Homeward January 2024 Newsletter

HOMEWARD JANUARY 2024 NEWSLETTER:

Happy New Year!

Can't See the Email? View as Webpage Here.

Homeward, along with its state-wide partners, will host the Iowa Homelessness Coalition Day on the Hill, occurring on January 9, 2024 from 7:30-11:30 AM. Please join us to advocate for the needs of those experiencing homelessness. While registration is not required, it is helpful. Register HERE.

Find more information about our legislative priorities and register for our Action Alerts HERE.

LEGISLATIVE ADVOCACY TRAINING

Whether you have spent some quality time in an advocacy role or if you are new to advocacy, join us and our peers at ACES 360 for this virtual training occurring on

January 4 at noon as we prepare for Day on the Hill.

Microsoft Teams meeting

Join on your computer, mobile app or room device

Click here to join the meeting

Meeting ID: 281 353 432 738

Passcode: YsEmCX

SERVICE PROVIDER TRAINING SURVEY

Providing services to those who are experiencing homelessness is a tough job. Oftentimes, agencies are stretched thin and trainings can vary from agency to agency depending on what type of additional funding sources that's available. Homeward and members of its Service Council are interested in re-tooling the Service Council, the current committee tasked with providing training to Continuum of Care partners. Through several stakeholder meetings, there is an interest and a desire to provide additional training supports within the metro. We are encouraging individuals, regardless of your role within an agency, to take the following survey: https://forms.gle/zCY2ESiq3EnrBfXW8

Please contact Amy Croll if you need a hard copy of the survey.

The results of this survey will be analyzed by the next iteration of the Service Council and a training plan for our field. We appreciate your participation!

Meet James!

Homeward welcomes University of Iowa MSW foundational practicum student James McKee for the spring 2024 semester! James reached out to Homeward after reading the Unsheltered Study published in Spring 2023.

While at Homeward, James will spend some time at the Capitol working on eviction expungement, training logistics, assist with next steps regarding the gaps analysis, and will help with the Youth Action Council. In his free time, James enjoys singing, listening to music, cooking, and reading fantasy books and autobiographies.

Welcome, James!

Gaps Analysis Recommendations

Matt White of Housing Innovations joined us for two full days of meetings in mid-December to discuss our current systems and areas where immediate improvements are needed. A final report outlining his recommendations will be released in late January and published on the Homeward website. The highlights of his recommendations include the following:

Creation of a family shelter should be a top priority as a community.
Development of Permanent Supportive Housing is necessary to address the overwhelming need of individuals in our community.
A greater focus on resource development to divert or prevent entry into the system will alleviate pressure on our emergency shelters.
We need to significantly increase the amount of affordable housing in a variety of forms to provide much needed housing in our community. This will require a concerted effort of all sectors of our community.

If you are interested in working to implement his recommendations, please reach out to Jim Cain at jcain@homewardiowa.org

Fair Housing and Equal Access Training

January 17, 9:00-10:30 AM

This particular training will feature the Regional HUD office staff and staff from One Iowa. The training will address anti-discrimination and involuntary separation and implementation of the Equal Access Rule and Gender Identity Final Rule. Specifically, this training will help providers be intentional when working with the LGBTQ community.

Please join the training from your computer, tablet or smartphone.

https://meet.goto.com/249105781

You can also dial in using your phone.

United States: +1 (872) 240-3412

Access Code: 249-105-781

Homeward Redesign Efforts

As we continue to evolve, we're changing some of the way we manage our communications. We're updating our mailing lists and have overhauled our website so we can continue to do a better job supporting our partners. We encourage you to keep checking back to see how the website continues to progress.

If you have been added to a list in error or would like to be added to our newsletter, training list, or action alerts, please reach out to Amy Croll. If there's a better email to include, we're happy to update your contact information.

Youth Homelessness Prevention Workgroup Meeting

Several of you joined us for the Youth Homelessness Prevention Workgroup meeting in December. The highlights of that meeting included:

Desire to continue informal networking meeting around specific topics with a rotating host on a quarterly basis.

Determining priorities for future work.

Setting a set meeting date of the 2nd Wednesday of the months of January, April, July, and October from 10-12 pm. Because of the Day on the Hill on January 9, we will not meet in January.

Individuals interested in serving on a networking planning committee or helping to determine priorities should contact Amy Croll.

If you are not currently on the mailing list for these meetings and would like to be, please reach out to Amy Croll at acroll@homewardiowa.org

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