Join us tomorrow, June 29, from 1:00-2:00 for the weekly webinar to hear from staff at the Department of Human Services about helping people experiencing homelessness apply for Social Security Administration (SSA) benefits, staff from the Heading Home Corps to learn about site and member recruitment, and more about applying to be a community reviewer for Minnesota Housing’s Capacity Building Grant. If you have any questions about your registration, please email Elizabeth Dressel.
The webinar on July 6 is cancelled due to the holiday week. We will reconvene July 13 from 1:00 -2:00 p.m. Since July 6 is the first Wednesday of the month, the Speakers Bureau will be moved out a week to July 13. Anyone who has lived experience of homelessness is welcome to sign-up to share through the Speakers Bureau. This is open time each month for lived experience experts to share ideas and feedback with the webinar audience. All the details can be found on this flyer.
The monthly prep session held the Tuesday before the webinar. The July prep session will be Tuesday, July 12 from 3:00-3:30 p.m. Follow this link to join the prep session.
Are you interested in learning about opportunities to share your expertise and ideas on how to best support people facing homelessness? The Minnesota Interagency Council on Homelessness is building a new newsletter list to share opportunities for people who have faced or are currently facing homelessness to share their input, ideas, and expertise. Interested individuals can sign up for the newsletter by filling out this form. The newsletter will be sent out as opportunities are available. Please email elizabeth.dressel@state.mn.us if you have any questions.
Minnesota Housing Finance Agency invites members of the community to apply to be community reviewers to help score and recommend grantees for their 2022 Capacity Building Grant program. Minnesota Housing has created this community reviewer opportunity because we are striving to create a grantmaking process that values, listens to, and acts on the input of people who have experienced housing challenges. Community Reviewers will be required to complete all the following activities to receive a one-time payment of $500 after completion of all activities. Please visit the Minnesota Housing website for a list of meeting dates and deadlines referenced here:
-
Participate in a required Community Reviewer Orientation and Grant Reviewer Training Meeting.
- Review and score six to eight applications (estimate about 8 to 10 hours total over a three-week period).
- Participate in a 2-to-3-hour time block of grant applicant interviews.
- Participate in two selection meetings (one 4-to-5-hour time block to select interview finalists and one 2-to-3-hour time block to identify recommended grantees).
- Provide feedback of your experience as a Community Reviewer to Minnesota Housing’s grant program and evaluation staff.
It is expected that it will take about 20 to 23 hours during the months of July through early October to complete the activities identified above. Please only apply if you can commit to participating in all of the activities. Applicants are not eligible to serve as Community Reviewers if their employer plans to apply for the 2022 Capacity Building Grant program.
Please see Minnesota Housing Community Reviewer Overview and Application for complete details. Applications are due on Wednesday, June 13 at 2:00 p.m. If you want to learn more, join an information session today, June 28 at 1:00 p.m. No registration is required for the information session. Click below to join or call 651-395-7448 and enter meeting code 119311330# to join.
Minnesota Housing’s Capacity Building Program is accepting applications to fund activities that build the capacity of organizations and communities to address root causes of housing challenges and create thriving and inclusive communities. Capacity Building Program grant funds can be used for organizational capacity building and intermediary capacity building. Learn more about the RFP on the program page - https://www.mnhousing.gov/sites/np/CapacityBuildingProgram. The application deadline has been extended to 12:00 p.m. CT on Monday, July 25.
Heading Home Corps is currently recruiting host sites and members for the 2022-23 program year, which starts in August 2022. Heading Home Corps places AmeriCorps members, called Housing Resource Navigators, at organizations that are dedicated to improving the well-being of people experiencing homelessness. Housing Resource Navigators provide program participants with resource navigation for direct housing support or housing-adjacent support.
If your setting is interested, you can apply now by completing the site application. Heading Home Corps is currently looking to award about 15 more positions statewide. Sites are awarded on a rolling basis, within two weeks of when sites apply. Sites are encouraged to apply as soon as possible. For additional questions about site partnership, please contact Director of Partnerships, Lizzie Morris Vogt at lizziemorrisvogt@ampact.us.
Apply to be a Heading Home Corps Member
Heading Home Corps is accepting member applications until August 10, 2022. Learn more about the position and how to apply at https://www.ampact.us/heading-home. All members receive robust training and professional development throughout the year, along with a $1,100 living stipend every two weeks, an education award up to $6,495 to pay for school or pay back student loans, and free health insurance and childcare assistance (for those who qualify). For additional questions about service with Heading Home Corps, please contact Recruiter, Avery Hoogenakker, at avery.hoogenakker@ampact.us
Last week, the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) released a first-of-its-kind package of resources for unsheltered homelessness and homeless encampments. The Initiative for Unsheltered and Rural Homelessness will help communities humanely and effectively implement coordinated approaches for solving unsheltered homelessness with housing, health care, and supportive services. The $365 million package includes:
-
$322 million in Continuum of Care (CoC) Program grants, with $54.5 million set aside specifically for rural communities, through a Special Notice of Funding Opportunity to fund homeless outreach, permanent housing, supportive services, and other costs. The grants will fund projects for three years then will be eligible for renewal through the annual CoC Program.
-
$43 million for approximately 4,000 new Housing Choice Vouchers that will be allocated through a separate notice to public housing authorities. The vouchers can serve people who are:
-
experiencing or at risk of homelessness
-
fleeing or attempting to flee domestic violence, dating violence, sexual assault, and stalking
-
Veterans and their families if they meet one of the proceeding criteria
This funding opportunity strongly promotes partnerships with health care organizations, public housing authorities and mainstream housing providers, and people with lived experience of homelessness. Read the full announcement here. Additionally, you can review new guidance from the United States Interagency Council on Homelessness (USICH) and HUD on responding to unsheltered homelessness:
Cases among people experiencing homelessness and the staff who support them continue to remain steady. The MDH team continues to monitor cases and our team continues to plan alongside local public health and emergency management on ways to be best prepared to support people experiencing homelessness through any future surges. If you are looking for any information or resources you can find information at https://mich.mn.gov/covid-19 or email Health.R-Congregate@state.mn.us.
-
The Minnesota Shelter Emergency Staffing Pool has been relaunched effective immediately. This initiative provides temporary staff to congregate settings serving people experiencing homelessness or domestic violence to support settings that are experiencing acute COVID-19 related staffing challenges. This free resource is offered through a partnership between ServeMinnesota and Worldwide Travel Staffing. It does not require eligible settings to cover any of the costs of the temporary staff and there are staff ready to deploy. Both nonprofit and for-profit congregate settings serving people experiencing homelessness and domestic violence and are experiencing staffing impacts from an active COVID-19 outbreak are eligible to apply. You can fill out the application for emergency staffing support online. If you have questions about the application or process, please send an email to Naomi Zuk-Fisher, ServeMN consultant and Minnesota Shelter Emergency Staffing Pool lead.
-
The Frontline Worker Pay application is open from June 8 through July 22, 2022. Applicant support is available to assist applicants in multiple languages. Visit https://frontlinepay.mn.gov/ to apply and view all available information on the program including an application overview document, Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs), an application fact sheet, and an outreach toolkit. The Frontline Worker Pay law requires that employers in a frontline sector provide notice by June 23, 2022, advising all current workers who may be eligible for Frontline Worker Pay of the assistance potentially available to them and how to apply for benefits. An employer notice that meets this obligation is available now in English, Hmong, Somali and Spanish.
|
