FAMILIES IN TRANSITION (cont.)

“Families in Transition's crisis hotline has been overwhelmed with calls since they posted a community notice an hour ago on their Facebook page for Rent, Mortgage and Utility assistance, said FIT Executive Director Cassie Rutledge. It is expected that the $25,000 in available funds, made possible through the United Way of the Mid-South, will be depleted by the middle of next week.”

Rutledge, who is also the Board Chair of the Eastern Arkansas Coalition Continuum of Care and Vice-Chair of the Arkansas Balance of State Continuum of Care, has been working through various channels to bring all available forms of assistance to those in need in Crittenden County and surrounding communities. The CoC is the local homeless coalition that serves as a coordinated point of entry for those who are homeless or at-risk of homelessness.

Rutledge said she has been trying to speak with local government officials about the economic struggles citizens of Crittenden County are currently experiencing.

She wants to encourage them to tap into available funds for our area that would bring larger pools of funding assistance.

“Local nonprofits often don’t have the cash flow it takes to get the larger awards.” said Rutledge.

“Payments must be paid up front but are reimbursed monthly as long as invoices are submitted timely.”

She noted that local governments have had difficulty in the past administering funds due to complications with knowledgeable and/or available staff in their offices to assist residents.

“This is the response I often receive from those appointed to field calls for assistance at local government offices,” Rutledge added. “It is unclear at this time whether funds previously awarded and advertised in our area were fully spent or reallocated to be spent on other allowable costs.”

She said participation from local government representatives in local CoC meetings has been “inconsistent in recent months” and in prior meetings no clear communication regarding funding was provided due to “technical issues” at West Memphis City Hall.

More often than not, she said, city employees refer citizens to the Families in Transition Crisis Hotline for assistance.

“The amount of calls received by Families in Transition for rent and financial assistance has more than tripled each month since the beginning of the pandemic,” Rutledge said. “It pulls advocates away from their primary focus which is to provide crisis counseling, assistance and safety measures through the hotline to those individuals their program was designed to serve.”

The crisis hotline specifically addresses the needs of the victims of:

Continued on Page 3 FAMILIES IN TRANSITION (cont.)

• Domestic Violence,

• Human Trafficking,

• Elder Abuse,

• Teen Dating Violence,

• Sexual Assault, and

• Surviving Family Members of Homicide.

Rutledge said the requirements

available through HUD are:

• A 25% match of requested funds that can be easily met by utilizing things such as the salary paid to individuals through City Funds to manage and process assistance applications

• Actively participate and report funding expenses and remaining funds to the local COC • Pay for assistance up front and be reimbursed each month.

Rutledge said, “It takes all of us to take care of our neighbors and their children. We have to pool our resources to ensure we don’t have people sleeping in their cars, motels, vacant buildings and on our streets. It is happening more than people realize or are willing to acknowledge.”

She said a great source of information and input is to reach out to your local nonprofits and school districts about the requests for assistances they are receiving.

“We all maintain detailed data and statistics and we all work together,” she said.

Working to bring local entities has been a struggle, Rutledge said.

“In a conversation about previously available funding, Mayor (Frank) Fogleman (of Marion) suggested Marion School Districted apply for the funding,” Rutledge said. “I said that it isn’t the responsibility of local school districts to assist a 60-year-old without children with rent assistance and that if they received funding, they would be expected to utilize them for all residents.“ Rutledge said she also reached out to West Memphis Mayor Marco McClendon and County Judge Woody Wheeless about those same funds without response.

“So, here we are with another opportunity that can really help our citizens and we are hoping an agency who can get the kind of money we need here will apply,” she said, “I will even offer my assistance and guidance in the application process as will Casey Kidd with the Arkansas Balance of State.

We have a local COC meeting coming up in the next week. I hope we have some real decision makers at the meeting who can hear the information for themselves.”