Over 250 people attended this year's Great Minds at Work supported employment conference, November 7 and 8 in Tacoma.
Attendees came from all over the state to learn about how to support the employment goals of individuals with disabilities and complex social and health conditions.
Conference highlights included an opening speech by Health Care Authority director Sue Birch, programming on Tribal Vocational Rehabilitation programs, the Foundational Community Supports program, and the Individual Placement and Support evidence-based model for supported employment.
The conference was hosted by HCA's Division of Behavioral Health and Recovery.
The FCS team, photographed at the Great Minds at Work conference earlier this month.
The Foundational Community Supports (FCS) program and the Corporation for Supportive Housing published a new resource last month to introduce FCS services to affordable housing developers.
One of the primary barriers to building new, brick-and-mortar, Permanent Supportive Housing is a lack of funding to help people with complex social and health conditions find and stay housed. FCS fills this gap. The program has great potential to help affordable housing developers secure capital funding, and to spur the creation of new, Permanent Supportive Housing across Washington.
HCA's Division of Behavioral Health and Recovery has launched a new website called “Pathways to Housing.”
The website is an online resource hub to help people and service providers find affordable housing resources in Washington. It is modeled after the popular “Pathways to Employment” website.
The Department of Social and Health Services’ Research and Data Analysis Division has published new reports with expanded data about who the Foundational Community Supports (FCS) program is reaching. The FCS supported employment and supportive housing Medicaid benefits are continuing to reach people with high rates of behavioral health conditions and service needs. These reports will be issued monthly; links to the reports will be featured in this newsletter.
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