Individual Services Meeting
Thursday, September 12, 2013
In attendance: Carl Cignoni, Hampshire Sherrif’s Office/DOC Re-entry Services, Martha Clark, ServiceNet, Karen Dean, Hampden County Sheriff’s Department, Jay Levy, Eliot CHS-Homeless Services, Bill Miller, Friends of the Homeless, Lizzy Ortiz, City of Springfield, Claudia Phillips, Health Care for the Homeless, Pamela Schwartz, Network Coordinator, Jerry Ray, Mental Health Association, Wanda Rolon, ServiceNet
Updates:
Critical Response Team meeting met with great success. Chronically homeless woman (homeless for 20 years), unsheltered, great mental health issues. DMH agreed to accommodate found her eligible for
Shelter Plus Care n Hampshire and Franklin will be newly administered by ServiceNet as of 9/28/13.
Jay shared his new book “Pretreatment Guide for Homeless Outreach and Housing First.” Congratulations, Jay! Book is available on Amazon.com. Jay will donate first $100 to the Western Mass. Network and 25% to National Coalition for the Homeless.
Martha Clark: newly at Hampshire County Resource Center as case manager. Welcome, Martha!
Shelter updates:
Friends of the Homeless (Bill Miller) – contracted for 133 beds, 145 people sleeping there last night. Around 1,200 different people over the course of the year. Tracked 24-26 placed in housing in August. Cuts in other areas impact on capacity to serve as well. Lack of space in detox centers
Grove Street (Wanda Rolon). Full, working off of waiting list. A couple of Y beds – 2 year transitional beds (4, full throughout year). Preparing for interfaith shelter opening on 11/1 (26 beds) and Easthampton Annex opens 11/15. Not seeing as many people at Hampshire Resource Center (no longer breakfast, showers, only case management). Used to be seeing about 30-40 people each morning, now roughly ½ as many. Open 9 am – 3 pm. But getting real work done.
Franklin County Resource Center and shelter in process of moving to shared space in downtown Greenfield. 20 beds in Greenfield.
Craig’s Doors (Kevin Noonan): winter shelter opens on 11/1. Shelter opens at 9:30 pm (due to church needs). 22 beds, 6 beds for women.
Samaratin Inn: roughly 32 beds, up to 10 women.
Annie’s House transferred from MCDI to Mental Health Association but nothing else has changed about the program. Serves 16 women. Requiring 6 months of sobriety. Call MHA at 413-734-5376 and ask for Sister Senga or Dave Havens.
CoC update: Discussed new configuration of CoC’s so that we now have 2 CoC’s – Hampden County CoC and Three County CoC (Hampshire, Franklin and Berkshire). The Network and CoC’s across the region are embarking on greater integration and collaboration, including have a representative of the individual services committee on the CoC board of directors and sharing agendas where appropriate. Pamela will keep everybody posted as this partnership unfolds and looks forward to committee input.
Agreed on a regular monthly meeting schedule: 1st Thursday of the month. 10:30-noon. So upcoming dates are: October 3, November 7, December 5. We also agreed to alternate locations between Springfield Friends of the Homeless and Northampton Senior Center.
