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Board explores downtown activation and homelessness responses, suggests plan update
Summary
Board members proposed updating Future Fort Smith to reflect FMS and homelessness, suggested convening nonprofits and partners to evaluate existing services, and discussed downtown activation (lighting, international restaurants, vacant‑building reuse) as a tactic to reduce visible homelessness.
During small‑group reports at the June 26 workshop, one group proposed leveraging FMS‑related workforce and downtown activation to reduce visible homelessness and revitalize vacant buildings. The group suggested international restaurants, improved lighting and programming to draw families and visitors downtown.
Facilitator and board members also recommended a formal status check on existing homeless services to evaluate effectiveness. One suggestion was to convene a homelessness coalition of nonprofits and service providers to perform a SWOT on current services and recommend improvements. The board directed staff to check whether an existing coalition is active and to ask agencies for outcome data so the board can evaluate program success before proposing new initiatives.
The board discussed linking economic development actions (Main Street, Chamber, CBID) to homelessness objectives while recognizing many homelessness solutions are driven by nonprofit and county partners. Staff will report back on current service effectiveness and potential coalition activities.
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