Cuyahoga County’s Housing First Initiative
October 24
Motivational Interviewing: A Case Management Approach to Housing Stabilization
August 31st
Employment is critical to helping a person or family obtain and sustain permanent housing. As such, increasing employment and income among individuals experiencing homelessness is a key performance indicator under the Homeless Emergency Assistance and Rapid Transition to Housing (HEARTH) Act.
Working with Employment Resources presented strategies for leveraging mainstream
employment services for people experiencing homelessness. Special guests from
Dayton/Montgomery County shared their successes and lessons learned in working with Goodwill Industries to provide employment opportunities for homeless clients. A representative of Montgomery County’s Department of Job and Family Services shared the department’s ongoing efforts to ensure that the workforce system is responsive to high-barrier workers. Local efforts to increase employment for people experiencing homelessness in
Cuyahoga County and
job readiness was also shared.
July 26th
Critical Time Intervention: A Case Management Approach to Housing Stabilization:
On July 26, nearly 130 providers attended a training on Critical Time Intervention (CTI), an intensive time-limited model of case management designed to stabilize homeless individuals and families in housing. Andrea White from Housing Innovations of New York City presented the training, including the structure of the CTI Evidence-Based Practice as well as implementation strategies such as working with landlords and developing resources.
June 17
Utilizing Data to Meet Client Need:
The training began with a presentation by the Program Director for the Cleveland/Cuyahoga County Office of Homeless Services (OHS), Ruth Gillett, and Allison Gill, a Program Officer who serves as the Homeless Management Information System (HMIS) Systems Administrator at OHS. Their presentation centered on data usages that better serve the client. Ms. Gillett joined the OHS as one of the initial staff in 1993. Ms. Gill has also worked for the Cuyahoga County Department of Children and Family Services in a management role.
A second presentation was given by representatives from Bowman Systems; James Muller, the Vice President of Account Developments, and Patrick Kramer who is a Client Support Specialist for Bowman Systems in Shreveport, Louisiana. Mr. Muller has held various positions with The Salvation Army. They discussed Human Information Services Sharing Systems to better allow front line workers to input data into online systems and showed examples of the newest software.
May 23
Rapid Exit Best Practices I-Lessons from Experience
The training began with speaker Marge Wherley, of Abt Associates, who presented a PowerPoint around rapid exit fundamentals. Ms. Wherley has worked in the housing field since 1974 where she worked as a social worker. She is perhaps best known for managing the Minnesota Family Homeless Prevention and Assistance Program in Hennepin County. Ms. Wherley joined the staff of Abt Associates in July of 2010 where she provides technical assistance and training around the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development's Homelessness Prevention and Rapid Re-Housing program grant.
The afternoon session, Cuyahoga County's Rapid Re-Housing Program: Housing Location & Service Linkages, was presented by Angela Glassco and Cathleen Alexander, and accompanied with a PowerPoint. Angela Glassco serves as the Manager of Homelessness Prevention and Rapid Rehousing and Compliance at EDEN, Inc. Cathleen Alexander serves as the Associate Director for Women's Homeless Services at Mental Health Services, Inc. Ms. Alexander previously served as the Executive Director of Cleveland's Domestic Violence Center from 2002-2009.
May 4th
Rapid Exit and Housing Stabilization: The Core Approach and Cultural Competency in Practice
Speaker Suzanne Wagner presented an informative PowerPoint at the training. Ms. Wagner is the Principal at Housing Innovations based in New York City. She has 30 years of experience in the design and delivery of housing programs and services for homeless people, ranging from adolescents and families to single adults with special needs.
In the afternoon Tameka Taylor, Ph.D, and Ruth Ramos, M.A. of Compass Consulting held a session on cultural competency. Dr. Taylor is the partner and consultant with Compass Consulting Services, LLC and brings over 19 years of experience of facilitating discussion on diversity issues. Ms. Ramos began her career at Key Bank as a Diversity Recruiting Coordinator and went on to serve as the Diversity Consultant for AmTrust Bank before joining forces with Dr. Taylor.
View photos from past trainings through Flickr
May 4th
Rapid Exit and Housing Stabilization: The Core Approach and Cultural Competency in Practice
Speaker Suzanne Wagner presented an informative
PowerPoint at the training. Ms. Wagner is the Principal at Housing Innovations based in New York City. She has 30 years of experience in the design and delivery of housing programs and services for homeless people, ranging from adolescents and families to single adults with special needs.
In the afternoon Tameka Taylor, Ph.D, and Ruth Ramos, M.A. of
Compass Consulting held a session on cultural competency. Dr. Taylor is the partner and consultant with Compass Consulting Services, LLC and brings over 19 years of experience of facilitating discussion on diversity issues. Ms. Ramos began her career at Key Bank as a Diversity Recruiting Coordinator and went on to serve as the Diversity Consultant for AmTrust Bank before joining forces with Dr. Taylor.
View photos from past trainings through
Flickr