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Executive Summary <br />EXECUTIVE SUMMARY <br />For the past two decades, cities in Alameda County, its non-profits, faith-based institutions, <br />businesses and other concerned community members have responded to the needs of homeless <br />youth, families and single adults. This response includes food, clothing, transportation, <br />shelter, housing, employment related services and many other health related services. While <br />this effort, funded by multiple sources, public and private, has been valiant and successful in <br />meeting some needs of individual clients, it falls far short in comparison to the overall need. <br />Over the years, many strong partnerships have emerged. Many of these have been formed <br />through the financing made available under Federal McKinney Homeless Programs, matched <br />by the County and its cities, foundations, corporations and local businesses and the generosity <br />of the residents of Alameda County. However, of great concern has been the lack of <br />comprehensive planning and coordination to avoid duplication of efforts and ensure that gaps <br />in service are filled. <br />The Alameda County-Wide Homeless Continuum of Care is five-year strategic plan to <br />prevent, reduce, and end homelessness. Building on past plan planning efforts, this plan has a <br />bold mission: to coordinate all Alameda County homeless planning efforts into a single, more <br />comprehensive homeless services delivery system, providing services to all homeless <br />subpopulations in all parts of Alameda County along a "continuum of care" from interventions <br />for the prevention of homelessness, through the homeless person's first contact with the <br />"system," emergency assistance and shelter, transitional housing and services, and permanent <br />housing and jobs. <br />The major goals of this Plan are: <br />• To coordinate local efforts to address homelessness and to prepare for potential <br />increases in need as a result of structural changes such a welfare reform, <br />• To maintain the capacity of the existing service system while building new <br />partnerships to take advantage of all opportunities, especially those that are <br />time-limited, to generate greater resources for the continuum of housing and <br />services, and <br />• To establish a method for interjurisdictional cooperation to achieve the <br />objectives of the Plan. <br />Alameda County-Wide Homeless Continuum of Care Plan: April 1997 <br />