HUD Joins 2d Regional CoC Providers Convo

By Sarah Owens and Michael Livingston

HUD officials join providers, ROCC staff, in small group discussion

HUD representatives Todd Adkins and Toni Strutz with the Community Planning and Development (CPD)  Field Office in Portland joined local government and nonprofit homeless service providers Monday morning at the Kroc Center to discuss recent developments in the effort to form a regional Continuum of Care, the second such meeting called by the Mid-Willamette Homeless Initiative Steering Committee (MWHISC).  See "Kroc Center Hosts CoC Convo."

Forming a regional CoC would mean Marion and Polk counties leaving the Rural Oregon CoC (ROCC).

ROCC staffers Jessica Adams and Caleb Green were also present at the second meeting.

The meeting was also attended by twenty homeless housing and services providers, seven of whom had not attended the first meeting (listed at the end, with the newbies in bold.) 

Providers at the first meeting were told there was some possibility of Yamhill, Linn, Benton and Lincoln counties joining the regional CoC.  They asked that the next meeting be held after the geographical area had been determined.

At this second meeting, Jan Calvin, a consultant to the MWHISC, gave a 15-minute recap of HUD's CoC Program, the events leading to the regional CoC initiative, and a "macro timeline" of the CoC formation process (below).  She said "we are here", and pointed to the "Resolutions, Letters of Support" bubble.  She then asked if there were questions.

Robin Winkle asked if there was a process "to become part of the Development Council.  Calvin responded that the Council would consist of the "current jurisdictions) (Salem, Keizer, Marion County, Independence and Monmouth) plus Polk County, and said the Mid-Willamette Valley Community Action (MWVCAA) and United Way are being "looked at", but she also indicated that the MWHISC was "open to thoughts on how to do this."  Winkle said that she was just wanting to know if the Council would be a "closed group."  Calvin said, yes, it was "a closed group that's now looking for an MOU", but then said, "definitive, not closed -- public."  Winkle said, "if we're going to do this, I want to make sure we're involved."  Shelly Ehenger followed up, "So, is there a process [for getting on the Council]?"  To which Calvin responded, no, there's no process.

Ian Dixon-MacDonald asked, "Is the [Mid-Willamette Valley] Council of Governments interested [in hosting], and what about Yamhill County?"  Calvin said that COG (which hosts the MWHISC) had indicated it was open to being asked, and that she was giving a presentation to the COG Board on the 24th.  She said Salem, Marion and Polk counties, as well as Monmouth, Independence, Silverton and Keizer, had adopted resolutions supporting a regional CoC.  She said Yamhill County's Board of Commissioners had voted in May to remain in ROCC, but "one commissioner" (Rick Olson) was planning to hold a meeting with Yamhill County mayors to discuss the situation further.  Calvin said she would be there to answer questions, but the meeting had not been scheduled.  Later, when asked about Linn, Benton and Lincoln counties, Calvin indicated they would not be joining.

For the remaining hour, everyone was asked to break into small groups to discuss the components of an ideal CoC, and report back.  Calvin passed out a by-topic outline: geography, participation, purpose/function, organization, communications, data, output/accomplishments, other.  Todd Adkins and Toni Strutz, the HUD staffers, participated in the discussions.  Strutz was in a group with Carolyn Fry.  About halfway through the list, Fry asked Struz (who had been quiet) what she thought about one of the areas.  Strutz replied "There's no guarantee."  Fry asked what she meant.  Strutz said, "There's no guarantee there will be more resources."  

Participants appeared overall to be engaged throughout the exercise, even though most had little comprehension and much less experience of HUD expectations for CoCs.  For the most part, reports back were focused at a systems level versus on individual organizations or service sectors.  Calvin asked the groups for their outline notes, and promised to share the "notes of the meeting" by email.  The meeting ran over by about ten minutes.

Reviews of the meeting were vaguely positive, though most we talked to observed the absence of new information, and the absence of United Way and MWVCAA, as well as other, leadership.  In fact, the second meeting was down about a dozen director/executive director positions compared to the first meeting, a sign that "update/feedback" meetings are probably not the best way to continue to try and engage providers when there's no solid information to give them, and nothing of substance for them to discuss.  Calvin did say, however, that there would be another meeting in September.

Housing reps at the second meeting:  Candace Jamison, Marion County Housing Authority;  Pamala Garrick, Salem Housing Authority;  Kim Lyell, Polk Community Development Corporation;  Shelly Ehenger, City of Salem;  Kristin Keunz-Barber, Northwest Human Services;  Dan Williams, Salvation Army of Marion and Polk Counties' Kroc Center;  Robin Winkle, Shangri-La;  Josh Graves and Jim Seymour,  Catholic Community Services; Amy Hamilton, NEDCO; Dana Shultz, Mid-Willamette Valley Community Action Agency.

Supportive and preventative services reps at the second meeting: Melissa Baurer, Santiam Hospital; Cyndi Leinassar, Salem Health;  Ian Dixon-MacDonald, Marion Polk Food Share; Heather Wright, Polk County Homeless Connect;  Christina Korkow, Recovery Outreach Community Center;  Julie Conn-Johnson, Salem Keizer School District; Shaysee May, Northwest Senior and Disability Services;  Carolyn Fry, Marion County Health and Human Services;  Colleen Bradford, Oregon Department of Human Services.