Our region’s Project Homeless Connect is coming up soon: Tuesday, September 29 at the Mass Mutual Center, 8 am to 2 pm. This is a great event for people who are homeless or at-risk of homelessness to access multiple services in one place on one day.
This year’s event will have a strong focus on homeless families, and event organizers are arranging transportation for homeless families staying in two area motels: the Quality Inn in West Springfield and the Howard Johnsons on Boston Road in Springfield. These two motels alone are housing over 100 homeless families. Other homeless families are also welcome, but we are unable to provide transporation for all motels.
Over 80 vendors will be at the event offering housing search assistance (including the on-site presence of housing authorities and landlords); access to public benefits; health and dental care; behavioral health services; access to IDs and birth certificates; legal and advocacy assistance; employment services; and veterans’ services. Also available: haircuts, chair massage, hot breakfast and lunch, music and children’s activities.
This year’s event will have an associated court session in District Court, which is for the purpose of clearing warrants associated with non-violent misdemeanor crimes. Last year, in this special session, 6 people got warrants cleared and the underlying offense dealt with–clearing the warrant and ending the court case. Pre-screening is required for the warrant program, in order to ensure up-front that a person is appropriate for the program. For prescreening, contact Lizzy Malave, 413-886-5019 or lmalave@springfieldcityhall.com, and be prepared to provide full name, date of birth, and social security number.
Help us get the word about this once-a-year event out to anyone who can benefit from it!
