Eastern PA CoCGeneral Meeting

April 18, 2016

Enola, PA

ATTENDEES

The registration list is an attachment to the minutes.

PARTICIPANTS BY PHONE

The list is an attachment to the minutes.

WELCOME & INTRODUCTIONS

  • Meeting was called to order by President Lori Sywensky.
  • Mr. Krotprovided a brief update of activities within DCED.
  • Attendees introduced themselves.

COORDINATED ENTRY

  • KathiKrablinprovided an update on the Task Force, established a year ago.
  • Jason Alexander of Capacity for Change was contracted to facilitate the process. He is good at listening to local voices and is able to bring best practices nationally as well as locally.
  • Two community conversations in west and east involving a total of 150 people (RHAB members, funding partners, consumers) have been held in which needs, past experiences, and challenges were presented. A strategic plan was developed, presented in October, and approved.
  • To develop the second phase, a work groupwill develop and deliver pilot projects on a small scale before the program is rolled out to the entire state. The work group has been meeting every two months to figure out how to fund it, develop an operations manual, and submit an application to HUD. The application was successful, and the Housing Alliance is serving as the grantee for the pilot project in Lehigh Valley.
  • The $165,000 HUD grant plus matching dollars from theHousing Alliance, Lehigh Council of Churches, and others will be used for the pilot project in Lehigh Valley. The project will involve a call center (211) in Lancaster with three walk-in sites (Easton, Allentown, and Bethlehem).
  • The group is pretty far down the road in designing the pilot project and talking to potential funding partners. Some providers are concerned that referral sources will be affected by coordinated entry. The emergency services appear especially committed.
  • The work group is now meeting monthly as the pilot project is expected to be rolled out in September.

Future plans

  • There is representation on the workgroup from all RHABs except Central. Anyone interested in representing Central on the work group, which meets in Allentown at the United Way of Greater Lehigh Valley, should indicate their interest.
  • An RFI (request for information) will be issued over the summer to see if other agencies want to serve as walk-in center.
  • Consultant Jason will be at the next meeting, and domestic violence and VA reps have beeninvited to the next work group meeting.

What local RHABs can do

  • Local RHABs were asked to take two weeks and make note of every call so the work group can get a feel for the number of calls received. They registered nearly 600 calls. The group is asking other local RHABS to conduct their own survey to see where calls are coming from, who they are talking to, the disposition of the caller, and the makeup of their family. If any RHAB is interested in doing this, the survey used by Montgomery County will be shared.
  • Jason is willing to have a phone conversation with any RHAB to discuss the project.If any is ready to take the next step, Jason will have two-hour conversation to map out what the process will look like.
  • A one-page FAQ has been developed that the RHABs can use to explain the program and seek potential funding sources.

Q&As:

  • Has the 211 system been improved? The group has been working with United Way to improve the system. Lancaster has had tremendous success with 211 with quicker entry into housing, functional zero for homeless vets (sufficient housing), several bilingual operators or hookup with a translation service, and database of agency services. They are using the process to issue referrals over phone. The call center operates until 6 p.m., and then calls are transferred to Harrisburg so callers have voice to answer and ensure call-backs in the morning.
  • What happens when a call comes in? Whether it is a call-in or walk-in, the assessment is the same. The assessment takes 10-15 minutes and determines demographics, family needs, and vulnerability. Needs are prioritized, and an appropriate response for housing is determined. Instead of immediately sendingsomeone to an emergency shelter, they try to first seek other housing resources (extended family, rental assistance) and use rapid rehousing instead of emergency shelter, if appropriate. The process helps to identify gap of services.
  • Are housing consultants/coordinators paid or volunteer? There is some funding for them in the grant, but there is a funding gap.
  • How does a local agency handle referral? It is handled the same way; they determine if they can deal with itin their office or call 211. Over the past two months, there has been difficulty keeping inventory. They are working to establish inventory and testing it over the next couple weeks. A real-time inventory need must be known.
  • How deal with shelters that do not want to be involved with 211 system?There are shelters that don’t participate in HMIS, and that can be a significant problem. They have been talking about additional licenses with DCED, but it is difficult to make it mandatory. Using the carrot approach, it is hoped that those who don’t participate will see the value and advantages and will want to be a part of it.
  • What do youtell agencies who are concerned about what this could do to themreceiving state/federal money from call line/referral line contracts? The Council of Churches in Lehigh Valley in this pilot project has such a contract and has agreed to be a walk-in site. It is a work in progress in other communities. Montgomery County is far along but is still tweaking the system based on need and current dynamics.

CoC Work Plan

  • Leigh Howard provideda summary (handout) of the 2016 CoC work plan. The goal is to prevent and end homelessness.
  • The work plan examines goals, activities, supporting data, and outcomes. It is a living, breathing document so will remove things as accomplished and add as developed.
  • The HUD performance measures are bold goals on the handout. With the goal to end chronic homelessness by end of 2017, the plan is to focus on those individuals with thehighest needs.
  • The HUD goal to end veteranhomelessness by 2015 was not met, but there is an active veterans group meeting to work on this.
  • With the goal to end youth and family homeless by the end of 2020, the needs are different and the resources are not on the ground yet. Not sure of most appropriate and proven resources for youth homelessness.
  • Chronic homelessness is addressed by prioritizing chronic when a bed opens up.
  • The plan will look at how to use Medicaid dollars to support housing support services and expand housing.
  • The goal is to reduce the length of time of homeless to 30 days. Nowhere close to that now, but want steady incremental progress so reduce outcomes year to year.
  • To reduce the number of first-time homeless, efforts are made to keep those at risk where they are to avoid them becoming homeless.

Presentation: Homeless Education

  • Linda Becker and Sonia Pitzi of the Center for Schools and Communities, which is contracted by the Department of Education, provided a presentation on ensuring education to the homeless. They reviewed the structure for addressing homeless education in Pennsylvania, which is divided into eight regions with 25 staff.
  • There isa disconnectin how HUD and education defines homelessness. The federal side is trying to make it more congruent. The LEA (school district, vo-tech, charter school) is responsible for meeting education needs of the homeless.
  • Linda brought along posters (Spanish and English) for attendees to take back to their regions and post.
  • Sonia explained the education for children and youth experiencing homelessness (ECYE) program. The face of homelessness is family and children, and the average age of a homeless person is 9 to 14 years of age with 1.3 million homeless children.
  • Unaccompanied youth (birth to 21) is a growing population. What used to mean teenagers has developed into a growing number of younger children from Kindergarten through fourth grade. Our job is to get those children a seat in school so they feel safe, have stability, and get a regular meal (lunch). The goal is to help them be kids.
  • Under law, a student can continue to attend the school of origin even if an event happens in which they move out of the district as long as it is reasonable to keep them there. If can’t, they can enroll in the new school without any documentation. The goal is to get them in a seat and allow the adults to figure out the paperwork later. Transportation can be the biggest barrier – who provides it and pays for it? The school district of origin must provide transportation although the cost can be split with the other school district. There are strategies to make it work, just need to communicate and collaborate.
  • If come across resistance with schools, attendees are urged to contact their regional and site coordinators. A map of these contacts was distributed.

Board Meeting

The meeting was called to order by President Lori Sywensky.

APPROVAL OF MINUTES

On the motion by Craig Newcomer, seconded by Chris Cassidy and by unanimous vote of the board members, it was duly RESOLVED to approve the minutes of the October Board meeting.

VETS@HOME

  • Lauren Knott, HUD TA, provided an update on the Veterans Committee. The committee has been meetingevery other Tuesday (1:30-2:30) since end of January. Membership is open to everyone. Progress has been made by DCED – built master list into HMIS, which has been a major achievement of CoC because it means it includes all vets.
  • The committee is working through protocols as it goes through the master list and prioritizes.
  • In response to a question about what else has been happening beyond the master list, Lauren commented that it will be looking at the more nuanced criteria from federal government. The next step is dealing with these smaller details once the master list and protocols are put into place.
  • The board requested that it have something in writing about the progress of the Vets@Home program.

OLD BUSINESS

Fiscal Report – Madra Clay, DCED

  • The board requestedthe report be sentto them farther in advance of the meeting.
  • Madra reviewed the total revenue and expenses under “Budgeted Amount.” The balance is fluid from 12-1-15 through 11-30-16. Some of the contracts stop in June.
  • She explained that they are still working with the 2014 grant. There was discussion about how to spend the $30,000 uncommitted funds and whether it could be used to fund Jason of if DCED would need it to cover a funding gap. If it is to be used for Jason’s work, DCED may need to get special permission since the state allows only so many contracts per year.
  • The task group must determine how much additional work will be needed from Jason and start planning now so there is not a gap in service. Jason is only contracted through September as of now.
  • Since a gap in funding from June 30 until planning grant to DCED comes through, it was discussed that the uncommitted balance should be used to cover any gap in funding. The consensus was to stick with what have for now and see if Jason’s contract can be extended through October.

Consultant Contractor Update – Harry Krot, DCED

  • Harry reported that May 16 is the deadline for contractors to apply and July 1 is the start date for new contracts.
  • There was discussion on having board members as subject matter experts for selection of contractors. The Executive Committee has been used that way in the past.

NEW BUSINESS

Letters of Support for Applications – Chris Cassidy

  • Draft protocol presentation will be made at the next meeting in June.
  • Reviewed the criteria discussed from last meeting – requests must be coordinated at local RHAB;applicant must be HMIS participant unless there is a reason and must be active member of RHAB (50 percent); request must be made two weeks in advance;and a draft letter is requested.

Nominations – Shawn Frankenstein

  • Shawn reported on the terms of each district representation. Recommendations for new nominations will come from RHABS and go before the board in June. Central Valley RHAB is soliciting for nominations. Lehigh Valley and Northern Tier expect no changes this summer. Southcentral and Pocono regions have terms ending June 30. The terms for the Homeless and Previously Homeless representatives end June 30, and currents reps will have to resubmit their names if they are interested in staying on.
  • Lori does not plan to serve another term as president after June 30 so the board will be voting for the current vice president to become president.

2016 Ranking & Renewal Process – Leigh Howard

  • Leigh distributed a handout to be used as a starting point to begin discussion for potential 2016 ranking criteria and the best way to approach it. HUD wants to know which criteria we are using for ranking. This paper incorporates best practices HUD wants us to incorporate. Checkmarks means a criterion was used in 2015.
  • Volunteers are needed for the Ranking Committee.The committee will need to see what is practical from this list, and the Governance Committee should discuss which criteria make sense.
  • Guidance from DCED staff is needed. A conference call will be scheduled in the next month.

Interagency Council – Harry Krot, DCED

  • Harry provided an update on the issued HR 150 report.
  • Joyce Sacco noted the committee recommendations in the 200-page report are seeking a strong inter-agency push. There is a meeting May 4 to get a briefing on the report and decide what want to advocate for, followed by legislative meetings and follow-up with the Deputy Secretary.
  • Lori said the stars are aligning now with opportunities to get the agencies to work together.

Welcome Packet for New Members – Shawn Frankenstein/Mae-Ling Kranz

  • Shawn explained his idea to have a Welcome Packet on website for new individuals. It was suggested to include an “alphabet soup on acronyms” for newcomers.

Subcommittee Reports

  • A new Ad Hoc Transitional Housing Committee will be chaired by Craig Newcomer.
  • Madra reported that the Data Management & Outcomes Committee had three meetings to date with the last one in January. Another one is coming up by phone April 28, 10 a.m. Topics on the agenda include data sharing, compliance reporting, PIT data update, CoC workplan, and HUD technical assistance.
  • There was discussion on DCED application requirements. Madra will send out a checklist for RHABs.
  • The program is sitting on $138,000 that it needs to get out to the community. 2014 grantees will be funded first, and contracts to current grantees can be amended if they need the money.

The meeting adjourned at 2:22 p.m.

1