Douglas County pushes countywide fundraising, expands business outreach to help unhoused residents

Douglas County officials and community partners said May 8 they will pursue a coordinated, countywide fundraising and business-outreach effort aimed at driving donations to the Douglas Has Heart fund and giving businesses tools to respond to people sleeping in vehicles and panhandling.

The Douglas County Homeless Initiative meeting focused on three linked goals: reduce the number of people sleeping in parking lots, increase giving to Douglas Has Heart and raise public awareness about nonpunitive responses that connect people to services. Participants agreed staff and partner organizations should explore point-of-sale “round up” options, place QR-code posters in businesses and promote donor-facing impact reporting on the Community Foundation website.

Why it matters: county staff and nonprofit partners said businesses are often front-line witnesses to unsheltered activity but lack uniform guidance on what to do. A combined approach — outreach by the HEART team plus clear donation options and messaging for customers — is meant to reduce unsafe camping while directing charitable activity to service providers.

Participants outlined specific next steps. Caroline Frizzell of Douglas County Communications and Public Affairs submitted a vendor inquiry for a roundup service (Rounded Up America) during the meeting and will follow up; the Douglas County Community Foundation and Economic Development Corporation will continue joint outreach to retailers and chambers. The foundation’s Kirsten Swanson said the foundation plans to amplify fundraising around established giving days such as Douglas County Gives Day and explore a targeted February campaign tied to Douglas Has Heart.

Hart (the HEART outreach team) staff reported recent practical gains: since the start of the year HEART has interacted with 89 businesses and, working with the sheriff’s office, obtained 52 trespass letters for private properties. Those letters were described at the meeting as enabling outreach — not solely a punitive tool — because they allow managers or property owners to authorize contact and faster engagement by navigators and deputies.

Business and law enforcement partners offered ideas for what to place in stores and at counters: short posters with a QR code linking to donation and resource pages; an in-store “roundup day” where receipts are collected and donated funds remitted by the business; or a limited-duration point-of-sale roundup promotion timed to a campaign window rather than a year-round ask. Small-business owners at the table suggested limited, recurring campaigns (for example, a month-long campaign in February) were easier to manage than permanent daily requests.

Quotes from the meeting included business owner Mike Palemas: “I think how do we reduce the number of people in their cars,” and Commissioner K. Abe Laden’s emphasis on approach: “we lead with compassion.” Mayor Jason Gray said the county is getting “a really good response” from businesses and law enforcement on trespass-letter coordination.

The group also discussed communications mechanics: draft posters circulated during the meeting included a QR code and brief impact language about how donated dollars are used. Tiffany Marcito of HEART recommended adding donor-facing transparency — for example, monthly tallies of how many meals, vouchers or beds donations support — on the Community Foundation site. Caroline Frizzell agreed to return with a web presentation in June or July.

Ending: Staff were directed to continue outreach to chambers and retailers, pursue the roundup vendor inquiry and return to the homeless-initiative committee with a website proposal and campaign plan. No formal vote was taken; the meeting recorded these items as staff directions and partnership commitments.