In this edition:
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Join the next MICH webinar and Speakers Bureau on Wednesday, January 8
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Let us know: what kind of content would be helpful to you in future MICH webinars?
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Honoring those who have passed
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Minnesota’s Family Homeless Prevention and Assistance Program receives national recognition
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Learn about the Minnesota Child Tax Credit on a January 9 webinar with the Department of Revenue
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Help bring stability to the Supportive Housing business model
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Homelessness and racial justice
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Crossroads to Justice: Implementation Consultant Katie Brown on collaborating with the Department of Employment and Economic Development
Be sure to join the next monthly webinar on Wednesday, January 8 from 1 - 2 p.m. Please note this is a change from January 1 and the first Wednesday of the month. If you have any questions about your webinar registration, please email dan.gregory@state.mn.us
The January 8 webinar will focus on how communities can support new arrivals to Minnesota and connect them to the resources for which they are eligible.
The beginning 10 minutes of each monthly webinar will be held to hear from the Speakers Bureau. 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.
The next webinar Speakers Bureau will be on Wednesday, January 8 at 1 p.m. There is a monthly prep session held the Tuesday before the webinar. The prep session will be Tuesday, January 7 from 11-11:30 a.m. Follow this link to join the prep session. This is an ongoing opportunity that happens each month. Sign up is required. Please email dan.gregory@state.mn.us or call/text Dan at 651-983-9985 to sign up to speak or with any questions.
At the Minnesota Interagency Council on Homelessness (MICH), we are proud to provide monthly webinars that spotlight important topics around homelessness. As we look ahead to 2025, we want to hear from you: what kind of content would you like to see on future MICH webinars that would be helpful to you and your work? Email your insights and ideas to Dan Gregory at dan.gregory@state.mn.us
We will continue to preserve the Speakers Bureau, highlight updates from the 15 state agencies that make up the Council, and address timely matters that impact our state. Though we will not be able to respond to every email or incorporate all of your ideas, we do want to get a sense of what you would find meaningful so we can continue to shape the webinars as a beneficial forum in addressing homelessness. Thank you in advance for offering your feedback!
On December 21, 2024, we honor and remember those who have lost their lives while experiencing homelessness. It serves as a reminder that homelessness is a matter of life or death. You can learn more about homeless mortality in the National Health Care for the Homeless Council’s (NHCHC) recently released Mortality and Homelessness Fact Sheet.
Simpson Housing Services in Minneapolis and CHUM in Duluth recently held memorial vigils for those who died while facing homelessness. We thank them for holding this space for remembrance and solidarity, and thank all of you who are working toward a day when none of our relatives face homelessness.
The United States Interagency Council on Homelessness (USICH) highlighted Minnesota’s Family Homeless Prevention and Assistance Program (FHPAP) in their “HOMELESSNESS PREVENTION SERIES: Spotlight on Eviction Prevention” article. They note that FHPAP “combines supportive services and financial assistance for security deposits, rent payments, or utility payments for people at imminent risk of homelessness. 95% of the households served remained permanently housed after the program’s intervention, and just 1% became homeless within 12 months.”
Be sure to check out the full article to learn more about local, statewide, and federal efforts to prevent evictions.
Join the Minnesota Department of Revenue for their webinar on Thursday, January 9 to learn about the Minnesota Child Tax Credit and the new option for an Advanced Child Tax Credit. They will also share promotional materials and resources you can use and share with your networks and customers.
While the webinar is open to the public, the information is geared toward state, local, county, and Tribal government partners, as well as social workers, benefits navigators, and similar service providers.
To help ensure supportive housing can be a viable option for Minnesotans who need it as well as for the housing and service providers who operate it, Minnesota Housing is now hiring for the brand-new Strengthen Supportive Housing Program Manager position. Please review the job posting for detail, which is set to close on Thursday, 1/2/25.
We know that homelessness disproportionately affects our Native and Black relatives here in Minnesota. Through the Crossroads to Justice strategic plan, the State is holding ourselves accountable to reduce the disparities in who faces homelessness, recognizing these disparities are the result of structural racism, genocide, and economic inequities.
We uplift this in a recent post on our social media accounts, too – find it on Instagram here, and please consider sharing it to your Instagram Story to help us spread the word.
Crossroads to Justice is the strategic plan of the Minnesota Interagency Council on Homelessness (MICH), bringing a housing, racial and health justice approach for people facing homelessness in Minnesota to guide the work of state government.
The implementation of this plan is being co-led and co-monitored by 14 paid Implementation Consultants, all people with lived experience of homelessness representing different experiences and different parts of the state. They were onboarded in April, chose agencies to support in May, and their expertise and priorities are shaping the daily work of state agencies.
Katie is from the Leech Lake Reservation in Northern Minnesota. She is a mother to 3 wonderful children and a “Glamma” to a 5-month-old beautiful baby boy. Katie is a case manager with the Leech Lake Housing Authority Homeless Resources Program and is very passionate about her work. She has the pleasure to be a voice for our unhoused men, women, and children in her community at a low point in their lives. Now, with MICH, Katie can bring what she has learned from all these voices to support the implementation of the Crossroads to Justice strategic plan. Katie’s mission is to assist and advocate for our relatives who are unhoused or at risk of losing their homes and help individuals and families from all background’s secure safe indoor shelters or permanent homes. Katie would love to end homelessness one step at a time.
Katie’s reflections on working with the Department of Employment and Economic Development (DEED)
"My experience with DEED has been phenomenal since I joined as an Implementation Consultant. One of the aspects we are currently focusing on is a workforce center for Minnesota reservations to help relatives in need search for housing, employment opportunities, and connect with other local resources. This is important because it helps to provide a range of services that is essential in helping individuals find employment, while also connecting employers with qualified candidates to fill their workforce needs, particularly in local areas. The workforce center idea is most advanced with one reservation right now, but proposals for other reservations are also in the works.”
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