Community Council of St. Charles County

Community Council is a vital connector in the community. 1) Educating the community about issues: The first step to creating impactful change is building awareness. 2) Networking and collaborating: Connections provide a foundation for service referrals and organizational collaboration. 3) Collecting and sharing data: Accurate data is critical to informed decision making. 4) Creating partnerships: Community partners work together to advocate for and impact change on a wider scale. 5) Planning solutions: Collaboration and partnership are only worthwhile when resulting in practical solutions. 6) Taking action: The most important step for our community is taking ACTION through new programs and initiatives and policy and systems change.

Community Council provides services to grow the capacity of health and human service organizations serving St. Charles, Lincoln and Warren Counties. However, many of our services are accessed by organizations serving other counties throughout the St. Louis metropolitan area. Council staff work with regional and state efforts to support the nonprofit sector and address the needs of low-income neighbors, primarily those experiencing homelessness or at imminent risk of homelessness.

Community Council serves as the lead agency for the MO-503 Continuum of Care, a coalition of more than 70 organizations focused on ending homelessness and developing affordable housing options for people living in St. Charles, Lincoln and Warren Counties. Community Council is also administrator for the Homeless Management Information System (HMIS). The HMIS database tracks HUD-funded housing services provided through 40 programs in our 3-county region, as well as supplemental services to people experiencing housing insecurity. The service and demographic information collected through HMIS is used to complete annual HUD reporting, which allows agencies in our region to access more than $1.75 million annually in federal and state homeless funding. This information is also shared with state and local governments for planning around homelessness and affordable housing services and serves as the foundation for Coordinated Entry.

Coordinated Entry is a centralized case management center provides a single point-of-access to services for people experiencing or at risk of homelessness. Case managers answer informational calls, conduct triage for emergency shelter, assess callers for HUD-funded program eligibility and needed supplemental services, provide referrals to partner agencies, maintain a community service waiting list, assist clients in creating short- and long-term housing stability plans and provide ongoing case management until a client is housed. More than 100 organizations participate in Coordinated Entry, providing such services as emergency shelter, motel stays, car repairs, gas cards, clothing, food, cell phones, rent/down-payment assistance, utility assistance, moving services and more. These organizations include nonprofits, churches, government agencies, school districts, healthcare organizations, businesses and community service organizations. Based on information gathered through the Coordinated Entry system and shared with partners, many new initiatives have been put in place.