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Orange County HMIS

Category: News

HMIS Q1 2017 Report Cards Posted!

The HMIS Q1 2017 Report Cards have been published!  These report cards review data timeliness, entries referred from the Coordinated Entry System, and Average Data Quality Scores, for the three different types of data elements our users collect data for: Universal Data Elements, Program Specific Data Elements at Entry, and Program Specific Data Elements at Exit.

LGBT Sensitivity Training Wrap Up

On June 30th, 2017, 211OC hosted an LGBT Sensitivity Training session presented by the LGBTQ Center of Long Beach and learned a lot about how to best serve our LGBTQ clients experiencing homelessness. Please feel free to look through the slides that were presented today to get a feel for what we discussed.

In a nutshell, here are some best practices that we went over:

  • Service providers should affirm and accept clients’ identities without invasive questioning or invalidation. This lines up with HUD’s guidance for data elements 3.4 Race, 3.5 Ethnicity, and 3.6 Gender which specify in the HMIS Data Standards manual that “staff observations should not be used to collect information” on race, gender, or ethnicity.
  • In order to foster a safe environment, our agencies should be actively affirming of LGBTQ clients. Our presenters told us that LGBTQ clients are very likely to check out a provider’s website before accessing services, and that seeing a small rainbow icon or some other indicator  on the website that the agency is a safe place for LGBTQ clients makes them feel more comfortable approaching the agency for services. LGBTQ clients generally do not assume they will be treated with compassion so adding an affirming icon or banner to your website is a great way to let LGBTQ clients know they are welcome before they take that big step first of contacting an agency to ask for help. Prominent LGBTQ affirming signage in your physical offices or any place clients might seek help are also very helpful.
  • Laws and regulations do not provide LGBTQ clients with complete protections. For example, although same sex marriage is legal federally, some states and counties continue to resist granting LGBTQ people marriage licenses. Just because anti-discrimination laws exist does not mean that discrimination against LGBTQ people has disappeared. In order to help enforce these legal protections, it is important that agencies have anti-discrimination policies in place and make supporting LGBTQ clients an ongoing conversation inside the agency.
  • If you have questions, the LGBTQ Center of Long Beach is happy to help! In the very last slide of the presentation you will find contact information for today’s presenter, Joel Gemino. You can reach Joel by email at jgemino@centerlb.org or by phone at (562) 434-4455 ex. 227. Joel is happy to help any service provider who has questions or concerns about serving LGBTQ clients.

Thanks so much to everyone who was able to make it to this training!

FREE LGBT Sensitivity Training Scheduled for 6/30/17

211OC will host a FREE LGBT Sensitivity Training for all Orange County homeless service providers on Friday June 30th from 10AM to 12PM. A representative from the Long Beach LGBT Center will conduct the training which will consist of a presentation and Q&A session.

Where? CASA Training Room (Upstairs) 1505 E 17th. St Santa Ana, CA 92705
When? Friday, 6/30/17, from 10AM to 12PM.

We are hoping at least one representative from each of our agencies can attend this important training. According to HUD “[m]embers of the LGBT community are more likely to become homeless, and once homeless, more likely to endure discrimination and harassment that extends their homelessness.” We want Orange County’s CoC to be a safe and welcoming place for all LGBT clients experiencing homelessness, and we hope that this training will help us serve this marginalized population better!

There is no need to RSVP for this event, please just show up ready to learn!

OC LGBT History Fun Fact: In April 1972, Costa Mesa resident John Rule installed a pink mail box outside his house to mark the founding of what eventually became the Orange County Gay & Lesbian Community Services Center, one of the first in the nation. Because it was not safe to advertise the purpose of Rule’s house, the pink mailbox let community members know that they were in the right place.

Free LGBT Sensitivity Training Offered by 211OC!

Did you know that according to HUD “[m]embers of the LGBT community are more likely to become homeless, and once homeless, more likely to endure discrimination and harassment that extends their homelessness”? LGBT people are not protected under the Fair Housing Act, however, HUD’s Equal Access Rule “makes it illegal to discriminate against LGBT individuals and families in any housing that receives funding from HUD or is insured by the Federal Housing Administration, regardless of local laws.” Orange County is positioned to lead the way in providing safe, compassionate, and equal housing opportunities to members of the LGBT community.

In order to better serve our LGBT population experiencing homelessness, 211OC will provide a FREE training on LGBT sensitivity and best practices. We hope to have at least one representative from each of our HMIS participating agencies attend this upcoming event. In order to book an appropriate venue, we need to get a rough idea of how many attendees we can expect.

If you would like to attend, please send an email to Casey Parnis with answers to the following questions:

How many staff members from your agency would you like to send?

Are there any specific sub-populations you would like more information about (i.e. youth, transgender, LGBT parents)?

Are there any weekdays in June that you would be unavailable for training?

Thank you so much! We hope to see you there!

Intake forms have been updated!

All HMIS Intake Spanish Forms have been updated to make them flow better and sound more natural, as well as to incorporate the recent changes to the Data Standards. There are separate forms for projects that receive PATH, RHY, SSVF, and VASH funding, as these projects require additional questions to be answered. In addition, small corrections were made to the English Intake Forms.

NEW HMIS Help Desk Procedure!

Awesome news! We are implementing a new HMIS Helpdesk software called HappyFox, which will allow us to respond to your HMIS issues much more quickly and accurately. Woohoo! HappyFox also provides us with “Knowledge Base” software, which is a collection of articles written by 211OC HMIS Staff about common HMIS problems. Checking the Knowledge Base before submitting a ticket can help you solve some issues on your own without having to wait for a reply from HMIS Staff!

IMPORTANT: Client names, dates of birth, and social security numbers should NEVER be sent through HappyFox, including in screenshots. Check ALL screenshots for visible client identifying information and use Paint or other image editing software to block it out before attaching.

As a reminder, only designated Agency Administrators should be contacting 211OC through the new Helpdesk software. However, all users can search for help using the online Knowledge Base.

In addition, 211OC Staff will not be responding to emails sent to the HMIS helpdesk email (hmis-helpdesk@211oc.org), and we will no longer be responding to HMIS questions sent to our individual email addresses. Please submit all questions or concerns to the new HMIS Help Desk ticketing system.

See submission instructions here.

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