Over 1,350 new clients were seen by our service providers in February.

 For more local stats, please visit our Statistics page.

NEWS UPDATES

20 Mar

The 2007 HUD SuperNOFA application is now available. More...

28 Feb

The first Annual Homeless Assessment Report to Congress has been released by HUD. We were one of the 55 communities in the US that were selected to provide the data for this report. More...

20 Feb

Over $200,000 in federal funds has been allocated to our community through the HUD SuperNofa process. More...

Suncoast Partnership Activities

As the lead agency for the Continuum of Care for Sarasota and Manatee Counties, we are focused on all activities relating to addressing issues of homelessness in the community.

The activities include:

• Securing grants on behalf of service providers that help the homeless.
• Finding new approaches to shelter the homeless.
• Developing initiatives to fill any service gaps.
• Fostering public education and outreach programs.
• Providing a system of services resulting in self sufficiency and self determination.

Presently, we collaborate with over twenty agencies in the two county area to understand the most pressing needs of the homeless. Our goal is to find out who the homeless are, where they stay, what services they currently receive, and, most importantly, what services are lacking from the current provider systems. This valuable information is gathered into a standardized database (Homelessness Management Information System HMIS). This data is used to report statistics to various funders to help quantify the homeless problems in our area. The analysis of this data also aids in identifying the successes and gaps in services to the local providers enabling them to better manage their valuable resources.

The 2007 Homeless Census is complete!

The community response to the Homeless Census was far-reaching and immediate. Over 45 agencies across Manatee and Sarasota Counties as well as over 20 volunteers from the community have joined support this year in making this important effort a success. The Homeless Census was covered by the Bradenton Herald, Sarasota Herald-Tribune, Venice Gondolier, Englewood Sun, ABC 7, SNN 6, and NBC 8.

Generous financial contributions from Donzi Marine, United Way Gifts in Kind, Goodwill Industries, the Sarasota Bar Association, DEL Properties, Flowers Bakery, and Whole Foods allowed us to purchase personal hygiene items, clothing and food to homeless individuals participating in the survey, as well as provide volunteers and staff with the necessary materials to administer the survey. 

Manatee’s Homeless Count: Need and Numbers - Bradenton Herald

Homeless Census Crucial for Help - Sarasota Herald-Tribune

Dignified Shelters Needed for Homeless - Venice Gondolier

“It is often merely for an excuse that we say things are impossible.” - - Francois de La Rochefoucauld

Our Mission

The Suncoast Partnership is a recently formed not for profit organization. Our mission is to collaborate with social service providers in our community that respond specifically to homeless issues such as affordable housing, employment, substance abuse, transportation, health care, child care, food and clothing, in order to understand the conditions affecting homeless people and the means to alleviate their plight and reduce their numbers.  We advocate for homeless individuals and families and their social service providers through community outreach, education and policy change in order to enhance service provision, create opportunities for self-sufficiency, and prevent and reduce homelessness in the community.

We have a Board of Directors comprised of individuals from across the community at large, with equal representation from the public and private sectors. Together, we work on behalf of homeless individuals and families to reduce the roadblocks that these less fortunate citizens face daily

On September 8, 2006, we had our annual meeting. The guest speaker, Rayme Nuckles, Chief Executive Officer of the Homeless Coalition of Hillsborough County, spoke on the many challenges ahead of us as a regional coalition. But he also told us of some of the successes that have occurred in Florida in gaining funding for both affordable housing and emergency shelter.

The bottom line is that our mission can only be accomplished with dedication, commitment, open communications and cooperation among all of our local service providers. We can and will make a difference!