GLHRN Board Minutes
Tuesday, June 30, 2015
9:00-11:00
Board Members:
Pat Wheeler, Susan Cancro, Mark Morton, Sharon Dade, Mark Criss, Elizabeth Rios, Al Platt, Doris Witherspoon, Susan Land, Su’Alyn Holbrook , and Jenny Leaf.
In Attendance:
Susan Cancro (Advent House), Mark Criss (CRM), Su’Alyn Holbrook(DHHS), Joan Jackson Johnson(CoL),Jenny Leaf(L&F),Angie Mayeaux(HH), Mark Morton(CFC), Al Platt(CMH), Liza Rios(LS), Julie Shaltry(VOA), KatrinaUrista(CoL), Doris Witherspoon(CoL), and David Henrion (GLHRN)
1)Introductions
a)Susan Cancro, who chaired the meeting in Sharon’s absence, called the meeting at 9:10.
2)Minutes from May 26, 2015 Board meeting
a)Mark Criss moved to approve the minutes, which was seconded by Al Platt. The vote is unanimous.
b)Mark C mentioned the 14 days waiting period issue. He said that it would take up a lot of resources, and wouldn’t want it.
i)Julie Shaltry gave some reasons in favor of it.
ii)Susan suggested moving it to later in the meeting. All agreed.
3)Additions to the Agenda
a)A discussion of the 14 day waiting period was added to agenda item 9.
4)Consumer Position on the Board
a)Susan reiterated the woman, Vicki Sandbrook, who had volunteered to be on the board in the consumer position.
i)Susan briefly described Vicki’s background.
ii)Al had brought her to the board’s attention.
iii)Liza Rios asked if Vicki had been at past meetings. Julie clarified that she had not.
b)Liza asked if she would be a voting member.
i)Susan said she would be.
c)Doris Witherspoon moves in favor, MarkC seconds. The vote is unanimous.
5)MSHDA Fiduciary
a)Susan introduced the situation. VOA had been the fiduciary, and at the finance and additional board meeting members agreed to request that the city become the fiduciary.
b)Susan and Katrina Urista went over advantages of this, which included unified reporting/monitoring and being able to front cash if MSHDA was late.
c)Liza asked if this would be renewable.
i)David notedthat in the last meeting, MOU was voted on to include one year renewals.
d)Mark Morton moved to accept the city, Su’Alyn Holbrook seconded.
i)Doris asked if this would have any impact on the 501c3. MarkM said that it shouldn’t.
ii)MarkM asked if there was a MOU with the other grants.
(1)Katrina answered that it wasn’t there, but Joan Jackson Johnson requested it.
(a)Joan said that it was needed to document and present to the council to show that the city is receiving the dollars and what their purpose is.
(i)She would also like to have a paper trail in case something was to happen.
iii)Doris asked when it would beeffective. Susan said that it would be effective immediately in regards to the app due at the end of the month.
iv)Katrina noted that the city cannot match this money.
(1)Mark M said that two years ago, MSHDA required a match, and it grew to be a problem.
v)Katrina suggestedGLHRN review their documents for last year
(1)Susan said that Sharon has those documents in electronic format, and will share those with the city.
vi)Vote is unanimous in favor.
6)501c3 status
a)Mark M said the application is ready, and he is trying to get with NCA to transfer over the funds needed for the app. It should be in before the next board meeting.
7)Letter to Homeless Angels
a)Susan said that thisdiscussion has been occurring for some time, and a letter was emailed and mailed to Mike Karl.
b)Mark C asked David to read the letter aloud, which he did.
c)Susan stated that mostly the discussion has been occurring at the HARA subcommittee meetings.
d)Julie said she has been reaching out to HA, trying to get some cooperation, but not hearing back.
i)VOA contacted in middle of the month to correct HA’s assertion of being the only hotel program with funding still available.
e)Mark C thought the letter seems to be mostly asking for data.
i)He suggested that the best way to talk to HA is to show up physically, after 5, to talk with Mike. Mark C doesn’t know how willing Mike Karl would be to work with the network.
f)Joan said she has communicated with Mike through email.
i)He was helpful, but then backed off after Joan said a client would need to go to DHHS.
ii)Joan noted that some people receiving SSI are playing almost full check to Magnuson.
iii)Joan and Mark C discussed the lack of safety at the Magnuson, and how important it would be to make contact with the families there.
g)Susan talked about issues related to child safety: no window screens and curtains instead of doors.
i)She asked if the board wanted to make a recommendation in how to deal with the situation.
ii)Mark C reiterated that the Magnuson is unsafe, and said that if clientsto come up with $25 every day, that would be a problem. It is unfortunate that people stay away when the shelters are clean and safe.
(1)Mark suggested that the city could say something, or if people wanted to contact them, they should go to the Magnuson in person.
iii)Julie stated that she can’t get any follow through with them.
h)Angie Mayeaux asked if the Magnuson was still a public hotel. This was confirmed by the room.
i)Joan said that they may be paying for blocks of rooms, which isn’t allowed.
(1)They are still passing minimal standards in code.
(2)Mark C felt liketalking about the issue is a good start. He noted that motels can get away with a lot of different stuff.
(3)Joan said that still need to be licensed.
i)A member of the board was at Magnuson, and was a mandated reporter, so it was reported.
i)Apparently, the Magnuson has had multiple complaints, and it is on the radar.
j)Su’Alyn Holbrook said that if the HARA can get out there twice a month, she will add a DHHS team.
i)Joan said it is important to not to send mixed messages.
ii)Julie said that if people are getting referred by 211, they willgo to HA.
iii)Katrina noted that the school district seems to be referring people there.
(1)Joan stated that there are some people out there that can’t go into any other shelter.
k)Susan said that one issue that was raised is in the number of people in there.
i)No one has been able to sit down and talk with them.
ii)Julie stated that Mike said that he would email the families’ names to VOA, and didn’t happen.
l)Joan has discussed with Al about PATH program and using it for outreach.
m)Susan mentioned that the homeless families issue is important to know, in terms of how we should be funding and focusing our resources.
8)HARA Subcommittee
a)Susan said that she is chairing, since Pat is out and Sharon is at VOA. They have had two meetings.
b)They talked about issues with HARA, the need to bring HARA in to the community, and making the HARA an entire community project/effort.
c)Susan said that in the second meeting, two things came out.
i)HARA is planning to move probably to DHHS. Lansing had also offered space.
ii)The group agreed on the need to address communication issues. The consensus seemed to be creating a direct line to the HARA, and move 211 to only evenings/weekend.
(1)Joan asked about the cost per 211call.
(a)Julie said that the total bill was a couple hundred dollars. VOA doesn’t get many calls from 211.
(b)A staff member at VOA is contacting 211 and trying to figure out who to contact to change things in a positive sense.
iii)Susan thought it is good to have all this out in the open, and discuss job descriptions for the HARA.
iv)Julie said VOA is looking at job descriptions and try to balance the positions further.
d)Susan discussed the idea of HARA point of entry and point of exit, a place where people can come into shelter.
i)In ideal world, HARA has access to shelter vacancies, and be able to place people into vacancies.
ii)Then, prevention/RRH programs would be organized in the same way, so people can have easier time accessing them and not having to learn different policies for different agencies.
(1)Katrina said that the problem with having all funds in one place is that it creates a capacity issue for that agency.
(2)Susan discussed the need to organize more effectively.
(i)Mark C said that the closest person outside of CRM who knows the requirements of their women’s shelter isKathy at VOA. He thinks that someone like that would understand how to place people in shelters.
- Susan spoke on the need to train someone to understand both the rules and the culture of each shelter. She suggested talking to Kathy and figuring out how she trained herself. Susan believes it is possible to do this, but everyone would need to work together.
- Julie said you would need a collective understanding of the shelters in GLHRN.
- Julie noted that some people take their monthly income and stay in the shelter.
- Joan said some people cannot figure out how to get housing.
- Joan also said the city will have some funds that can pay for furniture.
e)Susan felt that this sub-committee is a good place to discuss things, and try to figure out how to do things before someone else forces us to change.
f)Mark C thought that coordinating the shelter beds might be able to work.
i)Susan wanted to look at how Kathy gathers her info on the shelters.
g)Joan asked Su’Alyn to expedite deposit/first month for people in shelters for lengthy amount of time. Su’Alyn said that their accounting office is regionalized, so it takes a long time for checks to get there.
i)Joan suggested giving landlords a letter of commitment for funding, whenever it is processed.
(1)Su’Alyn thought she probably could put something like that together.
(a)She will get a meeting together to determine what is needed for that letter, and asked the group where it should go. Joan said that the housing agency could help with that.
(b)Angie thought that some landlords might have had a bad past experience at DHHS, and won’t accept such a letter.
(2)Joan suggested reimbursing other agencies who front deposits/first month rent. Al said this has worked a few times for CMH. Su’Alyn said she would look into it.
(a)Liza said she is seeing cases of landlords demanding higher deposit than allowed by law, and asked anyone seeing examples of this to pass their clients along to her.
9)MSHDA PBV and HCV wait list/14 wait period
a)Julie passed along that Amanda says 8 clients stably housed, 5 can be recertified, and 24 can’t be found.
i)They have 370 folks on the HCV list.
ii)The PBV sites all full and have wait lists.Their clients are using vouchers and being stable, which is a good thing.
(1)Ballantine has no openings and 50 people on the wait list.
(2)VOA is having lots of problem finding people.
(a)Liza suggested talking to DHHS about that.
(i)Julie said that VOA istalking about doing it, but they would need to figure out a visibility issue and get VOA staff to interact with DHHS staff.
(b)Joan mentioned checking at Advent House on weekends, because it’s a great place for outreach.
(c)Su’Alyn said that VOA should give DHHS a list, because they have some clerks with time.
(d)Julie talked about working with Matt for a way to flag for people at meals.
(e)Joan spoke about the Community Connect vouchers.
(f)The issue of homeless mail was discussed. VOA and DHHS both get a ton of homeless mail.
b)Mark C asked about capacity issues with having people stay 14 days in the shelter.
i)Julie thought it would remove a lot of people currently playing the system.
ii)Mark C said he would talk to his staff about it.
10)Regional Report
a)Liza reported that there was no meeting this month. The July meeting will be in Eaton County.
i)Liza and Julie will go to represent the CoC.
ii)Julie discussed issues in getting clients back to their counties of origin.
11)Committees
a)Membership
i)Susan said that they met and discussed getting current members involved in subcommittees.
ii)They are targeting annual meeting in October to bring people back to being on board.
b)CQI
i)Liza said they didn’t meet due to Legal Service’s auditing week.
ii)July will resume the meetings with reports on MSHDA programs.
c)Human Services
i)Al said that the committee met last week.
ii)They talked about having rotating sites for the meeting, which will start this in August
(1)DHHS will host that meeting.
iii)Al also discussed reaching out to Health Dept and 211 and trying to get them to come to the HS committee.
(1)There were lots of uncertainties about 211, both in Human Services and at the Board.
(2)Joan said she was working with them to update their info.
(3)Katrina noted that she will be re-upping the city’s contract with 211, if there was something that people wanted to ask about.
(4)Doris asked if they knew about HA. Joan said they just hear about a place and put it on a list.
d)Finance
i)Mark M said that MSHDA posted their NOFA the day of the meeting.
(1)The meeting was before the NOFA, but they had discussed how to approach NOFA and improve the ranking process.
(2)The only major item was the recommendation to board to move fiduciary to city.
(3)Also, Mark M said they would include outcomes in the NOFA apps.
(4)The next finance committee will be at after network meeting, and will rank MSHDA apps.
(5)Liza asked about the mandatory meeting for applying agencies.
(a)Katrina said that people need to know what to write and understand the NOFAfor their grants.
(b)Mark M said he had gone to the past two MSHDA meetings, and found them not needed to write the grant.
(c)Liza noted it gives people an opportunity to ask questions, and there was valuable info was asked at the last meeting.
(6)Katrina and Angie asked how much funding is available.
(a)Mark M stated that MSHDA has not released that yet, and they seem to want people to apply for the same amounts as last year.
(b)Katrina said that HUD wants the CoC to be as inclusive as possible.
(c)Mark M noted that MSHDA seems to be pushing for outreach, and we don’t have any info besides applying for last year’s amount.
(7)Mark M said that with the timeline, he doesn’t see how you can have a meeting.
(8)Susan then asked about new applicants.
(a)David will send out an email out, saying if a new agency wants to apply, an introduction meeting is required, and they must contact David to set one up. It will also mention that additional funding may be available and tell everyone to read the NOFA.
(9)Mark M said that CFC may decide to not seek funds because of MSHDA’s requirements.
(10)Liza asked if it was clear that this fundsprojects. Mark M said that it is in the NOFA.
12)Ad-hoc Committees
a)Community Connect
i)Liza reported on the Community Connect, which happened the previous Friday.
(1)She thought it was wonderful, and said Joan was a great asset.
(2)The mayor was there, and he spent time talking to participants and volunteers.
(3)In all, about 540 adults attended.
ii)Joan said it was great as well, but thought kid care in the future would create liability issues.
(1)She said the LHC and signing people up for the voucher list went really well.
(2)Katrina said approximately 100 people signed up.
iii)Susan said that all of Advent House’s literacy info was taken, and several people signed up to volunteer.
iv)Joan said that she ran out of food, and a few people were running scams in connection to the event. She will have something in place for Kids Connect.
(1)Joan called Liza the driving force of the event. Liza replied by saying that Toni did a lot of the planning, and Kathy Johnson and LaVerne Duncan helped out as well.
(2)Joan discussed the food situation. Mark C said that CRM might be able to help with food in the future, since they will be opening their offsite kitchen soon.
v)Susan thought that the kids really needed some time away from their parents. She suggested having a solid gate in the future, which could be sectioned into little and big kids’ areas. She also felt it would be important to know how to talk to kids who share in their families’ anxieties.
vi)Katrina said that several vendors said it was worth the $200.
(1)Joan would like to discuss how the CoC could best support the event, and mentioned Kids Connect is coming up on August 31st.
vii)Liza will have a wrap-up meeting that looks at vendor and participant surveys.
viii)Joan explained the clothing voucher situation, and said that if people need a clothing voucher, they should contact the city.
ix)Liza reiterated how important it is for the entire CoC to be on board with the event.
13)Old Business
14)New Business
15)Adjournment
a)Susan motioned to adjourn at 11:06, and Mark M seconded.
16)Next Board Meeting:Tuesday, July 28 at 9:00 am