Mobilizing for Action through Planning and Partnerships of the Southern Kenai Peninsula held a community meeting last Friday to present the coalition’s new priorities for the next few years.
The meeting built on the results of their community health needs assessment that they presented to the public earlier in October. MAPP steering committee took votes from community members and narrowed priorities down to housing, as well as creating a communication plan to connect people to already existing resources.
MAPP coordinator Hannah Gustafson said that communication rose as an important issue after the first October meeting.
“We have a myriad of resources, a lot of resources available to folks, depending on what realm they're in and what they're looking for, but that information on those resources is not always readily available or easily accessible,” she said.
In discussions, they focused on past actions that worked and didn’t work to address these issues.
Previous websites like POP411 aimed to provide a one-stop shop for community events, but meeting attendees said the lack of updates made it ineffective. Using social media platforms like Facebook also did not have a wide reach to share resources.
However, attendees identified postings at Homer Public Library and evidence based practices around creating interpersonal connections as effective strategies that could be built on.
When it came to housing, people said local perceptions towards homelessness, inconsistent housing and transportation from the Homer Spit were barriers accessing housing. At the same time, they said things like community collaboration, government resources and Haven House have been effective.
At the end of the meeting, community members signed up for two workgroups or suggested suitable people. Gustafson said that steering committee members will reach out during this month to form the workgroups, and that anyone interested can join.
She said it is important to include people with lived experiences in the groups, and that they are looking into possible ways to compensate people for their time.
Once established, she said they will structure workgroups based on the MAPP model with some adjustments based on previous workgroups.
“We've been doing this for a while as a community, and we have experiences and lessons learned and things that we know do or don't work for our particular community,” she said, “so we're able to adapt and adjust accordingly.”
MAPP will also continue recruitment through tabling at the Rotary Health Fair this Saturday at Homer High School. Those interested in joining can also reach MAPP members via email on their website.
