GH CAN Leadership 12/14/16

Greater Hartford Coordinated Access Network
Leadership Notes
Wednesday, December 14, 2016
Meeting held at YWCA, 153 Broad St

In Attendance:
Brian Baker - South Park Inn
Steve Bigler - CRT
Kara Capobianco - Department of Housing
Crane Cesario - DMHAS
Cat Damato - CRT
Mary Davenport - The Network
John Ferrucci- South Park Inn
Bryan Flint - Cornerstone
Rosemary Flowers - My Sisters' Place
Nate Fox - Center Church
Tenesha Grant -Mercy Housing
Andrea Hakian - CHR
Steve MacHattie - ImmaCare
Dave Martineau - Mercy Housing
Matt Morgan - Journey Home
Diane Paige-Blondette - My Sisters' Place
Heather Pilarcik- South Park inn
Iris Ruiz - Interval House
Barbara Shaw - Hands On Hartford
Lisa Quach - Journey Home
Cathy Zeiner - YWCA
Amy Robinson - VA
Daphne McCoy - House of Bread
John Lawlor - The Connection
Kyren McCrorey - The Open Hearth
Sarah DiMaio - Salvation Army Marshall House
Cynthia Lazore - Chrysalis Center

1. Welcome and Introductions
2. Zero: 2016 Updates – see p.2
1. Households identified as chronically homeless before 10/1 - Any households who were identified as chronically homeless before 10/1 are high priority to house by the end of the year, because in order to reach our designation of functional zero, we need to ensure we are housing people within 90 days of chronic verification.  Right now, we have a couple dozen households who have been verified for more than 90 days.  This was discussed at Coordinated Exit
3. CCT and GH CAN Release of Information Plain Text – Mollie Greenwood (see p. 3)
1. We discussed last week a goal of starting to complete CCT Releases of Information with all shelter residents in order to more easily partner with the healthcare system.  In order to more clearly explain the different releases, we drafted up a short explanation of what the different releases mean.  
2. Leadership provided some feedback on the language in this document, Mollie will make adjustments and present to CAN Ops next meeting.
4.  Guidance from Department of Housing (handouts) - All three of these new pieces of guidance have come out in the past month, and have been presented to Statewide CAN Leadership recently.  
1.  Using RRH as a bridge - Department of housing released information that all chronically homeless households can be bridged using Rapid ReHousing programs, and if they are not successful by the end of their RRH program period, they can be prioritized for an upcoming opening in Permanent Supportive Housing without returning to homelessness.
2.  Short Term Incarceration Policy - The DOC is partnering with CANs to try and ensure that chronically homeless households do not fall off of the radar while incarcerated for short periods of time, and a representative at the DOC has been identified to parnter closely with CANs to provide information about individuals who are incarcerated for a short time in the hopes that this will prevent folks from having their housing plans disrupted.
3.  Offering Housing to Individuals & Families Refusing CAN services - This DOH guidance calls for communities to continually engage households even after they refuse a housing option.  Households must be offered housing every two weeks.
5.  Diversion Center: New Team to begin 1/9/2017 (see p. 4) - CHR, Mercy Housing, and Salvation Army have been working over the past month to identify staff who can commit to working full days at Mercy's Diversion Center, and the new staffing team will be starting on January 9th!  Brenda Earle will work closely with this team.

Leadership voted to not meet on 12/28, and will resume meeting in 2017.

1.  Announcements
2.  Any questions about the Navigator RFP should be directed to Amanda Girardin by close of business this Friday, December 16th.
3. In addition to the standard Point In Time count, this year Connecticut will also be holding a youth count. If you or your organization is interested in participating in the Youth Count, please contact Steve Hurley (steve.hurley@journeyhomect.org)
4.  There will be a SmartSheets refresher training this Friday at the Lumsden Center at CRT, 555 Windsor St. Contact Steve Hurley (steve.hurley@journeyhomect.org) to register
5.  There will be a GH CAN Training this Friday from 9AM-4PM and spaces are still available. Email mollie.greenwood@journeyhomect.org to register.
6.  This year’s regional homeless memorial will be held on Wednesday, December 21st, from 6:30-7:30 at Center Church, 675 Main St., Hartford. Please help us prepare for this event by sending the names of any participants who have passed away this year to Nate Fox at nfox@cchartford.org
7. f. Executive Director Webinar