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The OUR Center to stop providing coordinated entry services in 2020
The OUR Center announced it will no longer provide entry services in Longmont.
By John Marinelli | jmarinelli@prairiemountainmedia.com |
PUBLISHED: September 25, 2019 at 5:44 p.m. | UPDATED: September 25, 2019 at 5:45 p.m.
In 2020, the OUR Center will no longer provide coordinated entry services in Longmont, according to its executive director.
Marc Cowell, who stepped in to head the nonprofit during the summer, said that before he began his tenure on July 1, board members decided to end the facility's role screening homeless clients and pointing them toward services around the county at their Collyer Street location.
"The main reason is that the board wanted … the center to get back to focusing on its work as a family resource center," said Cowell. "And with coordinated entry, it didn't line up really well with those (family resource center) efforts and is actually taking resources away from the family resource center effort.
"And they just wanted to get back in alignment with that part of our mission."
The Longmont nonprofit's Collyer Street center has for some time been acting as a point of contact for homeless adults looking to access shelters and support services. It's one of two such facilities in the county that guides homeless adults, the other one being Bridge House's "path to home" location on 30th Street in Boulder.
The OUR Center had a contract with the county that will be up at the end of 2019, according to Mike Stratton, communications specialist for Boulder County's community services department. The board's decision earlier this year means they will not renew that contract.
The county is seeking proposals by Oct. 25 from organizations in Longmont looking take over. They will also be seeking proposals from Boulder and Boulder County organizations.
According to Joseph Zanovitch, the executive director of HOPE Longmont, another nonprofit that serves homeless people in town, this is the first time contracts have come up since the coordinated entry program began two years ago.
Stratton said in terms of who will take over at the end of the year, it's "wide open."
"There's certain requirements that people need to meet, that organizations need to meet, but we're looking for whoever can meet those and help us do coordinated entry," said Stratton.
Cowell said that while the OUR Center will no longer be participating in the coordinated entry system, they will still provide services to homeless folks in Longmont.
"Regarding our field program, our community closet — all of those efforts are still in place with, you know, individuals who are experiencing homelessness," he said. "But we're just not going to be doing coordinated entry."
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John Marinelli | General assignment reporter
John Marinelli is the general assignment reporter at the Longmont Times-Call. A graduate of the University of Colorado's College of Media, Communication and Information, he has worked both along the Front Range and on the border in Yuma, Arizona.
jmarinelli@prairiemountainmedia.com
Follow John Marinelli	@anactualjohn
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