The Thomas Jefferson Area Coalition for the Homeless (TJACH) aims to make homelessness rare, brief and nonrecurring in our community.
TJACH works to reduce homelessness by initiating creative solutions and coordinating regional resources and services. TJACH is the HUD-designated coordinator of the Continuum of Care for this community, supporting system improvement and collaboration to ensure a secure safety net for the homeless and very poor. The Service Provider Council, a committee of TJACH’s Board of Directors, provides a forum in which providers share information and address concerns. Contact anthony@tjach.org for more information.
Our Vision
TJACH is working toward the day when everyone in our region has a decent, safe place to sleep at night. Our belief is that a region which exhibits and enjoys such wealth should not tolerate the conditions that place our residents at risk of homelessness.
The issue of homelessness in the Thomas Jefferson Planning District has been growing both in terms of the number of people identified as homeless and the recognition that the area must address the issue in a systematic way to eliminate homelessness. A brief history of efforts to address homelessness includes these milestones:
- In 1998, the Thomas Jefferson Area Coalition for the Homeless (TJACH) was founded. TJACH is a broad-based coalition of individuals and organizations working to end homelessness in our region through strategic planning, coordination of services, and public education/advocacy on the causes and impacts of homelessness. TJACH functions as the region’s HUD-defined Continuum of Care Committee, conducting the required activities for establishing a strategic planning process and plan for addressing the area’s homeless needs. TJACH has submitted an annual Continuum of Care proposal since 1999.
- In July 2002, TJACH created and distributed the “Street Sheet”, a two-page guide to agencies and services in the region. It includes locations, contact information, services offered and maps. The Street Sheet is updated periodically to provide current information to the homeless and service providers.
- In January 2003, TJACH conducted its first Street Census in conjunction with the statewide Point In Time count scheduled by the Virginia Inter-Agency Coalition for the Homeless. This annual census has been conducted each year, providing valuable data on the number of homeless in the region and their characteristics.
- In 2003, TJACH launched a regional Homeless Management Information System (HMIS). HMIS is a web-based tool for data collection, case management, and program management.
- On March 30, 2004, over 140 participants representing local service providers, faith-based organizations, concerned citizens, government workers, and homeless individuals joined TJACH and TJPDC to discuss homelessness in the Thomas Jefferson Planning District. Click below for a report from this event:
Homelessness in a World Class City
- The Thomas Jefferson Planning District Commission (TJPDC) adopted the charge to the Task Force to develop the 2012 Plan to End Homelessness at its regular meeting on April 7, 2005 and made formal appointments to the Task Force on June 2, 2005. The Task Force held its first meeting on July 1, 2005 and met regularly over the course of a year to develop this plan. The Task Force was created to raise homelessness to a community issue, with the involvement of all localities and additional stakeholders, building on TJACH’s planning and initiatives. Click below for the Community Plan to End Homelessness:
Community Plan to End Homelessness
- The Thomas Jefferson Area Coalition for the Homeless merged with the First Street Church Project to take advantage of the parallel missions of the two organizations, and opened The Haven in January 2010.
- The Thomas Jefferson Area Coalition for the Homeless achieved 501 (c) 3 status with the IRS and hired a full-time Executive Director in September 2009.
Objectives
Establish and implement short to long-range practices and strategies that conceptualize and address these problems in a united, regional effort. TJACH will demonstrate the benefits of improved collaboration and centralization.
Define current resources and needed capacities within the existing continuum of care of homeless providers, and advocate for gaps to be filled and duplication to be avoided.
Advocate and organize on behalf of homeless persons in a coordinated, fair, and representative manner.
Collect data on the at-risk and homeless populations of the region to demonstrate the needs of our community.
Privacy Policy
Your privacy is very important to us. Accordingly, TJACH has developed this Policy in order for you to understand how we might collect, use, communicate and disclose and make use of personal information.
- In general, TJACH does not collect or use personal information of visitors to its website or blog for any use whatsoever. If and when a visitor donates funds to TJACH using the online donate button, personal information is collected, as described, by our vendor for the sole purpose of completing the donation transaction. Donors are given the opportunity to provide relevant information to ensure that TJACH may send a suitable acknowledgement of the donation, consistent with IRS expectations. Donors may opt-out of this process completely and forgo said acknowledgement.
- In the event that TJACH does collect or use personal information, before or at the time of collecting personal information, we will identify the purposes for which information is being collected.
- TJACH will only retain personal information as long as necessary for the fulfillment of the stated purposes, but will NEVER use any information to be passed on to a third party, shared with anyone or use to market things or services to you.
- TJACH will collect personal information by lawful and fair means and, where appropriate, with the knowledge or consent of the individual concerned.
- TJACH will protect personal information by reasonable security safeguards against loss or theft, as well as unauthorized access, disclosure, copying, use or modification.
- TJACH will make readily available to customers information about our policies and practices relating to the management of personal information.