HOLYOKE, MASSACHUSETTS. Led by Holyoke Mayor Michael Sullivan and Northampton Mayor Clare Higgins, elected officials and community leaders of the three county area of western Massachusetts known as the Pioneer Valley are joining together to create a regional 10-Year Plan to End Homelessness.

United States Interagency Council on Homelessness Executive Director Philip Mangano was invited to keynote the first meeting of the Leadership Council to End Homelessness held last week at the Heritage State Park in Holyoke that included Mayors Sullivan and Higgins, Greenfield Mayor Christine Forgey, West Springfield Mayor Edward Gibson, and nearly three dozen leaders of the business community, community action agencies, the Holyoke, Chicopee, Franklin County and Amherst Housing Authorities, the United Way, police departments including Northampton Chief of Police Russ Sienkiewicz, academia including the Greenfield and Holyoke Community Colleges and the University of Massachusetts, the medical community, and a number of faith based and community social service agencies. Also present were representatives from Congressman John Olver and U.S. Senator Ted Kennedy's offices and United States Interagency Council on Homelessness Regional Coordinator John O'Brien.

In his charge to the Leadership Council to develop a plan by October, Mayor Sullivan noted that developing more effective solutions may not necessarily be more expensive. "It's about how we're spending the money," he said. To ensure a comprehensive regional approach, the planning effort will be integrated with the City of Springfield's "housing first"-focused 10-Year Plan, Homes Within Reach, unveiled by Springfield Mayor Charles Ryan in January and being implemented through the office of Deputy Director of Homeless and Special Needs Housing Geraldine McCafferty.

Director Mangano praised the regional effort and encouraged the Leadership Council to do a local cost benefit analysis to document the cost of chronic homelessness to the community, and to deepen the involvement of the business community whose resources and solution mindset are important to effective implementation plans. It's not pocket change that homeless people need, he said, but policy and resource investment change "city by city, region by region" that is creating housing solutions with supportive mental health and social services.

Pictured here top, l-r, West Springfield Mayor Gibson, Greenfield Mayor Forgey, Director Mangano, and 10- Year Plan Leadership Council Co-chairs Northampton Mayor Higgins and Holyoke Mayor Sullivan.

GAINESVILLE, FLORIDA. Like the successful back- to-back NCAA mens basketball championship efforts of their hometown University of Florida Gators, Gainesville and Alachua County leaders will be looking to repeat the success of their first year 10-Year Plan implementation. Recently reported results from the latest Point-in-Time count reveal an 18.3% decrease in chronic homelessness and an overall 20% decrease in homelessness from January 2006 to January 2007, the first year of their 10-Year Plan implementation.

The Gainesville/Alachua County 10-Year Plan was adopted in December 2005 after six months of planning and research by nearly 200 key community stakeholders. United States Interagency Council on Homelessness Executive Director Philip Mangano, who participated in both the initial Homelessness Summit at which the planning process was launched and the plan's unveiling just a few months later, complimented the community at the unveiling for "mastering the art of legitimate larceny of good ideas and best practices from plans around the country."

Proceeding to implement these best practices, the city and county have allocated nearly $400,000 to the plan and an additional $200,000 has been received from a local private benefactor. A partnership of the City, County, and the Alachua Housing Authority has created an Office of Homelessness being led by Jon DeCarmine to oversee and coordinate plan implementation. A site for a One-Stop Service Center has been secured and a consortium of social service agencies led by the local mental health services agency selected to operate the Center which will be operational by January 2008. Additionally,

• Gainesville Mayor Pegeen Hanrahan and Commissioner Rodney Long, who led the 10-Year Plan effort and are shown here with Director Mangano at the plan unveiling, have begun a dialogue with officials of Shands HealthCare and North Florida Regional Medical Center to improve prevention and other health care programs for the homeless in the community.
• A pilot "Homeward Bound" program has been established.
• A partnership between the Florida Department of Children and Families and the Alachua County Housing Authority is providing permanent supportive housing to 15 homeless individuals with disabilities.
• With the help of a private donation, policies and procedures are being established for a Homeless Housing Trust.
• A $200,000 grant has been secured by FloridaWorks to provide employment services and assistance, including housing, in partnership with VETSPACE, the Alachua County Coalition for the Homeless and Hungry, and the Alachua County Housing Authority.
• Participation in the HMIS program has been greatly expanded from just one participating provider at the beginning of plan implementation.

The community reports that the 10-Year Plan process has resulted in "excellent and increased coordination between our County Housing Authority and local mental health providers, and a general sense of cooperation among service providers and city/county government in working to end homelessness."

"Mayor Hanrahan and Commissioner Long are to be applauded for having faith in their community's capacity to create a plan that would make a difference in the lives of homeless people," said Director Mangano. "Their faith has been rewarded by these results."

TEMPE, ARIZONA. In January, Tempe became the first Arizona community to host a Project Homeless Connect, providing hospitality and assistance to more than 105 homeless adults and youth with the help of 35 community volunteers and representatives of 21 service providers. Last week, City leaders and community volunteers followed up that successful first effort with a second Homeless Connect held again at the Tempe First United Methodist Church, with 49 volunteers on hand to welcome and act as guest guides for the 135 homeless guests to connect them to a variety of service providers offering housing screening, medical care, IDs, legal and benefit application assistance, domestic violence intervention, behavioral health assistance including transportation to detox programs, clothing vouchers, showers, haircuts, and massages. VA and USVets representatives were onsite to connect homeless veterans and their families with VA services. Officials of the Arizona Department of Economic Security had computers onsite to handle eligibility screenings for Food Stamps. Medicaid, General Assistance, and TANF. Tempe housing officials screened guests for Section 8 eligibility.

Tempe Mayor Hugh Hallman, who helped serve lunch to the homeless guests, joined United States Interagency Council on Homelessness Regional Coordinator Charlene Moran Flaherty in presenting the President's Volunteer Service Award to the volunteers of I-HELP, the Interfaith Homeless Emergency Lodging Program. I-HELP volunteers contributed 1600 hours of service in their inaugural year of operation providing emergency lodging for homeless individuals and families in the community and have been instrumental in helping Tempe City Homeless and Fair Housing Coordinator Theresa James organize the PHC events. Shown here accepting the award are volunteers Barbara Mishler (First United Methodist Church), Jeanie Ghan (Catholic Newman Center), and Robin Manelis (Temple Emanuel Synagogue) flanked by Coordinator Flaherty (far left) and Mayor Hallman. The Mayor also thanked the many businesses and community organizations supporting the Homeless Connect effort. "Your willingness to collaborate and break down barriers to service has made today possible. I look forward to continuing to support and expand community participation in Project Homeless Connect because it is a proven strategy to help end homelessness in Tempe and the Maricopa Region."

As reported in last week's e-news, the United States Interagency Council on Homelessness will shortly unveil our new PHC toolkit and will convene a PHC Best Practices Institute in July in Washington, DC. The Council's 2007 National Project Homeless Connect Week will occur December 3-7, 2007. The Council will also be encouraging PHC events to coincide with United Way Days of Caring events in October.

SACRAMENTO, CALIFORNIA. The recent release for public comment of a draft California 10-Year Chronic Homeless Action Plan is the latest step forward in implementing Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger's Chronic Homeless Initiative announced in May 2005. The initiative began with creation of a Governor's Interagency Council, encouraged by the United States Interagency Council on Homelessness, and has included a $50 million Supportive Housing Initiative announced in August 2005 and an Executive Order in May 2006 directing the allocation of $75 million annually in Mental Health Services Act funds from Proposition 63 to finance the development of 10,000 units of permanent supportive housing for individuals with mental illness, particularly those at risk or already homeless.

The Governor's Interagency Council began the effort to create a state 10-Year Chronic Homeless Action Plan with the adoption of a Vision Statement that "California will exercise leadership, vision, and innovation to prevent and significantly reduce chronic homelessness." Among the Guiding Principles established were commitments to pursue integrated prevention, intervention and support services; expansion of permanent housing solutions; and "Results Matter. Fund What Works." Following a series of stakeholder meetings and a conference that brought together 110 representatives from Federal, state and local governments including many from local communities already engaged in developing local 10-Year Plans, non profits, the private sector and interest groups, a draft 10-Year Action Plan was recently unveiled for public comment through May by Governor Schwarzenegger's Homeless Initiatives Coordinator Dick Schermerhorn. The Plan establishes five goals, identifying strategies and action steps for each.

Goal 1. Establishing as a statewide priority the prevention and significant reduction of chronic homelessness. Strategies include agency implementation of outcome measures that include the housing status of clients at intake and exit; homelessness-related services provided directly and through referral; entitlements applied for and received; and development of a statewide data clearinghouse.

Goal 2. Increasing the supply of housing affordable for those who are chronically homeless or at risk. Strategies include the development of low threshold housing linked to services; reaffirmation of the commitment to use $75 million annually from Prop 63 Mental Health Services Act funds to create 10,000 units of supportive housing; creating 495 new housing units for homeless and foster care youth; targeting of state rental subsidies for those unable because of eligibility restrictions to access federally supported units; and creating an inventory of publicly owned property that could be made available to develop housing for this population.

Goal 3. Promoting early identification of those at risk and establishing prevention policies and programs. Strategies include improving discharge and transition planning practices of state operated, funded and regulated institutions providing custodial and residential care; co-location of mainstream services at large state institutions; developing a uniform intake risk assessment tool; supporting local efforts to establish "Housing Support Centers" to provide prevention and rapid rehousing assistance; and linking eviction prevention services to landlord-tenant courts.

Goal 4. Enhancing the availability, accessibility, and integration of support services. Strategies include facilitating interagency case management and electronic referrals; interagency blending of funding streams to support integrated service provision; co-location of services in easily accessible locations; expanded use of homeless, mental health, and drug courts; and facilitating the use of Medi-Cal by evaluating the possibility of a Medi-Cal waiver to include case management and other supportive services and developing the capacity of supportive housing organizations to provide and bill for eligible Medi-Cal services.

Goal 5. Promote financial stability of the at-risk and chronically homeless population. Strategies include enhancing targeted employment and training services and developing customized employment opportunities; streamlining benefit application and processes for acquiring identifying documents; reinstating federal and state benefits for persons being released from state custodial care; seek legislation to reduce outstanding child support penalties and interest (not principal) and encouraging the Franchise Tax Board to enable employed chronically homeless people to "re-establish" themselves in the tax system including forgiveness of tax penalties and interest (not principal).

SAN JOSE, CALIFORNIA. Reducing incidences of homelessness, decreasing days of hospitalization and incarceration, and increases in employment and independent living for persons with serious mental illness are among the documented outcomes of the landmark AB 2034 Integrated Services for Homeless Adults with Serious Mental Illness program in California.

The AB 2034 Integrated Services initiative is a consumer centric approach that emphasizes integrated services planning and delivery including outreach and engagement, housing, recovery and employment. A 2003 report by the California Department of Mental Health on 4,881 individuals in the AB 2034 initiative identified pre-placement and post placements results that showed an annual cost reduction of $24.7 million in documented hospitalization and incarceration alone.

The AB 2034 approach was recognized by the President's New Freedom Commission on Mental Health as a model program for its "outreach, comprehensive services, 24/7 availability, partnerships with community providers, real time evaluation, and flexible funding." The success of AB 2034 has been credited with building support for Proposition 63, the Mental Health Services Act approved by California taxpayers in 2004. Through a 1% tax on the portion of a taxpayer's income in excess of $1 million, Prop 63 is generating over half a billion annually for systems change and services to adults afflicted with serious and persistent mental illness and children with serious emotional disturbances.

Last week United States Interagency Council on Homelessness (USICH) Executive Director Philip Mangano was invited to be the keynote speaker for the Fifth Annual Integrated Services Conference sponsored by the California Institute for Mental Health that brought together more than 200 consumers, policymakers and practitioners from state and local government and the private sector to share and innovate successful service integration strategies. The spirit underlying the Integrated Services approach is flexibility, often expressed as "doing whatever it takes", and this year's conference theme Whatever it takes: What does that really mean? explored a number of topics including creating long term housing options, meeting the needs of the older consumer, examples of successful and unsuccessful outreach and engagement strategies, employment through consumer owned or operated businesses, and change management strategies for leaders and staff, among other issues.

In his remarks, Director Mangano drew parallels between the individual feelings about homelessness described earlier in the day by participants in a consumer panel and the feelings that led to the National Partnership being constellated by USICH to change the status quo. For the consumer who said he felt that "nothing I was doing was making a difference," Director Mangano noted that this also typified the feeling that public policies over 20 years hadn't made the difference needed to get the job done. To the consumer comment that "good intentions only take you so far," Director Mangano noted that good intentions alone don't get the job done in public policy either.

Praising an underlying strength of the integrated services approach--a focus on the consumer, not the program--Director Mangano encouraged the conference participants to "focus as avidly on consumer-oriented resources including VA benefits, SSI, Medicaid, EITC, and Food Stamps, as on program oriented resources." Homeless people are asking for change, he said, but not necessarily the change in your pockets. "A change in circumstance. They are discontent with being homeless. As discontented as the evacuees of Katrina were to be in shelter. Unhappy with a status quo they never anticipated. So they want change. Not our quarters. But some living quarters. That's the genius of the investments being made through AB 2034 and Prop 63. Investing in housing, you are creating precisely what the homeless consumer wants. The 'change' they so need and request. A place to live, in the least restrictive setting."

Director Mangano was introduced by California Department of Mental Health Services Director Steve Mayberg, who Director Mangano praised for "a personal and professional life marked by a relentless commitment to collaboration, accountability, and results" and whose expertise and leadership were recognized by his appointment to the President's New Freedom Commission on Mental Health. Director Mangano also noted that with the recent appointment of former Massachusetts Department of Transitional Assistance Director John Wagner as the new director of the California Department of Social Services, Dr. Mayberg would be getting an exceptional new partner thoroughly versed on the issues of homelessness, disabilities, and interagency collaboration.

Participants were welcomed to the conference site in San Jose by Santa Clara Board of Supervisors Chair Don Gage who earlier this year appointed a Blue Ribbon Commission to expedite implementation of a 10-Year Plan to end homelessness in San Jose and Santa Clara counties. Director Mangano and Supervisor Gage are shown here at the conference.

FORT WORTH, TEXAS. Two of the most welcoming faces in the sea of 150 volunteers gathered at Fort Worth's inaugural Project Homeless Connect last month during National Volunteer Week belonged to 13-year old Andrew Thompson and his 10-year old sister Emily. This was a service day activity for these two home schooled children who joined their mother Jodi Thompson at the event. They may have been the youngest volunteers but Andrew and Emily are no strangers to providing welcome and hospitality to their homeless neighbors.

Since January 2006, Andrew, Emily, and 13-year old Mason Jones, collectively known as the Party Pals Kids, have been holding monthly birthday parties for homeless children staying at the Presbyterian night shelter family center in Fort Worth. While making sandwiches at the shelter one night, they learned that children living at the shelter didn't often get to celebrate their birthdays. Making a decision then and there to change that, they returned to the shelter 48 hours later and threw their first ever Party Pals monthly birthday party. Now each 3rd Friday of the month, the Party Pals Kids host a birthday party for homeless children at the shelter. The number of birthdays being celebrated each month varies but the Party Pals Kids estimate they and friends who sometimes join them have held birthday celebrations for nearly 100 children in the last year and a half.

"When I met Andrew and Emily at the Fort Worth Homeless Connect and heard directly from them of their volunteer activities on behalf of homeless children, they embodied the very theme--'inspire by example'-- of National Volunteer Week," commented United States Interagency Council on Homelessness Executive Director Philip Mangano. "In giving of themselves selflessly on behalf of their homeless peers, their example is a national model for both children and adults."

The Party Pals Kids create a theme for each month with the cake, games, and goodie bags tailored to the theme. Two favorites are carnival/circus month with tickets for games, prizes, a bounce house, and popcorn machine; and October "trunk or treat" where they are joined by a network of friends and supporters bringing a variety of games and activities with associated prizes. Presents and party supplies are paid for through fundraising and donation drives held with the support of local businesses. This year the Party Pals Kids noticed that many of the homeless children were in need of back- to- school clothing and supplies so they launched a special drive and in just three weeks collected new school supplies, socks, underwear, backpacks and enough donations to host a special dinner kick off the school season.

The Party Pals Kids hope that their efforts will "open the eyes and hearts of the community" and inspire replication of the Party Pals effort. Shown here are the Party Pals Kids at their first Walmart fundraiser where they secured over $700 in party supplies and $600 in donations. Left to right are Emily and Andrew Thompson and Mason and Megan Jones (an alumnus since graduating from high school).

WASHINGTON, D.C. Preventing homelessness among veterans, including those now returning from the Global War on Terror (GWOT), is a key focus area for the effort to prevent and end chronic homelessness. Nearly 20% of all homeless individuals are veterans--up to 200,000 on any given night--and veterans account for one-third of all people experiencing chronic homelessness. The United States Interagency Council on Homelessness encourages jurisdictional 10-Year planning efforts to give special attention and consideration to the needs of at-risk and homeless veterans in the development and implementation of plans. Last week the Task Force on Returning Global War on Terror Heroes, established by President George W. Bush in March to ensure military personnel returning from Iraq and Afghanistan are able to obtain accurate information on the services available to them and the timely receipt of benefits, released their report making 25 recommendations to improve the delivery of federal services to returning men and women. Departments and agencies will be expected to implement the recommendations within agreed upon timeframes.

The Task Force, chaired by U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs Secretary and former USICH Chair Jim Nicholson, focused on improvements that could be made within the authority of individual departments or agencies using existing resources in the areas of health care, benefits, employment, education, housing, and outreach activities. Many of the recommendations involve collaborative efforts among a number of agencies to improve the timeliness, ease of application, and delivery of services and benefits. "The federal government must be responsive and efficient in delivering benefits and services to these heroes, said Secretary Nicholson. "They should not have to fight bureaucratic red tape for benefits earned by their courageous service."

Among the recommendations:

• Develop a joint DOD-VA process for disability benefit determinations by establishing a cooperative Medical and Physical Evaluation Board process within the military service branches and the VA.
• Require the VA to provide full support at Post- Deployment Health Reassessments for Guard and Reserve members to enroll eligible members and schedule appointments.
• Develop Memorandum of Understanding and Agreement for VA Liaisons at Military Treatment Facilities.
• Screen all GWOT veterans seen in VA health facilities for mild to moderate Traumatic Brain Injury.
• Expand VA access to DOD medical records to improve transfer of a service member's medical care through "patient handoff."
• Enhance capacity for GWOT service members to receive dental care in the private sector as the VA continues to improve dental care capacity at their facilities.
• Extend determination time limits in VA Vocational Rehabilitation and Employment Programs beyond 12 months to allow additional time for returning service members to better understand their rehabilitation needs.
• DOD and the Department of Labor are to collaborate to improve Civilian Workforce Credentialing and Certification allowing for greater exposure of a service member's military experience to civilian opportunities.
• The Department of Labor, through the Veterans Employment and Training Service, will participate in the Workforce Investment System in every state and territory and partner with over 120 private and public sector job fairs to expand the number of employers involved in active veteran recruitment.
• The Department of Housing and Urban Development will expand access to the National Housing Locator to be used by service members and veterans through DoD and the VA. Initially launched to assist victims of Hurricane Katrina, service members will now have access to the NHLO, providing housing resource information including disability accessibility to ease potential relocation to a new geographic area.

To read all 25 recommendations contained in the Report including information identifying the lead and participating agencies for each recommendation, and a brief gap analysis that led to the recommendation and expected benefit, click here. In addition to the 25 recommendations and accompanying Action Plan in the Report, the Task Force worked with the General Services Administration to include on the www.usa.gov website a specialized section of internet links to federal services and benefits available to military service members, veterans and their families.

WASHINGTON, D.C. The National League of Cities/ Institute for Youth, Education and Families (IYEF) has issued a Request for Proposals for cities to participate in a new technical assistance initiative on re-engaging young people ages 16 to 24 who have dropped out of school, are out of work, or have been involved in the foster care or juvenile justice systems.

IYEF will select between three and six cities to participate in an 18-month initiative that will provide the cities and their community partners with intensive assistance in building or strengthening collaborations among multiple public agencies and systems and implementing new strategies for reconnecting disconnected youth, including young offenders returning to the community and young adults aging out of foster care, to school, employment, family and the community. IYEF suggests potential community partners may include local school districts, regional work force boards, state or county juvenile justice and child welfare agencies, and community-based organizations. The initiative, which is being undertaken with support from the Charles Stewart Mott Foundation, recognizes that unemployment and family and community disconnection among this age group all too often leads to increased poverty, homelessness and crime, as well as low civic involvement and educational attainment. This in turn has significant social and economic impacts on local government and the community.

Through this initiative, IYEF will assist municipal officials assess current interactions between systems that serve disconnected youth, identify key leadership roles for stimulating and supporting cross-system collaboration, advance strategies to improve the quality of their efforts, and learn ways to enhance the accountability and sustainability of such efforts over time. The Request for Proposals is available on the NLC website. Deadline for application is May 25.

email: ichnews@setechnology.com

web: http://www.usich.gov