We’re honored to have brilliant, dedicated Black leaders working to end homelessness in Built for Zero communities around the country. This month, we recognize some of the Black leaders in the movement to end homelessness.
Shamika Agbeviade has spent over 10 years providing direct services to individuals experiencing homelessness in a variety of roles, including conducting street outreach and working in an emergency shelter, transitional housing, and permanent supportive housing. She currently works as a Homeless Management Information System (HMIS) Administrator for Mecklenburg County Community Support Services in Charlotte, North Carolina. Since 2019, this community of 1.11 million has reduced veteran homelessness by 20%.
What does an HMIS administrator do?
Shamika Agbeviade: My role is to train and provide technical assistance to HMIS end users. The community data captured in the HMIS database provides a clear picture of who is receiving housing instability and homelessness services in Charlotte/Mecklenburg, what resources are used to serve them, and allows us to make data-driven decisions about what community initiatives could be put in place to address ongoing housing instability and homelessness challenges.
How is your community working to address unfair access within their homeless system?
Charlotte-Mecklenburg CoC has worked with C4 Innovations to assess our community’s fair access knowledge gaps, training needs, and identify both strengths and challenges in our work to advance fair access. As a result of this work, Charlotte-Mecklenburg CoC is working on finalizing the community’s action plan to focus on fair access, as well as ensuring we center fair access in every aspect of our decision-making practices and policies.
As a CoC we have begun collecting data to conduct a system map that would identify the CoC’s system gaps and barriers across all programs to ensure we are meeting the needs of the community at large through a data-driven lens.
For more information on Charlotte/Mecklenburg County, North Carolina, efforts in solving homelessness, click here.
