CoC Membership
Continuum of Care (CoC) membership represents local organizations serving people experiencing homelessness within Berks County and any individual stakeholders engaged in ending and preventing homelessness. The mission of the CoC is to end homelessness throughout Berks County. Representatives of relevant organizations in Berks have come together to establish the CoC in order to carry out specific responsibilities laid out by the federal government in advancing efforts to end homelessness (as defined in the CoC interim rule).
The CoC works toward ending homelessness by providing a framework for a comprehensive and local planning process. This includes identifying needs, conducting a system-wide evaluation of existing resources and program activities, and building a system of housing and services that addresses those needs.
The objectives of the CoC include the following:
- Establish a community plan for delivering homeless assistance
- Evaluate performance of programs and community
- Administer the HUD CoC Competition Funding process
New members may join at any time throughout the year by submitting a membership form to the CoC via email to membership@bceh.org. CoC voting privileges are contingent upon membership. Monthly meetings are held on the third Thursday each month at 1:30pm, and the invitation to the meeting comes through the email newsletter. These meetings are networking opportunities and offer trainings and resources.
There are two types of memberships: Organizational and Individual. These provisions create an opportunity for individual stakeholders to participate without duplicating organizational representation.
Organizational members:
- Organizations may designate up to 3 persons annually who are authorized to represent the organization.
- An authorized representative must have sufficient authority to speak and vote on behalf of the organization
- An organizational representative may represent only one organization
- Each organization holds only one vote
Individual members:
- Any stakeholders in the community engaged in ending and preventing homelessness may become member
- People with lived experience and expertise of homelessness are strongly encouraged to become members
- May not designate additional persons to represent them
- Individuals who have a recognized role in a member organization (such as employees, board members, consultants may become individual members but may not vote
- Individuals with formal organizational affiliations such as those noted above may be selected to represent the organization with which they are affiliated.
Members are expected to disclose any and all conflicts of interest and, when appropriate, recuse themselves from discussions and/or voting
Download Organizational Membership Form
Download Individual Membership Form
Please feel free to share this invitation with others who are interested in this vital work in our community. If you have questions about membership, please email membership@bceh.org. If you know of someone who would like to stay informed via the CoC newsletter, please contact info@bceh.org or sign up on bceh.org.
To learn more about CoCs: https://endhomelessness.org/resource/what-is-a-continuum-of-care/
To lean more about membership and the Reading/ Berks CoC, please view the recording of the CoC 101 presentation.
For more information on CoC membership process and responsibilities, please refer to the CoC's Governance Charter here.