The 2012 IForums series, organized by the Partnership for Strong Communities, continues with its second event on Tuesday, March 20.  

Opening Doors-CT:
Using the Right Tools to End Homelessness
How Can We Finish the Job?
 

This event is cosponsored by the CT Coalition to End Homelessness. 

Guided by the Reaching Home Campaign, Connecticut has made impressive strides in preventing and ending homelessness. Opening Doors-CT will take Reaching Home to the next level by providing:

• Integrated, targeted solutions.
• A comprehensive approach fostering connections between housing, healthcare, employment, prevention, education, behavioral health and child welfare systems.
• A cooperative model of professionals, from community leaders and state government experts to business executives and human services specialists.
• New partnerships that recognize housing as a key prevention and healthcare intervention tool.

So how will we get the job done? Join us in exploring:

• How will we define success, and how will we measure it to monitor progress?
• What are the most promising approaches to use?
• How can we scale up proven interventions, while experimenting with new approaches in a way that assesses their effectiveness?
• How do we best target limited funding and capacity?
• How can we best manage data and information? 

Opening Doors – CT is a framework to prevent and end homelessness in Connecticut that is aligned with the federal Opening Doors plan to end homelessness. The leadership structure for planning and oversight of Opening Doors – CT is the Reaching Home Campaign, which is guided by the vision that no one should experience homelessness, and no one should be without a safe, stable place to call home.

After promoting the creation of more than 4,700 units of supportive housing for Connecticut’s chronically homeless, the Reaching Home Campaign is now widening its mission to carry out the plan to end homelessness offered by Opening Doors-CT.  It has adopted the goals laid out by the federal Opening Doors plan to end homelessness:

• Finish the job of ending chronic homelessness by 2015.
• Prevent and end homelessness among Veterans by 2015.
• Prevent and end homelessness among families, youth and children by 2020.
• Set a path to ending all types of homelessness.

Opening Doors-CT and the work of Reaching Home are focused on getting results – ensuring housing, healthcare, education, job training and rapid response – and measuring results to continually gauge effectiveness.  Resources will be targeted to the most vulnerable populations.  Best practices with a proven track record will be scaled up, and new ideas will be employed experimentally in a way that assesses their effectiveness.  The new framework will require far greater collaboration across agencies and constituencies, based on shared data and analysis – and will require asking the right questions about what we need to know.

The March 20 IForum is ideal for people on many sides of homelessness problems and solutions: social services, housing, shelters, education, job training, healthcare, criminal justice, veterans, domestic violence, children & families. 

Opening Doors-CT: Using the Right Tools to End Homelessness

Tuesday, March 20, 2012
The Lyceum, 227 Lawrence Street, Hartford, CT 06106
8:30am to 9:00am - Coffee, pastry, conversation
9:00am to Noon - Forum
Click here for directions.

Featured Presenters:
Dennis Culhane - Professor at the University of Pennsylvania
Culhane is a national leader in figuring out the complexities of homeless populations, and in assessing the effectiveness of a variety of public policies and on-the-ground solutions. Lately he has devoted significant energy toward moving us past cookie-cutter approaches, by understanding subpopulations of homeless individuals and families, and which interventions work best for which people, including in-depth analyses of chronically homeless, veterans and families.  This work can help systems target their efforts better and save money by targeting resources most effectively.

Katharine Gale - Consultant of Focus Strategies
Gale helps communities use local data, national research and awareness of federal policy trends in order maximize resources and make progress on ending homelessness. Her work includes conducting community and organizational planning, researching homelessness and its impacts, and developing, implementing and evaluating homeless housing programs and service delivery systems. Prior to consulting, Gale worked for Alameda County, California, managing federally-funded homeless programs.

Registration:
This event is free. We expect strong attendance. 
Register now: laura@pschousing.org  (If you do not receive an email confirmation within 2 business days, please contact Laura Bachman at 860-244-0066)
Click here for more on the 2012 IForums series.