Like other cities around the country that are experiencing chronic homelessness, Fall River has been participating in a national movement to end homelessness over a ten year period. Over the first five years of the project, plans have been put in place to address prevention, outreach, emergency shelter strategies, supportive services, and permanent supportive housing strategies. Another important step has been the recent establishment of a regional office for Bristol County charged with increasing resources for Fall River, Taunton/Attleboro and New Bedford. On August 12, 2011, the Task Force held it's second Homeless Connect event at Bristol Community College which invited dozens of homeless and at-risk persons to obtain many of the resources they need but have difficulty obtaining due to their lack of housing. Thirty-nine agencies and service representatives were on hand for the four-hour event, including laundry services, banks, and veterans' services, as well as breakfast and lunch. Click here for the Herald News story.  For more information, contact Mary Camara at 508-679-0131.
 

(Top row, left) Fairhaven Walmart volunteers Karen Harrison and Brenda Mattos welcome one of the guests to the event and give her a program and a bag to keep the things she picks up. (Top row, center) Fall River City Councilor Eric Poulin, State Representative David Sullivan, Jessica Braga a resident in the Fall River Transitional Housing Program, and Fall River School Committee Member Tim McCoy pose for a photo. (Top row, right) Community Development Agency executive director Mike Dion helps Elaine Scolaro fill out the registration form. (Second row, left) Southcoast Hospital nurse Terry Gomes talks with Leanne Prezybyla after taking her blood pressure. (Middle row, right) Seven Hills Marketing Liaison Dawn Nardi, left, shares information about the overdose prevention program that her agency offers. (Third row, left)  Fall River Public Health nurse Margaret Canulla, R.N. offers information to a guest. (Third row, center) First Step Inn director Rosa Medeiros chats with Rev. Tom Bevilacqua. (Third row, right) Donna Zicarrdi and Al Araujo of Towne House chat at their table. (Bottom row, left) Cindy Pinto of Community Counseling of Bristol County counsels a guest. (Bottom row, center) Donna Rodrigues of the Massachusetts DOT Registry of Motor Vehicles office works with a guest on getting a driver's license. (Bottom row, right) New Bedford Seven Hills Behavioral Health assistant project manager Angela Amaral talks with Bristol Community College Information Technology Services director Honorato DaCosta outside the Seven Hills trailer.

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