GH CAN Operations 11/30/16

Greater Hartford CAN Operations Meeting

Wednesday November 30, 2016

In Attendance:

Alicia Akers - CRT

Janet Bermudez - Hands On Hartford

Roger Clark - ImmaCare

Tylon Crump - CRT

Rochelle Currie - The Connection

Geoff Farina - The Connection

Jacqueline Farmer - Veteran's Inc

Valorie Gaines - CHR

Ruby Givens-Hewitt - My Sisters' Place

Mark Jenkins - Blue Hills Civic Association

Je'Naya King - CHR

Nicole Milton - CHR

Matt Morgan - Journey Home

Maureen Perez - McKinney Shelter

Heather Pilarcik - South Park Inn

Chris Robinson - Chrysalis Center

Amy Robinson - VA

Iris Ruiz 0 Interval House

Jose Vega - CRT

Wendy Walker - CRT

Lisa Quach - Journey Home

Christie Corrigan - No Freeze Project

Kyren McCrorey - The Open Hearth

1. Zero: 2016 Updates - see p.2

1. Zero: 2016 Updates - see p. 2
1. Recently Housed
2. Challenges in Getting to Zero
3. Case Conferencing Clients in Jeopardy of Losing Housing - if any housing programs have participants who in jeopardy of losing housing, BOS COC has requested that we bring all of those housing clients up for discussion and case conferencing.  If any housing programs have participants who are at risk of losing their housing, they should be brought up for discussion at the weekly Coordinated Exit calls/meetings that take place on Tuesdays.
1. Matt also asked if it would be worthwhile to case conference households who are being discharged from shelter for nonviolence.  This has been a question from Balance of State.
2. Shelters indicated they were worried about the potential time commitment of another meeting.  Family shelters are already doing a lot of this case conferencing at the family housing matching meeting.  The volume of individuals shelters was a big concern.
2. Chronic Homeless Chart from HUD - HUD has released a document outlining criteria and requirements for meeting the definition of chronic homelessness.  The flow chart can be a little confusing to follow, but was distributed today.  The committee determined that GH CAN staff would rather utilize the chronic homeless eligibility chart that was put together earlier this month by members of this committee, and was reviewed by leadership.
3. Cold Weather Protocol
1. Welcome Center - In addition to the standard 50 beds provided by No-Freeze, this year the Cold Weather team will also operate a Welcome Center every night from 4-8 PM.  Wednesdays through Sundays that will be located at Center Church, 60 Gold St., Hartford.  Mondays and Tuesdays the Welcome Center will be colocated with Community Meals at 45 Church Street.  The intention of this Welcome Center is to determine who is returning to No-Freeze for the night, as well as having a central place to try and connect unsheltered households to any shelter openings.
2. No Freeze Center - There will be a 50 bed overflow shelter available at ImmaCare (on the second floor) in the same location as last year.  Big thanks to ImmaCare for stepping up and offering this space to make sure we had a location before the cold weather really got started.  These 50 beds will open up each night, and when the governor activates severe cold weather protocol, an additional 25 beds will open.
3. Integration with Shelter Waitlist - The Welcome Center will help people call 211 and add folks to the waitlist, if they aren't already on there, and will also update shelter waitlist information. 
4. Warm Places Document - Everyone received a copy of a document outlining locations folks could go during cold days this winter.