GH CAN Leadership Meeting 10/21/2020

 

GREATER HARTFORD COORDINATED ACCESS NETWORK MEETING AGENDA

Follow Up Meeting

Wednesday, October 21, 2020 via Zoom

 1PM – 2:15PM

 

1.       Welcome and Introductions – 5 minutes

2.       COVID – 19 – 5 minutes

a.       Barbara, HOH – day center is now open. Monday to Thursday. Monday till 7pm and all other days till 2pm. Limiting number of clients entering. People are following social distant rules. Working on ventilation system. Added back in the nursing services and phone usage services.  

b.       Liany, COH – receiving questions about isolation space. State has set up community coordinators for GH is CRT.  Unsheltered homeless, can be assisted with isolation space. Working on additional details. The city at this time is not doing an isolation space, however if we need it the city will look into it. Will assist with food. Planning on hoteling those who need isolation space. City is getting ready to open isolation space in GH if needed.

c.       Crane, State of CT and DMHAS – new state restrictions for travel. Up to 40 states at the moment. DMHAS is continuing telework until Dec. 31^st.

d.       Jose, McKinney – one person came into office that said he was exposed to COVID, results came in today and he was negative. Oct 27^th testing at hotel will be done.

e.        

3.       Cold Weather/Winter Planning Updates – Lisa Cretella – 10 minutes

a.       Cold Weather meeting planned for Thursday, October 22 1-3pm invite from Kelly Gonzalez 

b.       Working on extreme / cold weather protocols for 211.  Few gaps in the system at the moment. Will DOH fund triage proposal. Money for budget waiting to be approved.

c.       Once warming center is full, will triage

d.       Dec 1 opening

e.       City has asked for more money for hotels. Budget is higher than normal. Asking for additional funds. Funds for hotel were based on Lisa and Kelly’s suggestions.

f.        Each region needs to have a plan (the hope)

g.       If there is a need before Dec 1^st, the city has a plan

h.       extreme / cold weather protocol will open a warming center earlier than Dec 1^st

i.         city is having conversations about identification for those seeking shelter.

j.         Expecting challenges due to COVID

k.       Provide feedback to statewide

l.         Bryan’s (Cornerstone) team is working on suburb warming center. Will provide more information to the CAN when he has more clarification

m.      Liany can share data of where clients are coming from

n.       Town of Enfield is meeting with surrounding towns to discuss plans around diversion. Receiving feedback from surrounding towns, people want to stay in current town.

4.       Outreach RFP Updates – Amanda Gordon – 5 minutes

a.       DOH has an RFP outreach – 230K for GH, JH will receive 300K for homeless outreach

b.       Combined RFP, received 3 proposals

c.       Selection committee met yesterday after scoring proposal

d.       Selected Hands on Hartford. GHHR and Wheeler as sub-contractors.

e.       Barbara – came together with two partners for a program, Wheeler and GHHR. Will canvas to identify those who are not connected to the service system and by referral. Goal is to make positive impacts. Outreach and canvas schedule will include Sat and Sun early and mid-evenings. Will plan to start early and late hours.  Will cover areas that are not currently covered. Staff is quarter time employees, FTE nurse, FTE health care liaison, 2 part time outreach ambassadors. Stefanie Boyce will be greatly involved. Will coordinate closely with the CAN. Alexis from JH will be working with team.

f.        Need letter of support – Amanda can send a draft letter to be signed on behalf of the CAN. Anyone opposed please email Crane by 5pm today. Crane.Cesario@ct.gov

g.       5 person selection committee that made the decision

5.       Local Shared Housing Trainings – Sofina Begum – 3 minutes

a.       Friday, October 23 - Community of Practice Session # 1 - Client Messaging / system process 

b.       Wednesday, November 4^th - Community of Practice Session # 3 - Roommate Matching/ Housing Stabilization

c.       Sofina.Begum@journeyhomect.org

 

6.       CHESS Program Training Updates– Beacon Health – 3 minutes

a.       No updates today.

b.       Waiting on information from DSS

7.       Statewide/ESG-COVID Housing Effort/FLASH /Prevention Update–Andrea Hakian, Kara Zichichi, Lisa Quach, Matt Morgan, Lionel Rigler, and Stephanie Corbin – 10 minutes

a.       No major updates

b.       CHR and Mercy are fully staffed, everyone has been on boarded

c.       1 client to be housed through FLASH plan – total of 3 clients from Mercy

8.       Future Agenda Items or Additional Announcements – 2 minutes

a.       Statewide CAN/Homeless Delivery System Workgroup – Feedback to be sent to Matt Morgan

9.       Brainstorm ideas to continue work, how will we make progress, look at data, how are we going to use a racial justice lenses

a.       JH identified 4 data – stopped due to COVID. We can work toward a dashboard.

b.       Look at data as is now and make a plan for the future. Want to see racial disparities in our data.

c.       ACT – lots of groups are looking into this. Looking into race, health. Diversity trainings are being provided. Look at trends. Look at what has been done to learn from each other.

d.       3^rd cohort is being determined for Race Equity Summit. Applications are available.

https://we-ha.com/west-hartford-police-social-services-address-increase-in-panhandling/

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

GH CAN Leadership Agenda 10/7/2020

 

GREATER HARTFORD COORDINATED ACCESS NETWORK MEETING AGENDA

Follow Up Meeting

Wednesday, October 7, 2020 via Zoom

 1PM – 2:15PM

 

1.       Welcome and Introductions – 5 minutes

2.       COVID – 19 – 5 minutes

a.       DMHAS – extended teleworking till Dec. 31^st outpatient clinical services mostly by telephone.

3.       Timing to Complete VI-SPDAT for Families – Lisa Quach – 10 minutes

a.       Last guidance – anyone experiencing homelessness for the 1^st time, should wait 14 days to complete VI. Family need to be verified before getting into shelter.

b.       Should we change our policies when families come into shelter? CAN agreed to not do it on the 1^st day of stay in shelter.

c.       Would like all shelters to follow the same policy, Concern – if VI is done early, expectations for housing is high. Would like clients to self-resolve.

d.       Can we have a different policy for Individuals Vs. Families? Something to explore statewide, if we want this.  Lisa will bring up to housing solutions collaborative to see what the rest of the state is doing.

e.       Keep as an agenda item for Families meeting. Next meeting 10/14.

f.        % of households that self resolve in 14 days? CCEH – 30% in the first 14 or 30 days. Check % from CCEH.

4.       Shelter Prioritization – Amanda Gordon and Louis Gilbert/ I – 15 minutes

a.       ImmaCare Re-Opening Plan – fire marshall has to do a check. Elevator has been approved. Waiting for fencing. Some delays. Should not delay opening. Furniture has arrived. Ohouse possibly on a Friday afternoon/Saturday.  40 bed capacity due to COVID.

b.       Shelter Prioritization for those Outside

Amanda shared screen: list of over 300 people on list. Discussing at outreach meetings. Prioritization shared:

-          Verify those on list

-          Year and half ago CAN agreed to prioritize those in hotel paid for by 3^rd party – leave in cat 7 and 8 or add a separate category to count as unsheltered?

-          CAN prioritize those verified outside and unsheltered over those who are self-reporting?

-          those in hotel paid for by 3^rd party – leave in cat 7 and 8 or add a separate

category to count as unsheltered?

o   Crane – where were they before they came into hotel, each case is different. Were they literally homeless? Do we want to prioritize those who are verified unsheltered over those who are self-reporting?

o   Rebecca – those in hotel losing their status if we don’t transition them into shelter. Some have court cases pending those in Jail Diversion, don’t want to set these folks back on their progress towards housing.

o   Tara - Some become homeless by court system if court does not allow them to go to their reported address, some cases go on about a year.

o   Mark – some leaving early to get out of system specifically those in DOC. Some do not get a referral.

-          Folks in hotel by one of our shelters is a shelter category not on list

-          Small group to meet, then bring suggestions to leadership

 

5.       Day Time Shelter – 5 minutes

a.       ESG shelter dollars

b.       Which day time shelters plan to stay open? Additional gaps and expenses to stay open? COVID related

c.       Survey to be sent out, everyone ok with the survey? Survey will be sent out

d.       Matt provided feedback to Steve D.

6.       Cold Weather/Winter Planning Updates – Lisa Cretella – 10 minutes

a.       Cold Weather meeting planned for Thursday, October 22 1-3pm invite from Kelly Gonzales 

b.       No big update, rescheduled for Oct 22 instead of tomorrow

c.       Ideas to be discussed. Triage is the gap right now. Gap – east of the river, will discuss with Bryan.

d.       Pledge to DOH – Hartford Milner, Mercy Triage Space (possibility at Friendship Center to do family triage, can fit about 12 people, working out finance part, will need extra staffing, food. Volunteers cannot participate at the moment), Cornerstone C/House. Locations east of the river has not been identified. Gap – additional hotel capacity. Plan to get up to capacity as last year. Will identify gaps.

e.       Bryan – letter of recommendation, coordinating efforts with Enfield and other areas of the CAN. Will appeal to towns about the situation and how bad it can get.

7.       CHESS Program Training Updates– Beacon Health – 3 minutes

a.       No updates. Laura will provide updates once everything is finalized, or more updates.

8.       CT Race Equity Summit Debrief – 5 minutes

a.       Safe Place for my Race 

b.       Representative Leadership

c.       Pathways to Resources 

d.       Building Racial Transformers 

 

-          Crane and Lisa were part of the Cohort 1.

-          3^rd cohort application is up right now, can apply to be a representative, CSH website of application. Lisa will send to me to send to group.

-          We work with a diverse group, meeting was very eye opening for many of us

-          Subcommittee to discuss this?

 

9.       Statewide Draft CAN/Homeless Delivery System Strategies – Matt Morgan – 3 minutes

a.       List of strategies will be finalized this Friday or Monday. Matt will ask for feedback. Feedback to be shared with Sofina and Matt.

10.   Statewide/Local 1000 Homes/ESG-COVID Housing Effort/FLASH Program/Prevention Update–Andrea Hakian, Kara Capobianco, Lisa Quach, Matt Morgan, Lionel Rigler, and Stephanie Corbin – 10 minutes

a.       Outreach – meeting was on Monday. Discussed RFP. Combine two pools of funds? CAN agreed for JH to apply for RFP for funds. Amanda will send out email to those interested. Every agency will get a vote. City Procurement standards – need individual committee, conflict of interest and fairness. Centralized RFP, independent committee to review applications.

b.       Key Components –

 

11.   Future Agenda Items or Additional Announcements – 2 minutes

a.       Shared Housing Forum on Wednesday, October 14^th from 10:00 am - 1:00 pm. 

 

 

GH CAN Leadership Meeting 9/16/2020

 

GREATER HARTFORD COORDINATED ACCESS NETWORK MEETING AGENDA

Follow Up Meeting

Wednesday, September 16, 2020 via Zoom

 1PM – 2:15PM

 

1.       Welcome and Introductions – 5 minutes

2.       COVID – 19 – 5 minutes

3.       Outreach Plan – Andrea Hakian – 10 Minutes

a.       Plan for 2020 has been updated. Any feedback?

b.       Andrea - Annual plan, template from DMHAS and housing innovations, scheduled of CAN Outreach. Outreach Committee puts this together. Change for 2020 – GH CAN to add outreach to increase outreach staff, right now we have a shortage. Asked by DMHAS to add gaps in outreach. In reach schedule – where outreach staff will go, examples like House of Bread, pantry, etc. Phone contacts provided as well. GAP – don’t have enough outreach staff for entire CAN. We rely on reporting to go to some areas. All areas should be canvased but we can not because of shortage of staff.  Time frame for canvas at night, more outreach at night and early mornings. Cold Weather protocol section – Salvation Army is working on it, right now information from last year. This information will be updated later once we have a plan.

c.       Mark’s team working to fill in some gaps, Mark is covering some areas that have outreach gaps. Mark and Andrea to connect offline about locations being covered, what Mark’s team is doing.  Mark’s team drives by areas.  RV stationed at South Green from 7am to 2pm.

d.       Friday Morning 7:30 to 10 am, Mondays – 3:30 to 5pm (some encampments are covered with additional staff) has one staff person going out at these hours, no funding for outreach for Hands on Hartford. HOH is not seeing a lot of in reach folks – maybe due to COVID or to the change of location.

e.       Bryan’s team in Vernon is also doing outreach. Andrea and Bryan to connect.

f.        Feedback to go to Outreach Committee to review changes. Outreach Next meeting Sept 24^th

4.       Congregate Site COVID Testing – Matt Morgan – 5 Minutes

a.       Hartford Health Care – some sites have been set up, some sites could not be reached

b.       McKinney, SPI, Open Hearth – set up with testing

c.       Marshall House (Lisa to connect with David), Cornerstone thank (looking into HHC and ECHN), ImmaCare(will work with Charter Oak once they reopen), Mercy(Stephanie is looking into it), EH Family Shelter . HOH is interested in connecting to receive testing at site.

5.       CHESS Program Training – Beacon Health – 10 minutes

a.       Figuring out data match still

b.       Beacon is doing backend work, DSS will be providing information. Go live is Nov 1st should have people trained by this date.

c.       We will hear about DSS about trainings.

d.       Not sure about billing yet

e.       Leave on agenda

6.       COACH Program – Tara Tulay/ Nordia Stone – 5 minutes

a.       Nordia is the team lead for this program. 1 out of 3 crisis councilor has been hired. Trying to establish set times and locations to reach out to clients.

b.       COVID Assistance for Community

c.       Linking clients to resources, anyone who has been affected by COVID and is apart of the homeless population, has to be coordinated by the CAN.

d.       Anonymous information, client information will not be entered anywhere.  Can provide resources for stress management.

e.       Nordia to send out FAQ sheet to be sent to the CAN

f.        Support for staff too

7.       Cold Weather/Winter Planning Updates – Lisa Cretella – 10 minutes

a.       Cold Weather meeting planned for Thursday, September 24^th 1-3pm invite from Kelly Gonzales

b.       Meeting with the city tomorrow. Analysis of Zip codes have been done and have information about where each person has come from last year. 65% from Hartford.

c.       What are we doing to replace churches? Churches will not be with us for 2020. Another triage or gateway. Focus of the conversation on the 24^th.

d.       Milner will be available for warming center for 2020. 50 capacity.

e.       Bryan has been having conversations with local churches and organizations

8.       CDC Moratorium – Matt Morgan – 5 minutes

a.       3 documents – CDC Moratorium that goes through Dec 1^st. Lapse of time. Protects people from being evicted. Tenant declaration form needs to be submitted to landlord. Will be sent out by email.

b.       Declaration is confusing. Barbara Shaw recommends staff members familiarize themselves with this form to understand it a little bit better.

c.       This document can be uploaded in HMIS as a copy. Only for those in HMIS.

9.       Statewide/Local 1000 Homes/ESG-COVID Housing Effort/FLASH Program/Prevention Update–Andrea Hakian, Kara Capobianco, Lisa Quach, Matt Morgan, Lionel Rigler, and Stephanie Corbin – 10 minutes

a.       FLASH – get folks housed quickly.

b.       Mercy has hired a RRH employee. She is starting on Monday. 2^nd person from FLASH has been housed.

c.       CAN 101 training to come soon for new staff

d.       Matt has connected with COH, consultant is hired.

10.   Future Agenda Items or Additional Announcements – 2 minutes