Homeless Coalition

Homeless Coalition

Meeting Minutes

2/24/12

Attendance (per sign in sheet): John has the sign-in sheet.

I.  Welcome and Introductions by John Turner

II.  Minutes from the October membership meeting were approved.

III.  Treasurer’s Report Membership voted to increase membership dues by $10 this year and increase was approved. The 2012 membership dues for was passed out.

IV.  Presentation was about CenterPointe’s Community Education Center.

a.  Presenter was Denise Packard with CenterPointe. Denise showed the new Community Education Center available from the CenterPointe website home page or at http://cas.essentiallearning.com/CenterPointe/ The site provides free on-line courses and information on a broad range of substance abuse/mental health issues including on-line WRAP materials and support. Affordable CEUs are also available. The site is a resource for professionals, consumers, family members and the community.

V.  Committee Reports

a.  Executive Committee- John Turner

1.  Jodie Gibson (NHAP) has spoken with JohnTurner about HUD requirements for standards to be developed for ESG grantee selection and performance. John and other Executive Committee members will discuss the issue with Jodie and determine a plan for Lincoln’s CoC standards.

2.  John Turner and Chris Webster met with People’s City Mission staff about implementation of the Universal Intake. John reported that the meeting went well.

b.  Planning and Data Committee- Jeff Chambers

1.  Point in Time draft was handed out. There was an increase in the number of people who were homeless to 967. The street count was 122 which is the highest seen. There was a slight increase in veterans to 78

2.  Jeff thanked everyone who assisted with the PIT this year.

c.  Consumer Engagement- Rob Robinson

1.  The second Employment Workshop was held on 02/22/12 at Community Action. There were 27 consumers and 3 case managers in attendance. The response was positive. The next consumer workshop will be in August. Rob thanked the presenters and the Coalition for providing $246 for the event.

2.  The committee plans to offer a mini workshop in April, specifically for case managers. It would be a half day workshop and is scheduled for 4/18/12 from 1- 3:30PM at Community Action. Invitation and registration information will be sent to the membership via email.

d.  Youth Committee- Chris Webster

1.  Chris reported that he has had to have several conversations with the county attorney regarding excessive truancies for students due to late cabs. LPS is spending up to $35,000/mo for student cabs. The Executive Committee will discuss drafting a letter to support having another cab company come into Lincoln.

2.  Chris is contacting Sen. Kathy Campbell for more information on Child Welfare Reform.

3.  Next committee meeting is TBA.

e.  Public Awareness Committee- Lee Heflebower

1.  The next PLACE meeting is on Wednesday 03/07/12 at 2PM at Community Action Partnership. Member landlords will be sent certificates of participation.

2. The group discussed ways to share landlord information with case managers. Follow-up discussion will take place at the March meeting.

f.  Project Homeless Connect Lincoln- Dennis Hoffman

The date of the 2012 PHCL event will be Thursday 10/11/12 and it will be held at Pershing again. The first planning meeting will be immediately following the March Coalition meeting. The VA will again combine the Stand-Down with PHCL. More providers and more volunteers are needed. Contact Dennis if you have ideas.

g.  SOAR- Denise Packard

1.  There will be a SOAR training this summer. More information will be available soon.

h.  HPRP- John Turner

1.  The last official day of HPRP will be 07/14/12. A recognition event and press conference for HPRP will be held on Monday 3/26/12 at LLCHD.

2.  John has applied for NHAP and Supportive Services for Veterans with Families grants to continue services at some level.

3.  Kit Boesch gave John a copy of a magazine that other cities print for the purpose of allowing people who are homeless to sell and profit from the sales.

VI.  Agency Updates

Lincoln Public Schools: LPS is hiring more Americorps workers. A focus is on connecting the number of Sudanese students with multiple resources to react to specific needs.

Houses of Hope: HOH will celebrate their 50th anniversary at an event at the Rococo on 4/19/12.
Friendship Home: The transitional housing grant has been stepped down so the program will be reducing by 2 units for a total of 7 beds.

Lincoln Housing Authority: HUD is cutting Admin costs for Section 8. As Moving to Work program has different rules, LHA can use surplus and income for properties. Nationwide, some PHAs may fold but LHA should be okay.

Released and Restored: A prison ministry recruitment is being held 2/25. Alumni will talk about how the ministry has helped them.

People’s City Mission: PCM received an $8000 grant to help with rapid re-housing, deposit and first month’s rent. PCM wants to connect with agencies in Lincoln and build communication.

Legal Aid: On-line intakes are available to apply for services. This has reduced the phone wait time to 5 minutes. A pro se clinic is being considered.

Matt Talbot Kitchen and Outreach: The Sould of the City fundraiser is March 8. Classes being offered are a cooking series, a kids cooking class and Life skills.

Good Neighbor Center: The Mena Hope project has a grant to work with people who have job skills but are not able to use those skills in the United States. The program assists them with language barriers, certification problems, and other issues.

Community Action Partnership: VITA sites are still running but the IRS refunds are taking longer. Concerns about for-profit tax sites promoting payday lending. If case managers have concerns about clients having to use family or friends as payees, contact Michelle in Payee Services.
CenterPointe: SSI is pushing people to be own payee, then family, and payee services last. Case managers can contact Social Security by using a form and show problems with client managing own money. Overland Trail apartments has 2 openings with HUD subsidy. It includes light support services for people far along in recovery.

VII.  The next meeting will be on Friday, March 23, 2012 at 9AM at Cedars Northbridge.