LTC 350-2013 Correspondence from the Committee on the Homeless /\AiAMi BEACH
OFFICE OF THE CITY MANAGER
NO. LTC # 35 LETTER TO COMMISSION
TO: Mayor Matti Herrera Bower and Me �bers of th City Commission
FROM: Jimmy L. Morales, City Manager
DATE: September 19, 2013
SUBJECT: Correspondence from the Co mittee on the Homeless
The purpose of this Letter To Commission is to forward the attached correspondence
from the Committee on the Homeless seeking the Commission's support for the creation
of a homeless education campaign to discourage panhandling in our City.
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City of Miami Beach, 1700 Convention Center Drive, Miami Beach, Florida 33139, www.miamibeachfi.gov
COMMITTEE ON THE HOMELESS
Date: September 18, 2013
To Honorable Mayor and Members of the City Commission
Jimmy L. Morales, City Manager
Subject: Motion to Support Homeless Education Campaign
As you know, the City, through its Homeless Outreach Office, is active in addressing homelessness within
our community and has been pivotal in providing solutions utilizing the "Continuum of Care" approach
promoted by the United States Department of Housing and Urban Development. Our goal is to reinforce
and promote the assets of the "Continuum of Care" while encouraging and facilitating personal
responsibility and investment by our residents, businesses and visitors as a means of reinforcing the
City's "boots on the ground" efforts.
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The Committee proposes an awareness and education program that educates our residents, business
owners, and tourists of our collective efforts to reduce homelessness while discouraging behaviors that,
while intended to help, are detrimental in the long run. Over the past several months, our Committee has
researched how other cities address homelessness. We found education to be the number one tool in
addressing the problem. Awareness campaigns that reinforce the Continuum of Care and discourage
panhandling and direct handouts to the homeless were most effective.
We were most impressed with Nashville, Tennessee's "Please Help, Don't Give" campaign and
Anchorage, Alaska and Winnipeg, Canada's "change for the Better ". But we also explored Orlando,
Redding and Palm Beach County's efforts as well. These are education campaigns, reinforced with
collection meters and provider collaboration, that seek to discourage panhandling and handouts among
residents, businesses and community visitors. We believe such efforts would work in our community.
Further, we recently invited a Miami Ad School representative to speak to us about the possibility of
engaging the school and its students to craft an education and social media campaign to address
panhandling in our City. Mark Smith, the school's representative, expressed a willingness and excitement
that the school's students would be willing and able to develop a marketing plan and message that will
discourage panhandling and support existing efforts to reduce homelessness.
.Therefore, the Committee requests the Commission's support in pursuing the creation of an awareness
and education campaign that discourages panhandling while encouraging supportive investment by our
residents, businesses and visitors to reduce homelessness while leveraging the efforts already underway.
We ask that the Commission endorse our efforts and enable the Committee to work with the Miami Ad
School to craft a message appropriate for our community as well as devise ways to pay for this effort.
Like Mr. Smith of the Miami Ad School, the is eager to undertake this effort. We thank you for
your consideration.
Committee on the Homeless:
Lisa Ware, Chair
Jonathan Kroner, Vice -Chair
Dale Gratz
Gail Harris
Prakash Kumar
Cary Yee Quee
Daniel Sherbill
Annsheila Turkel
Rachael Zuckerman
We ore comma ted to providing excellent public service and safely to a0 who live, work, and play in our vibrant, tropical, historic community.