California Police Chief- Fall 2013 CPCA_2017_Spring Magazine.v3 | Page 21

to serve of members of Folsom’s
faith-based community. The FHI is a
multi-religion/multi-denominational
group, currently comprised of eight
small teams of volunteers who assist
the Navigator in preparing a homeless
client for eventual matriculation to
stable housing. One team of three FHI
members are attached to a client and,
after establishing a relationship with
the client and under the guidance of
the Navigator, FHI members can assist
the client with many of the necessary
tasks to work towards housing.
Further, the FHI team members act
as mentors and sponsors, essentially
coaching the clients towards success.
This in turn frees up valuable
Navigator time, allowing for an
increase in assessments performed
and a decrease in the time it takes
to prepare a client for transitional
housing.
Fire Chief Haverty, who is
working towards becoming a Deacon
in his church, acts as a liaison
between the City, the Folsom Police
Department, and the FHI members.
With his intimate knowledge of
City government and his strong
connections to Folsom’s faith-based
community, Chief Haverty is uniquely
qualified for this role.
The program is not for everyone.
By rule, any clients with criminal
histories of violence, sex crimes, or
weapon violations are not candidates
for the FHI mentoring. They can still
work with our C.C.S.U. team and our
Navigator but will not make contact
with FHI.
MOVING FORWARD
The FHI is relatively new and
a work in progress. One of issues
identified early was the specific skills
and traits the Navigator must possess
in this model. By job description, a
Navigator is an expert in the causes
of homelessness and at traversing the
various bureaucracies that must be
No. Doubts.
A dark alley is no time to doubt who’s
Over 30
successfully addressed to get a client
into housing. In the FHI model, the
Navigator must also be an educator,
a case manager, and possess strong
communication skills. Our FHI
members have asked for an increase
in training and communication and
we will soon have quarterly training
and information sharing meetings to
achieve that goal.
The Folsom Faith and
Homelessness Initiative was born
out the desire to achieve productive,
long-term solutions to the issue of
homelessness while simultaneously
providing an opportunity for our
amazing faith-based community
to serve in concert with City
government. Evaluated on the
basis of the creation of a successful
partnership built upon mutual
respect and trust, the FHI has been an
unqualified success. We envision this
relationship will translate to practical
and demonstrable results.  ■
YEARS
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SPRING 2017 | California Police Chief
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