Speaker - Mark Hilbelink

He and his wife Catie have two children. He is known for innovative and creative solutions to issues around homelessness, as well as being an outspoken advocate for change in the homelessness response system and co-chairs the community’s Crisis Response Committee. Mark has also helped lead several large research projects on homelessness in conjunction with the University of Texas. Known for blunt honesty and hard work, Mark has a history of non-profits, churches and community partnerships into transformative change and disrupting the status quo. Mark and his team specialize in large-scale solutions to homelessness, incorporating technology and integrating mental, physical and substance abuse care into their work.

 

Sunrise offers pathways to housing for people experiencing homelessness through low-barrier access to wraparound services by providing innovative, trauma-informed, and person-centered programming that engages our communities and leads system-wide transformation.

 

 

We recognize the complex challenges individuals face in their lifetime and give trauma-informed care from initial contact that provides emotional and physical safety for all while creating a dependable safety net that minimizes risk.

 

We affirm each person as the expert in their own life as they take the next right step to wholeness and diligently walk alongside them as they explore their options.

 

We build and encourage active relationships with community partners to improve systems and change culture while leveraging diverse perspectives to solve complex problems.

 

We are driven by curiosity towards strategic, effective and creative ideas that lead us outside our comfort zone. We make data-informed decisions that pursue meaningful, sustained outcomes while growing from our experiences and educating others to improve our work and our community.

 

We originate from the Christian faith and believe that our community is best served when diversity and inclusion are embedded in everything we do. We create an environment that brings together unique perspectives, removes obstacles for marginalized populations most disproportionately harmed by homelessness to attain their personal goals, and actively work towards dismantling the systems that perpetuate inequity in our community.

 

Sunrise is committed to strategically connecting others to an integrated response to homelessness through data-informed experiences. We have partnered with various institutions to engage in academic research regarding best practices and innovations around serving populations experiencing homelessness. There are many parts of homeless services that have never been studied in academic research or have been under-studied and we seek to leverage unique relationships with academic partners to bring the best solutions to our field of work.

 

Sunrise creates a fully-integrated model of care along with our partners that includes humanitarian aid, mental health care, physical healthcare, harm reduction, substance abuse care, housing interventions, benefits enrollment and more. What's different about how Sunrise does it? It's all under one roof and its all integrated together. It works like people work.

 

The issue of homelessness in Austin is much larger than any one cause. Rather, it is a complex issue with many complex causes. We believe that means that any proposed solutions must be as complex or more complex than the problems that caused it. By delving into that complexity rather than over-simplifying the causes or solutions, we get a much clearer picture of reality.

 

Austin's homelessness issues are in some ways caused by what they are caused by in many cities: gentrification, systemic racism, lack of access to medical & mental healthcare, the breakdown of family, substance abuse, lack of affordable housing, lack of a social safety net, domestic violence, the foster care system, re-entry from incarceration and more. In addition, Austin's particular challenges have been historic racial divides, quickly-booming population growth, a separation of humanitarian aid from housing programs, a lack of shelters, location of shelters to business district & university and more. Additionally, the disconnected efforts of public & private entities, especially faith-based entities has created much duplication and the lack of a cohesive or efficient approach as a community. The political reality of living in a very left-leaning city in a very right-leaning state means political solutions are often problematic.

 

Sunrise's efforts from the beginning have been about being holistic. Bringing whole-person solutions to the whole-person trauma of homelessness is what we are known for, but we also advocate for policies that breakdown siloed community responses. Hope and momentum are built by multi-disciplinary approaches, cross-agency partnerships, faith-based community involvement, integration of humanitarian aid & healthcare with housing efforts and leveraging the criminal justice community to help create positive change in the lives of those we serve.