Preview Summit Breakout Sessions!
As always, we are pleased to offer three breakout session tracks: Housing Is Education , Housing Is Health , and Housing Is Partnerships !
Atlanta Leaders use Cross-Sector Partnerships to Bridge Gaps Between Home and School
This session showcases Atlanta Housing and how they successfully improved educational outcomes for public housing residents in partnership with Atlanta Public Schools, United Way, and other education providers. Using a family-centered choice model, Atlanta Housing is providing families access to out-of-school-time programs, school services, and wrap-around supports that are individualized to meet students and families’ needs. Critical components of this model include an Atlanta Housing Education Case Manager who works individually with families and an Atlanta Public Schools Liaison who connects with school staff and provides real time student performance data. Participants will gain an understanding of how to develop effective education initiatives by partnering with schools, engaging families, and providing services that directly impact students according to their individual needs.
Pamela Owunta, Director of Partnerships & Engagement, Atlanta Housing
Ruby Jones, Senior Case Manager, Atlanta Housing
Gerri Sims, Liaison for Atlanta Public Schools, Atlanta Public Schools
Patrice Gregory, Neighborhood & Investment Specialist, HUD
DEI and the Pursuit of Educational Partners and Programs to Create Inclusive Communities
Fresno Housing’s Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) Framework envisions creating and sustaining vibrant communities throughout Fresno County. This is made possible through learning the needs of colleagues, making investments in culture, identifying strategic partners, and empowering diverse leadership inside and outside the agency; education partnerships make this vision possible. Fresno Housing will discuss their high-impact programs and how they have led to robustly improved outcomes from their staff, and residents.
Marc’ Bady, Chief Diversity Officer, Fresno Housing
Fresno City College
How School Districts Can Benefit From Public Housing Partnerships
PHAs provide 24/7/365 multigenerational services and supports to economically disadvantaged children and their families, including programs to address equitable learning recovery in the wake of COVID-19. Stronger relationships between PHAs and the school districts that educate their children offer the potential to nurture and lift up these services at the local level as well as support replication and scale more broadly. In this session panelists will discuss a 20-state EdWeek Research Center study on PHA-district partnerships commissioned in 2022 by the Campaign for Grade-Level Reading and its relation to comparative CLPHA data, and highlight what’s working in local housing-school collaborations.
Erica Vaughan, Consultant, Campaign for Grade-Level Reading
Abra Lyons-Warren, Director of Cross Sector Initiatives, CLPHA
Preventing Summer Learning Loss with Sport-based Positive Youth Development
The Columbus Metropolitan Housing Authority (CMHA) has formed a partnership with The Ohio State University's LiFEsports initiative to provide summer camp opportunities to CMHA youth and prevent summer learning loss. This breakout session will give attendees information on an evidence-based, nationally recognized model that yields positive youth development, as well as how to create and sustain partnerships to provide out-of-school time activities for PHA residents. Summer learning opportunities can help PHA youth with retaining knowledge from the past school year, as well as promote further school readiness. This breakout is presented in partnership with the National Summer Learning Association's Professional Summer Learning Community (PLC) for housing professionals.
Sonja Nelson, MBA, VP of Resident Initiatives, Columbus Metropolitan Housing Authority
Dawn Anderson-Butcher, PHD, LISW-S, Co-Executive Director, Ohio State University LiFEsports
Mainstream Vouchers: Success Through Partnership
Many PHAs use Mainstream vouchers successfully to help people with disabilities transition from care facilities or homelessness to stable housing — but others face challenges when trying to utilize these vouchers. This session will provide examples of successful implementation by a state and a local PHA and explore what HUD’s Community of Practice has found to be the ingredients of success. With 4,500 new Mainstream vouchers going online in 2022/2023 and the extraordinary admin fees just awarded to PHAs, this is an opportune time to talk about best practices.
Steve DeLilla, Director of the Individual and Family Support Program, Connecticut Department of Housing
Dominic Mitchell, HCV Programs Director, St. Paul Public Housing Agency
Allie Cannington, Senior Manager of Advocacy and Organizing, The Kelsey
Liz Stewart, Senior Consultant, Technical Assistance Collaborative
Emily Warren, Senior Housing Program Specialist, HUD
Should Medicaid and PHAs hook up?
Over the past decade, Medicaid administrators at both the state and federal level have come to recognize the role that stable housing plays in improving health outcomes and lowering costs. To this end, new initiatives have been approved to cover costs to provide health, behavioral health, and tenancy support services through state Medicaid programs and more robust alignment with state behavioral health resources. This session will provide the audience with an overview of state Medicaid work in the health and housing space and discuss cross-agency partnerships at the state level that weave together Medicaid and behavioral health resources to support services needed for successful supportive housing approaches. Level-setting on Medicaid and behavioral health will be followed by a dialogue with the audience on the value of PHAs, Medicaid, and state behavioral health payers partnering to maximize investments toward common supportive housing goals.
Sandra Wilkniss, Senior Program Director, National Academy of State Health Policy
Robin Wagner, Independent Consultant
Filling Data Gaps: Health, Economic, and Residential Stability Outcomes Following PHA Exits
What do we know about the health, economic, and residential stability outcomes of people who exit from housing assistance? This session presents data from Seattle/King County, WA on factors associated with exits as well as outcomes such as changes in housing stability, physical and behavioral health, and wages in the year following exit. HUD-funded research confirms that positive exits are associated with better outcomes. The panelists will also discuss related implications for programs and services provided by public housing authorities and cross-sector partners.
Annie Pennucci, Director of Impact & Evaluation, King County Housing Authority
Alastair Matheson, Assistant Chief, Data and Informatics Strategy, Public Health- Seattle/King County
Andy Chan, Strategic Advisor, Seattle Housing Authority
Housing as a Health Care Intervention: Chicago and Cook County Flexible Housing Pool
The Chicago and Cook County Flexible Housing Pool (FHP) is an innovative program funded through a public/private partnership comprised of local government, managed care organizations, health systems, and philanthropy. The FHP provides supportive housing for those who are interacting with crisis systems including ERs, jails, and shelters. Partners aims to reduce crisis system use while increasing housing stability and improving health outcomes. To achieve success, the FHP centers racial equity and the expertise of tenants in service delivery and program outcomes. Public/private partnership is central to this project’s success, with leadership from the City of Chicago, Chicago Housing Authority, and Cook County Health.
Julie Nelson, Associate Director, CSH
Dave Thomas, Program Director, Center for Housing and Health
Chanté Gamby, Housing Director, Cook County Health
Linchpins: Building and Retaining the Workforce Needed to Advance Homelessness Solutions
The San Diego Housing Commission (SDHC), which serves the eighth-largest city in the nation, will present initiatives to build and retain the skilled workforce needed for operating homelessness programs. SDHC collaborates with homelessness service providers and a local community college on these efforts. The presenters will also facilitate a discussion with session participants on strategies and innovative solutions to address the challenges in recruitment and retention for essential frontline positions in homelessness and affordable housing programs.
Lisa Jones, Executive Vice President of Strategic Initiatives, San Diego Housing Commission
Hanan Scrapper, Regional Director, PATH San Diego
Inflation Reduction Act - Harvesting New Energy & Resilience Funds
This session will review opportunities presented for affordable housing from the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA). The IRA features $25B in incentives plus significant new tax credits via four federal agencies (IRS, EPA, DOE and HUD) for investments in energy efficiency and renewable and resilience measures, including indoor air quality. NYCHA, an active practitioner in climate resiliency efforts, and HUD and EPA representatives will explain new federal programs, eligible measures, pathways, timetables and other relevant information.
Alexis Pelosi, Climate Advisor, U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development
Vlada Kenniff, Senior VP- Energy & Sustainability/ Capital Projects Division, New York City Housing Authority
Avivah Jakob, Deputy Director, Office of Public Engagement, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
Stephen J. Morgan, Senior Advisor, AMERESCO
The Intersectionality of Housing, Race and the Wage Gap
This unique session will highlight the often-underrepresented intersectionality between housing barriers and race and gender by applying an equity lens to institutional policies that increases awareness and encourages systemic change. The YWCA and Opportunity Home San Antonio serve the most disadvantaged members of their community, and this partnership demonstrates the importance of avoiding silos and disrupting the status quo to ensure equity and access to secure housing for all community members.
Dr. Jeneise Briggs, Director of Equity, Diversity and Inclusion, Opportunity Home San Antonio
Misty Moon Harty, Director of Racial Justice and Gender Equity, YWCA San Antonio
2Gen Program: Community-Responsive & Intersectional Family Supports
This panel presentation will provide an overview of Tacoma Housing Authority’s 2Gen program, which was developed and launched during the COVID-19 pandemic as a direct result of parent feedback. The pandemic helped illuminate the intersections of housing, education, mental and behavioral healthcare, and social support systems (such as daycare and food access), and the 2Gen program was built with these intertwined factors at its core. These systems have historically lacked accessibility, because they have not been built by the people who they are meant to serve. THA’s 2Gen program seeks to turn this idea on its head, placing families at the center of program design.
Gary McCurty, Community Builder, Tacoma Housing Authority
Stephanie Hopkins, 2GEN-Community Advocate, Tacoma Housing Authority
Robert McAfee, Sr., Community Builder, Tacoma Housing Authority
Byron Williams, 2GEN Supervisor, Tacoma Housing Authority
Fahren Johnson, Senior Director of Strategy & Partnerships, School’s Out Washington