HUD’s Deputy Assistant Secretary for SNAPS, Mark Johnston announced today at the Annual NERHMIS Symposium that the ESG interim regulations are expected to be announced this week.
UMass Boston Campus Center 3rd Floor 100 Morrissey Blvd. Boston MA 02125
Monday November 14th, 9:00AM to 3:30PM
Annual training for Continuum of Care members, homeless providers, HMIS IT and program staff, consumers, advocates and HUD officials to share expertise, network with colleagues, and improve their community HMIS and Continuum of Care planning and management systems.
Examples of Topics Covered
• Continuum of Care Data
• HEARTH Act
• Homeless Management Information System
(HMIS) Strategic Planning
• Program Spotlights
• Veteran Administration Program HMIS
Participation
• Regional Program Spotlights
Confirmed Presenters
• Mark Johnston, Deputy Assistant Secretary,
HUD CPD
• Dr. Sam Tsemberis, Pathways to Housing
• Dr. Dennis Culhane, The National Center on
Homelessness Among Veterans
• Dr. Charlene Le Fauve, SAMHSA
Although the conference is free to attend, you will have an option to purchase lunch.
Registration Deadline Friday, November 4th
NERHMIS SAVE THE DATE
2011 Training & Symposium
WHERE: University of Massachusetts : Boston Campus
WHEN: November 14th, 2011
A Full Day Symposium
(details and registration to follow)
Anticipated topics include:
HEARTH Act
Veteran Administration Program Participation
HMIS Strategic Planning
And more….
From the July 25th conference call reviewing the VA’s participation in HMIS.
Mission Statement and Description of Responsibility
Proposed Membership:
The Website Committee consists of up to eight (8) active NERHMIS associates. All associates must be in good standing. One member will be a current Co Chair of NERHMIS, as a non-voting member, and at least one member will be a current member of the Board of Directors of NERHMIS. The Board member will chair (or may co-chair) the committee. New committee members will be invited by soliciting the Board and the associates for possible candidates to serve. Although there is no term limit, committee members are required to serve the committee for an initial term of 2 years.
Proposed Mission Statement:
Recognizing that the website is the one constant presence in the marketplace that represents NERHMIS, it is critical that the website represents and supports the association’s overall goals and objectives.
In line with NERHMIS’s objective to develop and maintain uniform and consistent approaches to HMIS & Human Services data collection in the region, and to provide technical assistance and services that enhance NERHMIS associates in related work, the website is considered a key technological tool to help achieve this objective. Specific objectives of the website committee are to:
Provide current and useful online associate-driven information designed to enhance the value of NERHMIS membership
Provide dynamic, specialized, and relevant information to our target market of HMIS HSMIS and Electronic Healthcare record professionals
Increase non-dues revenue for the association through advertising and vendor services on our website
Promote the growth of the association by developing a regional resource website, for both associates in the region and non-associates outside of Federal Region I.
Proposed Functions:
The Website Committee will undertake various initiatives to achieve the objectives identified below. Specific activities of the committee will include but not be limited to:
Identify strategic initiatives for website and present to Board for review and approval.
Develop a priority listing of desired design and functionality enhancements
Identify fundraise and contract with appropriate third party services to update and enhance website design and content
Monitor discussion forum responses and make appropriate board or associate assignments relative to the discussion forum
Coordinating with other committees in posting relevant information:
Development Committee: sponsor/exhibitor program, website advertising
Publications Committee: NERHMIS Forum content ie Letters to HUD Comments on HEARTH etc
Education Committee: Training announcements
Marketing Committee: Assocoation growth programs
Review and analyze website statistics with a quarterly report to the Board.
Develop a funded program to review and maintain website – in conjunction with vendors, sponsors and a designated liaison
Special projects as identified by the Board.
Maintain records/minutes of all meetings and develop supporting documentation relative to the website.
Proposed Committee Meetings:
The Website Committee will meet at least quarterly to review website statistics and continually focus on updating and upgrading the functionality and content of the website. Meetings may occur by conference call or face-to-face.
Proposed Committee Members: proposed 1 Co Chair, 1 board member, 1 associate from each particpating state in the region
HMIS Strategic Planning Institute – Boston, MA June 29th, 2011
Agenda:
9:00 – 9:30 – Registration
9:30 – 10:00 – Update on Federal Partners and HMIS
10:00 – 12:30 - Governance and Planning
In this session, you will explore the documents you should have in place and how your policies might need to change as you bring new partners onto your HMIS. This session includes a 15 Step Process for bringing new partners onto HMIS, regardless of who the partner is. There are two hands-on activities in this session designed to help you identify what you have in place and a method to think about assessing what policies and governance documents might need to change – and how.
12:30 – 1:30 - Lunch – on your own
1:30 – 4:00 - HMIS Budgeting and Staffing Toolkit
This session follows the principles set out by HUD in the HMIS Budgeting and Staffing Toolkit . There are two hands on activities in this session. They are designed to help you begin assessing your HMIS hardware and software needs, think about funding strategies, and also begin developing funding and staffing plans. The object of the session is to provide HMIS staff and CoC Leads with a method for thinking about HMIS needs over the next several years so that you can apply for funding in a timely manner so that you have the monetary and staffing supports in place when you need them. The other objective is to make sure that you have governance documents and updated policies in place when you bring new partners on board. Lastly, the 15 step new partner planning piece provides a method for thinking about how to bring new partners onto the system.
There is no charge for this training although you will be responsible for you own lunch.
Institute participants are encouraged to bring copies of their CoC governance agreements (partner/agency participation and end user) as well as a copy of your current HMIS budget and HMIS staffing plan.
At the last NERHMIS meeting at the HUD field office in Manchester, New Hampshire associates organized an initial first quarter 2011 HMIS vendor meeting. The intention of these meetings is to provide an opportunity for vendors to meet in person with HMIS administrators and HMIS program administrators and users at regularly scheduled NERHMIS meetings in both Boston Massachusetts, and Manchester, New Hampshire.
In addition, the NERHMIS group seeks to create a more deliberate and collaborative
process among the partners collecting, storing, and reporting data to Housing and Urban Development.
Lastly, there is an expectation that these meetings will lead to increased uniformity, efficiency and effectiveness for HMIS installations in the New England Region
We look forward to your participation the first meeting in March in Boston and then quarterly thereafter; June/Sept/Dec. Feel free to share your thoughts or suggestions about this on the listserve
TCP has two job openings, see Job Postings
Brattleboro, Vermont
11/10/2010
Brattleboro Area Drop-In Center Receives National Recognition from the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA)
The Brattleboro Area Drop-In Center will officially receive national recognition from the federal Department of Health and Human Services’ SAMHSA division in December 2010.
The selection for this Exemplary Practice award has been made from a field of 33 nominated grantees across three categories: Leadership and Collaboration, Consumer Empowerment, and Data Collection and Reporting. The Drop-In Center Award is for excellence in Data Collection and Reporting.
For the past twenty-two years Ms. Melinda Bussino, Executive Director of the Brattleboro Area Drop-In Center (BADIC) in Vermont. The Agency has been a PATH Provider for twenty of those years. The federally funded Projects for Assistance in Transition from Homelessness Program supports outreach. engagement and community supports for homeless persons who choose to avoid traditional service providers.
Under Ms. Bussino’s leadership, BADIC was one of the first PATH agencies to implement PATH data collection in Housing and Urban Development’s (HUD) Homeless Management Information System (HMIS) in Vermont and the nation in 2002. Since then, Data Quality has become one of the BADIC agency’s best practices.
In addition, Ms Bussino is current co-chairwoman of the Vermont Balance of State Continuum of Care. She has served as the Governor’s appointee on the Housing and Urban Development Consolidated Planning Committee and the Vermont Interagency Council on Homelessness. She has previously chaired the State Affordable Housing Coalition, Vermont Protection and Advocacy Board, and the Board of the Vermont Campaign to End Childhood Hunger.
Ms. Bussino will represent the Brattleboro Area Drop-In Center at the 2010 PATH Grantee Meeting on December 7 – 10, 2010, in Washington, D.C., when she will receive the award for BADIC. The theme of the meeting is Creating Effective PATH Programs in the Era of Health Reform. Approximately 100 persons will be in attendance.
The Exemplary Practice Awards will be presented on Thursday, December 9, and approximately 600 PATH providers and sub-grantees from around the country are expected to join this event via live video, web-streaming.
Lastly, a presentation on the Brattleboro Area Drop-In Center PATH program will be part of a workshop with the other two awardees, the Center for Urban Community Services in New York City and the Colorado Coalition for the Homeless in Denver.
