The Maine Statewide Homeless Council is putting together a Homelessness Prevention Task Force to develop a Homelessness Prevention Plan by August.
The Maine Council of Churches, active in addressing issues of homelessness and the creator/producer of the drama about homelessness, "Hear Our Stories, Know Our Names," has been asked to serve on this task force.

The group is interested in developing a plan that is aligned with the recent
recommendations issued by HUD. The HUD report identifies five primary
prevention activities:

--Housing Subsidies
--Supportive Services Coupled With Permanent Housing
--Mediation in Housing Courts
--Cash Assistance for Rent or Mortgage Arrears
--Rapid Exit from Shelter

The group expects to develop the plan in such a way that it quanitfies any
proposed costs for the Governor and/or the Legislature.

It is critical that we take into consideration the ways that General Assistance can help prevent homelessness. The role of the Maine Council of Churches is to
lend our expertise to these efforts and bring the faith-based perspective to the project

The recommendation for this Task Force came from a small work group within the Statewide Homeless Council that had been convened to talk about General Assistance and how it could be more helpful to people who are homeless or at risk of homelessness. The group soon realized that their efforts in this area needed to be broader.

The task force plans to meet for about six months to review these issues and make recommendations on the issues cited above.

Dolores Vail, the Maine Council of Churches Economic Justice Coordinator will be representing the Maine Council of Churches on this task force. As the initiator of the Council's program on General Assistance, and the "Hear Our Stories, Know Our Names" poverty drama coordinator, Dolores brings to the group her expertise and experience dealing with economic justice issues, with a particular emphasis on a faith-based perspective.