Patrick Dodds has been the Director of the Continuum of Care (CoC) for the United Way of North Central Florida and the North Central Florida Alliance for the Homeless and Hungry since July 2020. Prior to joining the United Way Patrick was an attorney in private practice covering the areas of real estate and property law, contract law, and non-profit law. His work with the UWNCFL and the NCFAHH focuses on ending homelessness in the CoC’s five counties which include Alachua, Bradford, Gilchrist, Levy and Putnam counties. Patrick is also a dad to two incredible boys and has lived in Gainesville since 2011.

Mark Watson currently Manages a Homeless Street Outreach Program at Grace Marketplace. Mark is a Social Worker and Paralegal. He has worked with people living outside for the past ten years to assist them in obtaining resources, income, and housing. He has been a therapist, artist, pig farmer, house framer, and educator. Mark has worked in the nonprofit sector for the last 18 years. He resides in Gainesville, Florida with his partner where they raise an ever-growing family of three kiddos, one dog and two cats.

References:

  • North Central Florida Alliance for the Homeless and Hungry
  • United Way of North Central Florida
  • Housing and Urban Development (HUD): Federal program that provides funding related to housing
  • The Continuum of Care (COC): The Continuum of Care (CoC) program promotes community-wide commitment to the goal of ending homelessness. The program provides funding for efforts by nonprofit providers and state and local governments to quickly rehouse homeless individuals and families while minimizing the trauma and dislocation caused to homeless individuals, families, and communities by homelessness.
  • Public Housing Authorities (PHA): Public housing was established to provide decent and safe rental housing for eligible low-income families, the elderly, and persons with disabilities. Public housing comes in all sizes and types, from scattered single-family houses to high rise apartments for elderly families.
  • HUD-VASH: The HUD-Veterans Affairs Supportive Housing (HUD-VASH) program combines HUD’s Housing Choice Voucher (HCV) rental assistance for homeless Veterans with case management and clinical services provided by the
  • Department of Veterans Affairs (VA).
  • Housing Choice Voucher Program Section 8: The housing choice voucher program is the federal government's major program for assisting very low-income families, the elderly, and the disabled to afford decent, safe, and sanitary housing in the private market.
  • Permanent Supportive Housing (PSH): Permanent supportive housing is an intervention that combines affordable housing assistance with voluntary support services to address the needs of chronically homeless people. The services are designed to build independent living and tenancy skills and connect people with community-based health care, treatment and employment services.
  • Rapid ReHousing: Rapid Rehousing is an intervention designed to quickly move families and individuals out of homelessness and into permanent housing. Rapid Rehousing is also used to keep the housing for households who are at risk of falling into homelessness. In some areas of the state, the local lead agencies provide Rapid Rehousing programs.
  • State Housing Initiatives Partnership (SHIP): Florida Housing administers the State Housing Initiatives Partnership program (SHIP), which provides funds to local governments as an incentive to create partnerships that produce and preserve affordable homeownership and multifamily housing. The program was designed to serve very low, low and moderate income families.
  • Community Development Block Grant (CDBG): The Community Development Block Grant Program provides annual grants on a formula basis to states, cities, and counties to develop viable urban communities by providing decent housing and a suitable living environment, and by expanding economic opportunities, principally for low- and moderate-income persons.
  • ALICE: An acronym for Asset Limited, Income Constrained, Employed, is a new way of defining and understanding the struggles of households that earn above the Federal Poverty Level, but not enough to afford a bare-bones household budget.
  • Built for Zero Program: Built for Zero is a national movement of communities working to achieve an end to homelessness that lasts and leaves no one behind.
  • Sadowski Fund: The Sadowski Housing Coalition is a nonpartisan collection of over 30 statewide organizations. The coalition came together in 1991 with the goal of obtaining a dedicated revenue source for Florida’s affordable housing programs. Membership in the coalition has grown since and continues to grow today. Currently, membership in the coalition ranges from business and industry groups to faith-based organizations, demonstrating a wide breadth of support across all industries in the State of Florida.

If you have topics you'd like for us to discuss with our community and listeners, leave a comment or contact us at cilncf.org@gmail.com!

For More Information visit: Center For Independent Living of North Central Florida

  • 352-378-7474 (Gainesville office)
  • 352-368-3788 (Ocala Office)

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