Linda Gibbs says she is impressed with what she’s seeing when it comes to a response to community homelessness in Fargo.
Gibbs is a principal with Bloomberg Associates. The non-profit, pro bono firm was created by former New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg to help local governments and mayors tackle their biggest problems.
As covid-era assistance programs went away, homelessness within Fargo-Moorhead grew – and response systems became stressed. This has prompted those systems, in tandem with city governments, to reach upward and outward for ways to make things better. It’s that willingness to work that has Linda Gibbs feeling confident. One thing the City of Fargo is interested in is moving and expanding its Downtown Engagement Center. Gibbs says that’s a great start.
"You're not building this from scratch. You already have a strong network of community members and providers coming together, and the prospect of a new center is to create both space that works well, and allows more of those partners to come in. The city is trying to host a space that will allow those collaborations to happen more and more; I just see a lot of people who want to be a part of the conversation, and are seeing the opportunity. That's the other thing - there's just an alignment of a lot of interests here against the backdrop of a broader solution that's already being discussed."
Fargo Mayor Tim Mahoney invited Gibbs to Fargo this week to further advance these discussions. He says they’ve already selected a few spots to consider when it comes to moving the Engagement Center.
"When we had our consultants come in, we sat down as a team and saying, what do we need, what size do we need, where should it be. And then we gave them locations. Then we asked the team to get right on the criteria; what does it have to have, what should it have, how should it have it, and we've found some sites we think will work. If the public has any ideas for a better site, they should call us before the end of the month because we'd like to know that. But then we are going to get serious on looking and sort out the best location, and then going forward."
Gibbs says when it comes to picking that new spot, a number of questions need to be considered. She says the new location needs to be away from the economic center of Downtown, but not so far away that clients can’t get to it. She says they also considered the various types of services used and needed by the clientele, as well as their transportation needs. She says there are currently eight to ten properties that seem to fit their criteria.
Gibbs plans to continue meeting with local officials on this issue.