Project Homeless Connect is a consumer-centric innovation for engagement, now adopted in more than 200 communities around the world. Project Connect changes how business is done to deliver real results for people experiencing homelessness - increased access, expedited outcomes, lowered barriers, one-stop convenience, new ways of partnering, and the important opportunity for consumers to make choices. In Eugene, Oregon, Project Homeless Connect volunteers also extended an opportunity to create a permanent record of experiences, in the form of a Connect Yearbook.

"Homeless people will get many things they need today, but the most important thing they need is you," Eugene Mayor Kitty Piercy told Project Homeless Connect volunteers in February 2008. "You are hear to listen to them, to hear about what they need and to connect with them as citizens of our community." She added: "Remember that people don't choose to be homeless, it comes upon them for a variety of reasons, but they want to get out of homelessness and into a home. Our community won't accept homelessness as a condition of life. We are working to end homelessness."

Behind Mayor Piercy's encouragement to Eugene's partners at Project Homeless Connect was a larger story of hearing directly from consumers. Volunteers Hugh Massengill, a member of the Eugene Human Rights Commission and a person who had experienced homelessness, and Carolyn McDermed, at the time a Eugene, Oregon Police Officer in Internal Affairs, borrowed some tables and chairs from the dining area at the Connect event and set up just outside its entrance, the better to be seen by arriving guests.

An easel with an invitation notice offered consumers the opportunity to be part of the first Connect Yearbook. Hugh and Carolyn sat and interviewed many people and took their pictures. After the event, they compiled the individual pieces into a book.

At the second Connect event, the two again set up a long table and put up the easel, this time with a sign inviting people to talk and use the opportunity to educate the Mayor and City Council about their experiences. As a member of the City's Human Rights Commission, Hugh felt sure that he could get the book into the hands of the Commission as well.

The two interviewed many people and put their stories into book form (using a free on-line self-publishing tool). They titled the work "Teachings From The Edge" and uploaded it. Hugh gave one hard copy to the library where it can be checked out. Many copies were bought (the project is entirely non-profit) and given to the human rights program, the city manager, and others.

People experiencing homelessness have the opportunity to tell their stories and experiences.

Connect volunteers benefit from having the stories of those they welcomed at Project Homeless Connect, adding a dimension to their experience at the one-day, one-stop.

Connect partners everywhere benefit from a new idea and from having another view of the work their partners are doing at the event.

Public sector partners in Connect and 10 Year Plans benefit from hearing the stories of all neighbors in the community.

According to Hugh, " . . . there is something about sitting down and looking at a large hardcover book to really be able to absorb the event. [In this year's] we had 13 interviews with homeless folks, and asked them for their advice to city officials and to the police, and we included many of their words."

Were there any surprises along the way? "It was surprising that so many people were willing, after a little encouragement, to just open up and tell us what their lives were like. There were a lot of tears and more than a little anger."

"I was surprised how many in the community of providers either bought or read the book. They were looking for a way to get involved, and Homeless Connect gave that to them, and in some ways the book seemed to be a focal point for that interest and caring. I was at a meeting of the local United Way and spotted a copy on their break table, for instance."

Lessons learned: "Patience is very necessary, both in the making of the book, as it took a lot of artistic fumbling around, and in the interviews themselves. Homeless people have learned to be very careful in whom they trust, and it took a bit to let them relax and tell their stories."

Melissa Mona of the White Bird Clinic, one of the most successful of the grantees under the Social Security Administration's HOPE initiative to increase access by homeless people to Social Security benefits for which they qualify, said, "It took an event like this to draw in people who we obviously had not been able to engage by our current approaches to outreach."

Project Homeless Connect, first innovated in San Francisco four years ago, has lent itself both to the Council's philosophies of "pilgrimage" to see what's working and "the art of legitimate larceny" to identify and replicate locally what's working in other jurisdictions, but also especially to "innovating the innovation," continuing to extend the potential for Connect to be consumer-centric and results-oriented.

The Eugene yearbook is the latest example, identifying an innovative way to tell personal stories.

Eugene and Lane County have demonstrated their commitment to a quality Connect event. Note the past events where organizers had expected between 400-500 homeless people and - though surprised by the larger turnout - were heartened to see that their outreach strategy had been so successful. The outreach effort included distributing flyers during the previous week's Point in Time count that included a free bus pass for the day of the Homeless Connect. In addition to the free bus passes, shuttle bus service to and from the event at the Lane County Fairgrounds Exhibition Hall was provided at numerous shelters and agency locations around the county.

Event organizers also raised $60,000 to use for short and long term housing assistance, medical and dental care. The long term housing assistance included five Section 8 vouchers and five locally funded long term housing subsidies. $10,000 was designated for short term housing assistance including vouchers and first and last months rent deposits. "Howlin Jack" entertained homeless guests at the Conect cafe. The cafe had continuous entertainment by volunteer musicians. Breakfast and lunch, including made to order omelets, were provided by the Lane County Community College School of Culinary Arts.

Learn more about the Yearbook: See a PDF preview of the book: http://www.blurb.com/bookstore/detail/222193

Learn more about Project Homeless Connect: http://www.usich.gov/slocal/NationalProjectHomelessConnectPromo.html

08 in 08, continues with a Special Issue focused on . . . Housing First: How consumer preference shapes the central antidote to homelessness - What's new with the field-tested, evidence-based practice of Housing First? . . .

Don't miss a single episode during this 08 in 08 Innovation series . . . but, if you do, you can always access the Council's "on demand" service and catch up. Just visit our web site at www.usich.gov/innovations. You can also see the Council's previous Innovations series - 20 in 20 and 5 in 5, all profiles of what's working to end homelessness.