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by Charles Desiderio, Development Director-Clark County Command –
DISPLAYING THE CHECK are (l-r) Major William Raihl, Mayor Oscar Goodman, Mayor Michael Montandon, Tom Reilly and Pat Carlile. |
The Housing and Urban Development Department (HUD) in Washing-ton, D.C. selected the Pathways program of The Salvation Army in Las Vegas, Nev., as the location for a major presentation of checks to both the State of Nevada and the City of Las Vegas.
The State of Nevada received over $9 million and Las Vegas received $5.9 million. Pat Carlile, deputy assistant secretary for Special Needs, Housing and Urban Development, flew to Las Vegas to deliver the checks.
The funds will go to the service providers who submitted requests to the federal government for funding of various homeless programs. The Salvation Army’s $1,096,452 comes as a result of the 2004 McKinney-Vento Homeless Assistance application, which was applied for and granted to The Salvation Army’s Pathways and Safehaven programs. Rev. Duane Sonnenberg, director of grants and special projects for the Clark County Command wrote The Salvation Army application.
The Salvation Army of Southern Nevada has several programs for the homeless, including programs for homeless with special needs, such as Safehaven, PATH, and Pathways. With the growth of the Las Vegas area and all of Southern Nevada, the homeless situation has reached a serious level and the federal assistance is much needed.
Pathways was chosen by HUD as the setting for this event as it is considered by HUD to be a flagship program and is considered a model program in its field.
Present were Las Vegas Mayor Oscar Goodman and North Las Vegas Mayor Michael Montandon. In addition, Maureen Brower represented Governor Kenny Guinn and Tom Reilly, Clark County manager, represented Clark County. Representing HUD locally were Ken LoBene, field office director, and Roy Porter, senior CDP, both from the Las Vegas office.
Major William Raihl, Clark County coordinator, hosted the program and check presentation and spoke of the challenges of the homeless issue in Southern Nevada. He told of the scope of The Salvation Army programs and the vision for the future with the Army’s growth in services for individuals with special needs.
Bonnie Evans is director of the Pathways program.
