Western Massachusetts Network to End Homelessness | Housing First for Hampden, Hampshire, Franklin, and Berkshire Counties

The Leadership Council met on September 30 at Westfield State College. Thanks to Leadership Council Chair and Westfield State College President Dr. Evan Dobelle for providing such a comfortable space and great food. The minutes below will provide a brief summary of decisions made; more detailed minutes will be available through the Pioneer Valley Planning Commission.

In Attendance: Fr. Stan Aksamit, Paul Bailey, Jane Banks, Andrew Baker, Tim Brennan, Dave Christopolis, Evan Dobelle, Linda Dunlavy Judge Robert Fields, Bob Fleischner, David Gadaire, Peter Gagliardi, Joanne Glier, Brad Gordon, Chris Haley, Linda Henderson, Steve Huntley, Lori Ingraham, Erica Johnson, John Klenakis, Charlie Knight, Michael Konig, Ann Lentini, Gerry McCafferty, Betty Medina Lichtenstein, Andrea Miller, Dave Modzelewski, Andrew Morehouse, Rebecca Muller, Yasmin Otero, Joe Peters, Tom Salter, Jane Sanders, Pamela Schwartz, Lynne Wallace

Regrets: Rebecca Caplice, Senator Ben Downing, Kathy Damon, Peg Keller, Jerry Ray, Linda Stacy, Elizabeth Sullivan, Mayor Mike Sullivan

Pamela asked every council member to pick their committee of choice (summarized in the powerpoint that was used as a hand-out at the meeting) on which to serve and let Pamela know in person by the end of the meeting or by email at [email protected]. Pamela also asked every member to join the blog!

The Network’s funded providers presented summaries to their fellow Council members of their programs and who their funding is intended to serve. Click here for the Network’s regional directory.

Special thanks to Jeffrey Naylor and Diane Sullivan of Homes for Families who presented to the Council on the issue of consumer involvement in the Network. See below for next steps.

The Council voted and unanimously agreed to the following:

The Council Chair and Co-Chair are empowered to sign all official documents related to the Network, including invoices and other State-related business.
The Council will amend the draft by-laws to include representation of funded providers on the Council. This amendment would include the statement that “These representatives will not participate in any discussion or decisionmaking related to provider funding or evaluation.”
The Steering Committee will provide a final draft of by-laws for approval at the next quarterly meeting in December.
The Council Steering Committee will be constituted as follows: Leadership Council Chair, Co-Chair, 4 Committee Chairs, 3 Continua of Care Coordinators, and 3 state agency representatives, including DHCD, DTA and DMH.
The Leadership Council Membership Workgroup will disband in view of its completed responsibilities and members of this group will determine their best fit for other committee involvement.
The Community Engagement Committee will take up the priority of reaching out to the broader community, including all 8 mayors in the region, the 4 sheriffs, the state senatorial and representative delegations, councils of churches and appropriate foundations. This Committee will consider various strategies (e.g., ex officio members) and report back on its progress at the December meeting.
The Western Mass. Interagency Council will continue to exist as an entity separate but connected to the Network. The by-laws will be amended accordingly to reflect that WMIC is not a committee of the Network. This configuration will be revisited as the relationship between the two entities unfolds over the coming months.
The Family and Individual Services Committees will follow-up on reaching out to consumers to build a consumer advisory group for the Network. Thanks again to Jeffrey Naylor and Diane Sullivan of Homes for Families for providing great information and inspiration about involving consumers in our Network.
The Steering Committee will pursue possibilities for advocacy around state budget issues, particularly with regard to the RAFT program. The Council recognized its potentially important role in advocating for sufficient funding – and the necessary revenue raising that may be required – to protect all prevention and rapid rehousing programs.
The Leadership Council is interested in organizing a legislative breakfast and will follow-up with Homes for Families’ offer of technical assistance to make this happen in the next few months.
The Council will forego rotating meeting locations for its quarterly meetings in view of the spacious accommodations and generous food supplied by Westfield State College. We like it there! Thanks again to Dr. Dobelle for giving us such an excellent place to get our work done.
2 hours is not long enough to meet! We will take stock of the next agenda and plan accordingly, but all members should plan now for 10 am – 1 pm on the given dates, including lunch.