Project Connect Sparks Effort to
End the Cycle of Homelessness

BRIDGEPORT, CT - (December 5, 2006) The United States Interagency Council on Homelessness (USICH), which coordinates the federal government response to address this nation-wide problem, has urged municipalities to partake in 2006 National Project Homeless Connect. This one-day event, sponsored by mayors and other community leaders, is designed to provide services to the homeless in a convenient one-stop model. In fact, it offers them a rare opportunity to access an extensive number of diverse resources all at one time and in one place.

Locally, Project Connect will take place on December 6, 2006 at the United Congregational Church in Bridgeport. Providers of housing, mental health, legal, employment, medical and financial services will be on hand to help address the needs of the homeless attending the event. The greatest number of services being offered are preventative, aimed at ending the cycle of homelessness. Modes of transportation are being sought so that as many homeless individuals and families throughout the community as possible will be able to avail themselves of this once-a-year opportunity.

Project Connect, which aims to raise awareness of available services and to connect those experiencing homelessness to these services, is sponsored by the Greater Bridgeport Continuum of Care. This group is also responsible for overseeing the implementation of The Greater Bridgeport Area Ten Year Plan to End Homelessness, a document geared at eradicating this problem in our region by 2015. United Way of Eastern Fairfield County President and CEO Merle Berke-Schlessel, Esq., who along with Mayor John M. Fabrizi, co-chaired the committee responsible for developing the plan, expressed her optimism about Project Connect’s immediate benefits. “While the Ten-Year Plan and United Way’s Destination Home initiative to end the epidemic of homelessness are already showing tangible results, these are both long-term projects. People in this situation need to know where to get help now, and Project Connect does just that; it puts them in touch with the resources necessary to obtain and – more importantly – to retain safe, decent affordable housing.”

Philip Mangano, Executive Director of the USICH deemed Bridgeport’s Plan as “among the very best in the country” and recently invited Berke Schlessel to London to participate on the US delegation at the international conference on ending homelessness. The main goal of the conference is to share best practices to end this global crisis. 

United Way of Eastern Fairfield County’s mission is to mobilize a stronger, more caring community across Bridgeport, Easton, Fairfield, Monroe, Stratford and Trumbull. Our focus is on what matters. We are bringing people together from all across the community – people from government, business, faith groups, nonprofits, and ordinary citizens – to tackle the issues that matter most. United Way is committed to the bottom line results: the lives we change and the communities we shape. Find out more at www.thewaytocare.org.