Beyond Housing 2018
Thursday January 11
(click on individual sessions for more info)10:45 am–12:15 pm
Homeless families have a constellation of legal needs. Panelists identify best practices for how to meet these needs by outlining key priorities in their respective states that others could consider adopting, and sharing personal experiences working with state and local agencies. Existing innovative legal clinics and advocacy strategies will be discussed.
Michael Santos
Attorney
National Law Center on Homelessness and Poverty
Amy Horton-Newell
Director
American Bar Association Commission on Homelessness & Poverty
Clients transition to the workforce and make employment gains that lead to self-sufficiency. This income building program partners with employers, job training and placement specialists, and volunteer organizations to achieve results. Attendees leave with knowledge of best practices, including data-driven methods of service delivery.
Raysa S. Rodriguez, Moderator
Vice President, Policy & Planning
Win
Kathleen Agaton
Director, Research & Evaluation
Win
Elizabeth Figueroa
Associate Vice President, Support Services
Win
Karen Cole
Income-building Specialist
Win
Education researchers discuss the various factors impacting the educational outcomes of homeless students. Presenters analyze the approaches to addressing these barriers from the perspectives of both families, and educational service providers. Attendees will emerge with a better understanding of the service landscape and best practices.
Liz Cohen, Moderator
Chief of Staff
Institute for Children, Poverty, and Homelessness
Stacy Deck, PhD, MSSW
Associate Professor of Social Work
Spalding University
Carolyn Sattin-Bajaj, PhD
Associate Professor & Director, Center for College Readiness
Seton Hall University, College of Education and Human Services
Alexandra Pavlakis, PhD
Assistant Professor, Department of Education Policy and Leadership, Simmons School of Education
Southern Methodist University
Speakers will describe methods used by Homestretch to minimize dependence on government funding, and replace all revenue with private sources, in order to maintain its remarkable client outcomes. Presenters hope to inspire other service providers to do the same, while also advocating for more sensible government policy.
Christopher Fay
Executive Director
Homestretch
Ken Bradford
Director of Development
Homestretch
Promoting family wellness is an essential component when providing holistic homeless services. With a scope that includes both mental health (including loss and grief), and physical health, this session educates participants in the development of community partnerships and programming to assess and address family wellness.
Claas Ehlers
Chief Executive Officer
Family Promise
Christina Johnson, MD
Physician
Maplewood Family Medicine
This session unpacks The New Horizons Housing Collaborative, a program The City Mission of Cleveland has developed to move single-mother families from homelessness to homeownership by leveraging community partnerships. Participants emerge with practical, innovative ways to combat the affordable housing crisis and break the cycle of poverty in their communities.
Rich Trickel
Chief Executive Officer
The City Mission
Linda Uveges
Chief Operating Officer
The City Mission
This session provides participants with tactics for establishing summer enrichment programs and camps for homeless children and youth. Each presenter provides a case study of their summer programs which offer learning enrichment opportunities, in addition to forging partnerships between communities, shelters, and school organizations.
Lisa Phillips
State Coordinator
North Carolina Homeless Education Program, SERVE Center at University of North Carolina at Greensboro
Greg Essenpreis
Senior Operations Associate
Homes for the Homeless
James Canfield
Assistant Professor
University of Cincinnati and Representative of UpSpring
Incorporating self-care into work can make for stronger leaders and more productive organizations. This session focuses on important concepts of trauma stewardship, resonant leadership, and emotional intelligence. Participants will then create a plan of self-care for themselves and those they lead.
Beth L. Morrison
Chief Executive Officer
Our Family Services
This session introduces attendees to an evidence-based executive functioning informed model, called Mobility Mentoring®. It is designed to mitigate the high levels of stress caused by poverty, trauma, and oppression, using long-term planning, goal setting, and coaching to reinforce skills that serve as pathways from poverty. Multiple provider perspectives will be shared to enhance participants’ understanding of how this model could be used in various settings.
Jennifer Lowe, PhD
Vice President of Shared Learning & Member Networks
Economic Mobility Pathways
Delphia Simmons
Chief Strategy & Learning Officer
Coalition on Temporary Shelter
Raysheema Rainey
Assistant Director of STEPS & Stabilization Programs
Economic Mobility Pathways
Homelessness is often considered the exclusive responsibility of one government department. More cities, counties, and states, however, are realizing the vital intersections between not only government offices, nonprofits, schools, and the community, but intra-agency as well. Participants will learn about an integrated approach in LA County that bridges the gap between homeless services and the education system to focus on prevention efforts; an advocacy model in Chicago that addresses the housing and educational needs of homeless families in public schools, and the community schools initiative in NYC that forged partnerships with city agencies, private partners, and higher education to provide resources and support to homeless students. Attendees will gain strategies for developing partnerships, steps to integrate efforts among stakeholders, and possible pitfalls to look out for along the way.
Chloe Stein, Moderator
Policy Analyst
Institute for Children, Poverty, and Homelessness
Wayne Richard
Associate Director of Organizing
Chicago Coalition for the Homeless
Chris Chenet
Community Development Professional
Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority
Jennifer Mitchell-Mayer
Program Development & Design Manager
New York City Department of Education, Office of Community Schools
Joshua Hall
Family System Integration Manager
Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority
Mary Tarullo
Associate Director of Policy
Chicago Coalition for the Homeless
Melissa Schoonmaker
Consultant II, Homeless Education, Division of Student Support Services
Los Angeles County Office of Education
The ESSA changed the McKinney-Vento Act in many ways, including improving access to preschool services, increasing staff capacity and monitoring, enhancements to school stability, and several measures designed to increase high school graduation. This session will review these changes and corresponding improvements to Title I.
Barbara Duffield
Executive Director
SchoolHouse Connection
Patricia Julianelle
Director of Program Advancement & Legal Affairs
SchoolHouse Connection
Christina Dukes
Federal Liaison
National Center for Homeless Education (NCHE)
2:45 pm–4:15 pm
This session provides participants with evidence that, for homeless families, stabilization requires more than rapid rehousing. The presenters examine the strengths and weaknesses of stabilization practices in programs currently serving families experiencing homelessness, and will leave participants with a framework and model for implementing an evidence-based stabilization program in their own work.
Carmela DeCandia
Psychologist
Artemis Associates, LLC
Across the country, rapid rehousing is among the most common tools for addressing the family homelessness crisis. This session provides data from a 2017 report showing DC’s rapid rehousing of families sets many up to fail. Attendees leave with alternatives to rapid rehousing, and strategies for conducting critical analyses of program efficacy in their own communities.
Max Tipping
Staff Attorney & Spitzer Fellow
Washington Legal Clinic for the Homeless
The most effective way to change public policy is through citizen-centric advocacy. This session provides basic information on policy advocacy, including the difference between “lobbying” and “educating.” It also provides attendees practical techniques for holding meetings, sending letters, making phone calls, relationship-building, and using the media as an advocacy tool. There are opportunities to plug into state and issue-oriented groups.
Paul Webster
Director of Strategic Advancement
Solutions for Change
Barbara Duffield
Executive Director
SchoolHouse Connection
Cara Baldari
Senior Policy Director for Poverty & Family Economics, Housing and Homelessness
First Focus Campaign for Children
Regardless of the size of a school district, data analysis can be a useful tool for improving the lives of homeless students. In this session, evidence from Seattle on the academic impact of homelessness will be used to show how local data can be translated into action. Mapping where these students attend school illustrates the effect that gentrification and other factors have had and where educators and policymakers can direct assistance. Attendees will also hear how a multi-pronged approach with local stakeholders created this project, and how similar strategies could be used to generate data-driven insights of their own.
Josef Kannegaard
Principal Policy Analyst
Institute for Children, Poverty, and Homelessness
Adam Petkun
Data and Policy Advisor, Innovation Team at City of Seattle
Mayor’s Office of Policy and Innovation
This session highlights ways to initiate and maximize partnerships with faith-based organizations. With a focus on garnering time, treasure, and territory to benefit children and families experiencing homelessness, the discussion includes information on how to implement innovative models to empower these families, using Charlotte Family Housing programs as examples.
Elizabeth Trotman
Chief Marketing & Strategy Officer
Charlotte Family Housing
Lisa Bradford
Community Engagement Manager
Charlotte Family Housing
This session gives attendees insight into an innovative model, tenancy training, which improves housing placements and tenancy sustainability. Attendees explore the model—what it is, who it’s for, why it’s useful—and learn how Crisis UK utilizes tenancy training to improve the access that homeless people have to housing.
Nicole Bramstedt
Director of Policy
Urban Pathways
When children experience adversity, there are lifelong effects for them, their families, and their communities. This workshop explores how to help these children rise above challenges and create promising futures by teaching them essential coping skills like mindfulness. Participants also learn to build resilience through five major messages: Autonomy, Social Competence, Interdependence, Problem Solving, and a Sense of Purpose.
Cathey Brown
Founder/Chief Executive Officer
Rainbow Days, Inc.
Kelly Wierzbinski
Director of Children, Youth, and Family Services
Rainbow Days, Inc.
This session educates attendees about toxic lending, and how it keeps families entrenched in poverty and debt. Using the work of Community Services League and Holy Rosary Credit Union of Missouri as a case study, presenters provide alternative lending schemes for low-income families, and a framework for dismantling the payday loan industry.
Doug Cowan
President & Chief Executive Officer
Community Services League
San Francisco leaders use an academic model that works by providing supports from workforce development, conflict resolution, and family support, to college and transition services. In this session, they come together for an action-oriented conversation addressing education for homeless youth, speaking to the efficacy of their model, as well as its expansion to include housing.
Teri Delane, PhD
Chief Executive Officer, Principal
Life Learning Academy
Amy Price
Program Executive
Zellerbach Family Foundation
Tomiquia Moss
Executive Director
Hamilton Families
Patricia Lee
Managing Attorney
Office of the Public Defender
The Tennessee Department of Mental Health and Substance Abuse Services has reduced the impact of poverty and homelessness on children and families through the use of a trauma-informed, statewide integrative approach. This session delves deeper into the details of this approach, and provides an opportunity for attendees to interact with members of the panel.
Michael Davis, PhD
Director of Housing & Homeless Services
Tennessee Department of Mental Health and Substance Abuse Services
Marie Williams, LCSW
Commissioner
Tennessee Department of Mental Health and Substance Abuse Services
Kisha Ledlow, MA
Project Director, Tennessee Healthy Transitions Initiative
Tennessee Department of Mental Health and Substance Abuse Services
Jessica Mullins, LMSW
Assistant Director, Office of Child & Youth Mental Health
Tennessee Department of Mental Health and Substance Abuse Services
While ESSA established important new educational rights for homeless students, in the first year since it took effect, many questions have come to light about how to best meet homeless students’ needs while also considering school districts’ budgets. A few states, including New York State, have implemented their own statutes and regulations to address questions like these. For states that are considering adopting their own homeless education statutes, the challenges and lessons learned in New York can offer a springboard for effective steps forward—especially since New York State includes diverse environments such as rural communities, suburban settings, and major urban centers. New York’s new policies set up funding and reimbursement protocols for school districts, and they offer innovative tools to improve cooperation between school districts and county service providers. In this session, participants will hear about what works, and what questions have arisen in New York. Participants will also learn about tools they can use to support legislative change in their own states to better meet the needs of students in temporary housing.
Michelle Frank
Assistant Director
NYS-TEACHS
Friday January 12
(click on individual sessions for more info)9:15 am–10:45 am
Public policy should reflect the fundamental role of housing in community safety, family unity, economic equality, and successful reentry. This session explores incarceration as both a cause and an effect of homelessness. The Fortune Society’s service and advocacy programs are discussed, as well as the myriad of ways attendees can get involved with the issue.
Stanley Richards
Executive Vice President
Fortune Society
Casimiro Torres
Superintendent at Castle Gardens
Fortune Society
JoAnne Page
Chief Executive Officer & President
Fortune Society
Three employment training programs from diverse areas of the country will present their findings, strategies, and challenges in preparing participants for employment. Presenters discuss issues of overcoming debt, financial management, workforce training, social enterprise, and employment readiness for a diverse population, as well as long-term strategies to increase incomes.
Paul Webster
Director of Strategic Advancement
Solutions for Change
Katie Allston
Executive Director
Marian House
Christopher Fay
Executive Director
Homestretch
This session provides an overview of human trafficking, focusing on domestic trafficking within the United States. Using the risk factors identified for victims of trafficking and research on vulnerability within the homeless experience, attendees gain knowledge on the impact of trafficking within a family unit, and how homelessness impacts victims. Attendees leave with strategies that can be implemented by agencies serving homeless families to identify and support human trafficking victims.
Melissa Brockie
New Day Center Director
UMOM
Dominique Roe-Sepowitz, MSW, PhD
Director
Arizona State University Office of Sex Trafficking Intervention Research
Unaccompanied youth face unique challenges. While there are housing and supportive services available to this demographic, it is often difficult to know what to look for or what might be appropriate. This session helps participants understand what programs are available to these young people, and how they can help unaccompanied youth access these services.
Eric Masten
Director of Public Policy
National Network for Youth
Grandparent caregivers face significant housing challenges stemming from the experience of poverty, which can trap their families in unsuitable homes and unsafe neighborhoods, and may place them at risk of homelessness. This session discusses the needs of these caregivers, based on the findings of a recent qualitative study.
Lauren Polvere, PhD
Senior Research Scientist & Research Professor, Center for Human Services Research
University at Albany
Camille Barnes, PhD
Research Scientist & Research Professor, Center for Human Services Research
University at Albany
The research is clear: children and youth experiencing homelessness have worse educational outcomes. This session outlines the current housing-education partnership landscape in the United States, and explores the successes of the Vancouver Housing Authority’s partnership with Vancouver Public Schools. Audience members emerge with a better understanding of why connecting education and housing is so critical.
Abra Lyons-Warren
Senior Program & Policy Manager
Council of Large Public Housing Authorities
Jan Wichert
Director of Employee & Resident Services
Vancouver Housing Authority
Tamara Shoup
Director of Family Engagement & Family-Community Resource Centers
Vancouver Public Schools
Amy Reynolds
Deputy Director
Share
This session explores perceptions of hope and well-being among impoverished children and families. The workshop will include a discussion about the construct of hope and how it’s culturally and contextually shaped. The use of photography as a tool to guide personal narratives is emphasized in discussion, and applied through a hands-on demonstration of the Photovoice process.
Dana Harley
Assistant Professor
University of Cincinnati
James Canfield
Assistant Professor
University of Cincinnati
Viann Barnett
Director, Off the Streets Program
Cincinnati Union Bethel
Aarin Cox
Master of Social Work Graduate Student
University of Cincinnati
Interpersonal violence is a leading cause of homelessness for women and children, and the need for safe and affordable housing is one of the most pressing concerns for survivors of violence and abuse. However, many advocates find it challenging to engage with complex housing systems and provide effective advocacy at this intersection. This interactive session is designed to promote a critical conversation among attendees to inquire about needed services, challenges in their own communities and identify emerging practices.
Anne Menard
Chief Executive Officer
National Resource Center on Domestic Violence
Debbie Fox
Senior Policy & Practice Specialist
National Network to End Domestic Violence
Peg Hacskaylo
Chief Executive Officer
National Alliance for Safe Housing, District Alliance for Safe Housing
In this session, participants learn about the principles of trauma-informed care—emotional and physical safety, building dignity, restoring power, and promoting autonomy—as well as the science driving advancements in the field. Participants also engage with the tenants of the Assertive Engagement approach to working with clients, and learn how to apply this to their own organizations.
Samuel Freni-Rothschild
Housing & Diversion Specialist
Portland Homeless Family Solutions
Kurt Briggs-Ungerer
Program Director
Portland Homeless Family Solutions
11:00 am–12:30 pm
This session provides an overview of chronic absenteeism, including its negative impact on the City’s most vulnerable youth. Participants will leave with effective attendance strategies as developed through New York City Community Schools’ “Every Student, Every Day” campaign.
Sarah Peterson
Director of Research & Development
New York City Department of Education
Sarah Jonas
Deputy Executive Director, Office of Community Schools
New York City Department of Education
Jean Lahage Cohen
Executive Director
Mentor New York
The Los Angeles County Homeless Initiative (HI) is leading a social movement to combat homelessness by coordinating a comprehensive regional approach and securing dedicated funding of $3.55 billion through 2027. In this session, leaders of the initiative discuss the planning process that HI underwent to bring together both public and private stakeholders with a sense of shared ownership for all involved.
Leticia Colchado
Principal Analyst
Los Angeles County Chief Executive Office, Homeless Initiative
Jerry Ramirez
Manager
Los Angeles County Chief Executive Office, Homeless Initiative
The Child Care and Development Block Grant (CCDBG) Act of 2014 authorized the Child Care and Development Fund (CCDF). Panelists discuss how the CCDF serves children receiving federal assistance, focusing on state efforts that specifically benefit families experiencing homelessness.
Marsha Basloe
Senior Advisor for the Office of Early Childhood Development
Administration for Children and Families
Department of Health and Human Services
Christi L. Jeffcoat
Director
South Carolina Voucher Program Control Center Division of Early Care & Education
South Carolina Department of Social Services
Grace Whitney
Director of Early Childhood Initiatives
SchoolHouse Connection
The overall health of homeless children and families is of the utmost importance. Panelists conduct an immersive discussion on innovative ways to reach their most vulnerable patients.
Anna Shaw-Amoah
Principal Policy Analyst
Institute for Children, Poverty, and Homelessness
Iván Romero
Director of Shelter Outreach
The Floating Hospital
Kathy Zeisel, Esq.
Senior Supervising Attorney
Children’s Law Center
Diana Sisson
Equal Justice Works Fellow
Children’s Law Center
Yvonne Doerre
Community Social Worker
Children’s National Health System
This session uses interactive storytelling to share two real-life programming partnership examples, one ideal and one undesirable, to highlight best practices for creating mutually beneficial partnerships. Participants learn to set organizational standards and requirements for partnerships, and learn how to determine appropriate partnership levels for programming—including forgoing partnerships altogether.
Lila Anna Sauls
President & Chief Executive Officer
Homeless No More
Kayla Mallet
Children’s Services Coordinator
Homeless No More/St. Lawrence Place
Laura Stokes
Special Projects Associate
Homeless No More
Looking at the best practices of Drueding Center’s After Care Program, this session gives details about the 7-year program’s rates of success. This After Care model shows how access to a support system once permanent housing is secured can add to the chances of long-term housing retention, and advancement in self-sufficiency.
Cheree Webster-Jones
After Care Family Advocate
Drueding Center
Sherlonda Dozier
After Care Family Advocate
Drueding Center
Ronald Allen
Director of Community Services
Drueding Center
Our House uses a two-generation approach to lifting families out of homelessness and poverty, built on high-quality, closely integrated programming for parents and children alike. This session provides practical guidance on how social service providers and advocates can incorporate two-generation principles into their program design and increase the effectiveness of their work.
Ben Goodwin
Assistant Director
Our House, Inc.
Chris Ramsey
Lead Central Arkansas Family Stability Institute Case Manager
Our House, Inc.
Babies and toddlers experiencing homelessness are often met with little consideration for their needs. In this session, participants consider their local community’s attention to babies and toddlers, and learn local and state-wide strategies for improving care and services for this often-overlooked homeless population.
Diane Nilan
Founder & President
HEAR Us
Mary Haskett
Professor of Psychology
North Carolina State University
Resilience is incredibly important to young people experiencing homelessness. Luckily, research shows that anyone can learn the thoughts and behaviors that comprise resilience. This session reviews that research, suggesting specific ways school staff and service providers can nurture resilience in young people. Most importantly, youth who have, themselves, experienced homelessness will share practical advice and describe how adults have helped them to succeed.
Patricia Julianelle
Director of Program Advancement & Legal Affairs
SchoolHouse Connection
Jose Mendoza
Student, Columbia University
SchoolHouse Connection Young Leader
Katlin Pridy
Graduate, University of Central Florida
Parent pursuing second advanced degree
SchoolHouse Connection Young Leader
Sasha Mansaray
Student, Delaware County Community College
SchoolHouse Connection Young Leader
Paul Turner
Student, Hamilton College
SchoolHouse Connection Young Leader
Utilizing community research on family homelessness, this workshop will focus on the essential components that make community research possible and how to transform research to change. By including examples from local projects that use linked data with other systems impacting families, presenters reflect on lessons learned from these projects, and their measurable outcomes.
Ashley Williams Clark
Assistant Director, Institute for Social Capital
University of North Carolina Charlotte Urban Institute
Courtney Morton
Housing & Homelessness Research Coordinator
Mecklenburg County
In the high-poverty and rapidly gentrifying neighborhood of Southeast Portland, multi-sector partners have come together to implement a short-term rent assistance program in an elementary school. Panelists discuss the evolution of their partnership and explore their challenges and best practice recommendations for preventing family displacement and homelessness.
Rachel Langford
Education & Youth Initiative Program Director
Home Forward
Josue Peña-Juárez
Earl Boyles Housing and Family Advocate
Immigrant and Refugee Community Organization
Dana Hepper
Director of Policy & Program
Children’s Institute
Christine McHone
Licensed School Counselor
Earl Boyles Elementary School
2:15 pm–3:00 pm
Behavioral economics offers a unique perspective into the phenomenon of homelessness. By examining how and why individuals are forced to make choices that may result in homelessness, this economic method offers attendees insight into how upstream interventions in housing instability and the curating of critically timed choice sets can preserve housing and prevent homelessness. This work is especially targeted to high-risk populations, such as young adults with children.
Daniel Farrell
Senior Vice President, Homeless Prevention & Rehousing Services
HELP USA
Tina Goodrich
Program Director of New Beginnings Critical Time Intervention Program
HELP USA
Vernanda McKnight
Assistant Director, Homebase
HELP USA
In this session, members of Durham’s Collaborative to End Family Homelessness discuss the methods and successes of their collaborative process to develop an end-to-end system for reducing homelessness in their community. They examine the lessons they’ve learned along the way, and leave attendees with specific strategies to utilize volunteers and partners to empower families.
Ryan Fehrman
Executive Director
Families Moving Forward
Sheldon Mitchell
Executive Director
Urban Ministries of Durham
Laura Benson
Executive Director
Durham’s Partnership for Children
Catherine Pleil
Director of Partnerships & Programs
Families Moving Forward
The ForKids Housing Crisis Hotline is a call center that assists over 18,000 households annually. Organization representatives discuss the center’s history, system metrics, and community data. They also give a system demonstration, and share how communities and service providers were able to overcome barriers and work together to grow a system that connects individuals with services.
Thaler McCormick
Chief Executive Officer
ForKids
Shirley Brackett
Crisis Response Director
ForKids
Providing an understanding of the complexity of youth homelessness, this panel explores elements that have made San Bernardino’s Homeless Youth Taskforce successful. It also provides advice on best practices for participants and their collaborators.
Brenda Dowdy
Homeless Education Project Manager
San Bernardino County Superintendent of Schools
James Ramos
Third District Supervisor
County of San Bernardino
Andre Bossieux
Transitional Age Youth Program Manager II
San Bernardino Department of Behavioral Health
Molly Wiltshire
Chief of Staff
Office of Supervisor James Ramos, Third District
This session introduces audiences to a shelter curriculum model called Going Home. Through the lens of this highly recognized, specifically designed model, attendees are given practical steps to transform services and programs to focus on curtailing generational or repeated homelessness.
Margaret Lovejoy
Founder & Executive Director
Family Place
Susanne Lovejoy
Fund/Program Developer
Family Place
Susan Dyrud MacDonald
Head of School & Guide at Casa de la Bella Montessori
Family Place
Compassion fatigue is common in fields associated with trauma. Prioritizing self-care is critical for long-term success in direct care and supervisory staff. This session engages participants in the important practice of self-care for caregivers, increasing awareness and providing tools to avoid burnout.
Jamie Meyer
Senior Director of Education
Metropolitan Ministries
HomeFront serves over fifteen thousand homeless and low-income individuals each year using an innovative campus and a range of housing and supportive services. This session focuses on the role that shelter and effective interventions have in serving families at risk, allowing attendees to improve and integrate their own services.
Sheila Addison
Director of the HomeFront Family Campus
HomeFront
Sarah Steward
Chief Operating Officer
HomeFront
Books will be available for purchase.
Site Visits
Site visits give Beyond Housing conference participants the opportunity to learn more about exemplary programs that are addressing aspects of family homelessness and poverty in the New York City area, outside the confines of the traditional breakout session format. Some visits provide tours and discussions with staff at the program sites. Other “site” visits take place at the conference hotel and invite participants to immerse themselves in a hands-on activity.
(ASTEP) Artists Striving to End Poverty
The Floating Hospital
Per Scholas
Prospect Family Inn and Prospect Family Support Center
Saratoga Family Inn
