N*WISH CoC minutes from December 7, 2016

Northern Advantage Job Center

51-A N. Brown Street

Rhinelander, WI

Attendees: Penny Huffman, Lori Hallas, Michelle Arrowood, Jean McNaughton,

Ginger Chrobak, Micah Dewing, Teleka Dewing, Debbie Bushman and Beth DeNell

Lori began the meeting with the PIT results for November. It was also mentioned that Sunshine for Humanity will begin using Service Point. They will also be closed for business other than the emergency shelter stays because of personal reasons until April 1, 2017.

We reviewed the up-dated invitation for the Lunch & Learn event. Everyone was in agreement that the invitation looked good. This was accomplished because of the great suggestions that were made from the November meeting by the group. Micah & Teleka gave use media information so we can decide how we will advertise the Lunch & Learn event throughout Forest County. The Pioneer Express is the one most people read papers and it is a free paper. Micah feels they would put this in for us. Ginger from NATH thought NATH and Frederick Place were a member of the chamber in Forest County & would look into that before the next meeting. Channel 12 is also the most viewed in Forest County.

Tammy Modic was unable to attend the December meeting but she did say that she is still going to update the N*WISH brochure prior to mailing out invitations to landlords so it can be included in the mailing.

We discussed Performance Measure #7. We looked at the Service Point results to see what the percentage is of people exiting to permanent destinations and who the providers are that are included with this measure. We also identified three strategies to reduce the number of people experiencing homelessness in our community and picked one to work on which is the same one we are working on with developing better relationships with landlords in each of the four counties that make up N*WISH.

We talked about Homeless Definition Category #3 which we are unable to because we are not authorized by HUD to use. The Balance of State CoC will be looking at writing a proposal to work with youth who fit into category #3. Brown County has started a youth focus group. Youth will be one of the focuses during the Point-in-Time count on January 25-26, 2017.

Penny talked about the upcoming Help for the Homeless Drive. She apologized for not sending out information as of yet and promised to get up-dates to agencies who want to participate again this year. Dates are February 19, 2017 through March 12, 2107.

Updates:

Debbie informed us that NEWCAP is not issuing Section 8 vouchers at this time. She also mentioned the READY Project that will begin building low income housing in 2017. CDBG funding from WI Division of Energy, Housing, and Community Resources (DEHCR) will fund this project. Right now they are getting all community contacts and agencies aligned so the project can be applied for.

NATH event at Cross Country Bar during packer game, December 18th. There will be a 50/50 raffle that will benefit Frederick Place Shelter. Tammy is attending Shawn Duffy’s Hunger & Homeless Summit in Wausau on December 12th.

Rhinelander Food Pantry is having a chili contest on December 16th from 11:00-1:00 at First Supply, all donations going to the food pantry.

Beth mentioned it is Hometown Defense December 11th & 24th.

Our next N*WISH meeting will be Wednesday, January 4, 2017

The next Balance of State Meeting will be February 9-10, 2017 at the Jefferson Inn in Wausau.