Approximately nine years ago, the city of Chicago along with various other groups and organizations collaborated on a 10-year plan to curb homelessness in Chicago. In its emerging 10th year, the city’s working on the newest strategic plan called Plan 2.0 which will be released in the spring of 2012, with new statistics, goals and priorities.

“Chicago’s Ten Year Plan to End Homelessness has made great strides in creating a homelessness infrastructure that serves to help our most vulnerable residents regain self-sufficiency and stability,” said Mayor Rahm Emanuel in a press release issued by the mayor’s office. “But there is still much work to do. Plan 2.0 will build on current achievements while addressing the evolving needs of our homeless residents to provide a more effective strategy for combating homelessness.”

The new plan will take into consideration what has been working and what hasn’t, asking new questions and taking into consideration who is being affected the most. According to statistics from the Chicago Coalition for the Homeless, that of the highest percentage is the Black community at 75 percent. Latinos come in at six percent of the total homeless population in Chicago.

Among the organizations involved in the new strategic plan is the Chicago Coalition for the Homeless, an organization that has been around since 1980. Julie Dworkin, director of policy for the coalition, has done her fair share of number crunching when it comes to Chicago statistics.

Because of state budget cuts, homeless prevention and support was taking a tremendous hit with 55 percent of Illinois agencies expected to run out of prevention funds by the end of the year, according to a study done by the Chicago Alliance to End Homelessness, Chicago Coalition for the Homeless, and Housing Action Illinois. Prevention services ...