not an invitation to do business as usual.
In the Fall of 2019, a small group of local partners came together to raise funds to bring a consultant with expertise in building collaboratives to end homelessness here to Saratoga. The purpose was to assess Saratoga’s readiness to build such a collaborative. Erin Healy, a Saratoga native, specializes in systems innovation, movement building, and supporting leaders and teams to set and achieve concrete and courageous goals. She has a deep passion and intuition for guiding people from seemingly disparate organizations, industry sectors, and/or mindsets to become thriving, focused teams.
As a result of that initial visit, and working as a broader, cross-sector Team, we are moving on to ”phase two” of our work: launching an Action Lab and Sprint Cycle in February 2020. Working in unprecedented collaboration across multiple agencies, we are building upon the decades of good work done by our local homeless and housing services partners and will work together to innovate and scale solutions to end homelessness.
The goal of the first 100-day Sprint will be determined by the Design Team on February 25, 2020 but will focus on reducing street homelessness. Using a proven model of rapid cycle innovation and data-driven performance management, SCEH will work together toward the utlimate goal of reducing all forms of homelessness in Saratoga. This will not only save lives, but public dollars as well. Ultimately, ending homelessness through the provision of supportive housing is much less expensive than maintaining homelessness through myriad crisis systems.
This is not an invitation to do business as usual. This is an invitation to radically re-vision what’s possible and to solve complex problems through collaboration, iterative problem-solving, and a bias toward action over processing and planning.
