Historically, UWMD has partnered with Metro Dallas Homeless Alliance for the annual Point in Time Homeless Count. Once a year, along with communities across the country, we count our homeless friends. The Count, a requirement under Federal Law, helps communities understand the extent of homelessness, changing trends, and the measure of their success in making homelessness rare, brief and nonrecurring.

The number one priority, since March 2020, as we continue to work towards ending homelessness, has been to keep our community safe and healthy. Therefore, we will not utilize volunteers for the 2021 Count.

Although volunteers won’t be needed, the count will still take place with outreach staff and teams from participating organizations. We can best support their efforts by equipping them with basic needs kits to hand out to our homeless friends to ensure they have essential everyday items. Basic needs kits are a simple way to provide practical help to individuals experiencing homelessness.

An Amazon Wishlist link is available below to purchase a variety of hygiene and basic needs supplies to be delivered to the outreach teams for distribution.

Additionally, we are asking our community to join us for a zoom kickoff event on February 18, 2021, at 11:00 AM (CT) sharing info and updates on the 2021 Point in Time Homeless Count and the importance of your support of this work. The event will feature the Honorable Eric Johnson, Mayor of the City of Dallas, who will be introduced by the Honorable Casey Thomas, II, Dallas City Council Member District 3, Reverend Todd Atkins, of the Salem Institutional Baptist Church, Ashley Brundage, Dallas and Collin Counties’ Continuum of Care Board Chair and Peter Brodsky, MDHA Board Chair, as well as short video from the field, as outreach teams prepare to count.