WOOD RIVER - Unhoused community members and local agencies united at Project Homeless Connect.
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From 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. on Friday, Jan. 31, 2025, community members could stop by Riverbend Family Ministries in Wood River to connect with nonprofits and organizations, take showers, receive haircuts and learn about local services. Representatives from different organizations were also encouraged to engage with each other’s resources.
“The hope is to just get people connected to services,” said David Kerr, Madison County’s Homeless Program Coordinator. “And then a goal was also just to have the different agencies get to know each other.”
Attendees could receive wellness and vision exams, vaccines, bus tokens and showers while learning more about local assistance available to them, such as legal assistance, veteran services, and career and housing resources.
Thirty-five organizations were represented at the event, including Oasis Women’s Center, Chestnut Health Services, Centerstone, The Salvation Army, Madison County Transit, Madison County Housing Authority, Community Hope Center, Impact CIL, and many others.
In addition to engaging with attendees, the organizations were encouraged to connect with one another. Kerr explained that this allows the organizations to better serve their clients as they can collaborate and refer people to different resources around the Riverbend region.
“It's an opportunity for other agencies to network with each other,” he said. “There can be so many agencies that it’s difficult to keep up, and there’s new ones popping up all the time, so it’s kind of hard to know at times. But this is a chance to try and get together in one place.”
Rachel Craddick, the Fund Development Director at Riverbend Family Ministries, added that Project Homeless Connect acts as a “one-stop shop” for community members to learn more about these resources.
“There’s so many great agencies throughout Madison County doing great work, but sometimes it’s difficult to really get everybody together and really understand what’s available,” she said. “That’s really the heart of this day, making sure that we can bring all these great services together and share information with the people that need it the most.”
You can visit the official Madison County Community Development Facebook page or webpage for more information about local programs for unhoused community members. Call the Madison County Homeless Referral Line at 618-296-5300 to learn about other services that are available to you.
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