While working in the private sector in Atlanta and Orlando, Dawn Gilman saw homelessness.
She saw how Atlanta’s Downtown working class left the city for suburbs, revealing those without homes left behind.
She witnessed the sheer number of families and children who had no place to go in Orlando.
After moving to Jacksonville in the late 1990s, she saw it here, too.
Yet, it wasn’t until the late 2000s when, as she says, the universe pointed her in a different direction. She was part of a series of layoffs at her job. And there was an opening at the Emergency Services and Homeless Coalition of Jacksonville.
Now, Gilman sees homelessness every day. Except it’s through the lens of trying to end it.
She’s the CEO of Changing Homelessness, a nonprofit that serves as the lead agency for services to end homelessness in Clay, Duval and Nassau counties.
Changing Homelessness applies for funding at the federal level, working with the Department of Veterans Affairs and the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development.
Annually, that’s about $7 million, with the majority then funneled to area service providers like Sulzbacher Center, Catholic Charities, River Region and Ability Housing among others.
The mission is simple: End homelessness.
She has a degree in economics, but it’s the anthropological side that’s she passionate about. At one point, economic anthropology was the one area in which she even considered earning a doctorate.
“Within our society, we have rules of the game,” she explained. “They can help or hinder people … provide more or less opportunity.”
One example she uses is elementary education. There’s public, private, charter and home schools. All are valid options for parents, but not all are available. The single parent likely needs to provide income and can’t home school. The one-car family might not be able to provide adequate transportation for schools farther away.
It’s often bad circumstances that can lead to homelessness, too.
“As the lead agency, how do we look at all those rules to make sure we can serve as many people as possible when they need it most?” she asked.
With three counties and many organizations providing care, it takes being on the same page. A coordinated, universal intake form is in the works, she said, so the 45 partner agencies can determine the right needs for a person or family. Permanent care is one possibility.
But, most often, it’s “rapid rehousing” that is needed. Think of it as a short-term intervention of anywhere from three months to a year, complete with case management.
During that time, workers have to determine what needs to be done to get those affected back on the right path.
From April 2014-June 2015, there were 2,192 intakes, an average of almost 146 a month.
Veterans also contribute to the population, but Gilman said the VA has made concerted efforts for the goal of no veterans sleeping on the streets. Last month was one in which homeless agencies placed 50 veterans and 36 others into households — results that have Gilman extremely proud.
Furthering those efforts is for Changing Homelessness to be on a “functional zero” system for veterans by 2016. That is, one in which homeless veterans’ numbers are so low, any crisis can be helped in 30 days or less.
Other communities have pushed that goal back to 2017. Gilman remains steadfast in seeing it happen next year.
Concurrently, there’s the push for families and children to be at that same level by 2020. She admits that will take a little more time and a lot more resources to see decreasing numbers. There are currently 200-250 families on the street, she said.
Gilman plans on being around to see that target date met for them.
After all those moves, Jacksonville is the place she and her husband, James, and children, Horatio and Sophia, call home.
Her hope is that by that 2020 date, she and the 25 other staff members will be able to pursue other goals.
“If you say yes to this job, you have to firmly believe you can affect change,” she said. “I don’t think anyone in this office is interested in maintaining …. They’re interested in ending it."
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