CCEH January Newsletter

CCEH Newsletter

January 2019

D ear friends,

We begin 2019 with so much momentum in our work to end homelessness in Connecticut. The upcoming Point-In-Time and Youth Outreach and Count takes place later this month and will give us a sense of how much progress we’ve been making in bending the curve on homelessness. We are excited at having a new governor and administration to partner with in our efforts, and I am pleased to have already had a chance to work with Governor Lamont and Lt. Governor Bysiewicz to ensure that ending homelessness is one of their top priorities. We look to working with them to finish the job of ending chronic homelessness, to meet our goal of ending youth and family homelessness by the end of 2020, and to end all homelessness in Connecticut. Across the regional Coordinated Access Networks (CANs), we are seeing unprecedented collaboration resulting in more families with children exiting homelessness into housing, as well as growing excitement around the Youth Homelessness Demonstration Program (YHDP)!

It is only the second week of the year, but 2019 is already turning out to be a major year for our work to end homelessness in Connecticut. Let’s set an intention this year to redouble our commitment to this goal; to strengthen our relationships with fellow service providers, CANs, landlords, hospitals and community health centers, state agencies, elected officials, business leaders, industry associations, and caring citizens; and to work with urgency to ensure that no Connecticut resident is without a safe and stable home. Together, we can end homelessness.

With much gratitude,

Richard Cho

CEO

Lamont Housing Transition Policy

CCEH CEO Richard Cho has been working with housing advocates from across Connecticut to advise the Lamont-Bysiewicz transition team on the issues of housing and homelessness.

The Housing Policy committee gathered on December 18th to provide the transition team with recommendations for Lamont's administration, and present its final recommendations to then Governor-elect Lamont and Lieutenant Governor-elect Bysiewicz on January 4th. Their recommendations included setting a gubernatorial commitment to end to all homelessness within the first term, creating a housing cabinet, increasing the pace of housing development for all income tiers, increasing collaboration with towns, improving coordination among housing authorities, and integrating data from multiple state agencies/data systems.

The Lamont-Bysiewicz transition team is expected to release their final policy report soon. We look forward to sharing more details as they become available and working with the new administration to end homelessness in Connecticut.

Volunteer - Help End Homelessness

Volunteers are still needed for both the Point-In-Time and Youth Outreach and Count in January.

Point-in-Time Count

January 22, 2019

Volunteer

Youth Outreach and Count

January 23-29, 2019

Volunteer

Gearing Up for Connecticut’s

2019 Legislative Session

The state legislature will convene this month to begin negotiations on a new, two-year budget. This legislative session, Connecticut will welcome Governor-elect Ned Lamont, his administration, and many new faces at the Legislative Office Building. CCEH will be working together with you and the Partnership for Strong Communities to highlight the success of investments to end homelessness in your communities and across the state - advocating with your help to protect these resources serving those in most need. The projected deficit for the next state budget has grown to almost $1.9 billion.

We need your help to preserve funding for housing and homelessness services and supports.

Here’s What You Can Do:

Mark your calendar for Wednesday, April 17 and Thursday, April 18 for the Reaching Home 2019 Homelessness and Housing Advocacy Days, when advocates representing each of the 7 CAN regions meet with legislators and make our case to preserve, protect, and defend the resources you need to do this important work. Click here for more information and for the CAN schedule for Advocacy Days.

Register to watch the "Advocacy Reboot Webinar: New Leadership, New Resolve, New Opportunities” on Monday, January 14th from 3:00 pm-4:00 pm. Join Kate Robinson from Gallo & Robinson, Kiley Gosselin from the Partnership for Strong Communities, and Richard Cho and Sarah Fox from CCEH, as they give an overview of the high stakes election season. They will also provide an in-depth analysis of the 2019 state-level election outcomes and what they mean for the path forward on our 2019 Reaching Home Campaign legislative priorities in the state.

Thanks again for your commitment to ending homelessness in Connecticut. Together we are making a difference!!

If you have any questions please contact Sarah Fox at [email protected] or Danielle Hubley at [email protected].

Thank you for being homeful for the holidays!

What a wonderful year-end! Thank you to EVERYONE who made our third annual be homeful for the holidays campaign a huge success! Thanks to you, we met our goal of $50,000, which means that we raised enough money to give every child in shelter this holiday season their very own Paddington to snuggle, a Paddington book to curl up with, AND to make sure that fifty families never have to experience the hardship of homelessness. We have so many people to thank: our friends from CT REALTORS® Foundation and Citizens Bank who underwrote the campaign, the many companies who held Paddington™ bear-raiser drives, and the dozens of volunteers from CT Association of REALTORS®, Citizens Bank, and United Way who together wrapped, loaded, and delivered gifts to children in nearly fifty shelters across the state just in time for the Christmas holiday! A special thanks in particular to the REALTORS® for raising close to $30,000 this holiday season, to Splash Car Wash holding a giant bear-raiser across their Fairfield County locations, and to Easton PTA, Ridge Hill School, Pomperaug Elementary School and Platt High School Interact Club who together raised enough to keep more than four families housed. We couldn’t be more grateful!

We are still counting some final gifts that are rolling in so if you haven’t sent in your gift, please do so at www.behomeful.org/give. We look forward to updating you on the final totals raised later this month. Visit our Facebook Album to see all the wonderful pictures of bear-raiser drives and deliveries this holiday season!

One more special thanks…

A special thanks to everyone who supported our year-end annual appeal. Year-end gifts are critical to CCEH’s ability to provide ongoing support to the work you do every day. If you would still like to donate, you can make your gift at www.cceh.org/donate.

New Youth Learning Collaboratives

The Youth Homelessness Demonstration Program (YHDP) is bringing two new learning collaboratives to Connecticut to support our work in ending youth homelessness by troubleshooting challenges that might arise, developing new policy as needed, and providing training and support to youth providers. The collaboratives will have a specific focus on the YHDP programs, yet is open to all youth providers as the entire homeless response system will benefit from the YHDP pilot's work.

Youth Coordinated Entry Learning Collaborative

Open to all Youth Navigators, youth coordinated entry staff, and youth crisis housing providers in Connecticut, regardless of YHDP funding.

Youth Rapid Re-Housing Learning Collaborative

Open to all youth Rapid Re-Housing providers in Connecticut, regardless of YHDP funding.

Both collaboratives will meet on the second Friday, every other month. If you'd like to be added to the contact list and receive the meeting schedule, please email [email protected] with your name, title, contact info, and which collaborative you'd like to join.

Join the CCEH Team!

After being with us for several years, Jackie Janosko is leaving CCEH to join the National Alliance to End Homelessness in Washington, D.C.! We will miss Jackie, but wish her all the best as she charges on to end homelessness at a national level.

CCEH is now seeking a Senior Research Analyst who will be responsible for a wide variety of tasks related to data collection and analysis, including using CT HMIS, relating to programs that serve people experiencing homelessness in Connecticut.

Read the full job description and apply here.