Conference Agenda: Workshops Workshop sessions at 1:45 - 3:15 P.M. and 3:30 - 3.00 P.M. Workshops are organized in 3 categories. Click to jump to each category: Download Complete Program Vocations Workshops“Homeless and Enterprising: Building Expertise for Higher Income”Technical or specialized knowledge and training or work experience are essential for the homeless to succeed as employees or entrepreneurs in local small businesses, especially in the majority of enterprises that rely on information technology. Presenters: Alex Gomez (Director, West Contra Costa Business Development Center, El Sobrante), Karuna Jaggar, (East Bay Executive Director, Women's Initiative for Self-Employment, Oakland), Barrie Hathaway (Executive Director, Stride Center, San Pablo). “Working Up and Out of Homelessness: Bridging the Gap to Gainful Employment” A diverse network of local Contra Costa resources enables homeless adults to get the necessary real-world training, work-related skills, and job experience to move up to a career that pays more than enough for housing in the Bay Area. Presenters: Bob Collins (Senior Employment Program Representative, EASTBAY Works One-Stop Career Center, Oakland), Montell Currin (Veteran Representative, Inner-City Services, Berkeley), Amanda Pruitt (Program Coordinator, Saffron Strand, Inc., Point Richmond). “More than Possible: Higher Education for the Homeless” Contra Costa College offers a range of college programs designed to optimize higher education and employability for vulnerable populations, including the homeless. Presenter: Priscilla Leadon (Dean of Economic Development, Contra Costa College, San Pablo). “Helping the Homeless Client: Overcoming Legal Barriers to Employment and Housing” One of the biggest barriers to employment and housing for many homeless persons is their criminal record or "status" as a former inmate. Most legal services agencies operate separately from workforce development and housing agencies to help the homeless access the courts, navigate administrative bureaucracies, and identify legal remedies and solutions to previous incarceration. By contrast, Rubicon Programs' Legal and Workforce Services Partnership (LaWS) combines the services of a workforce development agency with the expertise of an "in-house" staff attorney. This approach creates a vocational case management model where legal barriers are addressed in concert with a client's job readiness and retention needs. This workshop provides an overview of legal barriers to employment and remedies available, focusing particularly on criminal record reporting and expungement laws. It highlights challenges and successes in this program and other innovative workforce-legal partnerships. Presenter: Brian Hogan (Staff Attorney, Rubicon Programs Inc., Richmond) “Our Veterans: Effective Strategies for Preventing and Eliminating Their Homelessness” Military veterans make up about a quarter of the nation's homeless population and their numbers are growing. Ending the cycle of homelessness among veterans requires wrap-around attention to all areas of need: Housing, employment, primary and mental health care, substance abuse treatment, and social and income supports. Founded in 1974, the community-based non-profit Swords to Plowshares provides integrated case management and direct services, enabling veterans to increase stability in their lives, mitigate poor health conditions, escape poverty, and attain self-sufficiency, dignity, and independence. Presenters: Wanda Heffernon (Director of Housing) and David Talerico (Director of Health and Social Services, Swords to Plowshares, San Francisco) Health Workshops“Ending Homelessness for Individuals with Severe Mental Illness”Severe mental illness creates a unique set of challenges for housing developers and service providers. Rubicon Programs has more than 35 years of experience in supporting individuals with major mental illness to obtain and maintain permanent housing. This workshop highlights the challenges and successes of this effort, spotlighting recent work by the Bridges To Home MHSA team (BTH), which has moved more than 90 individuals and families into permanent housing in the past two years. Utilizing partnerships with a variety of county agencies and community-based organizations, BTH employs an assertive community treatment model to achieve outcomes in a supportive and recovery-based manner. Presenters: Steven Grolnic-McClurg, LCSW (Director of Supportive Services), Gary Cristofani (BTH Team Leader), Judith Lorde (Resource Services Program Manager, Rubicon Programs, Richmond). “Hepatitis C among the Homeless: More Affected, But Fewer Treated” Hepatitis C affects less than 2% of the U.S. population, but impacts individuals in up to half of all of America's homeless populations. The evaluation of patients with chronic HCV can be expensive and rates of treatment can be low among resource-poor patients, including the homeless. Mortality rates are rising, especially among homeless minorities of middle-age. Knowledge of the disease and prevention practices can lower risks of transmission. Presenter: Diana Sylvestre, MD (Executive Director of OASIS, Assistant Clinical Professor of Medicine at UCSF, and a leading medical researcher on HCV treatment in addicted patients, San Francisco). "Human Trafficking 101: Local Homeless and Runaways at Risk" Human trafficking occurs when vulnerable people are tricked, lured, coerced, or otherwise forced to work for little or no payment or on terms which are highly exploitative. This criminal activity takes place elsewhere in California and in Contra Costa where human traffickers exploit homeless adults and children, including runaway youth. This workshop covers the nature and scope of human trafficking at the local level, its root causes and risk factors (particularly for homeless and runaway youth), how to identify and report it, measures to control and reduce it, and how victims may be supported through federal legislation passed since 2000. Presenter: Hanna Hamilton (Outreach & Prevention Educator, Anti-Human Trafficking Project, Community Violence Solutions, San Pablo). "Medical Respite Programs: Improved Recovery at Lower Public Cost” Medical respite care can reduce costly hospitalization and medical emergency services while making more efficient use of medical professionals, improving public health, and increasing the health of the homeless. Medical respite care was designed with hospital input to improve health outcomes for homeless at-risk patients by providing on-site recuperative care, coordination of services, and temporary shelter for those who are medically frail. In addition to improving the discharge options of participating hospitals, respite care reduces unnecessary hospital recidivism. Presenters: San Francisco Medical Respite Program (collaboration between the San Francisco Department of Public Health and the non-profit Community Awareness & Treatment Services). “Best Practices in Discharge Planning” There are critical similarities and unique challenges in four major health care systems: Prisons, hospitals, foster care, and mental health and substance abuse facilities. This workshop explores best practices for discharge planning for homeless people emerging from each of these systems, as well as how discharge planning interfaces with the crisis of affordable housing. Presenter: Larry Gottlieb, MSW, MPA (Director of Adult Homeless and Outreach Services at Eliot Community Human Services, Lexington, Massachusetts). “Transformative Life Skills: Restoring Empathy and Emotional Effectiveness” Those who work with the homeless suffer emotional damage that can degrade their empathy and reduce their job performance. Yoga techniques can help heal providers' emotional scarring, restore the capacity to care, and increase the effectiveness of their work. Presenter: Bidyut Bose, PhD (Director of the Niroga Institute, Berkeley). “Integrating Mental Health, Substance Abuse, and Physical Health Care” Homeless people suffer from complex medical, mental health, and substance abuse problems. However, mainstream treatment services are often separate and not coordinated across disciplines. This workshop explores barriers to the integration of HCH services and the most effective strategies for overcoming HCH challenges for the benefit of the homeless and our communities. Presenters: Deborah Borne, MD, MSW (Medical Director Homeless and Community Programs, Tom Waddell Health Center, San Francisco). “Sober and Stable: Reducing Alcohol Emergencies among the Homeless” A large proportion of homeless adults have substance abuse problems, which are likely to include alcohol dependency. The innovative use of "sobering services" demonstrates how partnerships between police, public safety agencies, and community-based organizations can reduce demand for law enforcement, paramedic, and other emergency services while helping homeless inebriates become sober safely and gain access to long-term treatment services. Presenter: Shannon Smith, RN (Coordinator, San Francisco Sobering Center, San Francisco). Housing Workshops“Preventing Homelessness: Greater Impact with Targeted Strategies”The new federal Homelessness Prevention and Rapid Re-Housing Program (HPRP) makes funds available for homelessness prevention at the local level. National and local research on homelessness prevention strategies can help providers make the most effective use of HPRP resources. For workshop participants not directly using HPRP resources, this workshop explains how shelters, transitional housing providers, and others can use available data for more targeted prevention. Presenters: Katharine Gale (Katharine Gale Consulting, Berkeley) and Jennifer Baha (Director of Program Services, SHELTER, Inc. of Contra Costa County, Martinez). “The CHOM Model: Collaborative Supportive Housing – A Foundation for Success” Community Housing of Maine (CHOM) provides and maintains community-based supportive housing that fosters pride, stability, and wellness. CHOM's record of success includes periods when 50% of clients met criteria for chronic homelessness and 90% became gainfully employed. Presenter: Cullen Ryan (Executive Director of Community Housing of Maine, Portland, Maine). “Developing Affordable Housing in the Bay Area” Bay Area Local Initiatives Support Corporation (LISC) is a leading training and technical assistance provider for affordable housing in the Bay Area. Participants in this workshop receive condensed education and training on the basics of developing affordable housing for homeless and low-income people. Training includes performing feasibility analysis, securing funding, and managing budgets. Presenter: Peggy Jen (Senior Program Officer, Bay Area LISC, San Francisco). |
