Jeff Chambers, UNL Center on Children, Families and the Law, received the 2011 Community Partner Award from the Lincoln Homeless Coalition. The award was presented in November.
Chambers has been a long-time leader in the Homeless Coalition’s growth from a fairly informal group, to a sophisticated organization that can provide detailed communitywide information on a variety of data related to homelessness, the coalition said. He was instrumental to Lincoln meeting HUD’s mandate to use an HMIS system.
According to a news release from the Lincoln Homeless Coaltion, Chambers' "forward thinking and vision of having a data system to serve the needs of agencies and programs beyond those mandated by HUD, has provided Lincoln with a way to tell the story of homelessness."
Chambers has been a leader with the Continuum of Care for more than 10 years. He has worked through the Community Services Initiative, Homeless Prevention and Rapid Re-Housing Program. He is past chair of the Nebraska Management Information System.
Chambers is also involved with the Community Context of Rural and Urban Child Neglect, Residential Energy Assistance Challenge Option Program Evaluation, Better Service Through Enhanced Partnership Program Evaluation, Job Opportunities for Low Income Individuals Program Evaluation, and AmeriCorps Service Program Evaluation.
Some of Chambers' interests include community planning and community services, basic and emergency needs issues (food, housing, clothing, and utilities), program evaluations, rural sociology, crime and juvenile delinquency and community and social organizations.