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The
Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA), which
is
part of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, hosts
an information site for the federal interagency
Policy Academy process. To date, nine Policy Academies
have been held through which states are offered expertise and
peer-to-peer learning opportunities on how to maximize the
availability
and accessibility of mainstream resources for homeless persons.
- "Mainstream resources" is a term used to describe
a variety of government assistance programs for which people may
be eligible because of their economic or disability status. Examples
of "mainstream resource" programs are listed below.
A 1999 US General Accounting Office report revealed that while
funding for programs specifically targeted to homeless persons
under the McKinney Vento Homeless Assistance Act amounted to $1.2
billion a year, more than $200 billion in assistance was available
in the mainstream programs.
Several federal agencies partnered to sponsor these Policy Academies-the
U.S. Departments of Health and Human Services, Housing and Urban
Development, Veterans Affairs, Labor and Education. A
National Learning Meeting
was held in October 2004 to showcase innovative approaches the
states
have implemented, to provide additional opportunity for peer to
peer technical assistance and to determine what further assistance
would be helpful to states in implementing their state plans. The
Department of Education has announced that it will be joining the
collaboration this year.
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