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PAUL SCHRAG: NEW EFFORT AIMS TO REDUCE HOMELESSNESS AMONG FAMILIES WITH CHILDREN BY 50 PERCENT OVER NEXT DECADE >>>

It’s only an agreement at this point, but a(nother) plan to end homelessness in Pierce County and beyond has arisen. Efforts in Pierce County will be backed by $200,000 from the Gates Foundation. So that’s a good start.

This latest effort is a bold public-private partnership led by Seattle-based non-profit Building Changes, and it endeavors to reduce homelessness among families with children by 50 percent in the next decade. Partners include the State of Washington, Pierce, King and Snohomish counties, the cities of Tacoma, Seattle and Everett, and a host of philanthropic and corporate partners.

Under the agreement, all parties have pledged to “redouble their efforts to minimize shelter stays and provide critical, ongoing support services for homeless families with children, and to help families on the brink of homelessness” according to press materials.

Counties and cities signing on to participate have agreed to align existing funding dedicated to assisting homeless families so that current resources can be used more efficiently and effectively. County officials and local affiliates are gearing up now to develop a roadmap that will guide them in spending the $200,000 grant presented by Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, part of a $60 million commitment to the overall project, which will be spread out over the next decade.

“We are curious to see if there will be turf battles, but we can’t sit here today and know which agencies will work together. That’s what this planning will figure out,” says county spokesman Hunter George. “We will be inviting everyone to the table.”

Early planning efforts will evaluate existing programs, collect information about what services are available and where, and what it will take to get those programs connected and communicating. Ultimately, says George, the goal is to figure out how organizations can best work together for maximum impact.

Beginning this year, participants will pilot and tailor new strategies for meeting localized, unique needs of struggling families in their communities. Pilot projects will test innovative ways to help stabilize homeless families with children, as well as those struggling to pay their mortgages or rents before they lose their homes. Lessons learned in the pilot counties will eventually be applied across communities statewide. The hope is to ensure that no more Washington children are without a safe place to sleep at night. Funders from across the private sector - including the United Way of Pierce County, the Campion Foundation, the Greater Tacoma Community Foundation, and the Ben .B. Cheney Foundation â€" have pledged to coordinate resources and help support efforts.

The effort begins during a time when, despite an estimated $200 million in combined annual funding by the state, counties, cities and private organizations, the number of homeless families appears to be on the rise. Economic Ragnarok 2009-2010 (or whatever we’re calling it) has dramatically increased the demand for services and support.

Partners in the new program will use five proven principles to guide future investments in solving the problem of homeless families: early intervention and prevention; coordinating access to support services; rapid re-housing; providing services tailored to meet each family's individual needs; and increasing economic opportunity through education and workforce services. These strategies have been shown to work elsewhere. If local organizations can work together, they might work here too.

Cross your fingers.

PHOTO: Flickr/Franco Folini

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PAUL SCHRAG: GEO GROUP FILES TO BLOCK PUBLIC INFO REQUEST >>>

The operator of the Northwest Detention Center, a private prison for immigrants on the Tacoma tide flats, is suing the City of Tacoma to block the release of documents set to be issued under a public information request. Fircrest-based attorney Joan Mell filed a petition in Pierce County Superior Court on behalf of her client, Texas-based GEO Group Inc., to block the release of building plans, structural data and other documents that GEO Group contends are exempt under federal laws. Among documents of concern are air systems analysis reports, demolition plans, supplemental storm water plans and detailed architectural drawings. Court documents indicate that GEO officials are concerned that these plans could be used to sabotage the facility, and that many of the documents fall under protection of federal law because they contain so-called trade secrets. At issue, in particular, are plans for a proposed expansion of the Northwest Detention Center, which human rights advocate Timothy Smith has opposed since it was announced last year. Smith made the public information request.

“The expansion project includes additional administrative offices, housing units for detainees, transportation facilities and an armory,” writes George Wigen, Northwest Detention Center warden in a statement filed in support of the petition. “Information regarding the structural integrity of doors, windows, escape routes, the location and workings of the HVAC, electrical, communications, fire, phone and other systems are contained in the materials requested. There is data to identify vulnerable staff locations and security integrity, the number of staff and where they are located.”

All of those things add up to one thing â€" security risk.

“The risks of concern are from within and out the facility,” Wigen writes. Wigen also adds that company competitors could use the GEO Group’s planning documents to design similar facilities, thereby avoiding design and development costs, providing GEO Group’s competitors with an unfair advantage.

GEO Group officials spent hours looking over documents collected by city staff, and asked the city to withhold documents of concern. City officials responded that it would take a court petition to stop the information from being issued as requested. Predictably, a petition was filed in Pierce County Superior Court. The petition contends that releasing site plans would increase the likelihood of escape attempts and make power and phone lines vulnerable, and would disclose “trade secrets” that would hurt GEO Group’s business operations. The petition notes that courts are allowed to block requests for public documents if “examination of records would clearly not be in the public interest and would substantially and irreparably damage any person or vital government function.”

Requestor Timothy Smith finds it ironic that GEO Group is making such a big deal of the request, considering that many of the documents in question already have been provided by state agencies. He made the sweeping request for all public documents related to the detention center expansion to compare notes, and would use them to bolster ongoing opposition to expansion of the facility, which has come under fire for human rights abuses occurring within its walls. Smith says he was told by city officials that the documents are appropriate to release, and that GEO Group’s claims are not likely to stand in court.

“We’re just trying to figure out how many people they plan to put in there,” he says. “We have every right to see those documents.”

PREVIOUSLY IN THE WEEKLY VOLCANO

LINK: Belly of the Beast by Paul Schrag

LINK: God Forbid? by Simon Moon

WEEKLY VOLCANO NEWS TEAM: ADVOCATES DEFENSIVE DRIVING >>>

In case you weren't scared enough by the current global economic crisis, now we've got nuclear submarines running into one another out there in the ocean.

Great. Just great. Now we're going to need a new Ambien CR prescription.