CCEH Newsletter
December 2019
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Dear Friends,
Happy holidays! For those of us working to end homelessness, the holiday season is an especially busy and important time. Winter weather means that Connecticut’s homeless services network goes into overdrive, working to ensure that everyone has a safe place to get inside from the cold, while continuing to work to help people reconnect to a stable home. It is the season of giving, when we seek to appeal to the generosity of our supporters to help us bring an end to the tragedy of homelessness in our state.
It is also a time of reflection. On the evening of the winter solstice, we commemorate Homeless Persons’ Memorial Day, a day when we remember those who lost their lives due to homelessness, help others to recognize that homelessness is a life-and-death matter, and recommit to ensure that no person should ever have to sleep outside...
...Wishing you a very happy holiday and looking forward to seeing you in the new year.
Sincerely,
Richard Cho
CEO
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As our year draws to a close, we are grateful to every one of you who makes unrestricted gifts to support the work of the coalition. Your contributions help us in our efforts to make homelessness in Connecticut rare, brief, and non-recurring and we are grateful for contributions large and small. You can make your annual contribution
here
.
Also, please consider giving to one of the
many organizations
that provide homeless services locally. Thank you for your support!
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This has been a remarkable year for be homeful for the holidays. We have been THRILLED by the outpouring from communities from throughout Connecticut who have rolled up their sleeves to hold Paddington bear-raiser drives to donate Paddington bears and books to children in shelters throughout Connecticut and raise much-needed diversion funds. To date, we have received more than $40,000 and the gifts are going out as we speak. It’s not too late to donate so please make your gift
at
behomeful.org/give
.
Diversion funds are low in many parts of the state so your gift will make an immediate difference in more way than one.
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Sign Up for the 2020 Point-In-Time Count
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The PIT Count planning is well underway and the team is closely working with the Regional Coordinators to help with the Housing Inventory counts and mapping of the outreach data in preparation for the night of the count on January 21st. This year’s count will leverage online maps using census tracts making it easier to track and record the surveys for the volunteers. Check out
our webpage
for updates on the most recent webinars to help you plan as well as to volunteer.
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Volunteer for the 2020
Youth Outreach and Count
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The 2020 Youth Outreach and Count is taking place from January 22 to 28. This volunteer-led effort to survey young people statewide about experiences with housing will be in its fifth year in 2020. It has matured to be both an important data collection exercise and equally important community awareness and partner- building event. Ending youth homelessness requires partners and collaborators in every corner of the state! Regions of the state are currently meeting and mapping out plans to conduct the count now.
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The Department of Veterans Affairs has
just released a Notice of Funding Availability (NOFA)
for existing grantees of the Supportive Services for Veteran Families (SSVF) program. This program is an essential tool to end veteran homelessness: it served 70,500 veterans in 2019 alone, and has consistently enjoyed strong bipartisan support. This NOFA will support applicants who seek additional funding for veteran programs using
evidence-based practices
.
Any community seeking funding is encouraged to
apply
as soon as possible
.
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U.S. DOJ/Office for Victims of Crime Funding
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On Tuesday, December 3rd, OVC released the
FY20 NOFA for Housing Assistance for Victims of Human Trafficking
(grants.gov Opportunity number OVC 2020-17755). HUD encourages communities to work with organizations serving human trafficking survivors to explore housing challenges for this population and consider applying for this program. HUD is committed to continuing our work with DOJ and HHS to address the needs of trafficking survivors.
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Article by CCEH Intern Lindsay Hopkins
In an effort to end youth homelessness, CCEH implemented the Single Point of Contact (SPOC) position throughout Connecticut colleges and universities about two years ago. This position provides support for students who are, or previously were, experiencing an unstable housing situation. Although relatively new, CCEH is working quickly to administer this position at every college and university in the state and continuously train and connect with existing SPOCs.
This November, CCEH partnered with the National Association for the Education of Homeless Children (NAEHCY) to present a conference what the SPOC position entails and the supportive networks it creates. The conference was led by CCEH's Mimi Haley, Mia Bryant, and Carl Asikainen, as well as NAEHCY’s Dr. Stacey Havlik and Shirley Fan-Chan. In attendance were SPOCs and McKinney-Ventos around Connecticut. Havlik and Fan-Chan provided details on the extensive web that can and should be created between elementary schools, middle schools, high schools, and colleges and universities. While an active SPOC position is important, the circulation of data is just as important. CCEH encourages liaisons to reach out to us and other liaisons and to keep open communication with each other. Remember, we are stronger together!
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Honoring Columbus House
and Alison Cunningham
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Good morning. I am so thrilled and honored to be with you here this morning.
This Annual Meeting is a special event for several reasons. First, because it gives us a chance to reflect on and
celebrate the amazing work of Columbus House
over the last year.
It’s also personally special for me as a chance to honor the accomplishments of one of my own heroes in the fight to end homelessness—
the great Alison Cunningham
. (But I’ll save my gushing over Alison for later in the program.)
It’s also happens to coincide with my own
one-year anniversary
serving as the CEO of the Connecticut Coalition to End Homelessness—a role, by the way, for which I have Alison to thank (or blame, depending on the day) as she led the Board Search Committee that ultimately resulted in my hire.
And while I’ve been at CCEH only one year, next year—the year 2020—will mark
my 20
th
anniversary
working in the effort to end homelessness. Twenty years. I say that with a mixture of joy and shame.
Joy
in that those 20 years have allowed me to know and work with so many wonderful leaders, visionaries, and warriors—like Alison--working to end this human rights tragedy of the 20
th
Century that we call homelessness.
But also
shame
because it means that homelessness has persisted for decades. It was around for roughly 20 years when I began my professional life and here I am 20 years later.
But I stand here today to tell you all that we must not and will not let homelessness persist for another 20 years, or even 10 years.
We can and we will end homelessness in our state
. And we will do so in the next few years.
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CCEH Staff Meets Matthew Doherty
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Unfortunately, we had to cancel our event with former USICH Head Matthew Doherty due to inclement weather, but we were pleased to host him at the CCEH offices. We hope we can work together in the future and wish Matt the best where ever his career takes him!
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WNPR | December 2019
New York Times | December 2019
Slate | November 2019
NBC Connecticut | November 2019
The Hour | December 2019
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Communications Coordinator
CCEH is seeking a talented, motivated Communications Coordinator to coordinate external communications for the organization. The successful candidate will work with colleagues to shape and coordinate communications to different stakeholder groups. This position will play a critical role in supporting the organization’s messaging in the press, through marketing materials, proposals and advocacy materials, in social media, and through major flagship events including the organization’s annual conference.
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Upcoming Trainings & Events
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Save the Date: 2020 ATI - May 13
Save the date! This year’s Annual Training Institute will take place May 13th at the Connecticut Convention Center. The Connecticut Coalition to End Homelessness Annual Training Institute (ATI) is Connecticut’s premier capacity-building event for organizations, providers, and partners working to prevent and end homelessness in Connecticut. National and state presenters gather to provide training and information on best practices, promising innovations, and new system-wide initiatives as they relate to ending homelessness. With over 400 attendees, this event is the largest gathering of the state’s homeless service sector and its partners and has sold-out for the past three years. The ATI is a highly-visible event that has been attended by the Governor, other key officials, and national leaders. Don’t miss it!
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Connecticut Coalition to End Homelessness
Connect with us
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