Like other cities around the country that are experiencing chronic homelessness,communities in the South Coast of Massachusetts have been participating in a national movement to end homelessness. A part of that effort was the formation of a Regional Network to End Homlessness. This group convenes a quarterly Leadership Council at the Advanced Technology and Manufacturing Center to bring together agency and govenment officials to work on finding solutions to the problems associated with homelessness in the South Coast Region. A meeting was held on September 5, 2013, convened by Senator Michael Rodrigues. Mayors from Fall River, New Bedord and Taunton were invited to engage in an ongoing discussion of the needs and assets that can be brought to bear on this complex problem. Click here for a 23-minute video.excerpt of this meeting. Click here for photos of Fall River's Homeless Connect event held at Bristol Community College. For more information, contact South Coast Regional Network to End Homelesses Consultant Janet Richardi at 508-222-2337 ext.104.

(Top row, left) Senator Michael Rodrigues and Janet Richardi greet New Bedford Mayor John Mitchell. (Top row, center) Mayor Mitchell greets Robert Richardi of Wal-Mart. (Top row, right) Senator Rodrigues greets Taunton Mayor Tom Hoye before the meeting begins. (Middle row) Arlene McNamee of Catholic Social Services and Bruce Morell of PACE in New Bedford introduce themsleves. (Bottom row) Carl Nagy-Koechlin, Executive Director of South Shore Housing, talks about some of the complexities of providing low-income housing. (Bottom row, center) Al Araujo of Fall River's Task Force to End Homelessness raises questions about the availability of mental health services. (Bottom row, right) Mayor Mitchell comments about his knowledge of the problem in New Bedford as Kelly Cabral-Mosher of New Bedford Public Schools listens.

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