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Happy April folks! As this month races by, please do not forget these important updates & reminders:
(1) MAY QUARTERLY MEETING The May Quarterly Meeting agenda and registration are posted at http://www.wiboscoc.org/quarterly-meetings.html. The State per diem rate for hotel rooms ends TOMORROW (4/23). The registration for the BOS meeting ends Friday, May 6th. Please make sure you register. We have several great speakers lined up for Thursday and more roundtable opportunities. Friday we have a lot of information to share and some voting to do. So please come prepared! (2) COMMITTEES As a reminder, if you receive ETH funds you are required to participate on a Balance of State Committee. In addition to that, if you want to be a part of a project that will ultimately benefit the Balance of State and our efforts to end homelessness, please consider joining a committee. The list of current committees can be found at: http://www.wiboscoc.org/committees.html I am pleased to announce that we will be adding a committee to our list: Diversion. Chris Lashock from Homeless Connections in the Fox Cities has agreed to chair this important addition to our programming. If you are interested in joining, please contact Chris at: [email protected] (3) BOS BOARD SCORING TOOL FOR THE COC COMPETITION The Board of Directors is seeking comments on the tool, scoring criteria, weight, and process. All of these documents are located on the website. http://www.wiboscoc.org/coc-competition-information.html All comments must be sent to [email protected]. The deadline for feedback is April 30, 2016. (4) COORDINTATED ENTRY If your community, a particular agency, or particular staff are struggling with Coordinated Entry, please remember that we have someone specific designated to help in your area. Debbie Bushman – [email protected] Implementation Team contact for: Brown, Fox Cities, Lakeshore, NE, & NWISH, Winnebagoland Lisa Sanders – [email protected] Implementation Team contact for: Kenosha, Ozaukee, & Washington Jeanette Petts – [email protected] Implementation Team contact for: CAP, Central, Jefferson, Rock Walworth, & Southwest Corin Tubridy – [email protected] Implementation Team contact for: Coulee, Dairyland, North Central, Northwest, & West Central/Indianhead Carrie Poser – [email protected] Implementation Team contact for: Waukesha NEW TRAINING OPPORTUNITIES: Managing the Non-WISP Prioritization List Wednesday, April 27th from 9:00 am – 12:00 pm To register: https://attendee.gotowebinar.com/register/8089125011131742211 This coordinated entry training is specifically for List Holders and DLA (designated lead agency) contacts. The purpose of the training is to answer questions, address common questions, and walk through the "managing part" of the list responsibilities - including follow up, accepting, declining, and the delete function. This training is required for DLA contacts and List Holders. A few things to note: 1) I conducted a Transitional Housing Prioritization training last week. The recording and slides are now posted on the website. http://www.wiboscoc.org/coordinated-entry.html 2) The correct paper version of the VI-SPDAT (Version 2) and the link to the OrgCode training are now also posted on the website. If you were using Version 1, please stop. Take the shorter training and start using Version 2. The version in Service Point has already been switched to Version 2. 3) The “Working Together” training was geared for anyone who will be filling openings for their housing project from the prioritization list. This training was done on 4/21. The slides and recording will be posted on the website soon. (5) NATIONAL ALLIANCE TO END HOMELESSNESS (NAEH) – July Conference Early registration for the 2016 National Conference on Ending Homelessness is now available. The conference will take place at the Renaissance Washington, DC Downtown Hotel from July 26 to 28, 2016. Sign up at the early registration rate of $550 per person until 3 p.m. ET on Friday, May 6, 2016. After May 6 the rate will increase to $585 per person. http://www.endhomelessness.org/news/calendar/2016-national-conference-on-ending-homelessness (6) HUD, USICH, NAEH TRAINING (ONLINE) and INFO NAEH: RRH Know How Series http://www.endhomelessness.org/library/entry/rrh-know-how NAEH: Closing a Case: Known When to End Rapid Re-Housing Assistance To register: http://www.endhomelessness.org/news/calendar/closing-a-case-knowing-when-to-end-rapid-re-housing-assistance NAEH: Transforming Homeless Services in West Virginia (Zach Brown) To register: http://www.endhomelessness.org/news/calendar/transforming-homeless-services-in-west-virginia HUD: COC Program Toolkit – Grant Administration (includes recordkeeping and financial) https://www.hudexchange.info/programs/coc/toolkit/grant-administration/ (7) IN PERSON TRAINING OPPORTUNITIES CSH 2016 Summit: Housing as a Platform Date: Wednesday, June 8-10, 2016 in Chicago, Illinois http://www.cvent.com/events/csh-summit-2016/event-summary-b05896613e504f549b12ef1d73909e59.aspx?ct=48832732-1e0d-43b1-8af7-01e4e9cd58aa (8) GENERAL REMINDERS News: If you have any media from your local continua, including newspaper, radio, or TV, please send the link to [email protected]. We want to be able to post it to the Facebook page and please visit the new “NEWS” section of the website: http://www.wiboscoc.org/news.html Job Openings: If you have job openings you would like to share, please send them to [email protected] and we can post them on a “Partner Opportunities” page. FACEBOOK: Don’t forget to LIKE us on Facebook.
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Hello – sorry for the delay. As I am sure most of you can relate, Coordinated Entry has consumed a lot of time over the past several weeks. And unfortunately, I haven’t been able to sit down and get this update done as timely as I had hoped. But I am going to try to get back on track.
So, to catch you up – here is what has been happening as well as some date to keep in mind! (1) WEBSITE UPDATES As we continue to move forward, there will continue to be changes to the website. Please make sure you are reviewing the updates. Change #1 – Under the News tab, there is now a place that you can have job openings posted. Please email me or the [email protected] with the information you wish to have posted. http://www.wiboscoc.org/partner-opportunities.html Change #2 – Under the System Performance tab, there is now a place we can review progress made toward reaching our Balance of State goal of housing 147 people by the end of the year from the top of our prioritization lists. There is a map, the pledges made by individual LCAS, and a blank pledge form if you wish to update your pledge. http://www.wiboscoc.org/system-performance-measures.html Change #3 – Under the new SOAR tab, there is a place to sign up for more information about SOAR and registration material for the last scheduled in-person training for SOAR. This training is going to be held in Oshkosh on April 21-22nd. http://www.wiboscoc.org/soar.html (2) RECAP OF FEB. QUARTERLY MEETING Unfortunately, we have had minimal feedback from the February Quarterly meeting in Stevens Point. This information is important for the Board to make changes to the meetings and make the most of this opportunity to get together. If you have not already done so, please take a few moments to complete the survey: https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/2016febqtrly (3) MAY QUARTERLY MEETING The May Quarterly Meeting agenda and registration are in the works. We should have a registration available soon. This will be posted on the website. The information to reserve your hotel room has been posted. Note, the dates of the May meeting are: May 19th and May 20th. http://www.wiboscoc.org/quarterly-meetings.html On the first day of the meeting, our goal is to bring in some speakers and host some additional roundtables. On the second day of the meeting, we will have the business meeting. (4) COMMITTEES As a reminder, if you receive ETH funds you are required to participate on a Balance of State Committee. In addition to that, if you want to be a part of a project that will ultimately benefit the Balance of State and our efforts to end homelessness, please consider joining a committee. The list of current committees can be found at: http://www.wiboscoc.org/committees.html I am pleased to announce that we will be adding a committee to our list: Diversion. Chris Lashock from Homeless Connections in the Fox Cities has agreed to chair this important addition to our programming. If you are interested in joining, please contact Chris at: [email protected] (5) POINT-IN-TIME All of the trainings specific to the Point-in-Time have been completed. They can be found at: http://www.wiboscoc.org/point-in-time.html. These include:
Friday, March 25th is the upcoming deadline for data corrections. If you have not sent me an email indicating that you are done with your errors, please do so ASAP. I will be reviewing the PIT data the rest of this week. I will reach out directly to PIT leads with ongoing issues. (6) BOS BOARD SCORING TOOL FOR THE COC COMPETITION The Board of Directors is seeking comments on the tool, scoring criteria, weight, and process. All of these documents are located on the website. http://www.wiboscoc.org/coc-competition-information.html Those comments must be sent to [email protected]. The deadline for feedback is April 30, 2016. (7) COORDINTATED ENTRY A lot of progress has been made in Coordinated Entry over the last month. As you all know, Coordinated Entry implementation began 1/1/16. As of today, the Non-WISP prioritization list and referral process trainings are complete. Once the List Holders complete their required trainings and homework, they will be given the links to the Non-WISP Prioritization List and the Non-WISP Referral Form link. The List link cannot be shared with anyone. The Referral Form link can be shared AFTER the person requesting it has completed two things: (1) watching a recorded webinar and reviewing the corresponding power point slides (these items can be requested from your LCAS List Holder), and (2) completing the homework associated with that training and sending it to their LCAS List Holder. As many communities now begin the process of putting together both their WISP and Non-WISP list, please remember that implementation has already occurred. So the sooner you are up and running, the sooner you are compliant. The absolutely deadline should be no later than March 31st. By March 31st, the List Holder should have completed the necessary steps to be the List Holder. The DLA contact should have completed the necessary steps to be the DLA contact. If these things have not occurred, I will be contacting those communities to find out why and seek an alternative solution. In approximately 3 months (beginning of July), there will be a review – or compliance check to see how many people have been served off the WISP and Non-WISP lists. At this time, additional review of each LCAS community will be done by the Implementation Team. If your community, a particular agency, or particular staff are struggling with Coordinated Entry, please let your Implementation Team contact know ASAP. Debbie Bushman – [email protected] Implementation Team contact for: Brown, Fox Cities, Lakeshore, NE, & NWISH, Winnebagoland Lisa Sanders – [email protected] Implementation Team contact for: Kenosha, Ozaukee, & Washington Jeanette Petts – [email protected] Implementation Team contact for: CAP, Central, Jefferson, Rock Walworth, & Southwest Corin Tubridy – [email protected] Implementation Team contact for: Coulee, Dairyland, North Central, Northwest, & West Central/Indianhead Carrie Poser – [email protected] Implementation Team contact for: Waukesha Current Requirements for all List Holders: Coordinated Entry 101 Training, List Holder Training and homework, and Non-WISP Referral Form Training and homework. Current Requirements for all DLA Contacts: Coordinated Entry 101 Training, List Holder Training, and Non-WISP Referral Form Training NEW TRAINING OPPORTUNITIES: #1 – Working Together: WISP & Non-WISP Prioritization List Thursday, April 21st from 9:00 am – 11:00 am To register: https://attendee.gotowebinar.com/register/3632425052243976195 This coordinated entry training is designed for anyone who is going to use the Prioritization lists (in Service Point and Non-WISP) to fill units in their program. The purpose of the training is to help navigate the process - including who to contact, when to contact, who is prioritized, what happens when you accept or decline, what if there is no contact, etc. This training is required for DLA contacts and List Holders. #2 – Managing the Non-WISP Prioritization List Wednesday, April 27th from 9:00 am – 11:00 am To register: https://attendee.gotowebinar.com/register/8089125011131742211 This coordinated entry training is specifically for List Holders and DLA (designated lead agency) contacts. The purpose of the training is to answer questions, address common questions, and walk through the "managing part" of the list responsibilities - including follow up, accepting, declining, and the delete function. This training is required for DLA contacts and List Holders. A few things to note: 1) I conducted a Transitional Housing Prioritization training last week. The recording and slides are now posted on the website. http://www.wiboscoc.org/coordinated-entry.html 2) The correct paper version of the VI-SPDAT (Version 2) and the link to the OrgCode training are now also posted on the website. If you were using Version 1, please stop. Take the shorter training and start using Version 2. The version in Service Point has already been switched to Version 2. (8) ETH CERTIFICATION If you are planning on or interested in applying for ETH funds from DEHCR, you must complete a 2016 ETH Certification form. This document must be completed and submitted to [email protected] by April 1, 2016. http://www.wiboscoc.org/esg--thp-grant.html (9) NATIONAL ALLIANCE TO END HOMELESSNESS (NAEH) – FEB. CONFERENCE RECAP One of our members, Erin Loveland from House of Mercy attended the February NAEH Conference in Oakland, CA. She wrote up her notes and summarized her experience in the document attached. Please take some time to review the information she provided. http://www.wiboscoc.org/weekly-update-attachments.html There is a wealth of information provided during these conferences & certainly one person cannot attend every great session. You can review the presentation slides from the NAEH Conference here: http://www.endhomelessness.org/library/entry/conference-presentations-from-the-2016-national-conference-on-ending-family If you have any interest in attending the July NAEH Conference in Washington DC, please visit this website for more information: http://www.endhomelessness.org/news/calendar/2016-national-conference-on-ending-homelessness (10) HUD, USICH, NAEH TRAINING (ONLINE) HUD: LGBT Homelessness Information https://www.hudexchange.info/homelessness-assistance/resources-for-lgbt-homelessness/ HUD: Alternatives to Criminalizing Homelessness Information https://www.hudexchange.info/homelessness-assistance/alternatives-to-criminalizing-homelessness/ NAEH: Rapid Re-housing Performance Benchmarks and Program Standards (March 24th) http://www.endhomelessness.org/news/calendar/rapid-re-housing-performance-benchmarks-and-program-standards NAEH: Webinar-Addressing Family Homelessness in Cleveland (April 12th) http://www.endhomelessness.org/news/calendar/webinar-addressing-family-homelessness-in-cleveland (11) IN PERSON TRAINING OPPORTUNITIES CSH 2016 Summit: Housing as a Platform Date: Wednesday, June 8-10, 2016 in Chicago, Illinois http://www.cvent.com/events/csh-summit-2016/event-summary-b05896613e504f549b12ef1d73909e59.aspx?ct=48832732-1e0d-43b1-8af7-01e4e9cd58aa In Person SOAR Training Date: April 21-22, 2016 in Oshkosh, Wisconsin http://www.wiboscoc.org/soar.html (12) REMINDERS News: If you have any media from your local continua, including newspaper, radio, or TV, please send the link to [email protected]. We want to be able to post it to the Facebook page and please visit the new “NEWS” section of the website: http://www.wiboscoc.org/news.html FACEBOOK: Don’t forget to LIKE us on Facebook. Happy Monday everyone! There are several things that have been happening since the Balance of State Meeting a few weeks ago. In addition, I want to remind you of some deadlines approaching quickly.
(1) WEBSITE UPDATES **NEW** There have been a few changes and updates the website as we continue to find better ways to share information with everyone. Change #1 – Under the Quarterly Meeting tab, there is now a place to recap what happened at the last BOS Quarterly meeting. This area will contain copies of handouts and presentations, meeting minutes, and a link to the post-meeting survey. http://www.wiboscoc.org/what-happened.html Change #2 – Under the Coordinated Entry tab, the information has been rearranged. There are now the following sections: policy, planning (which focuses on the committee), implementation, and training & tools. http://www.wiboscoc.org/coordinated-entry.html (2) RECAP OF FEB. QUARTERLY MEETING **NEW** The Wisconsin Balance of State Continuum of Care as an organization pledged to house 147 people from the top of priority lists by the end of 2016! Each continua also has an opportunity to pledge how many people from the top of your priority list you believe you can house by end of 2016. Remember, this is about housing folks and is not limited to certain programs or funding types. I have attached a pledge form. Please submit your goal to Jesse Dirkman ([email protected]) by March 15, 2016. As noted above, we want to make sure there is a place for information that you might have missed from the past quarterly meetings. If there is additional information you would like to see included, please let me know. If you have not already completed the survey, please do so soon. This provides the Board with important information and an opportunity to make changes for the next meeting. https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/2016febqtrly The May meeting agenda is already being worked on by the Board. Please send me any thoughts or ideas that you would like to make sure are included. (3) DEADLINES Point-in-Time: The deadline for initial completion of the January HIC, Non-WISP PIT form, and deduplication chart was last week. Each of the google drive Excel spreadsheets have been pulled down and I am working on reviewing the information. If there are changes that you need to make, please let me know as I will not be re-looking at the google drive document until after PIT Training #3 extended deadline is released. The PIT Training #3 is scheduled for Thu, Feb 25, 2016 9:00 AM - 10:30AM To register: https://attendee.gotowebinar.com/register/2531231170063044097 Also, the Housing Inventory Chart (HIC) 101 Training was done last week and the slides and recording are now posted on the website as well. http://www.wiboscoc.org/point-in-time.html Finally, the Post-PIT survey is due Monday, Feb. 29th. You must complete the questions located on the google drive. However, there is a component that must be submitted to [email protected]. Please make sure to label the document accordingly. Board of Directors: The Board is still seeking applicants for certain subpopulations. These include:
Standards & Prioritization Committee: Comments on the ESG RRH standards are due by: Friday, February 26th to [email protected]. Comments on the COC RRH standards are due by: Friday, February 26th to [email protected]. Project Evaluation & Assistance Committee: **NEW** The deadline to submit forms from your COC-funded TH, PSH, RRH, Shelter Plus Care, and/or Safe Haven programs was extended to March 8, 2016 at 5:00 pm. Please make sure to label the forms accordingly. Balance of State Board of Director Scoring Tool for the COC Competition: **NEW** Seeking comments on the tool, scoring criteria, weight, and process. All of these documents are located on the website. http://www.wiboscoc.org/coc-competition-information.html Those comments must be sent to [email protected]. The deadline is TBD. (4) TRAINING **NEW** There are two critical trainings coming up in March specifically related to Coordinated Entry and the Non-WISP Prioritization List. #1 – List-Holder/DLA Training: Managing the Non-WISP List Thursday, March 10th from 10:00 am - Noon To register: https://attendee.gotowebinar.com/register/698291411397876993 This is a required training for all List Holders and/or identified designated leads for Coordinated Entry. Once you have completed the training, you will receive the link to your specific continua. The link is NOT to be shared or sent to anyone that is not identified as a List-Holder for your community. Being the List Holder means the following things are true:
#2 – Adding Someone to the Housing Prioritization List (Non-WISP) Monday, March 14th from 1:00 – 2:00pm To register: https://attendee.gotowebinar.com/register/28860353896284929 This training is designed for anyone that wants to use the Google Form tool to enter client information that will be included on the Housing Prioritization List for Non-WISP users. We will go through the google form and briefly explain what happens to the information that you enter. Following the training, each of List Holders and COC leads for the local continua in the Balance of State will receive the specific google form link. (5) OTHER UPDATES Coordinated Entry: Reminder, Corin Tubridy & Lisa Sanders completed an introductory training called “Coordinated Entry 101” for those folks wanting more information about how the process is supposed to work in your community. The training was recorded. The slides and link to watch the training are posted on the website. Coordinated Entry Committee: **NEW** Jeanette Petts as agreed to continue to chair the committee. If you are interested in outreach/marketing and/or helping to develop a process for youth, please contact her to join. These are the next two major components that will be worked on by the committee. Coordinated Entry – Implementation Team: **NEW** The implementation team has met and has a plan! In the upcoming week, each of the currently identified DLA in the Balance of State will be contacted by a member of the Implementation Team to check in. Please share questions, concerns, identify training needs, etc. The goal of our team is to provide a smooth transition and consistent training as we implement coordinated entry in the Balance of State. A few things to note: 1) I conducted a Transitional Housing Prioritization training last week. The recording and slides are now posted on the website. http://www.wiboscoc.org/coordinated-entry.html 2) The correct paper version of the VI-SPDAT (Version 2) and the link to the OrgCode training are now also posted on the website. If you were using Version 1, please stop. Take the shorter training and start using Version 2. The version in Service Point has already been switched to Version 2. News: If you have any media from your local continua, including newspaper, radio, or TV, please send the link to [email protected]. We want to be able to post it to the Facebook page and please visit the new “NEWS” section of the website: http://www.wiboscoc.org/news.html (6) HUD, USICH, NAEH Training **NEW** In partnership with DOL and USICH, HUD is offering a training series called “Housing + Employment Works.” Webinar 1: A Discussion of WIOA, Rapid Rehousing, and Rapid Job Placement The first webinar will be held Thursday, February 25, 2016 from 1:00 to 2:30 PM EST. It will introduce CoCs to the use of WIOA as a strategy to prevent and end homelessness for participants in rapid rehousing (RRH) projects. Experts John Rio of Advocates for Human Potential, Inc. and Seattle’s Nick Cobb and Mark Putnam will share their expertise and experience with addressing employment barriers for people who are homeless from their combined CoC/RRH perspectives. The webinar will cover:
Time: 1:00 – 2:30 PM EST Register for this webinar. Webinar 2: Housing + Employment Works: CoC and Workforce Partnerships to Serve WIOA Population Priorities This webinar will take place on April 21, 2016 at 1:00 PM EDT. The audience will hear an overview of WIOA and the importance of collaborating with your local Workforce Investment Board (WIB). You will hear from CoC and WIB leadership who are effectively collaborating to identify homeless job seekers and provide the resources they need to find and retain employment. Webinar 3: Housing + Employment Works: Employment Assessment in Coordinated Entry Systems This webinar will take place on June 16, 2016 at 1:00 PM EDT. The audience will hear from communities who are identifying employment needs when the person first enters the coordinated entry system. You will hear benefits, challenges and successes of addressing the person’s needs as soon as they enter the CoC as well as how some CoCs designed a system with access to employment services Webinar 4: Housing + Employment Works: Systems Performance Measures around Employment and Income Maximization This webinar will take place on August 18, 2016 at 1:00 PM EDT. The audience will hear the importance of emphasizing employment and measuring income outcomes. In the new day of accountability, recipients need to consider the income of participants as key to housing stability and affordability in the long-term. You will hear how communities are measuring employment outcomes and the benefits to the CoC. With the upcoming Balance of State quarterly meeting in Stevens Point, I wanted this post to be more about reminders, updates, & deadlines. Sometimes there is a lot to keep track of and having one spot with the information can be helpful!
(1) DEADLINES Point-in-Time: Completion of January Housing Inventory Chart (HIC): February 15, 2016 at 5:00 pm Completion of Non-WISP PIT form: February 15, 2016 at 5:00 pm Completion of Deduplication Chart: February 15, 2016 at 5:00 pm Completion of Post-PIT Survey: February 29, 2016 at 5:00 pm Board of Directors: Deadline for nominations is Friday, March 11th and email it to [email protected]. Standards & Prioritization Committee: Comments on the ESG RRH standards are due by: Friday, February 26th to [email protected]. Comments on the COC RRH standards are due by: Friday, February 26th to [email protected]. Membership list: The deadline is Monday, February 15th. Please make changes directly on the google drive document. DECHR – substantial Amendment 1 The Division of Energy, Housing, and Community Resources (DEHCR/Division) posted a draft Substantial Amendment 1 to the State’s 2015-2019 Consolidated Plan. The Public Comment Period is now open through February 22, 2016. Comments on the DRAFT Substantial Amendment 1 may be emailed to the Division of Energy, Housing, and Community Resources at [email protected], or, mailed to: Department of Administration, Division of Energy, Housing, and Community Resources, P.O. Box 7970, Madison, WI 53707-7970. (2) UPDATES Coordinated Entry: Prioritization list for non-HMIS is still in progress. I am waiting to hear back from ICA on a few items and then I will post the list for DLAs. I want to ensure that these lists mirror one another and minimize confusion. I apologize for the delay. Coordinated Entry 101 – is in the process of development by Corin Tubridy & Lisa Sanders. If there are things that you want to make sure are covered, please email: [email protected]. News: If you have any media from your PIT, including newspaper, radio, or TV, please send the link to [email protected]. We want to be able to post it to the Facebook page and please visit the new “NEWS” section of the website: http://www.wiboscoc.org/news.html **NEW** The Project Evaluation & Assistance Committee will be sending out an email to COC grant contacts requesting copies of forms. This is the first step in a new plan for 2016. Joana will be discussing her work plan at the upcoming Balance of State meeting. (3) TRAINING **NEW** Housing Inventory Chart (101) Training – scheduled for Tues, Feb 16, 2016 9:00 AM - 10:30AM This training will explain what the Housing Inventory Chart (HIC) is and how it works. I will go over the columns, what the headings mean, how to make changes, and where to document notes. Finally, I will go over the new columns added in the January HIC. To register: https://attendee.gotowebinar.com/register/7549297786185080321 The PIT Training #3 is scheduled for Thu, Feb 25, 2016 9:00 AM - 10:30AM To register: https://attendee.gotowebinar.com/register/2531231170063044097 Transitional Housing Prioritization – Thursday, February 18th 9-10:30 am To register: https://attendee.gotowebinar.com/register/5423938510982126081 Advanced Chronic Homelessness Definition & Documentation Training - date & time TBD Permanent Supportive Housing Prioritization - date & time TBD (4) HUD, USICH, NAEH Training Save the Date: HHS and HUD National Joint Listening Session on the Intersection of Human Trafficking and Housing and Services for Survivors - February 24, 2016 - 3 PM EST The three main questions HHS and HUD will be discussing are:
Event: FY 2017 Proposed Budget Webcast with Stakeholders Date: Wednesday, February 10, 2016 Time: 1:00 - 2:00 PM EST (please adjust for your local time) Where: Online How to Join the FY 2017 Budget WebcastThis event will be webcast and can be seen at the following links that will go live about 15 minutes before the broadcast. Join the FY 2017 Proposed Budget Webcast. Welcome to my first attempt to set up a blog of sorts on the Balance of State website. I don’t know if I believe that this is a “blog” per se, but we thought this might be a better way to share the information with everyone and continue to have it archived and accessible. So, each week I will post important information, upcoming trainings, deadlines, as well as upload attachments. If you have any suggestions or items you wish to include, please let me know by Thursday of each week. We really want this to be a helpful tool in maintaining communication with everyone.
*NOTE: Many attachments listed in this blog can be found at: http://www.wiboscoc.org/weekly-update-attachments.html. (1) February Quarterly meeting The meeting will be on February 11-12, 2016 at the Holiday Inn Hotel & Convention Center in Stevens Point. The cost will be $70/person for one day ($80 for non-members) and $125/person for two days ($135 for non-members). We have extended the registration deadline to Tuesday, February 2nd. The agenda can be found at http://www.wiboscoc.org/quarterly-meetings.html. Remember, there will be roundtables on important topics as well as an opportunity to discuss with other folks doing the same or similar type of programs . . . “how do you do what you do?” If there are any questions, issues, or other ideas you have, please feel free to email those to [email protected]. (2) Point-in-Time Congratulations on another successful January Point-in-Time count. Each time I have helped with the street or known location count, I always walk away feeling a little bit more connected to the community I was in. Something about walking in parks, streets, and under bridges at 3:00 in the morning helps put things in perspective. Please remember to come to the quarterly meeting with stories and experiences to share! The January HIC and the Post-PIT count survey will be sent out early next week. If you have any media from your PIT, including newspaper, radio, or TV, please send the link to [email protected]. We want to be able to post it to the Facebook page and please visit the new “NEWS” section of the website: http://www.wiboscoc.org/news.html The PIT Training #3 is scheduled for Thu, Feb 25, 2016 9:00 AM - 10:30AM https://attendee.gotowebinar.com/register/2531231170063044097 This is a required training for PIT leads in the Balance of State COC. The training will cover the reporting requirements related to the HIC, Non-WISP, WISP data, and deduplication. Finally, there will be a Q & A component of the training. Please bring questions! Deadline reminders Completion of July Housing Inventory Chart (HIC): February 15, 2016 at 5:00 pm Completion of Non-WISP PIT form: February 15, 2016 at 5:00 pm Completion of Deduplication Chart: February 15, 2016 at 5:00 pm Completion of Post-PIT Survey: February 29, 2016 at 5:00 pm (3) Balance of State Board of Directors – Special Populations There was an oversight made at the November Balance of State annual meeting. Each of the Board positions that represent special populations should have been up for election. To rectify the situation, each of the special populations currently not represented by an elected Board Member will be open for election. The directors currently on the Board to continue to serve through this process. Attached to this post there is a Board of Director application. The special populations up for election are:
If you or you would like to nominate someone to represent one or more of the above special populations, please complete the application* by Friday, March 11th and email it to [email protected]. The Board will review the applications and select directors for each position by March 22nd. Each of the Board members will be seated at the May quarterly meeting. Note, each position serves for two years. Anyone in the Balance of State can be nominated, regardless of funding. (4) Coordinated Entry Corin is working on the Coordinated Entry 101 training that should be available soon. With the time crunch, it will be a recorded webinar and slides that will be posted on the BOS website. The training will include the basic overview of what is Coordinated Entry, how does it work in real life, and general information about referrals & prioritization. If there are items you would like to make sure are covered in this training, please send them to: [email protected]. A revised pre-screen form has been completed and approved by the Board of Directors. It will be posted on the website at: http://www.wiboscoc.org/coordinated-entry.html. Please start using this form ASAP. Please submit any and all questions regarding the Coordinated Entry process for the Balance of State that is NOT related to HMIS to [email protected]. We are working on a Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) section for the website as well. Finally, the Board of Directors has approved the format of the Prioritization list for Non-HMIS users. This will done by early next week. The document will be in google drive and a separate link will be sent to each of the Designated Lead Agencies (DLA) of record. Please note, the format will match the prioritization list that is run out of HMIS. Standardization of the process is what makes coordinated entry possible. In February, I have 3 additional trainings:
(5) Balance of State Committee Updates – Standards & Prioritization Committee: While it is hard to believe it has been a year, the ESG Rapid Re-housing standards* are up for review. Please send all comments, suggested changes, etc. to [email protected] no later than Friday, February 26th. In addition, the COC Rapid Re-housing standards* have been completed and the committee is now seeking comments. Please send all comments, suggested changes, etc. to [email protected] no later than Friday, February 26th. **It is important that you identify which standards you are commenting on (ESG or COC). Note: The Board of Directors approved a revision to the ESG Rapid Re-housing prioritization policy in order to align the process with Coordinated Entry. The section of the policy pertaining to prioritization has been updated to now require the VI-SPDAT or F-VI-SPDAT. These revised standards are posted on the website and are now in effect. (6) Are you having trouble identifying who is a Veteran? If you are struggling to determine who is a veteran and who is not, or you wish to confirm veteran status, please use the following SQUARES tool. It can be found at: https://www.hmisrepository.va.gov/ SQUARES stands for Veteran Status Query and Response Exchange System. The purpose is to authorize users to identify clients who have served in the US military through a real time inquiry using personal identifying information (PII) to the VA Department of Defense Identify Repository (VADIR). The Repository is a secure web-based application and allows HMIS users to search VA records by name, Social Security number, and date of birth to check veteran status for program participants. If you have not already signed up to use this free tool, please do so! (7) Substantial Amendment 1 to the State of Wisconsin’s 2015-2019 Consolidated Plan The Division of Energy, Housing, and Community Resources (DEHCR/Division) posted a draft Substantial Amendment 1 to the State’s 2015-2019 Consolidated Plan. The Public Comment Period is now open through February 22, 2016. The Consolidated Plan defines how the State will distribute federal grant funds to local governments, public and private organizations, and businesses. More than 90% of these funds are U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) formula grants for:
http://doa.wi.gov/Documents/DOH/Consolidated_Plan/2015_2019/2015_2019_Consolidated_Plan_Substantial_Amendment_1.pdf Key points: The State may only grant CDBG funds to non-entitlement counties, cities, towns, and villages. The amendment proposes an new category of CDBG grants- Rural Economic and Area Development Initiative (READI). A draft grant application is linked to the consolidated plan or can be found here http://doa.wi.gov/Documents/DOH/CDBG/READI/READI_Application_For_Substantial_Amendment.pdf. The State of Wisconsin will take comments for 30 days and prepare a final submission to HUD. HUD must approve the proposed change before the final application notice can be posted. The source of the format of the document is from HUD’s IDIS database. When information is exported from HUD’s IDIS database into a MS Word document, some of the data covers five years and some of the data covers one year. We have attempted to make HUD’s information as readable as possible in this document, while maintaining HUD’s plan requirements. Public comments on the DRAFT Substantial Amendment 1 may be emailed to the Division of Energy, Housing, and Community Resources at [email protected], or, mailed to: Department of Administration, Division of Energy, Housing, and Community Resources, P.O. Box 7970, Madison, WI 53707-7970. Comments received during the comment period will be considered as the Division prepares the final Substantial Amendment 1 document for submission. A summary of the comments, both those accepted and those rejected, will be attached to the final document prior to submission to HUD for approval. (8) Membership Update 2016 COC leads have received the link to the BOS Membership 2016 list. At minimum, everyone that receives the following funding should be included: COC, ETH, TBRA, PATH, VA, RHY, SSVF, SSSG, HOPWA, VASH, and DOJ are included. In addition, everyone that is going to participate in the coordinated entry process for the continua must be included. Overall, the list should also reflect the current membership of your local continua. The deadline is Monday, February 15th. Please make changes directly on the google drive document. (9) Trainings and Request for Information If you wish you had more information or more training on any particular policy, project, topic, etc – please let me know by sending an email to: [email protected]. (10) HUD, USICH, NAEH Trainings Save the Date: HHS and HUD National Joint Listening Session on the Intersection of Human Trafficking and Housing and Services for Survivors - February 24, 2016 - 3 PM EST The three main questions HHS and HUD will be discussing are:
Thank you for reading this update. Check back next week for more important updates, trainings, and information! |
Carrie PoserI am the COC Coordinator for the Wisconsin Balance of State Continuum of Care. My email is: [email protected]. Archives
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