Author: Hugo Ambriz

Registration is now open for the 14th cohort of the HMIS Data Analytics On-Demand Course. The goal of this immersive course is to provide a conceptual and practical framework for ad hoc reporting utilizing Homeless Management Information System (HMIS) data. This self-paced course is open to anyone in your community who is interested in analyzing, interpreting, and communicating HMIS data. This is an introductory level course and might be a good fit for newer members of your HMIS team or someone looking to brush up on their data skills. Participants are not expected to have high-level technical or statistical skills; only basic knowledge of the following is needed:

• HMIS data standards
• How to pull an HMIS comma-separated value (CSV) file set, unless the participant has access to someone who can pull HMIS reports for them
• How to enter data into Excel and navigate within it

The data analytics course will equip participants with the skills to create a data brief highlighting trends to engage communities to drive insights into action. A combination of content, hands-on skill-building, and recommended resources are provided to help a basic data user build skills and knowledge necessary to be an advanced data professional while providing opportunities for ongoing professional development and learning.

Participants will have eight weeks to complete six course modules at their own pace. Course participants will also receive a certificate upon completion of all six modules.

Registration

The 14th offering of the HMIS Data Analytics On-Demand Course will be held from October 21 – December 13, 2024.

Please Note: Registration is limited to 400 individuals and will automatically close once the course is at capacity. When registering, please use the code 2024SEPTHMIS.

Register for Cohort 14

Accommodation Requests and Questions

If you need accommodation, please send an email to hmisonlinecourse@cloudburstgroup.com with a description of the accommodations needed to successfully complete the course. An instructor will reach out to discuss available options.

For any questions regarding the HMIS Data Analytics On-Demand Course, please contact hmisonlinecourse@cloudburstgroup.com.

Additional Information

For more information, please visit the course syllabus and the HMIS Data Analytics On-Demand Course page.

HUD’s Equal Access Rule (EAR), which was expanded in 2016, ensures that HUD’s housing and shelter programs are open to all eligible individuals and families regardless of sexual orientation, gender identity, or marital status. This webinar examines how to better understand the Rule and how it applies to emergency shelters and provides communities with information to be able to amend and implement policies, procedures, and best practices. 

Implementing HUD’s Equality Access Rule in Emergency Shelters
Thurs, Sept 12th 9am – 10:30am PST/12pm – 1:30pm EDT

Objectives

• Understand the barriers faced by Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer and/or Questioning, Intersex, Asexual/Agender (LGBTQIA+) individuals and all families who attempt to access emergency shelter
• Examine requirements under the Fair Housing Act, EAR, and Supreme Court decision, Bostock v. Clayton County
• Explore discrimination and trauma-informed strategies to support LGBTQIA+ individuals, all families, and survivors of gender-based violence
• Provide resources, training, and other tools to ensure compliance with the Fair Housing Act and EAR
  

Audience

This webinar is intended for Emergency Shelter staff, leadership, and program managers. Other practitioners interested in learning more about the EAR are also welcome to attend. This could include anyone supporting any programs administered through HUD’s Office of Community Planning and Development (CPD) including Continuum of Care (CoC) homeless assistance, Emergency Solutions Grant (ESG), and Housing Opportunities for Persons With AIDS (HOPWA).

The Office of Care Coordination, on behalf of the Orange County Continuum of Care (CoC), is hosting upcoming training opportunities intended to equip service providers, local partners, and community members with information on resources and best practices for the homeless service system. Please find details below on the upcoming training opportunities.

Housing First Training

The training will provide essential tools and techniques for Housing First implementation in design and operation by program model, including street outreach, emergency shelter and/or permanent housing. The training will cover the services and structures necessary to ensure successful housing placements, housing retention and long-term stability. 

Date: Wednesday, August 21, 2024
Time: 1:00 PM – 2:30 PM
Meeting Link: https://zoom.us/j/96156570118?pwd=oaHdKFSZKMWFlYMAASFT2P5oAQtrwE.1 
Meeting ID: 961 5657 0118
Passcode: 941774

Trauma Informed Care Training

The training will build upon basic principles of Trauma Informed Care. Attendees will take a deeper dive into understanding secondary and vicarious trauma for both service providers and program participants, understand the overlap of Trauma Informed Care with Harm Reduction and other core principles, and identify ways to incorporate principles into service delivery practices with people experiencing homelessness.

Please note, this training is intended to expand on the Trauma Informed Care training held by Dusty Olson on August 10, 2023. If you would like to review the previous Orange County CoC Trauma Informed Care Training, please watch the training at: https://ceo.ocgov.com/care-coordination/homeless-services/continuum-care-additional-documents

This virtual training requires registration. 

Date: Thursday, August 29, 2024
Time: 1:00 PM – 2:30 PM 

Please register to attend by Wednesday, August 28, 2024 at https://zoom.us/meeting/register/tJwsdO2qrjwiHdJtJ9LWFQtk3OiKs95mVQLi If you have questions about the trainings, please reach out to the Office of Care Coordination at CareCoordination@ocgov.com

Thursday, June 20 @ 3:00 – 4:30 P.M. ET

An effective response to homelessness requires permanent housing solutions with enough flexibility and options to meet an entire community’s diverse housing needs. But meeting these needs is a real challenge amid the nationwide housing affordability crisis. Rapid Re-Housing, as a program model, has the potential to be flexible and adaptable at the system, program, and individual levels. In this webinar, hear from communities that are harnessing that flexibility to meet the moment and generate innovative and creative housing solutions.

REGISTER HERE

The new Unsheltered Homelessness resource collection features both new and existing technical assistance materials that highlight innovative approaches to serving households experiencing unsheltered homelessness.

Unsheltered homelessness takes many forms in both urban and rural settings. Those experiencing unsheltered homelessness can be sleeping in locations such as vehicles, abandoned buildings, farms, and in the wilderness.

The resource collection assists different audiences in coordinating efforts, grounded in Housing-First and public health principles, to reduce unsheltered homelessness while improving services, health outcomes, and housing stability among highly vulnerable individuals and families living in unsheltered situations.

The resource collection is organized by topic and audience, such as housing focused outreach and encampment resolution, permanent housing strategies, and data and reporting. The collection also compiles resources specifically developed for Continuums of Care (CoCs) and recipients awarded Unsheltered and Rural Special Notice of Funding Opportunity (Special NOFO) grants, to support local efforts to house people experiencing unsheltered homelessness.

View the Unsheltered Homelessness Resource Collection

Street Outreach serves a critical role in the homeless response system, often reaching people who aren’t accessing services in any other way. Incorporating a housing focus into street outreach programs improves outcomes for persons experiencing unsheltered homelessness by eliminating the need to first enter emergency shelter, and instead directly connecting them to safe, stable, permanent housing. Implementing housing-focused street outreach requires a shift from the historical practices of outreach that have focused primarily on addressing basic needs and connection to shelter through light touch services to a more trauma-informed and service intensive model that includes housing navigation.

This webinar series provides an overview of the basics of housing-focused street outreach, highlights communities that are effectively addressing unsheltered homelessness using housing-focused street outreach models and provides clear guidance for shifting the focus of outreach to housing both on the ground and at the system level.

Objectives

• Understand the fundamentals of housing-focused street outreach
• Increase knowledge of the benefits of shifting to housing-focused street outreach
• Understand how other communities are implementing housing-focused street outreach

Audience

This webinar series is intended for Continuum of Care (CoC), Emergency Solutions Grant (ESG), and Special Notice of Funding Opportunity to Address Unsheltered and Rural Homelessness (SNOFO) grant recipients.

Schedule and Registration

Webinar Title	Date and Time	Registration
Building Blocks	April 9, 2024 2:00 – 3:00 PM EDT	Materials Coming Soon
System Support for Housing-Focused Street Outreach	May 16, 2024 3:30 – 5:00 PM EDT	Register Now
Your Questions Answered	June 6, 2024 12:00 – 1:30 PM EDT	Save the Date

You must have a HUD Exchange account to register. Follow these instructions for registering.

Contact

Housing-Focused Street Outreach Webinar Series Register | dusty_olsen@abtassoc.com

Coordinated Entry: Best Practices in Centering Equity and Ensuring Effectiveness

Thursday, April 18 @ 3:00 – 4:30 P.M. ET

Effective Coordinated Entry systems increase consistency, efficiency, and equity in communities’ work to end homelessness – but in practice, these systems can be hard to implement. In this webinar, learn from communities who are taking these challenges head on, harnessing the new visibility and clarity that Coordinated Entry has provided, and taking bold steps towards realizing the promise of a more equitable and functional Coordinated Entry System.

Register Here

Emergency Shelter: Reimagining a Housing Focused Place People Want to Use

Thursday, May 16 @ 3:00 – 4:30 P.M. ET

A safe, welcoming, low-barrier, and housing-focused shelter is a critical component of an effective homeless response system. Effective shelter practice requires listening to people with lived expertise and making cultural, philosophical, and operational shifts according to their feedback. This webinar will discuss modifying entry protocols, lowering barriers, and rethinking service provision to adopt housing-focused approaches.

Register Here

HUD’s Office of HIV/AIDS Housing (OHH) and its partners are working to support Housing Opportunities for Persons With AIDS (HOPWA) grantees and project sponsors to embrace and implement OHH’s new approach of Reset, Renew, Recharge (3R). 3R is an overarching strategy intended to enhance HOPWA program design and promote core values that will positively impact the lives and housing stability of people living with HIV/AIDS.

As part of the roll out of 3R, a series of webinars will provide grantees, project sponsors, and local communities with information on best practices and strategies to successfully introduce and operationalize 3R into their local HOPWA programs. Register today for the first webinar in the series, Permanent Housing Placement (PHP) – Getting in the Door.

Note: Prior to participating in this webinar series, it may be helpful to learn more about 3R by watching the recording of the 3R: A HOPWA Program Strategy Webinar held in 2022.

Objectives

• Provide a blueprint for HOPWA program design and core values
• Support communities to achieve program excellence and impact
• Ensure programs are designed to meet the changing needs of the modern HIV epidemic
• Promote equity for all people living with HIV/AIDS
• Encourage consistent use of client-centered, low-barrier approaches

Audience

This series is intended for HOPWA grantees and project sponsors.

Schedule and Registration

Webinar Title	Date and Time	Registration
Permanent Housing Placement (PHP) – Getting in the Door	March 13, 2024 1:00 – 2:30 PM EDT	Webinar Materials
HOPWA Rent Standards: Beyond Fair Market Rent (FMR)	April 10, 2024 2:30 – 4:00 PM EDT	Register Now
Integrated Disbursement and Information System (IDIS)	April 24, 2024 1:00 – 2:30 PM EDT	TBD
Short-Term Rent, Mortgage, and Utility Assistance (STRMU): Ensuring the Right Fit	May 8, 2024 1:00 – 2:30 PM EDT	TBD

You must have a HUD Exchange account to register. Follow these instructions for registering.

Contact

HOPWA 3R Webinar Series Registrar | info@tacinc.org

Request 3R Technical Assistance

In addition to these webinars, HOPWA Technical Assistance (TA) is free and available to assist grantees and communities to implement 3R strategies. TA support is tailored to each community’s needs and goals. Examples of TA include:

• Reviewing grant spending and identifying strategies to utilize HOPWA dollars most efficiently
• Improving grantee and project sponsor capacity and expanding project sponsor networks
• Educating grantees and project sponsors on client-centered, low-barrier approaches
• Exploring new models of housing and services
• Leveraging new resources to expand the number of people with HIV/AIDS served by a program

Submit your TA Request via the HUD Exchange. Under Topics, select Affordable Housing and Community Development > HOPWA. In the Subject Line enter, “HOPWA 3R Technical Assistance.”

New 2022 Continuum of Care (CoC) Performance Profile Reports are now available on HUD Exchange. These CoC Performance Profile Reports provide a snapshot of a CoC’s performance in addressing homelessness using performance indicators such as the length of time persons have been homeless, returns to homelessness over time, and exits to permanent housing.

The CoC Performance Profile Reports:

• Compile data as of 2022 from the Point-in-Time (PIT) count, Housing Inventory Count (HIC), System Performance Measures (SPM), and CoC Program Competition
• Provide graphic representations of data
• Summarize data by years in tables

Each report includes funding information from HUD’s CoC Program, Emergency Solutions Grants (ESG) Program, and Youth Homelessness Demonstration Program (YHDP).

Consistent with HUD’s Office of Special Needs Assistance Programs (SNAPS) Data Strategy & Usability, HUD continues to look for ways to empower you to use data to tell the story of your CoC’s efforts to end homelessness. This report is an additional tool to help you evaluate your own work and communicate your efforts to others.

Registration is now open for the 11th cohort of the HMIS Data Analytics On-Demand Course. The goal of this immersive course is to provide a conceptual and practical framework for ad hoc reporting utilizing Homeless Management Information System (HMIS) data. This self-paced course is open to anyone in your community who is interested in analyzing, interpreting, and communicating HMIS data. This is an introductory level course and might be a good fit for newer members of your HMIS team or someone looking to brush up on their data skills. Participants are not expected to have high-level technical or statistical skills; only basic knowledge of the following is needed:

• HMIS data standards
• How to pull an HMIS comma-separated value (CSV) file set, unless the participant has access to someone who can pull HMIS reports for them
• How to enter data into Excel and navigate within it

The data analytics course will equip participants with the skills to create a data brief highlighting trends to engage communities to drive insights into action. A combination of content, hands-on skill-building, and recommended resources are provided to help a basic data user build skills and knowledge necessary to be an advanced data professional while providing opportunities for ongoing professional development and learning.

Participants will have eight weeks to complete six course modules at their own pace. Course participants will also receive a certificate upon completion of all six modules.

Registration

The 11th offering of the HMIS Data Analytics On-Demand Course will be held from January 29 – March 22, 2024.

Please Note: Registration is limited to 400 individuals and will automatically close once the course is at capacity. When registering, please use the code 2024JANHMIS.

Register for Cohort 11

For more information, please visit the course syllabus and the HMIS Data Analytics On-Demand Course page.

Questions?

For any questions regarding the HMIS Data Analytics On-Demand Course, please contact hmisonlinecourse@cloudburstgroup.com.