The bill, called the Hunger-Free Campus Act, would increase funding and access to food on West Virginia’s college campuses in an effort to fix food insecurity among students.
The task force worked to identify the factors behind those numbers and then looked at models that appeared to work well in other communities. The results prompted Rexroad to launch the United Way of Harrison County’s Solution-Focused Street Outreach and Rapid Rehousing Programs - just as the COVID-19 pandemic was hitting West Virginia. Shelters were being forced to limit their services statewide at the same time that an increasing number of people were becoming homeless due to economic conditions.
“We decided to gear up for an outreach effort,” in conjunction with the West Virginia Coalition to End Homelessness, said Rexroad, now the Housing and Communications Director for United Way of Harrison County. “We screened the entire population that we had outside and we pulled the highest risk folks … into a hotel where they could quarantine. Ten folks at that time who were highest risk. Folks who are older, folks who have chronic health conditions, and we put them in a hotel an