Two Oak Park village staffers joined local non-profit leaders for a panel discussion about the village’s homelessness abatement strategies at a national policy conference.
Oak Park’s Community Services Manager Vanessa Matheny and Oak Park’s Public Works Director Rob Sproule joined Housing Forward CEO Lynda Schueler and Alliance to End Homelessness in Suburban Cook County Executive Director Jennifer Hill for a panel discussion at the American Public Works Association’s Annual Conference held in Downtown Chicago earlier this month.
The panel, titled “The Suburban Unhoused Dilemma: Public Works as a Partner,” focused on how the village’s new alternative response social services program has worked in collaboration with Oak Park’s public works department and local non-profit agencies. Oak Park launched E.C.H.O. in June 2024 following both community interest and consultant recommendations supporting the development a village-run alternative police response program.
Sproule and Matheny described how ECHO works with the village’s public works department in detail in an article they co-wrote ahead of the conference, published by the American Public Works Association.
“In Oak Park, public works crews are frequently the first to encounter encampments or respond to sanitation needs in areas where unhoused individuals gather,” they wrote. “Historically, their work focused on cleaning public buildings and grounds, particularly around transit stations. Today, their responsibilities include coordinating with ECHO to safely clear encampments, collecting trash near encampments while respecting individuals’ belongings, and serving as key observers for new or growing encampments.
“This integration of public works into the broader care strategy has been critical to Oak Park’s success. It ensures that public spaces remain safe and clean while maintaining the dignity of those in crisis,” the article said.
Earlier this summer, the village hired Mary Naughton as the new manager for the program, which employs two full-time care coordinators, to work under Matheny.
Last month, Matheny gave a presentation to Oak Park’s village board on the program’s first year of operation. According to the board presentation, ECHO has received referrals to clients from a wide variety of sources, although they are most commonly connected to clients via the Oak Park Police Department, the Oak Park Fire Department and through people walking in for service.
Of the many types of issues that ECHO staffers help provide services for, staffers most often helped clients needing help with senior services issues, homelessness, housing instability and mental health issues, according to the presentation.
The discussion was a follow-up to an event held at last year’s edition of the conference held in Atlanta, which focused on how that city’s collaboration with non-governmental agencies to address its homelessness crisis. The conference chose Oak Park as a case study to highlight because “homelessness in not just an urban issue.”
“As a densely populated suburb of Chicago, the Village of Oak Park has experienced a significant increase in the number of unhoused individuals since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic due to less affordable housing and access to public transportation,” American Public Works Association said of the panel.” “Through a blend of local governance, public health initiatives, and collaborative efforts with community organizations, this presentation will share Oak Park’s multi-faceted response to the homelessness crisis, balancing humane assistance to those in need with the broader community’s concerns about safety, public health, and the use of public spaces.”
Sproule also appeared on another panel discussion at the conference with Oak Park Forestry Superintendent Grant Jones, which focused on how the village manages its tree canopy, according to the village.
