- February 5, 2025
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The Volusia Flagler County Coalition for the Homeless has received full support from the Children and Families Advisory Board to submit a grant that would aim to prevent homelessness among Central Florida youth.
The CFAB members gave their unanimous support after a presentation about the grant by VFCCH Executive Director Jeff White during a Tuesday, April 10, CFAB workshop. The grant, which will be a minimum of $1 million, is being submitted to the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development and must be done so by Tuesday, April 17.
According to White, the "mammoth grant" is approved based on community need in relation to the population. If the grant does get the green light, the VFCCH plans to use it by coordinating a community approach with various organizations in both counties. The grant funds would target youth who are homeless, "including unaccompanied and pregnant or parenting youth, where no member of the household is older than 24," according to White.
White said that one problem is that it can be difficult to count the homeless youth population as many adolescents don't want to be listed as homeless or are staying with friends.
During this past year, VFCCH has already applied for and been awarded five HUD Continuum of Care grants.
According to White, the amount of homeless individuals has dropped in both counties between 2011and 2017. Still, he sees homelessness as an issue that continually needs to be addressed.
"The plan is to identify who is homeless, work with programs to reach out to them and then find them housing," White said.
White said there has already been a significant amount of support from Volusia and Flagler agencies and organizations, such as Halifax Urban Ministries, which could also benefit from the grant funding. Local agencies would be able to use the funding for programs that would work toward the common goal of ending youth homelessness.
"It allows for us to mix and match programs at different levels," White said.
However, White said that even if they are not selected for the grant, the process is still beneficial as it has been encouraging organization leaders to address homelessness and the effects it has on youth.
"It's going to force us to collaborate and come together and think about different ways we can address these issues and put programs in place to help our unaccompanied youth get housed stay housed or return to their homes and really make an impact in our community," White said.
