Greater Hartford CAN Pre-Implementation 10/22/14

Greater Hartford - Coordinated Access Network

 Meeting Notes

October 22, 2014

In attendance:

Shannon Baldassario – MACC

Sandy Barry – Salvation Army

Steve Bigler- CRT

Wendy Caruso – 211

Roger Clark – Immaculate Conception

Bryan Flint – Cornerstone

Rosemary Flowers – My Sisters’ Place

Tenesha Grant – Mercy Housing

Mollie Greenwood – Journey Home

Amber Higgins – CHR

Pat Kupec – Dept of Correction

Steve MacHattie – Immaculate Conception

Sarah Melquist – MACC

Matt Morgan – Journey Home

Patrice Moulton – CRT/ East Hartford

Pieter Nijssen – Tri-Town Shelter

Heather Pilarcik – South Park Inn

Lisa Portal – Columbus House

Amy Robinson – CRT SSVF

Sandra Terry – CRT

Tamara Womack – My Sisters’ Place

Dalila May – Interval House

Trina Sexton – Dept of Correction

Tomest Maskell – Dept of Correction

Jamie Randolph – CRT/ East Hartford

1.       Introductions & Meeting Notes from last week (emailed)

2.       Updates:

a.       CAN Implementation Schedule: GH-CAN Tentative Start Date 11/17/14

b.      Shelter Bed Availability Report: Please note that this is an internal CAN document and should only be distributed to CAN agency staff.

c.       Program Profiles: Many organizations have already completed their housing program profiles.  The survey takes about 10 minutes to complete.  Please complete all program profiles for next week, 10/29/14.

3.       CAN Process Questions

a.       Duty Services Coordinator Communication

                                                   i.      Wendy Caruso from 211 spoke briefly about the role 211 had played in other CANs.  211 is responsible for scheduling appointments for anyone who cannot be diverted.  They will gather some basic information about the client prior to an appointment, and give their appointment time.  Then, it is the responsibility of the client to go to the scheduled appointment.  At the end of the appointment, it is the responsibility of the DSC to update the client’s status in HMIS, as either referred, enrolled, diverted, or as a no-show. 

1.       Initially, when a CAN goes live, 211 has been very involved with troubleshooting technical problems, and Wendy encouraged the DSCs to always contact 211 if there is a glitch in the system, or if they have any specific questions.

2.       In other CANs, 211 staff has participated in DSC group conversations.  This could be in the format of a conference call, or a face-to-face meeting.         

                                                 ii.      We then discussed communication between the different DSCs.  Our DSC manual had so far been modeled after New Britain/Bristol CAN, in which all the DSCs were having daily phone calls.  GH-CAN determined that with more than 13 DSCs, a daily conference call between all the DSCs was neither helpful, nor necessary. 

1.       The DSCs will continue to meet weekly on Wednesdays, at Sue Ann Shay Place in order to discuss face to face any systemic issues they ran into with 211 or HMIS starting when we go live.  211 will send a representative to these weekly meetings initially when the CAN goes live.

                                                iii.      Wendy then asked exactly how many appointments we are planning to hold in our CAN.

1.       After some discussion, the GH-CAN voted to hold 80 minute assessments.

a.       This will mean that full-day assessment sites can host 6 appointments per day, and half-day assessment sites can host 3 appointments per day.

b.      All clients will have a specific appointment time scheduled.  Rather than all clients showing up between 8AM and noon, all clients will have a specific time to arrive for assessment.

c.       This 80 minute time period will allow DSCs a little buffer room to accommodate clients who arrive a few minutes late, as well as allow for data entry time.

2.       Journey Home will send around a survey to all the DSCs to determine specific information about what time they would like to host appointments, and to make sure the information on the assessment schedule is correct.

3.       Wendy has asked that we decide on a common point of contact for 211, so that a number of people can report any 211 issues to one central person, and that central person could communicate with Wendy on a more regular basis.  This common contact person is TBD.

b.      UHA Process: It is the shelter responsibility to get a client document ready, and upload the 5 basic pieces of documentation into the UHA.  It is the housing program’s responsibility to have 5 people screened and greenlighted with any additional necessary information or documentation in preparation for each upcoming opening. 

                                                   i.      Documentation continues to be a big question, but we discussed that as long as shelters upload the 5 basic pieces of documentation to the UHA, they have provided a lot of information.  However, since the UHA is a pre-screen tool for many of our CAN’s housing programs, some programs might require further documentation, or information that is less objective. 

                                                 ii.      For any additional documentation above and beyond the 5 basic pieces, the Housing Referral Group will need to work together and collect the necessary information for the top 5 prioritized clients for every housing program in advance of an opening.

c.       Department of Correction: Homeless Inmates Exiting DOC and Entering Homeless Services

                                                   i.      Pat Kupec from the re-entry unit of the DOC recently reached out to the GH-CAN to ask about current protocols for our CAN.  Inmates statewide had been struggling with the new system of coordinated access because in many cases, they were not able to make phone calls to 211 on the morning of discharge.  These phone calls to book appointments were being made weeks prior, when working with a counselor.  However, clients were now unable to rely on available shelter beds, and so the transportation for the inmates did not have a location to bring them to.

1.       There’s a timing problem here: the DOC has exit meetings with inmates about a month before their discharge, but this is too early for any of the CANs to book appointments.

a.       Our CAN expressed that we didn’t see a problem with allowing DOC to book appointments further in advance, and would be willing to book DOC appointments for after their time of discharge even if they call earlier.  However, shelters were unable to commit to a bed reservation, which still leaves a problem for discharged inmates.

2.       Additionally, if the inmates don’t have a place to stay, it is DOC policy to drop them off at the jail nearest to where the inmates want to live, without a confirmation that the inmate can stay somewhere, the drivers are required to bring them to a jail.

3.       Unfortunately, shelters do not know that making reservations for this population is possible, and the GH-CAN recognizes this as a statewide issue.  Pat has a meeting with a representative from the Connecticut Coalition to End Homelessness on Monday, and hopefully more clarity will emerge from there. 

a.       We also faced a lack of clarity about the CT state law for discharging to shelters- we were able to hear DOC policies on transporting inmates right now, but need further guidance.

4.       One positive factor that came from this conversation was that the homeless service providers were able to express to the DOC how helpful inmate IDs were for clients to have. 

a.       The DOC shared contact information for a counselor who was working on ID issues, Adam Mack- at (860) 692-7564.

5.       The DOC was able to provide data on end-of-sentence exits, but could not say for sure what percentage of that population was exiting into homelessness.  For the month of October, there were 445 inmates discharged due to end-of-sentence, but from that number there is no data about how many are homeless.  The DOC has recently started tracking data about end-of-sentence exits into homelessness, though.

6.       Ultimately, this is an issue that will require more weigh in from leaders across the state.  While the GH-CAN was glad to have this dialogue, it will be important to get further guidance from leadership in the Department of Correction and the Department of Housing on how to address this gap in services.

4.       Marketing Plan:

a.       We will be discussing what languages we need on a statewide level for posters at the next statewide CAN meeting.

b.      Additionally, Journey Home has printed a few new posters with more positive imagery. 

c.       Please continue to update the master list of contacts online so the GH-CAN can have a solid idea of all our referring agencies. 

5.       Announcements:

a.       CT Rapid Rehousing is on hold statewide, as of Thursday, 10/16/14