July 17, 2019 GH CAN Leadership Meeting Notes

1. Welcome and Introductions

·       Steve Bigler- CRT

·       Sonia Brown- CRT

·       Kara Capobianco- Department of Housing

·       Crane Cesario- DMHAS

·       Stephanie Corbin- Mercy House

·       Fred Faulkner- Open Hearth

·       Heather Flannery- Interval House

·       Alexis Gaynor- Journey Home

·       Andrea Hakian- CHR

·       Gerilyn Harrison- Salvation Army

·       Rebekah Lyas- Immacare

·       Elijah McFolley- Open Hearth

·       Matthew Morgan- Journey Home

·       Lionel Rigler- City of Hartford

·       Barbara Shaw- Hands on Hartford

·       Kathy Shaw- My Sister’s Place

·       Keysha Starks- South Park Inn

·       Jasmin Torres- The Network

·       Tamara Womack- My Sister’s Place

·       Cathy Zeiner- YWCA

·       IMMACARE Update: Last day was 07/10/19, construction might begin on 07/29/19.

2. Day Sheltering Options – Barbara Shaw

·       Suggestions to expand the the Day programs/soup kitchen listing to reflect the hours and services provided in Hartford and other towns (i.e. Vernon/Cornerstone, Manchester/MACC); distribute to the community providers or give shared access to a Google document.

3. Statewide Shelter Triage Protocols – Matt Morgan

·       Those with feedback/suggestions will email Matt by Friday, July 26^th 2019

4. Statewide Inter-Can Transfer Protocols – Matt Morgan

·       Those with feedback/suggestions will email Matt by Friday, July 26th 2019

5. Youth 100 Day Campaign Updates – Matt Morgan

·       A youth fair was held a couple of days ago and mental health seems to be a major barrier with the youth population. There will be a landlord breakfast on August 5^th, 2019 to provide more information Hartford housing services.

6. Balance of State Continuum of Care Updates – Matt Morgan and Crane Cesario (2 webinars coming up on CT BOS)
1. Rapid Rehousing Policies- concerns about rent changes as of 07/01/19; if any changes or recommendations, email Matt by Friday, July 26th.  Any input, please attend BOS on Friday, July 19^th, 2019
2. Dedicated Plus- all projects will be converted
3. NOFA- HUD published on 07/03/19, not many changes De-emphasis on Housing First and equal access
7. Statewide CAN Leadership – Lisa Quach, Kara Capobianco, Matt Morgan, Crane Cesario
1. Medicaid Stakeholder Client Flow
2. Exit Destinations Standardization (webinar on 08/06/19 at 2pm)
8. Updates and Next Steps on Local Strategies – Lisa Quach

·       Send out “Shelter Questions” again

·       Change the narrative to be more strength based- update after meeting on Thursday

·       Shared Housing- Operationalize Flow chart- Geri from Salvation Army and Dave from Mercy will connect to start a draft (cc: Matt and Crane)

9. New Agenda Items
10. Announcements

August 7, 2019 GH CAN Meeting Notes

GH CAN MEETING NOTES

Wednesday, August 7th, 2019 at 1PM – 2:15PM

My Sister’s Place

76 Pliny Street in Hartford

Present:

Letticia Brown-Gambino – Chrysalis Center, Stephanie Corbin – Mercy Housing, Sarah Dimaio – Salvation Army Marshall House, Heather Flannery – Interval House, John Lawlor – The Connection, Rebekah Lyas – ImmaCare, Steve MacHattie – Mercy Housing, Elijah McFolley – The Open Hearth, Matt Morgan – Journey Home, Tina Ortiz- CRT, Lisa Quach – Journey Home, Lionel Rigler- City of Hartford, Barbara Shaw- Hands On Hartford, Jose Vega-CRT, Cathy Zeiner-YWCA, Tyisha Saffold-CRT

1.       Balance of State Continuum of Care Updates – Matt Morgan gave updates on the following:

a.       Policy on not requesting identification documentation for CoC programs.

b.       Grievance Policy Revisions

c.       Rapid Rehousing Policies Update

d.       HUD Equal Access roll backs, Comment Period

e.       NOFA

2.       Statewide CAN Leadership – Lisa Quach

a.       Legislative Recommendations/Gaps 

                                                               i.      The group had numerous ideas, but agreed that their top priority was increased homelessness prevention programming, including working with institutions/corrections/healthcare to prevent discharges to homelessness, and improving workforce development partnerships and supports pre- and post-employment

                                                             ii.      Other agreed upon important priorities discussed were increasing rapid exit funding/diversion staffing funding/flex funding for problem solving, increasing homeless outreach, increasing funding for compensating provider agency staff (to improve direct service staff retention), and increasing affordable housing for large families

b.       Family Provider Meeting with Headstart, 211, and OEC Head Start Enrollment Specialists and Family Service Worker (ERSEA/FSW) group – August 21 from 12-2pm at The Connection (100 Roscommon Drive, Suite 203 in Middletown)

Sarah Dimaio said that she may have one staff who could attend.

c.       CAN Early Childhood and Childcare Liaison Volunteer – Agencies agreed that no one has the capacity to take this on, especially for such a large CAN, unless funding is provided to compensate the time for this activity.

3.       Shared Banned List

The group agreed to try out a shared banned list in Smartsheets for new clients who are banned going forward.  Journey Home will develop this list in Smartsheets.  It was suggested to remove the staff name entering the information (to protect them from retaliation) and to remove the reason why clients are banned.

4.       Reaching Home membership recommendations  https://forms.gle/A8BY6Nr4ivQEjzuEA or contact danielle@pschousing.org or carline@pschousing.org

Letticia Brown-Gambino signed up for Sustainability. 

Justine Couvaras signed up for Data and Resources.

Matt Morgan signed up for CAN Leadership.

Barbara Shaw said she would sign up for Prevention.