Mississippi Case Management Consortium (MCMC) Continues Case Management for Katrina Survivors

From: MEMA   Filed 8/19/08  GCN

JACKSON, Miss. - Beginning Aug. 5, the Mississippi Case Management Consortium (MCMC) began the work of delivering high quality disaster case management services which will result in the creation of Disaster Recovery Partnership Plans for families still living in FEMA-provided temporary housing.

The consortium is an innovative partnership among 14 affiliate agencies that are coordinating efforts with additional case management agencies; the Mississippi Commission for Volunteer Service, the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), and the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD). Consortium affiliates will employ 258 case managers to provide much-needed assistance to 5,503 families across Mississippi.

The additional case management services are part of a FEMA grant in the amount of $25.4 million recently announced. The work will conclude in March, 2009.

MCMC launched the program on Aug. 12-13 at the Imperial Palace in Biloxi.  MCMC affiliates participated in a foundational workshop that addressed the unique elements of the program and an overview of the case management processes associated with the FEMA Disaster Case Management Pilot Program in Mississippi. Speakers included Mississippi Lt. Governor Phil Bryant and representatives from the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), HUD, FEMA, the White House Office of Recovery and the Mississippi Commission for Volunteer Service. Affiliates came together to network and to ensure that case managers and data entry specialists are aware of their roles and responsibilities.

"The Mississippi Case Management Consortium was created to help these agencies build capacity," says Stephen Carr, MCMC Program Director. "We are giving case managers and their affiliate agencies the tools and the skills they need as they strive to serve the citizens of Mississippi still affected by Hurricane Katrina." Eligible recipients for case management assistance under this grant will be families living in FEMA temporary housing, families with health-related concerns living in FEMA-funded hotels or motels and families whose case management services are not yet fully completed and/or were in the Cora Brown case management Phase I program.

Affiliate agencies include:  Boat People SOS of Biloxi; Catholic Diocese of Jackson; Catholic Social and Community Services of Biloxi; East Biloxi Coordination, Relief, and Redevelopment Agency; Foundation Hope, Inc.; International Relief and Development; Lutheran Episcopal Services of Mississippi; Mississippi Protection and Advocacy; Recover, Rebuild, Restore Southeast Mississippi; Rebuilding Pearl River County Together; Recovery Assistance Incorporated; UNITED Hearts Community Action Agency, Inc.; University of Southern Mississippi Institute for Disability Studies; and Waveland Citizen's Fund.

The mission of the Mississippi Case Management Consortium is to deliver high quality disaster case management services to clients who meet eligibility criteria by focusing on the case management processes of assessment, planning, advocacy, linking and monitoring.  For more information on the MCMC, please visit www.MC-MC.org.