Partnership to End Homelessness gets new leader

After seven months without a leader the Orange County Partnership to End Homelessness will have a coordinator.

Jamie Rohe a Chapel Hill employee who helped organize Project Homeless Connect was named the interim coordinator Tuesday by Orange County commissioners in a move to make the partnership's activities more efficient.

The program coordinator organizes and attempts to achieve the goals for the county's Ten Year Plan to End Chronic Homelessness.

The position remained empty after former coordinator Carson Dean who held the position from March 2008 until August 2008 accepted a position as executive director at the Uptown Shelter in Charlotte. He was the first person to hold the position and said he had planned on staying longer but left because of the offer.

Since then the partnership has operated without an official coordinator and some members say the work has slowed.

Laurie Tucker a member of the executive team said that while the vacancy's effects haven't been drastic" a coordinator is needed to keep the ball rolling on projects.

""Even without the coordinator we have been working"" she said.

It just slows us down a little bit.""

The Ten Year Plan aims to eliminate chronic homelessness through community involvement without neglecting the needs of the general homeless population.

Standing committees within the partnership have been maintaining progress of the organization's goals.

""We've been moving right along but we need a coordinator to keep the work going"" said Sally Greene, Chapel Hill Town Council member and a member of the partnership's executive team.

The activities are going on but they're not going on with the organizational expertise.""

But Dean said the board's extended search for a new coordinator shouldn't affect the partnership's plan to eradicate homelessness.

""The several months that they've taken in the long run probably won't set them back"" he said.

It would have been more detrimental to pick the wrong person.""

Greene" a member of a committee formed to find a new coordinator said a candidate should be able to organize activities both productively and efficiently.

The daily work of the position includes communicating with partner agencies stakeholders and local governments to keep them involved in and informed of the partnership's goals.

The committee has stopped searching for a coordinator. Greene said she is unsure when the search for a full-time coordinator will resume.

In the meantime Rohe will fulfill the short-term duties for six months for a maximum of $40"000.

""I love this work of helping to end homelessness"" said Rohe, who is currently the community development program monitor for the town of Chapel Hill. She said she was interested in pursuing the full-time position if all goes well.

I really like the idea of working with a lot of people across the community to get them organized and in agreement with our common goals.""



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