General Membership Minutes September 16, 2015

Meeting began at 9:05 am

Minutes from August 19, 2015 meeting approved. Sam moved, Cindy seconded. Correct CDS name under program updates.

CoC/Coalition Update

TANF funds delayed, should have shortly. For prevention services throughout continuum. Referrals call 792-0800 x 107, Jennifer Moises

ESG Intent to Award was posted but a protest has been filed so it will be a bit longer before final awards occur

Challenge Grant application submitted. No notice yet.

CoC SNAPS NOFA still not out yet. Will be forwarded to the list serve once issued. Current providers were asked to forward the project summary if not already done.

Treasurer’s Report—Not available. Assured it would be presented next month.

CoC Workgroup Report –An update was provided on the transition from the current board structure to a more traditional nonprofit board and a CoC Governance Board. Next meeting of the workgroup will follow the November General meeting. Meetings will be quarterly except during HU-CoC grant season so we can work as a team on the Exhibit 1. This change will allow for wider representation in CoC governance.

Special Events Workgroup – discussed upcoming Day of GRACE on November 14th. Hope all providers will come out to service fair at event. This is an opportunity to demonstrate that we are part of a larger continuum of care, providing a full range of services. National Hunger and Homelessness Awareness Week is November 14 – 22. We want to highlight those issues throughout the week.

HMIS Workgroup – We are making great progress to getting our data cleaned up. Started with most agencies having an F in data quality. Now, most have A’s.

GPD Report—not present. But recently toured campus. We will ask GPD to have the officers being assigned to Dignity Village attend future meetings.

Homeless/Formerly Homeless Comments/Suggestions – no one in attendance. Will work on plans for an evening meeting.

Other Business – The Citizen’s Advisory Workgroup to the GRACE Oversight Board is holding a services summit on September 21st. Everyone was encouraged to attend to demonstrate the breadth of our continuum. Time is 5pm to register; event starts at 5:30 and will end promptly at 7:30. We are still recruiting board members to serve in the reorganized board. If you know any good candidates, please refer them to Theresa Beachy or Harvey Ward.

Program Updates/Announcements from Service Providers

  • Another Way is having 5k walk on 10/31 at Lake Desoto in Lake city. $15 registration. Go to
  • Ellen expressed a concern that The Salvation Army will only be serving dinner on Friday nights. They are moving more towards children’s services. This means many people will go hungry since they are pretty much the last dinner provider downtown.
  • GRACE – the Doctors vs. lawyers fundraising event finale is 10/2 at Cymplify. Trying to get the Mayor to sit in the dunk tank. The kitchen at GRACE will open in November, dedication is 11/14. Once kitchen opens, Advocates will be better able to focus on advocacy portion of job. Shelter will be expanding to 44 people; we will be hiring another case manager. New roofs and happy colors of paint are going up. Will make it easier to navigate campus.
  • Dignity Village – The City came up with rules for Dignity Village. Some of the announced changes include no sex offenders without manager’s approval. When the rules go into effect is still unclear. They were announced four weeks ago but there is no one to enforce them. The City started the process of hiring a manager and seem to waiting until they are onboard to enforce the rules. It will be hard to enforce some on them without a single point of entry. It was noted that some people are moving back to tent cities around town; that was a fear that was expressed when the draft rules were circulated. An issue is that these same rules would not apply to people in homes and for many, Dignity Village is their home.
  • SFH – at capacity, still providing day services. Sunrise has openings for singles working 20+ hours, call 367-2600.
  • Peaceful Paths – October is Domestic Violence Awareness month. The HBO documentary “Private Violence” will be screened at the outreach office on 10/12. The Color Run is 10/17 – use code “peaceful” when you register.
  • LSF – SOAR Steering committee meeting at GRACE 9/23, 2:30pm. Come learn about using the very successful SOAR process.

Next meeting is October 21, 2015 at 9:00 a.m. at GRACE Marketplace

Point in Time Planning meeting followed.