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Run for the Homeless
 Mark your calendars! On Saturday, May 14, 2011, The Key Alliance will hold its first 5K Run for the Homeless.
“It is actually a 5K Run/Walk,” special events coordinator Mary Beth Ritchie said. “We are very excited to announce that we are turning our annual Walk A Mile in My Shoes into a 5K this year.”
The reason for the change started when committee members discussed how far homeless individuals actually have to walk on a daily basis to get the services they need.
“Just think about walking from the Nashville Rescue Mission to the Library where you can go online to check your email and search for a job,” Ritchie said. “Then you may want to go for lunch at a church on Music Row and later that afternoon you have a court hearing for a trespassing charge. After that you either go back to the Mission or you may participate in Room In The Inn.”
Ritchie said that our fictional homeless individual walked an estimated six to 10 miles that day – probably more than double the distance of a 5K.
The Run for the Homeless will start at the Hall of Fame Park across from the Country Music Hall of Fame and lead participants through Downtown Nashville.
Pre-registration costs $25 per person or $60 for a family of four (only immediate family members can be registered as a family unit).
Registration will cost $30 per person the day of the race.
The race will start at 8 a.m. with check-in to begin at 6:30 a.m. Entertainment, drawings and an award ceremony will follow the race. The Run for the Homeless is a USATF (USA Track & Field) Certified Course with ChampionChip Timing provided by the Nashville Striders. It is also part of the Nashville Striders Grand Prix Series Event.
“ We are very proud to work together with the Nashville Striders and the Nashville Sports Council,” Ritchie said. “Both organizations have very high standards and are extremely helpful.”
All proceeds will benefit The Key Alliance’s Housing First program, which offers permanent housing coupled with wrap-around case management to chronically homeless individuals in Nashville. Housing First is a nationally recognized permanent supportive housing model. The case managers are master’s level social workers with a case load ratio of 1:12.
Online registration is available through the Nashville Sports Council. Click here to register now.
For sponsorship opportunities, please contact Laura Jumonville at 615-780-7014.
Project Homeless Connect Results
Project Homeless Connect 2010 tallies show that close to 1,500 homeless individuals and families as well as people on the brink of homelessness received more than 10,000 services from 75 participating service providers within six hours.
The Key Alliance hosted the third Project Homeless Connect Nashville at the Tennessee State Fairgrounds this year, a venue that was very well received by participants and volunteers.
Clifton Harris, executive director of The Key Alliance, the nonprofit fundraising arm of the Metropolitan Homelessness Commission, said he was pleased with the outcome of the event.
“The solution to homelessness is housing,” Harris said. “That’s why The Key Alliance promotes Housing First, an approach that takes homeless people where they are and places them in low-income housing units where they receive individualized case management. Project Homeless Connect is a first step to remove housing barriers and connect people to work.”
Project Homeless Connect is a one-day, one-stop event that removes barriers to housing. The event provides people struggling with homelessness with access to a broad range of services including medical screenings, legal services, employment assistance, foot care, pet care, haircuts, foreclosure prevention services, and more.
At least 14 individuals found employment through Project Homeless Connect with companies including Kroger, Peoplelink Staffing, Adecco, and Krystal. An additional 87 individuals received services through the Social Security benefits program, which hopefully will lead to income that will allow them to pay for rent.
Community Court was held differently this year with about 151 individuals being given a court date on site. Judge Dan Eisenstein freed his docket after Project Homeless Connect to hear cases referred to him through community court at the event.
Due to a snow day, however, court had to be moved from its originally scheduled date of Dec. 13 to Jan. 10, which also turned out to be a snow day. Nonetheless, officials decided not to reschedule for a second time.
“Opening my docket to people from Project Homeless Connect makes court more efficient for them because this population is dealing with similar issues,” Judge Eisenstein said.
The Key Alliance event coordinator Mary Beth Ritchie said she was pleased with the outcome of Project Homeless Connect.
“Serving so many people in one day is only possible because of the more than 700 outstanding volunteers who helped and the 75 service providers who participated,” Ritchie said. “Project Homeless Connect is about connecting people with services that remove barriers to housing. We were able to connect at least 100 people with services to replace their I.D.s. Without identification, they cannot get into housing.”
During the first year’s Project Homeless Connect, 1,078 people were served, a number that increased to 1,558 last year. The registrations of 1,347 for Project Homeless Connect 2010 did not reflect the actual number of participants.
“We had many more families show up, which we largely attribute to the fact that we included foreclosure prevention services this year,” Ritchie said.
“Project Homeless Connect 2010 showed once more how urgent the need for housing is,” Harris said. “If we come together as a community, we can make a difference.”
People who want to help can join The Key Alliance at http://www.thekeyalliance.org/ to keep informed about homelessness in Nashville, needs, solutions, and opportunities to help.
A highlight of the services provided:
- 1,347 registrations were taken (registration services are counted in the 10,000 services provided). Families were registered as one guest. Overall, an estimated 1,500 individuals including children participated.
- 300 eye exams
- 70 flu vaccines
- 124 TB tests
- 59 mental health outreach referrals
- 247 TennCare outreach
- 80 physical check-ups
- 117 foot care services
- 195 haircuts
- 700 coats
- 720 pairs of shoes
- 750 Bibles from Lifeway Christian Resources
- 290 services by the Social Security Administration (social security cards)
- 200 services by the Tennessee Department of Safety (IDs)
- 200 services by Legal Aid Society
- And much more.
A complete list of service providers and the breakdown of services is posted online at www.thekeyalliance.org/phc-service-providers. Please contact
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if you want your service provider’s name linked to your Website.
Community Partner: AkzoNobel a Key Sponsor for PHC
 With its support of Project Homeless Connect Nashville 2010, AkzoNobel became a Gold Key Sponsor of The Key Alliance. AkzoNobel is the largest global paint and coatings company and a major producer of specialty chemicals. Headquartered in Amsterdam in the Netherlands, its Americas Powder Coatings Division is headquartered in Nashville.
The Key Alliance talked to Kathy Wilson with AkzoNobel about her company’s involvement in Project Homeless Connect (PHC).
TKA: Did you know about PHC prior to this year?
AkzoNobel: Yes, this is actually the second year we have participated in Project Homeless Connect. The first year was in 2009.
TKA: How did you learn about PHC?
AkzoNobel: As a company we have participated for a few years in Hands On Nashville Day at a middle school not far from our location. As such, we started receiving the Hands On Nashville newsletter and looked for volunteer opportunities that would be suited for our employees to participate in as a group. In 2009, after reading a description of the Project Homeless Connect event, we signed up and participated. The event was so well received by our employees and the hands-on experience that had been gained, we decided to continue being involved with Project Homeless Connect and applied for a $5,000 grant through our company’s worldwide Community Program. We received approval and were able to contribute a $5,000 sponsorship through the AkzoNobel Community Program for Project Homeless Connect Nashville 2010.
TKA: What was a crucial factor for you to get involved in PHC again?
AkzoNobel: Key for the Community Program is that the employees gain hands-on involvement in sustainable initiatives. Beneficiaries of the program need to be underprivileged populations within the working or living community of Nashville. With its focus on removing barriers to housing and employment, Project Homeless Connect definitely met that component of the Community Program application.
TKA: How many employees ended up volunteering at PHC?
AkzoNobel: Both years we had about 20 volunteers. That’s great participation. We have roughly 130 employees in Nashville.
TKA: Is there anything else you would like to add?
AkzoNobel: We hope to be able to be involved at the same level for Project Homeless Connect Nashville 2011. It was our privilege to be able to help the less fortunate in our own backyard to access services that will help move them one step closer towards achieving self-sufficiency. I’ve literally had people ask me already whether we are doing it again this year.
News Briefs
 Homeless Count
The Metropolitan Development and Housing Agency (MDHA) conducted this year’s point-in-time count during the night of Feb. 2. Staff from the Metropolitan Homelessness Commission offered logistics support and volunteered during the count. A total of 2,194 homeless people were counted that night – 1,834 in shelters and 360 outdoors.
MHC Update
As of February, 11 of the 15 eligible veterans for our Vulnerable Veterans Program have been identified – three are in housing and eight are waiting for documents like birth certificates, Social Security cards, state IDs or their DD214 (military discharge papers).
As reported in our last issue, the Metropolitan Homelessness Commission is partnering with Eckman/Freeman & Associates and the local Veterans Affairs Tennessee Valley Healthcare Systems (TVHS) to offer housing to some of the most vulnerable homeless veterans in the Downtown area.
The Vulnerable Veterans Program is designed to provide 15 vulnerable homeless veterans with an opportunity to receive Housing First, which is permanent housing with comprehensive wrap-around case management services. In this partnership, the VA TVHS provides 15 VASH (Veteran Affairs Supportive Housing) vouchers and Eckman/Freeman oversees the case management.
Adopt A Meter
The Key Alliance with help of Public Works is still placing donation meters in the Downtown area. So far $24,000 in sponsorships has been sold and more pledges were recently made. In addition, we have collected more than $325 in coins that were directly deposited in the blue donation meters. The money from the Adopt A Meter program will go towards more outreach efforts in the city. If you or your company wishes to sponsor a meter, call Laura Jumonville at 780-7014.
In the News
Last year, The Key Alliance received 68 days of media coverage resulting in more than 110 mentions in local, national and a few international media outlets. Roughly 40 days of coverage were direct results from pitches we made to the media. Topics covered included Adopt A Meter, Housing First, Vulnerable Veterans, Project Homeless Connect, Walk A Mile in My Shoes, the poster contest, extreme weather impact on homeless people, Tent City, Homelessness Commission meetings, Situation of Homelessness, and our partnership with Room In The Inn.
Food Policy Council
Clifton Harris has been named chair of the Nashville-Davidson County Food Policy Council (FPC), a program of non-profit organizaton, Community Food Advocates. The program is funded in full by the Department of Health and Human Services, as part of the Metro Public Health Department’s Communities Putting Prevention to Work campaign. The FPC consists of farmers, nutritionists, educators, anti-hunger advocates, and representatives of the food industry. The Community Food Advocates’ FPC works to strengthen and align efforts to create food system changes in Middle Tennessee. The FPC collaborates with key food system stakeholders in ways that facilitate improvements to one of our most vital resources – our food system. Approaching problems and opportunities from a food system perspective opens new possibilities for creating sustainable, systemic changes in diverse sectors including hunger relief, obesity prevention, economic development, and reduction of our community’s carbon footprint.
Responsibilities of the local FPC include improving access to healthy food and promoting healthy living; promoting the concept of community gardens throughout Davidson County; improving the availability of fresh, local produce; and attracting grocery stores in underserved, low-income neighborhoods.
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