Continuum of Care Meeting Minutes

September 5, 2019

Attendees
Dora Carter, Corae Young, Cynthia Brown, Jacquelyn Hannan, Bethany Goodwin, Sara Martin, Michael Bellis, Becky Sweeney, Jeral Barnes, Renee Crampton, Krystal Bowser-Garisto, Betsy VanAuker, Donna Brennan, Lori Horny, Wayne Millette, Kyle Cox, Krystal Bradford, Lanny Lancaster, Charmaine Jones, LaShawn Freeman, Jocelyn Richardson, Tanya Hurst, Renee Curry

The meeting was called to order by Dora Carter at 2:02PM with welcome and introductions. Dora appreciated Sara for her dedication as the previous Chair for the last 2.5 years. Dora mentioned that she is currently operating as Interim Chair until October 3rd. Approval of August Meeting Minutes

• There was a motion to approve the August Meeting Minutes and Renee Crampton seconded the motion with edits. Under the approval of the minutes, please change the name Becky to Betsy. The meeting for Calvert is also bi-monthly, not quarterly. Also, Lori’s name is spelled incorrectly. Lanny stated a correction that Three Oaks picked up an additional $12,000 costs to operating the CoC. Jacquelyn asked that we also add the language from the minutes regarding the CoC Administrative Coordinator. Donna stated that under new business, the sentence regarding DHCD should say “also,” not “Ab.” Donna Brennan seconded. New Business

• Goals & Objectives: Dora asked that the CoC provide feedback regarding the document. It is required for our NOFA application and must be posted online. Rita Wood sent an email with the following statement: “I see the goals listed in the attached for Housing Authorities and should note that our goals and objectives, which are set by the County Commissioners, in some ways do support these but we may not always have the same goals, actions, benchmarks, or leads as listed here.” There were no other comments. Betsy approved and Tanya seconded.

• Nominations for Chair of CoC: Corae mentioned that the Sub-Committee chairs held a conference call two weeks ago to discuss the nominations process for the Chairmanship. It was shared that upon review of the minutes from October 2017, the following was stated: “Sara requested approval to create position of CoC Administrative Coordinator; Dennis Nicholson made motion to accept; Janet Salazar seconded. Administrative Coordinator to contract with Three Oaks Center on behalf of CoC.” Sara Martin agreed to resign from the Chair position effective August 28th. Dora Carter, the current Vice-Chair, agreed to serve as Interim Chair effective August 28th - October 3rd when a new Chair is voted in. Corae mentioned that nominations for the new Chair are due by Friday, September 20th. It was agreed that persons can self-nominate or
nominate someone else. To be included on the slate, the person nominated must agree to be on the slate. Committee Reports

• Services Committee: Sara stated that we met last Friday and working on changes to the policies & procedures. They are also making slight changes to the CoC referral form • Executive Committee: No report

• HMIS: Lanny reported that he has asked Florence to clarify the domestic violence data collection. There is a question on the NOFA on whether we are in compliance with HUD and Department of Justice regarding data collection. DHCD states that as long as we have a firewall, it was acceptable. Since then, the DOJ states that we can’t put DV data in the system and has to be a comparable database. Florence is speaking with the Maryland Collaborative to determine the best response. The new software would cost $10,000. The state is trying to negotiate a cost with one software provider to lower the cost statewide. Lanny states that the cost may have to be included in next year’s planning grant. Kelsey asked if it was possible to approach the individual counties about their grants process. Crisis Intervention purchased the APRICOT system that Safe Harbor will be transitioning to. Corae mentioned that the providers could request funding from GOCCP to offset expense.

• Membership: Corae made a motion to vote on Wayne Millette for Calvert and Laura Joyce as St. Mary’s on the Governing Board. Kelsey voted and Dora seconded. An updated voting board members listing will be sent out.

• Public Relations: Sara stated that there’s a new document on the CoC website regarding an overview of the CoC. We will need a chair of this sub-committee.

• Quality Assurance: Cynthia stated the team met with each of the county’s Shelter Plus Care programs to do their monitoring. As of this morning, the QA committee met to review the CoC NOFA 2019 applications. There is a lot of information to review. The committee still has to rank the applications. They have until the end of September to review but have to build in 14 days for public comment. They plan to wrap up by the end of next week.

• Resource Development: No report

• Unaccompanied Youth: Kelsey stated that he’s waiting to schedule another meeting. Corae reported that the Joint Sub-Committee on Unaccompanied Homeless Minors meeting was on Tuesday. She thanked the CoC for providing information on services available in the region, as we were one of the only CoCs that provided such information; other information was from state agencies or individual agencies. Kelsey stated that we discussed doing a mid-year PIT but didn’t do it for lack of funding and resources. Dora stated that she has heard other jurisdictions that are planning mid-year PIT. Kelsey stated that we should encourage getting information to Delegate Patterson. Mike stated that Senator Ellis is also on the committee.

• Domestic Violence: Krystal stated we had a second meeting at the end of August. The main topic of our last meeting was the HMIS data input and providing verification to VAWA providers that it was approval to use HMIS. She shared that she went to the DHCD meeting last month but few
providers around the state provide information to the CoC. We also discussed having a clear definition of domestic violence for the CoC to utilize in providing housing services.

• Behavioral Health: Tanya states they have their first meeting tomorrow at St. Mary’s County Health Department from 9 – 11am. They will meet on the 1st Friday of every month. Krystal mentioned that Kyle will now be representing Pyramid Walden for future meetings.

• Point in Time: No report

County Reports

• Charles: Mike mentioned that the Resource Day is October 2nd, 10am – 2pm at Jaycees. The senior center is now moving, and we will have the entire building. We’re also providing barbers and massage therapist. We have funding through Community Services and private donors and now fully funded for Resource Day. We’re also doing a pop-up clothing and accessories store. Flyers are being filtered through CCPS.

• Calvert: Betsy stated that the Resource Day is October 18th, 11 – pm at the St. John Vianney Family Life Center. The committee meets this Monday. They are also working on PIT. There’s a question regarding how the PIT intersects with the Census. Jacquelyn stated that the Census may be able to give us tablets while we’re doing PIT to capture their information. It was suggested that they can reach out to Lanny as the PIT Chair. The new McKinney-Vento representative, Tracy Lloyd, has already registered 30 students. Renee Crampton stated that Calvert DSS opened up a job center in the Goldstein building on Tuesday in a partnership with Tri-County Council. The center number is 443-550-6728. The committee also wanted clarification on whether they can use Community Resource Day and PIT money to buy gift cards. Those funds can be used for food and gas cards, and it needs to be tracked who it was given to and signed off by the recipient.

• St. Mary’s: Cynthia stated that they made a presentation to the Commissioners and approved the Homeless Prevention Board’s plan. Laura Joyce from SMCFA presented at the last meeting, stating that they are providing more services, to include anger management and counseling. Some of those services were originally provided by Walden Sierra. The Resource Day is November 8th, 11am – 2pm at Lexington Park UMC.
IDT Reports

• Charles: Corae reported the meeting is the 2nd Monday of the month at DSS. Meetings are going well and building more collaboration.

• Calvert: Betsy reported the meetings are the 2nd Thursdasy of each month at DSS

• St. Mary’s: Lanny reported the meetings are the 2nd and 4th Wednesdays of the month at Lexington Park DSS and lead by DSS, from 9:30 – 11am.

Next Meeting: The next meeting will be October 3rd, 2019, 2pm at the Charlotte Hall Library.

Adjournment: Kelsey Bush motioned to adjourn the meeting and Sara Martin seconded the motion. Meeting was adjourned at 3:09PM.