National Project Homeless Connect Best Practices Webinar- August 2008

Registrants from communities throughout the country and a number of Canadian cities learned from experienced practitioners about the best of Best Practices for successful Project Homeless Connect events during the August 5 online webinar hosted by the United States Interagency Council on Homelessness.  

Since the first Project Homeless Connect initiated by San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom in 2004, over 170 communities in the US, Canada, and Australia have adopted the Project Homeless Connect innovation with encouragement and technical support from the Council that has included an emphasis on peer-to-peer support. This month’s webinar was an extension of the peer-to-peer Project Homeless Connect conference calls hosted by the Council the past two years in preparation for National Week. This year’s Project Homeless Connect National Week is December 1-7.

Each of the expert faculty for the webinar not only had a wealth of experience with hosting results-oriented Project Homeless Connect events but also are connected to their community’s 10 Year Plan: Springfield, MA, Office of Housing Deputy Director and 10 Year Plan Point Person Gerry McCafferty, and Faith-Based Project Homeless Connect Chair Pastor Greg Dyson; Norfolk, VA Office to End Homelessness Director Katie Kitchin; and Minneapolis/Hennepin County Coordinator for Ending Homelessness Cathy ten Broeke  The Council is grateful to each of them for sharing their expertise.

Topics covered during the webinar included:

Best Practice in Leadership and Creating Expansive and Inclusive Partnership

Best Practice in Choice of Venue

Best Practice in Consumer Engagement

Best Practice in Event Welcome and Hospitality to Consumers

Best Practice in Reducing Barriers and Ensuring Immediacy of Outcomes for Consumers  

Best Practice in Accommodation of Special Populations including veterans, families, and youth

Best Practice in Creating Continuity of Engagement and Follow-up with Consumers

Best Practice in Using the Media to Report PHC Outcomes

Best Practice in Using Dedicated PHC Web Sites and Video in Promoting PHC

Best Practice in Learning and Replication

Click here to listen to audio of the webinar.

 A more expanded version of the Council’s recently updated Project Homeless Connect Toolkit v2 that includes numerous photos from actual Connect events illustrating consumer engagement and event execution was unveiled for the webinar and is posted below.

Overview
Key Elements

Part 1: Political Will
Part 2: Partnership
Part 3: Planning
Part 4: Site Selection
Part 5: Volunteers
Part 6: Services
Part 7: Consumer Engagement
Part 8: Media
Part 9: Data and Results
Part 10: Event Execution