D
ear friends,
The Annual Training Institute (ATI) is just hours away and I could not be more excited to gather with you all. No other event comes close in embodying the broad coalition of people and organizations working to end homelessness—from people who work to directly assist people experiencing homelessness to the leaders and managers of provider organizations to private sector supporters to our partners in government. In response to popular demand, we increased the ATI’s capacity this year from 400 to 550, and once again, we find that the event is sold out. Clearly, the coalition to end homelessness in Connecticut is bigger and stronger than ever. You all appear to be, as my former boss used to say, “fired up, and ready to go!” Thank you to all of our sponsors, especially our presenting sponsor, Bank of America, for your support.
I’m told that the ATI is both a chance to share knowledge, but also to celebrate our successes and victories. And we have much to celebrate indeed. A few weeks ago, we reported to HUD that the number of people who used emergency shelters and transitional housing decreased once again from 2017 to 2018—a total decline of 40% since 2012. We expect that our report on the results of the Point in Time and Youth Counts, which we plan to finalize and publish in the next few weeks, will tell a similar story. At the same time, we know that the problem of homelessness is complex and that there are still many areas we have left to tackle. We hope to focus on these areas including the not insubstantial number of people who avoid shelters and choose to sleep outside, in vehicles, or other places not meant for human habitation, and who are our Coordinated Access Network system is not adequately reaching. And the high rates of criminal justice involvement among people experiencing homelessness. And the fact that while Connecticut’s overall non-white population is only 32 percent, non-whites comprise 68 percent of people experiencing homelessness.
It is always hard to face new frontiers and challenges, but I know that we can and will tackle these new areas to finish the job of ending homelessness. I know this because we have built the most effective system in the nation for preventing and resolving homelessness, one that can be improved upon to extend its reach to undeserved and new populations. We have more ahead, but working side-by-side with you, I for one am fired up and ready to go.
With much gratitude,
Richard Cho
CEO
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The 2019 Annual Training Institute has sold out for the 4th year in a row! We are looking forward to seeing 550 Connecticut providers and partners. This year will feature 9 tracks and 20 workshops with 60+ presenters. We encourage you to check out the great workshop line-up on
our website.
Beyond Barriers: Enhancing Access to Housing Solutions
17th Annual Training Institute
Thursday, May 16, 2019
7:45am - 4:30pm
Connecticut Convention Center | Hartford
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Presenting Sponsor
Bank of America
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Track Sponsors
Connecticut State Department of Education
Department of Housing
Liberty Bank Foundation
Nutmeg Consulting LLC
Office of Early Childhood
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Workshop Sponsor
Fosdick Fulfillment
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Partnering Sponsors
Connecticut State Colleges and Universities
The Melville Charitable Trust
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Thank you to all of our Supporting, Friend and Member Sponsors!
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2019 Reaching Home Homelessness & Housing Advocacy Days
at the Legislative Office Building
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The 2019 Reaching Home Homelessness and Housing Advocacy Days, coordinated by the Coalition to End Homelessness and the Partnership for Strong Communities, was a huge success! Over 125 homeless service providers and client advocates from across the state joined us at the legislative office building to meet with their legislators. This year, providers not only met with legislators in groups, but also one-on-one and at the Capitol while the House of Representatives and Senate were in session.
Together, we reached more than 130 legislators and aides to make our case for preserving funding for housing services and programs. Please be on the lookout for future advocacy alerts and requests to reach out to legislators!
Thank you for your continued support, and all your efforts and advocacy towards ending homelessness in Connecticut!
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Innovative Partnership Seeks to
Prevent Children from Experiencing Homelessness
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The Connecticut Office of Early Childhood (OEC), the Connecticut Coalition to End Homelessness (CCEH), and the University of Connecticut School Of Social Work (UConn) are proud to announce an innovative partnership that seeks to prevent children from experiencing the trauma of homelessness.
Through the partnership, OEC is contributing over $250,000 in the first year of a three-year initiative to CCEH’s
be homeful fund, which provides emergency assistance to help families with children remain in their homes and avoid entering homeless shelters. OEC’s fund will be used specifically to assist families with children under the age of six, based on the premise that stable housing will promote healthy child development.
This first-of-its-kind partnership will employ a Pay-for-Success model, in which continued funding for the program will be based on the number of families who remain housed over a one-year period and growth in the number of families served. The University of Connecticut will evaluate the success of this project by following families through the homeless diversion experience. Researchers from the UConn School of Social Work will also assess family, parent and child outcomes; including costs and consequences of the program.
Research shows preventing childhood homelessness avoids trauma and long-term developmental impacts upon the rest of the child’s life. Experiencing homelessness as a child is a key predictor of homelessness as an adult. The shelter diversion approach not only prevents families from experiencing homelessness, but it is also more cost-effective: the average cost associated with diverting one family from shelter is $1,000, while the average cost of the family entering emergency shelter can be eight times this amount.
The University of Connecticut will evaluate the success of this project, providing data which will inform future enhancements to the program.
Research shows preventing childhood homelessness avoids trauma and long-term developmental impacts upon the rest of the child’s life. A key predictor of whether a person will be homeless as an adult is if they experience homelessness as a child. The shelter diversion approach not only prevents families from experiencing homelessness, but is more cost-effective: the average cost associated with diverting one family from shelter is $1,000, while the average cost of the family entering emergency shelter can be eight times this amount.
The shelter diversion approach is not new to Connecticut’s homeless response system. Over 400 families and 800 children have been diverted from homelessness since through
the be homeful project began since the program’s inception in 2015. Only 15 percent of families diverted return to homelessness within two years.
CAN providers who have an established
be homeful
Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with CCEH will have access to these funds. If your organization is part of the CAN system and do not have an MOU but are interested in learning more about these funds, please contact us at
assistance@cceh.org
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Youth Shelter Diversion & Rapid Exit
Funding Available
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DID YOU KNOW? Connecticut’s Balance of State Continuum of Care (BOS CoC) has been awarded the
Youth Homelessness Demonstration Program (YHDP) Grant and as a part of that grant,
Youth Shelter Diversion & Rapid Exit funds are available to provide onetime financial assistance to youth and young adults (18-24 yrs old) to assist them with avoiding shelter or rapidly exiting crisis housing.
(Since this grant was awarded to the BOS CoC, this funding is only for non-Fairfield County youth.)
If you identify a youth who is experiencing a housing crisis, please call 2-1-1 to have that youth connected to a Youth Navigator in your region who can assist. Once the young person has been connected to a Youth Navigator their needs will be assessed and it will be determined if they are eligible for the Youth Shelter Diversion/Rapid Exit funding. All requests and funding will be approved and dispersed by CCEH. A list of Eligible Fund Expenditures include:
- Rental Assistance – Security deposit and first month’s rent. Additional rental assistance is available on a case by case basis…
- Utilities - Deposit or utility start-up costs.
- Costs associated with obtaining identification, including but not limited to birth certificates.
- Rental application fees.
- Moving costs..
- Transportation Costs – Relocation, i.e.: train tickets, bus tickets.
- Vehicles - Car repairs or car insurance arrears if primary transportation to employment.
- Bus passes if primary transportation to employment.
- Childcare Costs - The children must be under the age of 13 unless they are disabled children, and the Child-Care Center must be licensed by the jurisdiction in which it operates in order for its costs to be eligible.
- Tenant legal services.
- Credit repair services.
- Other - costs associated with achieving housing stability may also be approved by CCEH.
If you have any questions or need more information, please contact Roy Graham at CCEH (860) 721-7876 x115 or
rgraham@cceh.org.
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CT Launches 100-Day Challenge on
Youth Homelessness
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On April 30, 2019, the Connecticut Youth Homelessness 100-Day Challenge was launched! Teams from across the state gathered to accelerate progress towards our goal of ending and preventing homelessness among youth and young adults. All eight Coordinated Access Networks were represented with YETI leaders, youth, youth providers, schools, child welfare, juvenile justice leaders from across the state. Speakers included the Department of Housing Commissioner Mosquera, Rafael Lopez, Hartford Mayor Luke Bronin, and CT Lieutenant Governor Susan Bysiewicz.
The 100-Day Challenges are designed to empower and support front-line teams in pursuit of an ambitious 100-Day goal. The compressed timeframe of 100 days, high visibility, and support from coaches, peers and stakeholders all work together to inspire teams to achieve rapid progress and sustainable system change. Facilitated by the Rapid Results Institute and trained “Change Stewards”, teams start by setting audacious goals and creating innovative plans to achieve these.
CCEH has played a pivotal role in building the infrastructure for ending youth homelessness and currently leads the YETI statewide workgroup, the Coordinated Access for Youth and Young Adult workgroup, the Youth Outreach & Count and two learning collaboratives dedicated to optimizing Youth Rapid Re-Housing and the Youth Crisis Housing. For more information on participating in ending youth homelessness, please contact Mimi Haley at
mhaley@cceh.org.
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Housing Crisis Support Still Available for Those Evacuated from Puerto Rico due to
Hurricane Maria
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Funding is still available to help people who have been evacuated from Puerto Rico due to Hurricane Maria who are continuing to experience a housing crisis.
This funding can be used to help stabilize housing through support such as rental assistance, security deposits, moving costs, utility assistance, credit repair, bus passes to employment, car repairs for employment purposes, furnishings, housing search and placement, housing stability case management, and more.
People evacuated from Puerto Rico due to Hurricane Maria experiencing a housing crisis or
organizations helping someone in this situation should dial 2-1-1, (option 7 for Spanish) to get connected to housing supports and access this funding.
The following agencies have direct access to these funds for clients:
- Access Agency - 860-450-7400 (Northeast CT)
- Alpha Community Services - 203-366-2809 (Fairfield)
- Catholic Charities - 860-547-1124 (Gtr. Hartford, New Haven, & Waterbury)
- Community Health Resources - 860-815-2740 (Central)
- Community Renewal Team - 860-560-5790 (Gtr. Hartford & Meriden/Middlesex/Wallingford)
- Family & Children’s Agency - 203-855-8765 (Fairfield)
- Lilly Sin Barreras - 860-966-8955 (Hartford)
- Mercy Housing & Shelter - (860) 808-2146 (Hartford)
- New London Homeless Hospitality Cntr. - 860-460-5531 (Southeast CT)
- New Opportunities Inc. - 203-207-4020/203-639-5060 (Meriden/Middlesex/Wallingford & Waterbury/Litchfield)
- New Reach - 203-776-6208 (Gtr. New Haven)
- Salvation Army - 860-548-8423 (Gtr. Hartford, New Haven) 203-754-7056/860-996-0351 (Waterbury/Litchfield)
- San Juan Center - 860-522-2205 (Hartford)
- Thames Valley Council for Comm. Action, Inc. - 860-425-6594 (Southeast CT)
If your organization is interested in partnering with CCEH to connect clients to this funding, please contact Joanne Vitarelli at
assistance@cceh.org for more information.
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National Alliance to End Homelessness | April 2019
National Alliance to End Homelessness | March 2019
Opportunity Starts at Home | March 2019
National Alliance to End Homelessness | April 2019
USICH | April 2019
Office of the Governor | April 2019
Hartford Courant | April 2019
The Day | April 2019
Norwich Bulletin | April 2019
CT Post | April 2019
CT Public Radio | April 2019
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Upcoming Trainings & Events
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Connecticut Coalition to End Homelessness
Connect with us
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