United Way honors Columbus Encampment Task Force as 'Advocate of Year'

COLUMBUS, Ind. - The City of Columbus announced Wednesday that the Columbus Encampment Task Force has been named the 2026 Advocate of the Year by the United Way of Bartholomew County, recognizing the Task Force’s collaborative efforts to address the unhoused population and expand access to permanent housing in the community.

Formed in March 2025, the Encampment Task Force brings together multiple city and county departments, law enforcement, nonprofit organizations, and social service agencies with a shared goal of helping unhoused individuals in Columbus connect with resources to transition to stable, long-term housing.

Due to the broad, cross-functional partnerships on the task force, those agencies can seamlessly coordinate their efforts and resources to connect those experiencing homelessness with service providers in the community. According to the United Way of Bartholomew County, partners within the task force have rehoused 144 individuals experiencing homelessness and prevented another 199 people from becoming unhoused. This has allowed the task force to focus its efforts on prevention. 

“I like to think of what we're doing as enforcement with compassion,” President of the United Way of Bartholomew County Mark Stewart said. “We have been pairing code enforcement, a police officer, and the United Way to offer resources because we do have resources, at the same time, understanding that we do really believe that people are much better if they are housed.”

City officials noted that the recognition reflects the hard work of service providers, outreach teams, and volunteer organizations, as well as ongoing collaboration between governmental and non-governmental partners. A goal of the task force is to reach a level of “functional zero”, a benchmark in which more people are being housed than are entering homelessness.

“We share the same problems: homelessness, scarce funding, lack of adequate housing, and workforce challenges, as other cities,” Columbus Mayor Ferdon said. “But what sets us apart is the collaborative approach we take to identifying the problem, looking for root causes, finding partners, and crafting solutions. And believing homelessness is solvable, they [the United Way] created a partnership with the City of Columbus. With notable success, I might add.”