News, Resources, & Happenings at TAC — March 2021

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Check Out TAC’s New Website!

Welcome to TAC’s newly redesigned website, with a brighter look and simpler navigation to help visitors find publications, resources, consultant bios, and the latest highlights from our diverse projects and initiatives. Explore!

A National Gathering Boosts Coordinated Efforts to House Veterans Experiencing Homelessness

As part of our ongoing work to end Veteran homelessness, TAC helped deliver a virtual Federal Permanent Housing Conference in support of the Department of Veterans Affairs’ (VA) Supportive Services for Veteran Families (SSVF) program and the Department of Housing & Urban Development’s Veterans Affairs Supportive Housing (HUD-VASH) program. The conference, which offered 16 virtual sessions over two weeks, reached over 3,000 practitioners, service providers, system leaders, and VA employees on topics related to ending homelessness among Veterans. In partnership with the VA, technical assistance partners, local practitioners, and people with lived expertise, TAC coordinated the planning and delivery of these sessions highlighting innovative practices and local solutions. The conference was accredited for 21 hours of Continuing Education credits for multiple specialties.

TAC’s SSVF team, led by Senior Consultant Jim Yates with support from Senior Associates Douglas Tetrault and LaMont Green, Associate Phil Allen, TA & Training Coordinator Kyia Watkins, and other TA partners, also supported the launch of SSVF’s Health Care Navigation services nationwide. This new service, operated by local VA-funded nonprofits, will ensure that Veterans and their families have access to critical health care resources and services to better promote their overall health and housing stability. TAC’s ongoing support includes policy guidance, technical assistance, training (including virtual learning sessions), and the convening of ten Health Care Navigation communities of practice nationwide.

For Communities: A Learning Series on Rapid Rehousing & Housing Problem-Solving

TAC has been helping communities improve their implementation of rapid rehousing (RRH) and housing problem-solving (HPS) practices, offering two TAC-developed learning series that provide a foundational understanding of RRH core components and explain how to promote community buy-in. In January, TAC Managing Director Marie Herb, Senior Associate Douglas Tetrault, and Associate Phil Allen, along with consultant Naomi Sweitzer, facilitated these RRH and HPS learning series with Continuums of Care and RRH providers in Maine, Indiana, and Arkansas. Series sessions provide communities with practical ways to implement RRH core components effectively, along with strategies to continuously improve on their practice. The learning series also give direct service providers skills they can use to help people avoid homelessness altogether. As COVID-19 continues to create more uncertainty for people struggling with housing instability and homelessness, TAC is working alongside communities to face the challenges together and serve our most vulnerable neighbors across the United States.

If you are interested in bringing the Rapid Rehousing learning series to your community, contact TAC Project Support Specialist Ari Rogers via info@tacinc.org, with “RRH Series” in the subject line.

TAC Staff in Action

Staff Activities

In January, Senior Associate Lauren Knott co-presented on a webinar for Youth Homelessness Demonstration Program communities on the topic of “Building Your Planning Team” to help communities think about who should be at their planning tables, authentically collaborate with youth, and center principles of equity and inclusion; Executive Director Kevin Martone presented on key issues for crisis services in cross-system engagement and social determinants of health for a series of working sessions convened in December by Vibrant Emotional Health to gather input for the launch of the 988 mental health crisis line; Kevin has also been asked to serve on the national advisory committee for the Jed Foundation’s Mental Health Strategic Impact Initiative; Senior Consultant David de Voursney joined several state and federal officials as a panelist for an American Health Law Association webinar in January on “Trends in Behavioral Health Innovation in Medicaid and Medicare Managed Care”; and in January, Senior Consultant Jim Yates and Senior Associate Nicole LiBaire led a two-part training for service providers and behavioral health managed care staff in North Carolina on “Section 8 Made Simple for Practitioners: Developing a Better Understanding of How the Section 8 Housing Choice Voucher Program is Administered by your Local Public Housing Authority.”

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