COMMUNITY ALLIANCE FOR THE HOMELESS INC
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Mission Statement
Community Alliance for the Homeless (CAFTH) leads effective community practices to end homelessness in Memphis and Shelby County.
About This Cause
Community Alliance for the Homeless (CAFTH) is the Lead Agency, elected by the Memphis/Shelby County Homeless Consortium (MSCHC) Governing Council and designated by the federal and local governments, to reduce and end homelessness in Memphis and Shelby County. CAFTH is a private, 501(c)(3) non-profit entity that provides planning, technical assistance, and service coordination to public and private agencies working to end homelessness in Memphis and Shelby County. CAFTH partners with and receives financial support from the City of Memphis, Shelby County Government, U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), private foundations, and additional sources. In 2022, as the TN-501 Continuum of Care (CoC), CAFTH helped oversee and manage more than $6.4 million dollars in federal funding from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) and provide support to over 12 agencies and 24 permanent supportive housing (PSH) and rapid re-housing (RRH) programs in Memphis and Shelby County. CAFTH continues to serve as the Homeless Management Information System (HMIS) database Lead, for Memphis and Shelby County. The Homeless Management Information System (HMIS) is a local information technology system (database) used to collect client-level data and data on the provision of housing and services to homeless individuals and families and persons at risk of homelessness. All projects and agencies overseen by CAFTH must record their data in HMIS. Using HMIS, CAFTH regularly collects data and conducts annual reports such as the Housing Inventory Count (HIC), Point-In-Time (PIT) Count, Gaps Analysis, Longitudinal Systems Analysis (LSA), Sage Annual Performance Reports (APRs), and more. In 2021 and 2022, CAFTH has continued to invest and make progressive system upgrades to data collection (ex. Clarity, DV database), protect the privacy and safety of client data, allocate additional funding for CAFTH HMIS support staff and technical assistance, ensure housing outcomes and system improvement measures are transparent and regularly updated (CAFTH Dashboards) and provide ongoing support and training to all participating homeless and housing service providers - as well as members of the Memphis/Shelby County Homeless Consortium (MSCHC). CAFTH is devoted to ending long-term homelessness, and ensuring that future homelessness is rare, brief, and one-time - and we continue to track our progress and make steps to the goals set by our 901 Home Together Plan. **(Learn more about our progress by reading our 2021 Annual Report). Each year CAFTH works with community partners to organize the Housing Inventory Count (HIC) and Point-In-Time (PIT) Count to collect voluntary demographic surveys from persons experiencing unsheltered and sheltered homelessness (Also providing material necessities - ex. personal care bags - and connections to services or assistance wherever possible). From Wednesday, February 23, 2022 until Tuesday, March 1, 2022 CAFTH helped facilitate four in-person counting events, operated a virtual counting call center, delivered PPE (masks, hand sanitizer, plexiglass shields, face shields, gloves, disinfectant sprays, and wipes), and with the help of over 20 community agencies delivered more than 300 personal care bags to persons experiencing homelessness (within the span of a week), while conducting demographic surveys throughout 25 zip codes in Memphis and Shelby County. The 2022 HIC/PIT Count is now complete, and CAFTH is working to summarize the data collected and submit our community's report to the U.S Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD). CAFTH also continues to track all of the data we collect, monitor progress over time and identify areas for improvement. This information and data are made widely accessible and available to the public (PIT Dashboard). CAFTH has responded to COVID-19 by building strong partnerships with the Memphis and Shelby County governments, homeless and housing service providers, first responders, and other partners. Established expedited PCR testing with UTHSC (to ensure clients would be able to enter shelters with a result during the same day - normal PCR testing can take from 24-32 hours but UTHSC were able to deliver results in 8 hours or less) and tested 844 persons experiencing homeless and front-line staff (As of Nov. 2021). With the help of the Memphis Fire Department, the City of Memphis and Shelby County Governments, SCHD, and ShotRx, CAFTH has conducted 16 vaccination events (since March of 2021), with 6 homeless service provider agencies and vaccinated over 482 persons experiencing homeless and front line staff (482/739 = 65.2% as of Feb. 2022). Using our community's Point-In-Time Count data from 2021, and taking into consideration the vaccination efforts of Christ Community Health Services, Latino Memphis, the Memphis Fire Department, and other partner agencies, we estimate the total number of vaccinated individuals experiencing homeless in Memphis and Shelby County to be around 65 percent or higher (with at least one dose). As vaccine incentives, CAFTH has provided $6,000 in Kroger (in partnership with SCHD) and Visa gift cards, and distributed over 450 all-day bus passes to individuals and families experiencing homelessness. Backpacks and PPE were also distributed to those in need. CAFTH has also been tracking vaccination data in the HMIS database to record and assess racial equity. CAFTH was able to secure additional funding to provide over 600 individuals and families with non-congregate hotel stays (for those who test positive for COVID-19, as of Jan. 2022). During COVID-19, our team has been working closely with the Shelby County Public Defender’s Office to ensure access to services for people who are homeless and discharged from the Criminal Justice System and high-risk congregate facilities. CAFTH continues to promote and refer clients to free or discounted health services from Christ Community Health Services, Baptist Operation Outreach, Regional One, and more. We also work to continually update our resource guide to provide new and up-to-date information (https://www.cafth.org/get-help/), and work to build new health systems partnerships (ex. CAFTH is a member of the Baptist Health Sciences Informatics Consortium of the Midsouth (iCom), and works to improve public health and the delivery of healthcare services by expanding the public health informatics workforce – to ensure accessibility and creation of STEM education and jobs). Since April 2021, Memphians and other partners have donated enough items to make over 1,100 personal care bags (backpacks and drawstrings containing hygiene kits, survival items, snacks, and other materials), and over 80 Home Warming baskets (laundry baskets with household supplies, cleaning items and more), that CAFTH and homeless service providers were able to deliver to newly rehoused individuals and persons experiencing homelessness. We are beyond grateful to our community and our providers for continuing to demonstrate a deep compassion for those who are unhoused. **(If you would like to get involved please visit our website at https://www.cafth.org/home-warming-baskets-and-personal-care-bags/.