RFPs released for ESG and HOPWA programs

The City of Springfield has released two requests for proposals:

1. The Emergency Solutions Grant (ESG) program provides funds to nonprofit agencies for homelessness prevention, rapid rehousing, and emergency shelter. The City seeks providers for these services for the program year July 1, 2018 to June 30, 2019. ESG funds are provided to the City of Springfield to assist people who live or work in the City.
2. The Housing Opportunities for Persons with AIDS (HOPWA) program provides funds to nonprofit agencies for homelessness prevention and housing assistance for people who are HIV positive. These funds are to serve persons in Hampden, Hampshire and Franklin Counties. The RFP seeks providers for these services for the program year July 1, 2018 – June 30, 2019, with an expectation of two one-year renewals of initial contracts. The City does not expect to issue another HOPWA RFP until 2021.

RFPs are available at the Office of Housing, 1600 E. Columbus Ave., Springfield. Applications are due by noon on March 2, 2018.

 

Advertisements

Board of Directors Meeting: Feb. 2, 2018, 1-3 pm

The Board of Directors will meet Friday, Feb. 2, 1-3 pm at the Springfield Municipal Operations Center – conference room, 70 Tapley St., Springfield. The meeting is open.

The meeting agenda:

1. Minutes. Review of the 11-17-2017 meeting minutes.
2. Statewide Data Sharing.
   • Presentation and discussion: We will be joined by Linn Torto and Emily Cooper (both from the state) and Ryan Burger (HUD technical assistance) to answer our questions and discuss this project, which we talked about at our November meeting.
   • ACTION ITEM: We will vote at this meeting about whether our CoC will participate in the data-sharing initiative.
3. Coordinated Entry Policies and Procedures.
   • Update on Warehouse and CAS
   • ACTION ITEM: We will vote on Changes to Coordinated Entry Policies and Procedures*
4. Updates.
   • 2017 CoC Competition
   • Network funding
   • Cold weather response
   • Update re people displaced by 2017 hurricanes

* Summary of key changes to Coordinated Entry Policies and Procedures:

• Rapid rehousing assistance – household maximum income increased from 30% AMI to 50% AMI.
• Rapid rehousing short-term (3 month assistance) provided to individuals/youth with VISPDAT score 0-7; rapid rehousing medium-term (12 month assistance) provided to individuals/youth with 90 days in shelter and VISPDAT score of 4-7.
• Timing of VISPDAT assessment: can be done at any time, but, at a minimum, should be completed:
  • Unsheltered – upon first contact
  • Veterans and youth – within 15 days of shelter entry
  • Sheltered individuals – within 30 days of shelter entry
  • Families – upon reaching chronic status
• Policies and procedures incorporate standards for prioritization previously approved by Board of Directors

 

Springfield releases RFP for second round of ESG funding

The City of Springfield has released a Request for Proposals (RFP) for a second round of funding for the Emergency Shelter Grants (ESG) program. This funding round makes available a total of $40,825.16 to be used for the current program year (July 1, 2017 to June 30, 2018) for two types of projects:

1. homelessness prevention for tenants with disabilities; and
2. rapid rehousing for youth age 18-24.

The RFP may be accessed online using the links below. Responses are due no later than December 20, 2017 at noon.

ESG RFP 2017 – second funding round

ESG Application 2017 – second funding round

ESG Budget Pages 2017

 

Annual Meeting/Board of Directors – Nov 17 Agenda

The CoC’s Board of Directors and Annual Membership Meeting will take place Friday, November 17, 2017, at the offices of MHA, 995 Worthington St., Springfield, 9-11 am.

Agenda

1. Review of minutes: Minutes 7-28-2017
2. Annual Meeting Business
   1. Election of new members: Proposed Slate of Directors
   2. Annual review of the CoC Governance Charter
3. Action Item: Equal Access Policy
4. Action Item: State Data Sharing: Massachusetts Statewide Data Sharing Proposal
5. Reports
   1. Western Massachusetts Network to End Homelessness
   2. FY17 Competition
   3. Coordinated Entry
   4. CoC Annual Report

Reminder: CoC Annual Meeting (and meeting of the Board of Directors) – Friday, Nov. 17, 9-11 am

The Board of Directors will meet this Friday, Nov. 17, 9-11 am, at the Mental Health Association, 995 Worthington St., Springfield. This is our annual meeting, open to the full CoC membership.

The CoC is always open to new members, and new members are welcome to attend this Annual Meeting.

Stay tuned for the agenda, which will be posted here shortly.

New Schedule for REACH Case Conferencing Meetings

Our team that traveled to Denver has proposed that we experiment with a new schedule for case conferencing meetings:

1. Week 1 (1^st Tues. of month): Review By-Name List
2. Week 2 (2^nd Tues.): Review Individuals At Risk of Chronic Homelessness
3. Week 3 (3^rd Tues.): Review People Who Have Been on By-Name List for a Long Time
4. Week 4 (4^th Tues.): Review Long-Term Shelter Stayers Who Are Not Chronic (because not disabled)

We are already trying this out. We met last week to identify and discuss those at risk of chronic homelessness, and today we will focus on those who have been on the by-name list for a long time.

We will try out this meeting format through November, and then evaluate and see if this is working to help advance us toward our goal of reducing the number of people on our chronic by-name list by 50% by the end of January 2018. (The 4th meeting works on another goal–which is reducing our average length of stay in shelter.)

Training 10/31 on new online Coordinated Entry System (Green River)

Our new CoC online Coordinated Entry System is almost ready for use for single individuals without children. We will be working to build our components for young adults and families in the next month.

Please reserve Tuesday, Oct. 31, 1 – 3 pm for training on the new system. The training will take place at the Springfield Municipal Building, 70 Tapley St., Springfield.