Wednesday, March 16, 2011

"New site offers potential" by Herb Paul

The Inter-Faith Council for Social Service has been providing food and emergency housing to the homeless for almost 50 years. In 2008, UNC offered to lease a tract of land to the town for purposes of building the new Community House at 1315 Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard. In June 2010 we submitted our Special Use Permit application, and we are delighted to report that four town advisory boards have unanimously recommended approval.

The Community Kitchen will not move to the new location. The new facility will operate as a step-up program designed to transition 52 men from homelessness to self-sufficiency. Men enrolled in the program will be required to maintain sobriety and commitment to our philosophy. They will have individual treatment plans based on their specific needs and goals, and will receive job coaching, medical care, mental health services, social services, etc. Our aim is to promote independence and self reliance through a model that empowers residents, develops skills, renews lives, and reduces homelessness.

Also, until the community is able to provide other emergency housing for homeless men, the IFC will provide up to 17 cots on bad weather nights when it is unsafe for homeless persons to sleep outside. Homeless men seeking emergency shelter will be screened off-site and transported to and from the new Community House. Strict no-visitors/no drop-in policies and an 8 p.m. curfew for all residents will be in effect.

The road to 1315 MLK has been difficult. The public search for a suitable and permanent location focused on dozens of properties and took more than 10 years.

The IFC has welcomed all comments and sought dialogue with concerned individuals, neighborhoods and citizens. Last spring we conducted three Community Discussions for this purpose. We listened to community concerns and recommendations and incorporated a number of changes and improvements in the building's design and in the program.

At the suggestion of community residents, we have added on-site recreational facilities, including an exercise room and garden. The men will learn gardening skills and cooking skills as they manage their own kitchen.


In response to residents' concerns about safety, the Chapel Hill Police Department suggested landscape changes that would provide improved sight lines and better monitoring of activity at Community House and surrounding grounds. The police have also made a commitment to increase patrols and will enforce trespassing violations in Homestead Park after sundown or before dawn.

The IFC has communicated the clear distinction between transitional housing and emergency shelter. We continue to collaborate with local congregations to assess whether other facilities can be made available for emergency shelter.

Finally, the IFC is preparing a Good Neighbor Plan and will submit it to the Town Manager for approval prior to building the new Community House.


The Board of Directors, staff, volunteers, donors and recipients of IFC services look forward to the public hearing on March 21. We are so grateful to our supporters and confident that we will provide even better services for those in need throughout our community if we gain approval for Community House to relocate to 1315 Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard.

Herb Paul is president of the IFC Board of Directors.

Monday, March 14, 2011

NC ranks sixth in food insecurity in 2010

In a March 2011 report of the Food Research and Action Center (FRAC), North Carolina ranked sixth in the nation for food hardship in 2010, with a 23.5 percent rate of food hardship. The national average was 18 percent. This means that more than one in five respondents in our state answered "yes" when asked by Gallup if they did not have enough money to buy food at some point in the last 12 months. See the complete report here.

Friday, March 11, 2011

US Government recognizes reducing homeless as human rights obligation

The National Law Center on Homelessness and Poverty's press release saying that the US Government has recognized that reducing homelessness is an obligation, in response to the United Nations Human Rights Council. Read more here.

Monday, March 7, 2011

Record-setting food drive

The N.C. School of Science and Mathematics raised 540,508 pounds of canned food donations for the Food Bank of Central and Eastern North Carolina, unofficially breaking the Guinness World Record for the most nonperishable food collected in one day at one location. As a food bank affiliate, the IFC will receive a portion of the proceeds.

Welcome to March on Poverty

The Inter-Faith Council (IFC) believes that now is the time to stop poverty in its tracks. Many in our community are struggling to hang on; and many need the inspiration of our community leaders to do something about poverty's influence and prominence. We need everyone who cares about reducing poverty's hold over increasing numbers of Carrboro and Chapel Hill households and unsheltered persons. Our new March On Poverty blog summons you to our call and the original call of Martin Luther King, Jr. and the countless among us who have followed in his footsteps. You ask, "how long will this take?" Dr. King said "Not long, because the arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends toward justice." Poverty is the primary cause of homelessness and hunger, two community challenges IFC volunteers and staff cross swords with daily. A lack of an adequate response by state, federal and local governments enable and procrastinate these conditions. We seek to create a just community, one that is committed to overcoming social problems by a greater commitment to the common good. We hope our blog will bring you more in touch with these issues. We hope you will come to know the facts about IFC future plans, new program models and new facilities commonly called Community House and FoodFirst. We hope you will join us.

Stay tuned! Stay in touch! March On!

Chris Moran, Executive Director

View the Community House Mission & Vision

View the FoodFirst Mission & Vision