Giving Compass' Take:

• Carrie Felton covers the Connections Project and their Pathways Forward Challenge tackling homelessness through employment.

• How can data be used to inform a donor's giving in order to increase employment opportunities for homeless individuals?

• Read about ending homelessness through impactful giving.

Numerous studies find that increased income is a strong predictor of a person exiting homelessness. Research tells us that individuals experiencing homelessness consistently rank paid employment alongside health care and housing as a primary need. Despite the fact that people experiencing homelessness want to, need to, and can work, available data show that far too few people experiencing homelessness are being connected to employment opportunities and income supports.

That’s why, in 2016, Heartland Alliance selected five communities to participate in the Connections Project—a three-year, place-based project focused on increasing employment and income for people experiencing homelessness through systems collaboration. The Pathways Forward Challenge asks communities to create more effective and equitable pathways to employment for people experiencing homelessness through bold systems change and collaboration.

Pathways Forward Challenge communities aim to increase employment for the significant number of people experiencing homelessness who are not likely to access housing assistance through the homelessness service system due to long wait lists or lack of housing stock—addressing a critical systems gap.

In order to address structural racism embedded within public systems, Pathways Forward communities are committed to applying a racial equity lens to their systems change ideas, goals, and outcome measures.

Shifting systems and increasing employment and income for people experiencing homelessness is an ambitious task. We selected communities willing to set bold goals relative to the outcomes they seek.

Read the full article about advancing employment, equity, and an end to homelessness by Carrie Felton at United States Interagency Council on Homelessness.