BILLINGS, MT - Settling into its second year at the Shrine Auditorium, a one-day event that provides services to the homeless and near-homeless saw increased attendance Friday.

Last year, having moved to the Shrine after four years on the third floor of the downtown Parmly Billings Library, Project Homeless Connect drew about 400 people, down nearly 200 from a year earlier.

But when the event ended Friday at 4 p.m., 517 people had been served.

It also had a new name this year -- Billings Community Connect. James Hartman, a homeless man who works on the project's board, said he had a lot to do with the name change.

"People have an outlook when they see the word 'homeless,'" he said. "It's like a disease, almost. But when they see the word 'community,' everybody wants to get involved."

SAVANNAH, GA -  More families than ever are facing homelessness for the first time, local social service providers say.

Salvation Army Captain Marion Platt said that in November alone, 24 families facing first-time homelessness approached the Savannah chapter of the Salvation Army, and 20 of those were in the position because of employment issues. It’s the most first-time homeless families the organization had seen in a single month.

“These are people that no case manager has ever heard of or dealt with before,” said Wanda Hunter, the Salvation Army’s director of social services. “Two or three months ago, they had a job. They had their own apartment.”

Mark Baggett, executive director of the Chatham-Savannah Authority for the Homeless, also said his organization has been dealing with a surge in first-time homelessness.

“What we’re really seeing an increase in is working families,” Baggett said. “Somebody’s lost a job. The car is broken. There’s been some kind of calamity.”

- read more at SavannahNow.com

BILLINGS, MT - Ask 57-year-old Billings native Paul Sorensen where he will sleep tonight and he points — here, there and everywhere.  He has been homeless since he ran away at age 13. Talkative and carrying the sweet scent of cheap alcohol, Sorensen said he wants people to know that "we're here."

No two stories are alike — every path to homelessness is different.

"Sometimes it's the little things that can lead to an unraveling," said Adela Awner, executive director of Billings Interfaith Hospitality Network. "Hours get cut at work, or they've lost daycare because of a shift change. A few days' illness and a few days' lost wages and they can't make the rent."

Poor and lower-income people tend to spend 50 percent or more of their income on housing, she said. That puts them at greater risk when something goes wrong — a car breaks down or an unexpected medical problem arises. With no resources in reserve, homelessness is just a small emergency away.

- read more in the Billings Gazette

ATLANTA, GA - The Fulton County Board of Commissioners approved a 150-bed assessment facility to help homeless mothers and their children to break the cycle of homelessness. The facility was approved during the Wednesday, December 7 Board meeting Springdale Place in Atlanta, which is located at 2836 Springdale Road, will operate 24-hours a day, seven days a week with an assessment center and transitional housing program. Springdale Place does not fit the traditional description of a homeless shelter. Instead, the Housing and Human Services Department, along with community partners, will provide comprehensive services designed to help women find self-sufficiency.

BILLINGS, MT - Seeds of prevention are being sown in an old warehouse behind the Salvation Army Thrift Store in downtown Billings.

For the past several months, a crew of four formerly homeless men have been starting a compost production facility. They live in nearby sober housing run by Rimrock Foundation. Compost is just the beginning of the plans for this partnership of Rimrock and the Salvation Army.

The vision that starts with compost (vegetable material only) includes creating permanent jobs, growing vegetables, feeding the community, recycling glass, teaching needy children art, music and agriculture, and helping them save for college. These projects will involve other community organizations, said Maj. Kevin Jackson, Billings Salvation Army leader.

SAVANNAH, GA - Local KFCs, KFC/Taco Bells and DQ Grill & Chills have launched their “Dishing Out Meals: Fighting Homelessness and Hunger in Our Community” campaign this holiday season. Twenty-one KFCs and KFC/TacoBells, and three DQ Grill & Chills, owned by Hodges Management Company, partnered with the Chatham-Savannah Authority for the Homeless Inc., a local nonprofit, to raise funds and awareness to help end homelessness and hunger in Savannah and surrounding communities. The campaign runs through Dec. 31.

To help generate awareness about homelessness and hunger, Savannah’s KFCs, KFC/Taco Bells and DQ Grill & Chills have taken an unprecedented step in changing the way cause marketing campaigns are done. They will not only promote the campaign with its in-store pin-ups which customers can donate $1 to the cause at check out, but the campaign incorporates a QR Code on value sheets that get tucked in all drive-thru bags and in-store store customer trays. The QR Code, when scanned with customer smart phones, takes them directly to the Homeless Authority website for more information or to make a donation. QR Codes are new to how fundraising is done.

- read more in the Savannah Morning News

ATLANTA, GA - Former Atlanta Mayor Shirley Franklin’s request in 2002 to United Way of Metropolitan Atlanta for advice on how the city could address homelessness marked a turning point in the region. That request led to the eight-jurisdiction Regional Commission on Homelessness as a public/private collaborative that includes business, philanthropy, faith-based and government entities.

With support from United Way, this community effort has created more than 2,400 supportive housing units, 400 units of family supportive housing, the Gateway Center and many effective partnerships that constitute a continuum of care.

- read more at ajc.com

ATLANTA, GA -Back on My Feet, a nonprofit organization that promotes the self-sufficiency of people experiencing homelessness by engaging them in running, launched its Atlanta chapter Nov. 11. Thirty men and women experiencing homelessness began their journey with BoMF by participating in the group’s inaugural Atlanta run at 5:30 a.m. Atlanta is the eighth city to gain a BoMF chapter, joining Philadelphia, Chicago, Baltimore, Boston, Dallas, Indianapolis and Washington, D.C.

“We’re incredibly excited to bring Back on My Feet into the Southeast,” said Anne Mahlum, founder and CEO of BoMF. “It’s rare for a nonprofit to expand during tough economic times, and we’re so excited that Back on My Feet continues to add new chapters. Our growth demonstrates the tremendous need for this program. We feel very fortunate to have the support of Atlanta’s professional, running and service communities as we work to move the city’s homeless population toward self-sufficiency.”

- read more at patch.com

NEW PORT RICHEY, FL - Eugene Williams, 62, of Land O'Lakes, is the project supervisor for community development in Pasco County. Since 2007, he has supervised the Coalition for the Homeless of Pasco County. Originally from Harlem, N.Y., Williams spent the bulk of his career as a business consultant and as a small-business developer. When he moved to Florida in 2006, he planned to find work helping small businesses expand, but ended up working with the coalition. Williams recently talked to the Times about what his job entails, stigmas about homelessness and how to fix the problem.

- read this interview in the St. Petersburg Times

KEY WEST, FL - Following a Monday program launch, a specially outfitted vehicle will spend five days a week setting up shop around Key West with an aim of helping the homeless take advantage of social services.

The Southernmost Homeless Assistance League, an umbrella organization that coordinates public, private and nonprofit activities designed to assist the homeless population of Monroe County, is managing the $157,000, 15-month pilot program.

Although she didn't have firm numbers of interactions for the first two days, SHAL Executive Director Wendy Coles said the initial response is encouraging.

"It's off to a great start," she said. The two program staff members "set up numerous appointments. The folks on the street seem to be responding very positively."

She said stops include Bayview Park, Simonton Street Beach, Indigenous Park on White Street and the soup kitchen on Flagler Avenue -- all places popular with the homeless.

Services offered through the mobile program include rudimentary medical care, help getting state-issued identification, referrals for substance-abuse and mental-health issues, job placement and access to transitional housing.

- read more at KeysNet.com