The PRISM (Prevention, Resources, Independence Through Housing, Services, and Maintenance) Project is Buffalo and Erie County's Ten-Year Plan to End Long-Term Homelessness. The plan, endorsed by Buffalo Mayor Byron Brown and Erie County Commissioner of Social Services Michael Weiner, adds Buffalo and Erie County to the growing list of cities and counties around the country that have made a commitment to end long-term or "chronic" homelessness.

The Plan is the product of an exhaustive community planning process, working in concert with a national movement toward addressing and ending homelessness through goal-setting and strategic action.  Input from data collection efforts, local experts, concerned citizens, homeless and formerly homeless persons, and national trends and best practices all contributed to the final plan called PRISM: A Community Solution to Homelessness (pdf).

Plan implementation is in beginning stages, with oversight from the PRISM Project Steering Committee. Members of the Steering Committee are:

Synta Adams, Crisis Services
Karen Carman, YWCA
Mary K. Comtois, United Way of Buffalo and Erie County
Brad Dossinger, M and T Bank
Michael Carr, Erie County Department of Social Services
Carolyn Hillman, Salvation Army Family Shelter
Howard Hitzel, Lake Shore Behavioral Health
Tanya Perrin-Johnson, City of Buffalo
Susan Potocki, Social Security Administration
Penny Selmonsky, Neighborhood Legal Services
Cherrise Walker-Betts, American Red Cross
Glenda Washington, Alcohol and Drug Dependency Services
Eric Weigel, Erie County Department of Mental Health
Michael Weiner, Erie County Department of Social Services
Herb Wittmeyer, Veterans Administration

Questions about PRISM?  Contact Homeless Alliance Program Director Joan Dutchess Freidson