The system will essentially coordinate each nonprofit partner within the community that each has various resources to offer, so that the person getting help doesn’t have to go to different places, figuring out who they talk to for housing or assistance with employment. Instead, in the system, everyone has access and can now cooperate to meet the needs of clients who are seeking help. Instead of working individually toward the same mission, the grant allows for a connection across all entities.

A handful of nonprofit organizations with the mission of helping those experiencing homelessness and at risk for homelessness are now being connected to a successfully proven evaluation process to work together to provide housing, recovery and support.

Those groups include PATH, Salvation Army, and Hiway 80 Rescue Mission, which continuously work with the Andrews Center to help address persons with serious mental illness, co-occurring mental and substance disorders, and or serious emotional disturbances who are experiencing homelessness or at risk of homelessness.

The system that will connect all nonprofits, also known as the evaluation process of “coordinated entry,” was recently made possible by a grant to the Andrews Center awarded by the Health and Human Services Commission for The Healthy Community Collaborative (HCC) program. Grants were given to other entities across the country, the Andrews Center being the only local organization to receive the award.

The system will essentially coordinate each nonprofit partner within the community that each has various resources to offer, so the person getting help doesn’t have to go to different places, figuring out who they talk to for housing or assistance with employment. Instead, in the system, everyone has access and can now cooperate to meet the needs of clients who are seeking help. Instead of working individually toward the same mission, the grant allows for a connection across all entities.

For now, the grant will fund the center for two years and the Andrews Center will be given the potential to have the program fully funded until 2028.

The bigger goal is to expand these services to help the Andrews Center’s five-county area it serves, including Smith, Wood, Van Zandt, Henderson and Rains counties.

Mack Long, assistant division director of the Mental Health Crisis Services and The HCC, said having something to now connect the community that has the same mission is an exciting possibility. Having previously worked in homelessness outreach in Fort Worth, he said it’s exciting to see this come to Tyler.

“It was difficult to participate in treatment for mental illness or substance use without a home to go home to and get rest, without food to eat, without a stable environment. This one addresses it where we work on it all at the same time and we don’t have to wait until some point down the road in order to start working on housing and employment. We hope it can be more effective in that we can provide and meet more of their needs,” Long said.

Program Director for HHC Susan Johnson, said coordinated entry has been on the minds of these nonprofits for almost 15 years. She disclosed that based on their data, on any given night, there are no less than 300 persons experiencing homelessness within the county.

“I hope that impacts the community by removing some of the stigma associated with mental health and substance use challenges. I think that if we’re able to serve these individuals more quickly, seeking them where they are and addressing their needs and goals, it’ll provide more comfort, remove stigma and give them more opportunities to be treated effectively, rather than lost in the woods,” Johnson said.