Our Five Commitments – What Do They Mean?

Communications Admin • Mar 14, 2019

The Coalition for the Homeless is committed to providing the highest level of service in five key commitment areas: Teamwork, Communication, Problem Solving, Customer Service, and Trust & Dedication. But what do these words mean to the staff who work at the Coalition every single day?

Teamwork

“The Coalition would be nothing without teamwork. There is an exhaustive amount of leg work that goes into each person who gets housed in our system. It’s a combination of frontline staff, program managers, upper management, funders, system support staff, blood, sweat, and tears. The work on the front end is a huge lift and what comes AFTER you get someone their keys is a whole other endeavor. None of it would be possible without teamwork.” – James Gonzalez, Senior Project Manager

Communication

“If you are going to lead a successful system, like The Way Home, you must create an environment with open communication. People are proven to be more effective and navigate through life with a higher morale when they feel that they are being heard. Understanding and helping to develop open communication with your peers, employees, and colleagues plays a vital role in any workplace/home/school environment. Effective communication in my mind is the most important part of the 5 commitments of the Coalition and we hope to encourage true, empathetic communications around our everyday work.” – Renee Cavazos, Development Coordinator

Problem Solving

“I think it makes sense that the Coalition would have “Problem Solving” as one of its five commitments; homelessness is definitely a complex societal issue (or “problem”) and our daily work centers on how we can work to solve it. Even within the broader issue of homelessness, the Coalition constantly tackles smaller issues like advocating for more affordable housing and identifying funding for direct service programs. I’d make the argument that we are excellent problem solvers – a 51% reduction in homelessness since 2011 and more than 16,000 people housed since 2012 are pretty impressive! We’ve led in the creation of an incredibly effective and efficient homeless response system and are now looking at leadership and problem solving in new areas like prevention and advocacy, which will help make our system even more effective!” – Sara Brown, Director of Development & Communications

Customer Service

“Our work would not be possible without the support of our partners. They are our customers and we strive to provide them with the best possible service. We are proud to be able to work with so many wonderful organizations. This works happens not just in day-to-day meetings and workgroups, but also in large scale events and implementation of policies and procedures. Our partners trust that we will lead them in the right path towards ending homelessness in our community. Their trust is something that we believe is very valuable and maintaining this trust is our number one priority.” – Ana Rausch, Senior Research Project Manager

Trust & Dedication

“We are held to a high standard due to our role as lead agency to ensure that, as a community, we are forging a path that is fair for our clients and in-line with the regulations we have been charged to uphold. Trust is something you have to build, and I think we’ve worked to do that during my tenure here, by being completely transparent in our role and relationships as we to drive our region toward solving homelessness.” – Concetta Scerbo, Senior Manager of Grants & Compliance

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