ICA News -July 2024 - Iowa
In-Person New User Classes
Monthly Data Updates
Annual Outreach Gatherings
Help for New Students
Coordinated Entry News
HUD News
Jobs
Dates
In-Person Training
Monthly In-person New User Classes
The ICA Training Team is excited to announce the continuation of optional in-person HMIS New-User training. This is to fulfill the need for users who will benefit from learning the system with a more hands-on approach, while still using the online training videos as additional tools. Below are the current dates we have set up along with the locations in which the trainings are taking place. If you are the person at your agency that requests new user trainings, and think that you have staff that would benefit from an in-person training experience, please fill out the form below.
Please note that online training is still available as an option if this does not fit your staff’s needs. If it is decided that in-person training is the best option, each student only need to attend one session. Each attendee will need their own laptop. The classes fill up at 10 attendees each.
Current In Person Trainings:
August 1st-- Central Iowa Shelter Des Moines (10am-2pm) 1420 Mulberry Street, Des Moines, Iowa
August 29th-- Shelter House, Iowa City (10am-2pm) 429 Southgate Ave. Iowa City, Iowa
September 12th--612 Youth Shelter, Iowa Homeless Youth Center Des Moines (10am-2pm) 612 Locust St. Des Moines, Iowa
September 26th-- Shelter House, Iowa City (10am-2pm) 429 Southgate Ave, Iowa City
Monthly Data Update
ICA publishes a monthly data update describing the key indicators and changes in the population experiencing housing instability in the Balance of State and Polk County. We share this information monthly, and hope this presentation is easy to understand for members of your community who don’t necessarily live in the data the way HMIS professionals and service providers do but are interested and motivated to learn.
This Month’s Data Update
Annual Outreach Gatherings
The Institute for Community Alliances (ICA) Iowa HMIS Team is committed to strengthening connections with providers utilizing HMIS and DVIMS. We are delighted to share that this calendar year, ICA will embark on in-person visits to various areas of the state! All individuals working within HMIS/DVIMS are welcome and encouraged to attend!
During these meetings, we will facilitate open discussions, seek feedback, provide insights into the functions of the ICA HMIS team, and most importantly, gain valuable insights into your agencies.
The July Gathering:
When: July 25th, 1pm to 2:30pm
Where: Marshalltown Public Library, 105 W Boone St. Marshalltown, IA 50158
Who: Providers from Black Hawk, Tama, Grundy, Hardin, Marshall, Story, Boone, and Greene counties
Register here: July Gathering
August Gathering:
When: August 27th, 11am to 12:30pm
Where: Greenfield Public Library, 202 1st St. Greenfield, IA 50849
Who: Providers from Harrison, Pottawattamie, Mills, Fremont, Shelby, Cass, Montgomery, Page, Audobon, Guthrie, Adair, Adams, Taylor, Dallas, Madison, Union, Ringgold, Clark, Decatur
Register here: August Gathering
Help for New Students
Weekly Office Hour
In an effort to provide a better learning experience, we are incorporating a weekly "office hour" for anyone currently working on the new user ServicePoint (Community Services) test. This open Teams link will have a human on the other end every Thursday at 10:00AM . So, if you are a student struggling with their test or the system join us on Thursday mornings and be able to ask someone directly for help.
Test Help Office Hour - Thursday at 10:00am - Click here to join
Coordinated Entry Q&A Webinars
Coordinated Entry Q&A Webinars
Every month Coordinated Entry Specialists will be hosting a virtual Coordinated Entry Q&A for CE providers and community partners to discuss CE basics, policies, procedures, and much more.
Have specific questions? Not understanding how something works within CE? Let us know! We would be happy to talk more about it during one of our sessions
When? Monthly on the 1st Tuesday of every month, our next Q&A will be on:
Who should attend?
Any Coordinated Entry providers or community partners involved in CE across the state of Iowa and CE Regions who would like to learn more about Coordinated Entry or refresh their CE skills.
Where?
SAVE THE DATE | SEPTEMBER 4-6
Iowa's premier housing event, the HousingIowa Conference draws nearly 1,000 housing and community leaders for timely discussions about advancing housing opportunities in Iowa.
“The HousingIowa Conference is Iowa’s premier housing event, drawing nearly 1,000 housing professionals and illuminating how Housing is the Start for economic opportunity and thriving Iowa families, communities and businesses. You are invited to join us for discussions around timely topics around housing in Iowa and networking with Iowa housing leaders.
The event welcomes housing developers, property managers, financiers, lenders, Realtors, homeless and supportive services professionals, housing advocates, policy makers, community development professionals, community leaders and anyone interested in learning more about housing in Iowa to join us for this highly anticipated event!”
The Council of State Governments (CSG)
The Council of State Governments (CSG) Justice Center is hosting a three-session virtual community of practice (CoP) to explore how communities can better divert people from jail into stable housing and services. It will highlight emerging strategies and best practices, feature communities undertaking this work to share lessons they have learned, and include opportunities for participants to discuss common challenges. Participants will also be introduced to the Zero Returns to Homelessness framework and learn how to apply it during diversion to connect people to housing.
Session dates for the CoP will take place from 2:00—3:30 p.m. ET via Zoom web meeting and will be held on the following dates:
July 31, 2024
August 28, 2024
September 25, 2024
Learn More: https://csgjusticecenter.org/2024/07/11/apply-now-to-join-reducing-housing-barriers-to-jail-diversion-community-of-practice/
Apply: https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/9NV397B
HUD News
Homeless Response System 101 for CDBG-DR Grantees Now Available
The Homeless Response System 101 for CDBG-DR Grantees resource supports Community Development Block Grant Disaster Recovery (CDBG-DR) grantees to establish partnerships with local Continuums of Care (CoCs) to support and promote the development of decent, accessible, equitable, and affordable housing in their communities.
This resource aims to provide high-level information about CoCs to CDBG-DR grantees, including the critical role that CoCs play within the homeless response system locally, how CoCs operate, and how best to work together. This resource can be a tool used by CoCs and CDBG-DR grantees to increase opportunities for collaboration.
Resource Digest for Homeless Providers
To support partnerships between public health authorities, homeless service systems, and other partners at the local level, and the vulnerable households served, HUD and its partners are issuing guidance from subject matter experts on best practices and lessons learned.
This digest contains recently published resources from HUD’s Office of Special Needs Assistance Programs (SNAPS) and its national, state, and local partners.
Upcoming Federal Partner Training
Intimate Partner Violence and Homelessness: Future Directions Based on Finding from CASPEH – July 18, 2024 – 3:00 PM EDT: The National Network to End Domestic Violence (NNEDV) is partnering with their member program, the California Partnership to End Domestic Violence to sponsor a webinar that highlights finds from the California Statewide Study of People Experiencing Homelessness (CASPHER) to advance evidence-based solutions and recommendations for preventing and responding to homelessness among intimate partner violence (IPV). This webinar provides funding and programmatic recommendations that advocates, policymakers, and other decision-makers can promote to address and end homelessness among survivors of domestic violence. View the California Statewide Study of People Experiencing Homelessness and Toward Safety: Understanding Intimate Partner Violence and Homelessness CASPEH research findings.
New Federal Resource
Fiscal Year (FY) 2024 Smart Reentry: Housing Demonstration Program: The Bureau of Justice Assistance (BJA) seeks to fund state, local, and Tribal governments to enhance or implement evidence-based activities or services to improve reentry and reduce recidivism by expanding and/or increasing access to housing for people who are currently or formerly involved in the criminal justice (CJ) system. Materials from the Responding to the FY 2024 Smart Reentry: Housing Demonstration Program Solicitation webinar are now available.
Coordinated Entry Equity Initiative Resource Collection Now Available
The new Coordinated Entry Equity Initiative page has resources that reflect on the work done during the two cohorts of the Initiative and materials for Continuums of Care (CoCs) that are looking to better address racial inequities in their systems.
The Coordinated Entry (CE) Equity Initiative is intended to design more equitable assessment and prioritization processes to improve conditions and outcomes for Black, Brown, Indigenous, and People of Color (BIPOC) and reimagine and redesign the experiences and housing outcomes of BIPOC who interact with homeless response systems, especially those who are disproportionately represented in the system. In partnership with BIPOC, as well as people with lived expertise, CoC’s participating in the Initiative’s cohorts were to identify system disparities through analyzing local data, agree upon focus area(s), and test racially equitable Coordinated Entry System (CES) processes in service of significantly transforming the experience and housing stability of those disproportionately represented in local homeless response systems.
Intentional inclusion and power-sharing with BIPOC and people with lived experience and expertise of homelessness throughout the full scope of a community's equity efforts will maximize the value of CE Equity Resources. Equity and justice work is necessary to prevent and end homelessness. Trauma informed and person-centered approaches that support communities to minimize harm, lead with the expertise of oppressed communities, and further shared decision-making should be utilized when implementing the resources.
View the Coordinated Entry Equity Initiative Resource Collection
Job Postings
from our partner agencies
ACCESS
Homicide and Violent Crimes Advocate
The Bridge Home
Assistant Director of Development
Dubuque YMCA
Friends of the Family
HACAP
Veteran Case Coordinator - Shallow Subsidy
Waypoint
Development Database Administrator
Willis Dady
YSS
Dates
August 6th- HMIS/DVIMS Q&A Webinar 10:00am - 10:45am -Click her to join
August 6th- Coordinated Entry Q&A Webinar 2:00pm - 3:00pm -Click her to join
Thursdays at 10:00am- Test Help Office Hour - Click here to join