GH CAN Operations 2/21/18

Greater Hartford Coordinated Access Network

Operations Agenda

Wednesday, February 21^st, 2018

1.      Welcome and Introductions

    Janet Bermudez- Hands on Hartford

     Manuel Cadena- Catholic Charities

     Crane Cesario- DMHAS

     Roger Clark- ImmaCare

     Stephanie Corbin- Mercy Diversion Center

      Tylon Crump- CRT SSVF

      Rochelle Currie- The Connection

      Sarah DiMaio- Salvation Army Marshall House

      Kelly Gonzalez- Journey Home

      Je’Naya King- CHR

     Claudia Lobeska- East Hartford Shelter

      Steve MacHattie- Mercy Housing

   Gerilyn Maciel- Salvation Army Marshall House

     Andre McGuire- CRT McKinney

     Maureen Perez- CRT McKinney

     Heather Flannery- South Park Inn

     Natalie Ramos- ImmaCare

      Jamie Randolph- Salvation Army Marshall House

     Anita Cordero- ImmaCare

      Chris Robinson- Salvation Army Marshall House

     Kyren McCrorey- The Open Hearth

     William St. Denis- Veteran’s Inc.

   Janette Hernandez- Catholic Charities

     Ki-Young Burby- Catholic Charities

     Maria Flores- Mercy Housing

     Patricia Lopez-Cruz- CHN  

2.      Case Conferences – Fred Faulkner- NONE

3.      Project SAVE and Project ASAP through Hartford Behavioral Health – Tracy LaChapelle

a.      Project SAVE (Stop Abuse & Violence; Empowerment) is a program who offers various services to victims of crime in Hartford.  They assist anyone from the ages of 6 and up.

b.      Project ASAP (Adult Sexual Assault Program) is a new program at Hartford Behavioral Health serving adults who have been sexually assaulted.

c.      Services offered are individual counseling, group counseling, family counseling, case management and advocacy.

d.      The goals of these programs are to increase understanding of how crime can affect your life and to increase functioning of victims.

e.      Both programs have a crisis line that is available 24 hours and bilingual staff.

f.       Project Save’s hotline number is 860-222-7233 and Project ASAP’s hotline number is 860-222-7299.

g.      If you have any questions about any of these programs, please feel free to contact Tracy LaChapelle at 860-548-0101 extension 319 or by email at tlachapelle@hbh1.org.

4.      Coordinated Entry

a.      Cold Weather Updates – Sarah DiMaio

                                                    i.     The warming center has not been at capacity or have had to turn people away recently.

                                                   ii.     They have been out of hotel money for almost 2 weeks now and need help from other family shelters to assist with the unsheltered families presenting at triage and/or the warming center.

                                                  iii.     Marshall House is at capacity and have utilized their lobby and living room to accommodate unsheltered families.

                                                  iv.     Sarah suggested that shelters utilize their single woman beds for children.

                                                   v.      There are currently 29 women and families at Marshall House right now.

                                                  vi.     Sarah is unsure if she will receive more funding for motel stays and there is still a month of cold weather left.

                                                vii.     The warming center will close on March 31^st.

5.      Coordinated Exit- SKIPPED DUE TO LACK OF TIME

a.      What Would an Ideal Security Deposit Program Look Like? – Mollie Greenwood

b.      Recently Housed – Lisa Quach

c.      Changes to Housing Matching Meeting Schedule – Lisa Quach

d.      Housing Data – see p.2

6.      Resources for Utility Assistance – Ki-Young Burby

a.      The Niles Fund is funded by Charitable Society and can help with arrears.

b.      The Niles Fund is available to help Hartford residents with utility and rental arrears.  In order to assist clients, they will need a copy of the lease for rental assistance and/or a copy of the utility bill for utility assistance.

c.      The Safety Net Services program is funded by the Connecticut Department of Social Services and administered by the Connecticut Council of Family Services Agencies.  This program helps families when they have exhausted their TANF benefits. 

d.      Catholic Charities oversees this program, but all referrals have to go through DSS. 

7.      Leadership Updates – Crane Cesario

a.      Challenges in document readiness is now that we have 0 chronic verified in the community.  This is a huge concern as programs need to fill openings quickly.   Now that we are at the next level of homelessness we are missing client’s documents when housing referrals are made.

b.      Leadership is concerned that we are wasting efforts if paperwork can’t be provided during initial referral. There is a gap between what’s being stated when referred to a housing program and what’s actually being obtained after referral has been made.

c.      There is a concern from the community of having clients who have the length of time, but deny a disability.  Having the length of time and maybe a mental health issue is not considered PSH eligible.  We have to reserve our PSH openings for clients who need the services.

d.      Another concern was that we are not assisting the homeless population with low VI-SPDAT scores who have the length of time. 

e.      The group did agree that we needed to return to dynamic prioritization and determine a new prioritization method. 

f.       They also agreed that we need to obtain more information on length of time.  One suggestion was that shelters need to prioritize their clients based on length of time and get them document ready.  Another suggestion was to get clients that we know have a disability document ready first. 

g.      Lastly, it was suggested that we create a meeting with DOH, Journey Home and other providers to figure out what the next steps for prioritizing will be.  This will be an ongoing conversation for the GH CAN as we have ended chronic homelessness.

8.      Announcements

a.      Financial assistance coming soon!  Rapid Exit funds will be available to help the population with lower VI-SPDAT scores obtain housing.  More information will be provided as they continue to brainstorm ideas for this program.

b.      If anyone has any contacts in the Enfield or Vernon region, please let contact Mollie.  This is regarding CDBG.