ONE HERO AT A TIME: UPDATE ON DELAWARE’S CHALLENGE

TO HOUSE HOMELESS VETERANS

December 23, 2015 (Dover, DE) – On any given night, 100 Veterans in Delaware are homeless. For seven years, Henry Smith was one of them. An honorably discharged Veteran of the U.S. Army, Mr. Smith lived off and on in rooming houses and in 2015 was referred by the Wilmington VA Medical Center to Connections’ VA-funded Supportive Services for Veteran Families (SSVF) program. SSVF provides a range of supportive services and assistance to help Veterans secure housing stability. He entered the program on November 5, 2015 and was housed on December 3. “After being homeless for seven years, I thought housing was impossible,” said Mr. Smith. “My apartment is quiet, clean, and well-kept. Connections worked hard to establish a rapport with the landlord, and I hope more vets get the opportunity to be housed.”

Helping all homeless Veterans reach the same outcome Mr. Smith achieved with the help of Connections is the goal of the Delaware Challenge to End Veteran Homelessness. Today, the Delaware State Housing Authority and partners in the Challenge announced a progress update. Earlier this year, the state working group steering the effort used methodology developed by the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) to estimate that 277 Veterans are expected to experience homelessness in Delaware in 2015. Since January 29, 2015, 282 homeless Veterans have been identified in Delaware. Two hundred seventy eight of these have been stabilized and are off the streets. Of these, 169 have been placed in permanent housing. One hundred nine are in temporary housing (emergency or transitional housing: still homeless by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD)’s definition, but stabilized), and only four remain unsheltered.

After announcing his intent to end homelessness among Veterans in Delaware in his State of the State Address, in May 2015 Governor Markell unveiled the State’s plan to achieve this goal and signed on to the national Challenge. A state working group brings together key state and federal partners and representatives from local committees on a monthly basis to steer and monitor progress on the statewide effort. Key partners include the Delaware Department of Health and Social Services, U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, Delaware Commission for Veterans Affairs, Homeless Planning Council of Delaware, Connections CSP, Veterans Multi-Service Center, all three counties in Delaware, and the cities of Wilmington, Newark, Dover, Seaford, Georgetown, Bridgeville, Greenwood, and Blades have also signed on. Local groups are working in all three counties on direct outreach and community mobilization.

On October 23, Governor Markell and other officials announced several new initiatives to end Veteran homelessness in Delaware, including a statewide 100-day challenge to permanently house 96 homeless Veterans, starting October 23 and ending with the annual Point in Time study in late January, 2016. The Point in Time study is the process by which Veteran homelessness is measured nationally each year. In the 100-day Challenge to date, 29 homeless Veterans have been placed in permanent housing. Also announced in October, the Veterans Count outreach event identified eight unsheltered homeless Veterans who had not been in contact with services previously and are now being engaged in services. On November 10, 11, and 12, volunteers statewide canvassed the state at 4:00 AM to seek and identify unsheltered homeless Veterans.

The Challenge is not only about housing Veterans who are currently homeless, but putting the systems in place to ensure that Veterans who become homeless in the future are quickly connected to permanent housing, resources are available to house them, and homeless Veterans do not fall through cracks between the VA and mainstream systems. Many such system changes are underway in Delaware, to ensure the commitment to end Veteran homelessness is not just temporary but permanent.

Governor Markell stated, “With the hard work of everyone involved in this effort, we are showing that stories like Henry Smith’s can represent the new norm. We can ensure homeless Veterans are quickly and effectively connected to services and permanent housing assistance, while service providers are committed to help ensure their success and Delaware landlords are willing to give Veterans a hand up.”

Phyllis Chamberlain, Executive Director of the Homeless Planning Council of Delaware, added: “This initiative is really about providing housing first opportunities to Veterans as quickly as possible. Housing provides a safe and stable foundation for Veterans and their families, and from that safety and stability, they can better deal with any other issues they may be experiencing, including lack of employment and mental illness.”

Progress on the Challenge will again be measured with the 2016 Point in Time count in late January 2016, a statewide outreach and census event to identify individuals who are homeless on a given night. For more information about the national and Delaware Challenges, please see:

U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) Mayors Challenge

Delaware Challenge

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About the Delaware State Housing Authority

The Delaware State Housing Authority (DSHA), formed in 1968, is dedicated to providing quality, affordable housing opportunities and appropriate supportive services to low- and moderate-income Delawareans. For more information about the Delaware State Housing Authority, please call: (302) 739-4263 or visit our website at: www.destatehousing.com

Georgetown, DE – Governor Jack Markell, Department of Correction administrators, and representatives from Delaware Technical Community College yesterday celebrated the graduation of 10 offenders from the Sussex Community Corrections Center (SCCC) who completed the culinary program offered at its newly renovated training facility.  That facility and certificate program were established as part of the Markell administration’s focus on reducing recidivism through a series of criminal justice reforms, including the expansion of reentry resources, better coordination among agencies to connect offenders to existing services, and the creation of skills training for offenders to better position them to secure and maintain employment when they return to the community.

This fall, the Department of Correction and Delaware Tech joined together in a partnership that places chef instructors into SCCC’s culinary training facility to provide offenders with classroom instruction and hands-on skills in its commercial-grade kitchen.  Today marked the graduation of the second class that has completed the three-week introductory course that focuses on food safety and basic food preparation techniques.  All graduates earned the nationally-recognized ServSafe food certification and Delaware Tech’s Commercial Kitchen Safety Certification and are now eligible to continue training opportunities through more advanced community-based culinary courses.

“We all believe in you, and we hope that you will believe in yourself and go on to do great things,” Governor Markell said to the graduates.  “We want to set people up for success, and the fact that you have invested your time in this program and have taken an interest in learning new skills indicates your determination to pursue a productive path for your lives.”

“We’ve been working for the past year with the Department of Correction to identify potential programs for offenders who are close to release so that we can provide them with training in four to eight weeks that can lead directly to employment,” said Delaware Tech’s Owens Campus Director of Workforce Development and Community Education Christopher Moody. “The success we’ve experienced with the Commercial Kitchen Safety Certificate training has motivated us to move forward with additional programs like the small engine repair training that will begin in January.”

Department of Correction Commissioner Robert Coupe noted that a career in the culinary field can be fulfilling and that it will connect each new graduate to many significant events in other’s lives.  “Through your work in this industry you will be a part of the lives of so many people who visit restaurants to celebrate birthdays, anniversaries, and other special occasions,” he said.  “While you may not know many of your customers, through the magic of food and its ability to bring people together you will play a role in creating many memorable and cherished moments.”

During Thursday’s ceremony, Markell recognized SCCC Warden William Oettel and his team for expanding skills and occupational training programs for offenders and for demonstrating that they can be established cost-effectively.  All funds used to complete renovations to the culinary training facility, purchase its equipment, and pay for the culinary instruction have been generated on-site; no taxpayer dollars were used.  Coupe also recognized the late Matt Haley, founder of Delaware restaurant group SoDel Concepts, for his inspiration, personal support of early culinary training courses at SCCC, and his donation of several pieces of kitchen equipment used by culinary program students.

Over the past year the Department of Correction has partnered with educational institutions and non-profits across Delaware to offer more than a half-dozen certification programs to offenders who are supervised at the DOC’s work release and violation of probation centers.  Most recently, in addition to the 10 offenders who graduated from yesterday’s culinary training program, this week 25 offenders from Wilmington’s Plummer Community Corrections Center received industry certifications through an occupational training program also established in conjunction with Delaware Tech.  Nearly 100 offenders have enrolled in certification programs this year, and the programs will be offered to increased numbers of offenders in 2016.

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Joint Resolution to be introduced by General Assembly early next year would formally acknowledge, apologize for State’s role

Wilmington, DE – Joined by state legislators, community advocates and local parishioners during a worship service at Bethel African Methodist Episcopal Church, Governor Markell today recognized the 150th anniversary of the ratification of the 13th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution to legally abolish slavery.

“For generations, our country denied and actively contested a basic fact of humanity: that nothing about the color of one’s skin affects that person’s innate rights to freedom and dignity,” said Governor Markell. “We must publicly and candidly acknowledge the lasting damage of past sins – damage that continues to reverberate more than 150 years after the abolition of slavery.”

​Building on recent efforts to address historic injustices, including the recent issuance of a pardon for Underground Railroad conductor Samuel Burris, the Governor also announced his support of a joint resolution to officially condemn and apologize for Delaware’s role in slavery.

“The resolution being introduced today will do more than write a footnote into the history books that describe the atrocious conditions that some Delawareans inflicted upon people of African descent,” said Governor Markell. “This marks an important moment in owning up to our responsibility to fix the long legacy of damage that continues to result in inequality and unfair obstacles for countless citizens because of their race.”

The House Joint Resolution (HJR) is sponsored by Representative Stephanie T. Bolden (D-Wilmington East) and Senate Majority Whip Margaret Rose Henry (D-Wilmington East) and will be introduced during legislative session early next year.

“Today we celebrate the ratification of the 13th Amendment and the voice it gave to those who were once voiceless, declaring for all time that no American would labor without reward,” said Rep. Bolden. “However, that act did not erase the memory of what our state did in the age before emancipation. For African Americans in Delaware, and for all Delawareans, we must join with other former slaveholding states in offering apologies for the inhumanity that was once lawful here.”

“Slavery is the darkest chapter of our nation’s history,” said Senator Henry. “And while the page has long been turned, the scars from the whippings, the bruises from the shackles, the tears from the torment can still be felt all these years later in the continued struggle against racism, prejudice and the power of the privileged. Who we are as a state and nation is shaped by our history – the good and the bad. And who we can be tomorrow is predicated upon our ability to show empathy for each other today. In my view, an apology for slavery is just that: an act of empathy that won’t undo the past, but will once and for all acknowledge the experience of so many Delawareans who still feel its harsh effects.”

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Wilmington, DE – The Joint Finance Committee (JFC) of the Delaware State Legislature today approved a plan for the expenditure of settlement funds to address policing efforts in Delaware’s two largest cities. The Governor issued this statement following the vote:

“The JFC’s decision allows us to move quickly to stem gun violence in Wilmington and Dover,” said Governor Markell. “I’m pleased that Delaware State Police will combine their efforts with Wilmington and New Castle County Police to create a high visibility uniformed presence in the city.”

The plan, which details how to spend $2,094,515 in funds from the $31.6M Bank of America settlement, is broken down as follows:

City of Dover: $578,915 for expanded police patrols and installation of video equipment. 

City of Wilmington: $1,515,600 for increased patrols by Wilmington Police Department, New Castle County Police Department and Delaware State Police, including $75,000 to pay for a Delaware State Police analyst to work with Wilmington PD to analyze crime data and target specific areas and individuals for policing efforts.

In addition, the City of Wilmington will work with the Police Foundation, a consultant to the Wilmington Public Safety Strategies Commission, to undertake an immediate assessment of the Wilmington Police Department’s current implementation of recommendations made by the Wilmington Public Safety Strategies Commission.

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Governor Markell thanks PSC and Public Advocate for their advocacy and FERC for its close review of PJM’s proposed cost allocation for the project; looks forward to a “technical conference” to identify a more just sharing of the costs.

Wilmington, DE – In a ruling favoring Delaware residents and businesses, late Tuesday the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) concluded that power grid manager PJM’s plans to impose on Delaware residents the cost of constructing a more than $100 million transmission line from the nuclear facilities at Artificial Island across the Delaware River “have not been shown to be just and reasonable, and may be unjust, unreasonable, or unduly discriminatory or preferential.”

“This FERC decision is an important first step to protect Delawareans from a significant electric rate increase,” said Governor Jack Markell, who opposed PJM’s plan to force Delaware residents to bear unreasonably high costs for a power line project that mainly benefits businesses and consumers in other states.

“I want to thank the FERC for its review and very sensible conclusion that the costs of a project designed to maximize power production and improve reliability in New Jersey should not fall entirely on Delaware and Maryland consumers. I also want to thank the Delaware Public Service Commission’s members and staff and the Delaware Public Advocate for their efforts to reduce the costs that might have been imposed on Delawareans.

“This issue is not over. FERC’s staff will be conducting a technical conference to develop an alternative, and I look forward working with FERC and Delaware’s utility regulators on a more just sharing of these costs.”

Power grid manager PJM proposed the Artificial Island Project as a means of generating maximum power from the nuclear power generating units at Artificial Island and improving the reliability of area transmission lines. After an extensive review of various alternatives, PJM proposed the construction of a 230 kV power line from Artificial Island to Red Lion in Delaware as the technically superior means of accomplishing those goals. As a result of PJM’s tariff rules, more than $100 million in costs associated with the construction of that line would have been borne by residential, commercial and industrial consumers in Delaware, including customers of Delmarva Power & Light Company, Delaware Municipal Electric Corporation, and the Delaware Electric Cooperative.

“The State Chamber of Commerce and the Delaware Manufacturing Association are pleased that FERC will undertake a review of PJM’s proposed rate allocation for the Artificial Island Project,” said Richard Heffron, President of the Delaware State Chamber of Commerce. “As we have stated, along with Governor Markell and others, Delaware rate payers, including businesses of all sizes, should not be penalized with undue transmission costs that don’t provide them with direct benefits.”

Governor Markell opposed the allocation of those costs to Delaware electricity users in a July 10 letter to the PJM Board of Managers and in an August 20 submission to the FERC, which approves PJM cost allocations.

Today’s FERC order directs the FERC staff to establish a “technical conference” to explore whether projects like Artificial Island should be funded by an alternative allocation that does not impose costs entirely on the recipients of the electricity generated by these kinds of reliability projects.

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