History of the Blueprint

Convening the Commission
Recognizing the need to further mobilize and empower community collaboration to eliminate and prevent homelessness, Mayor Franklin approached the United Way of Metropolitan Atlanta for assistance. She sought leadership of a broad based community effort to develop a practical plan to address the issue of homelessness.

Responding to the Mayor's request, United Way, in December 2002, convened a 16-member Commission on Homelessness led by retired King & Spalding law partner Horace Sibley. The Commission was co-chaired by civic leader Myrtle Davis and Dr. Louis Sullivan, president emeritus of the Morehouse College of Medicine.

Building the plan
The Commission carried out a comprehensive and inclusive process that included:

	Reviewing plans that had already been developed locally
	Collecting data from service providers, faith and other community leaders and government representatives through one-on-one interviews and surveys
	Incorporating findings from local and national research studies on homelessness conducted by Deloitte Consulting

In addition the Commission's efforts were supported by working groups comprised of more than 90 individuals representing 64 organizations. Working group members evaluated data, developed project recommendations, and prepared information and strategies for the Commissioner's consideration at each of their four meetings that took place between December 2002 and mid-February 2003.

The Commission used all of this information and data in combination with input from the community to design the framework for practical, fundable solutions. The Commission presented recommendations to the Mayor at the end of February 2003 in the form of the Blueprint to End Homelessness in Atlanta in Ten Years. That Blueprint was unveiled at a Community Partners Briefing held on March 26, 2003.

Click on the links below to view local plans and recommendations that the Commission considered when developing the Blueprint.

	Tri-Jurisdictional Continuum of Care [pdf]
	State of Georgia Action Plan to End Homelessness [pdf]
	Homeward Inc. Action Plans [pdf]

The Blueprint in Motion
Implementation began in 2003 with seven of the Blueprint projects that were chosen by Mayor Franklin as an immediate action plan. Since that time, substantive progress has been made towards achieving our bold but achievable goal of ending long-term homelessness within ten years.

For a copy of the Blueprint to End Homelessness in Ten Years, click here.