The proposed new Charter for the region’s Continuum of Care is on the Opening Doors website.
Why this matters: The Governance Charter serves as a comprehensive guide, detailing how the CoC for Escambia and Santa Rosa counties fulfills its responsibilities through a structure responsive to the local needs of people experiencing homelessness.
The Charter outlines how stakeholders will govern the collective impact initiative to end homelessness, meet federally defined responsibilities of operating a HUD Continuum of Care as found in the CoC Program Interim Rule, direct the work of the CoC Lead Agency, and promote partnership and accountability among the various leadership bodies.
What’s next: The Governance Charter is a cornerstone of our collective effort. The CoC membership will review and adopt it on July 23. The Charter will be reviewed annually to ensure the CoC’s governance structure remains responsive and effective.
Instructions for providing feedback:
Anyone can review the draft Governance Charter; only members may offer feedback, questions, or suggestions.
All feedback, questions, and suggested revisions must be sent to Amanda Rosado, HUD Technical Assistance provider, at rosado@flhousing.org by July 9.
The Governance Committee will review and update the Governance Charter as needed before presenting it for adoption by the CoC membership at the July 23 membership meeting. Eligible voting members will vote on Charter Adoption.
How to be a member:
The CoC membership is a collaborative network of organizations and stakeholders working to address homelessness within Escambia and Santa Rosa counties. CoC members develop and implement strategies to prevent and end homelessness.
Through membership in the Continuum of Care, stakeholders elect a governance council, serve on committees and work groups, and take action together to respond to homelessness in Escambia and Santa Rosa County.
CoC members may be any individual or organization residing in Escambia or Santa Rosa County who is interested in understanding homelessness and taking action to address it by contributing to the CoC’s goals.
Membership Basics:
Open to any individual or organization living, working, or serving residents inside the CoC’s geographic area of Escambia and Santa Rosa counties.
- Membership should be comprised of a wide variety of individuals and organizations.
- Responsible for carrying out some of the responsibilities of the CoC.
- Year-round recruitment
MEMBERSHIP TYPES
Organization-Individual
To become an organization member of the CoC, the agency/organization must be located or provide services in the CoC’s geographical area, have attended at least one CoC membership meeting, and complete a membership application.
Organizations include faith-based organizations, nonprofits, government partners, and for-profit partners. Each application will be reviewed and confirmed by the CoC Lead Agency. At the time of membership application, the organization will select one primary voting member and one alternate if they cannot vote.
If the voting member cannot be routinely involved in the CoC, the organization should provide the CoC Lead Agency with a new voting member. Organizations may update their voting member or alternate anytime by notifying the CoC Lead Agency.
There are two types of individual membership: voting and non-voting.
Individual Voting Member: A voting member is an individual who is not currently working for or representing an organization that is presently a CoC member. An individual voting member has one vote.
Individual Non-Voting Member: A non-voting member is an individual who wishes to participate as a member of the CoC but cannot cast a vote because they work for or represent an organization that is currently a CoC member.
Membership application here.