI celebrated a grand opening with Gov. Phil Bredesen, Mayor Karl Dean and other dignitaries on Sept. 9.
The Key Alliance believes it is important to come alongside RITI’s Comprehensive Center, which we hope will become the one-stop entry point in the city to address issues of chronically homeless individuals. The Comprehensive Center offers a multitude of needed services that are geared toward permanent solutions to homelessness.
News Briefs
 Mayor Karl Dean joined The Key Alliance to unveil the first donation meter of the Adopt A Meter program in front of the Bridgestone Arena in September. Sponsor Southwest Airlines included a public arts component created by artist and Southwest Airlines employee Ken Smith. The Adopt A Meter program is an awareness campaign that places specially marked donation meters throughout the city where people can deposit change that will benefit Nashville’s homeless outreach efforts.
Ben Shuster has joined The Key Alliance board of directors. Shuster is the senior director of state partnership relations for CCA. Prior to joining CCA in 2008, he served as a consultant for the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services in Washington, D.C. He also worked as special assistant to the Chief of Staff of the U.S. department of the Treasurey and as lead advance representative and trip coordinator in the White House for the Office of the Vice President. Mr. Shuster holds a bachelor's degree from Dickinson College and an MBA degree from Thunderbird School of Global Management.
The Key Alliance produced two printable brochures, Where to Find Help & Where to Find a Meal, that service providers can download in PDF format online. This material was created in direct response to requests for an updated print version of our online Where to Find Help tool. The online version will remain more comprehensive than the print versions. The Key Alliance staff will remain dedicated to updating the information with the help of direct service providers in the community. To view our comprehensive service listing, click here.
A new exhibit at the Coleman Community Center, 384 Thompson Lane, features posters that 4th Graders of Warner Elementary drew about homelessness. It is the newest location featuring our year-long Poster Contest awareness campaign, in which children ages 9-11 share their thoughts about homelessness and what home means to them.
The Key Alliance and the Metropolitan Homelessness Commission received local, national and international news coverage on several issues this past two months including the Vulnerable Veterans Program, the Adopt A Meter program, the Vulnerability Index (see article above), the partnership between The Key Alliance and Room In The Inn, and Housing First. The Vulnerable Veterans program is a collaboration between the Metropolitan Homelessness Commission, the local Veteran Affairs Tennessee Valley Healthcare Systems (TVHS) and Eckman/Freeman Associates to offer Housing First to 15 of the most vulnerable chronically homeless veterans in the Downtown area.
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