MEDIA RELEASE: Calgary Homeless Foundation's 2017 Annual General Meeting

CALGARY, ALBERTA--(Marketwired - June 27, 2017) - Calgary Homeless Foundation (CHF) is committed to enhancing Calgary's Homeless-Serving System of Care to ensure Calgary is providing the highest-quality care to the Calgarians who need it most. Today, CHF is hosting its Annual General Meeting (AGM) to discuss successes of the past fiscal year and to lay out strategies for Fiscal 2018. Great progress has been made in ending homelessness in Calgary and CHF is focused on refining our strategy to ensure we remain focused on our goal.

Today's AGM includes the traditional drumming and flute music of Walter MacDonald White Bear and a knowledge sharing by Blackfoot Elder, Dr. Reg Crowshoe. CHF's Board Chair, Cameron Bailey, and President & CEO, Diana Krecsy illustrate the great strides CHF is making in Calgary's effort to end homelessness. They also provide highlights of CHF's strategic leadership, milestones and challenges as they look towards the future.

An important part of today's program and the strategy for Fiscal 2017/2018 is the incorporation of an Indigenous strategy in CHF's work. It has been a year of reconciliation for Calgary and Canada, and CHF recognizes that to end homelessness we need to have an understanding of the systematic discrimination and trauma that has persisted through generations of Indigenous people. Today, Elder, Dr. Reg Crowshoe explains what it means to have a home in the Blackfoot culture, and what it means to feel secure in that home, and he also brings clarity to the differences between Western and Blackfoot ideas of 'home'. His teachings enlighten us as to why working through an Indigenous strategy is crucial to ending homelessness and to building a stronger, more unified community.

"Indigenous people continue to be disproportionately represented among the homeless population. While they only make up 3% of Calgary's total population, they make up approximately 20% of Calgary's homeless population. It's this alarming statistic that illustrates the importance of incorporating an Indigenous lens into all of the work we do so we can better understand the unique situations of Indigenous peoples experiencing homelessness," said CHF's Indigenous Advisor Bren Little Light.

Fiscal 2017/2018 also focuses on the addition of more permanent supportive housing units and program spaces, as well as CHF participation in more collective impact initiatives like the Calgary Recovery Services Task Force.

CHF also presents upcoming changes to its Board of Directors for this next fiscal year. Departing this year is board member Trevor Daroux, and CHF is welcoming new members, Brenda Huband, Greg Draper, Krista J. White, Leigh-Anne Palter, Lisa Evren and Roger Chaffin.

"Each of our board members has a remarkable passion for ending homelessness and an empathy for those experiencing homelessness. Having a Board of Directors with that kind of passion allows our organization to stay highly motivated and powerfully focused our goal" says Diana Krecsy, President & CEO of Calgary Homeless Foundation. "We are getting closer to our goal of ending homelessness, and together we have done so much. But together, we can do more, and we need to stay motivated and work collectively to provide the best quality of care to those at risk of, or experiencing, homelessness."

Details for CHF's progress in Fiscal 2016/2017 are available in CHF's 2017 Report on Progress and include highlights such as:

• 916 people placed in housing with supports, bringing the community total to 8,482.
• 1,751 housing referrals in 2017. 1,520 were singles and 231 were families.
• CHF provided funding to 55 programs in 26 agencies within Calgary's Homeless-Serving System of Care.
• The opening of Aurora in the Park, CHF's second purpose built affordable housing building through the RESOLVE Campaign. The property is owned and operated by HomeSpace Society which took over CHF's housing portfolio in 2016.
• 1,195 people attended trainings offered by CHF to help increase skill levels in the Homeless-Serving Sector.
• The introduction of new Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) to ensure performance measurements contribute to an enhanced, and ever improving, homeless-serving system of care.
• 98 community programs utilizing the Homeless Management Information System (HMIS).

In addition to the Report to the Community, CHF's Management's Discussion and Analysis and Financial Report are available at www.calgaryhomeless.com.

Calgary Homeless Foundation's Annual General Meeting

Tuesday June 27, 2017

Fort Calgary

750 - 9th Avenue SE

Calgary, Alberta, T2G 5E1

2:30 - 3:30 CHF Annual General Meeting

3:30 - 4:30 Refreshments and networking