TRACKS | PRESENTER NOMINATIONS | WORKSHOPS | BIO’S & CONTACT INFO

Dignity in housing

Ending homelessness means equipping people on the ground with the tools to manage a homeless crisis response system in a way that makes sure that meets clients where they are and connects them with solutions that will work for them. This track will explore key techniques for diversion, rapid exit, and rapid re-housing. Explorations of race and equity will be woven into this track, equipping people on the frontlines with tools to employ cultural humility in their own work and combat landlord discrimination. Potential workshops may include cultural humility and tools for addressing housing discrimination, best practices in shelter diversion, and emerging practices relating to rapid exit and rapid re-housing.

Starting off on the right foot (encompasses both family and youth homelessness)

No child or young person should have to experience life without the stability of a place to call home. This track will explore best practices specific to families and unaccompanied youth. It will feature workshops specially tailored for McKinney-Vento liaisons, school staff, SPOCs, YETIs, library workers and others who interface regularly with families and unaccompanied youth experiencing homelessness.

Leading the change

As towns, cities, and the state as a whole grapple with financial challenges, it is more important than ever for us to engage a wide range of stakeholders in our efforts. This workshop will explore how our coalition work collaboratively to mobilize the general public around our shared legislative priorities and how students, people of color, and people with lived experience can play leadership roles in our efforts.

Outreach and the social determinants of health 

There is growing recognition that homelessness and health are intertwined. This workshop will explore this intersection from multiple vantage points, exploring cutting edge outreach techniques and examining the connection between the two and the role that healthcare providers and systems can play when interfacing with clients experiencing homelessness. This track will also feature a workshop on best practices for engaging with clients experiencing homelessness who are also struggling with addiction and will include a special focus on how homelessness affects health outcomes for people of color.

Homelessness ≠ crime

Why are people leaving prisons more likely to become homeless? Practices like ticketing people for living on the streets and discharging ex-offenders to homelessness reinforce the cycle of homelessness and disproportionately affect people of color. We can break this vicious cycle but it takes work. This track will explore how we can use data and best practices to shift resources from perpetuating incarceration to treating ex-offenders with dignity so that they can re-integrate into society without roadblocks.

Towns that care

Municipalities across the country are grappling with how to address homelessness in their communities. This track will include a deep dive into the role of municipal leadership and employees in addressing street homelessness, an exploration of the role that residents, businesses, and faith communities can play in efforts to address homelessness, and a discussion of what is happening in other communities around the country. Potential workshops may include how first responders can address street homelessness, how school systems and libraries can address family and youth homelessness, and the role of town residents, businesses, and faith-communities in efforts to end homelessness.