As part of our ongoing commitment to improving employment outcomes for homeless job seekers, Building Changes has begun hosting Peer to Peer Learning Community conference calls among Washington Families Fund homeless services grantees. Earlier this week Mark Putnam and I hosted our first P2P call and I am excited to report that we had 17 participants, from 9 different agencies from around the state. Participants from Island, Whatcom, King, Pierce, and Snohomish counties participated. We kicked off the series with a discussion of new funding opportunities related to workforce development, in particular the federal stimulus funding, American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. We also spent time sharing barriers that clients face and highlighting strategies for engaging tenants in job training programs. One participant, Pat Williams of Helping Hand House, stated that one of the most important strategies to engage tenants in job training had been the use among case managers of the "motivational interviewing" strategy. This was great to hear because WFF provided training on motivational interviewing in past years and is planning another training on that strategy for 2009. Following the call two participants sent us long emails detailing the stories of their clients' struggles; the passion they feel for their clients is admirable. We are proud to be working with staff that are motivated to improve the lives of their clients, particularly as the economic downturn continues to paint a bleak picture of the future.

The focus of the peer community is in alignment with one of the Washington Families Fund expanded activities, increasing economic opportunity through education and workforce services. On the calls participants are encouraged to share stories from their work, as we talk about how to increase tenant access to employment and benefits. The idea for this type of ongoing dialogue between peers was generated by staff at one of our grantee organizations - Karen Matson of Hope House in Snohomish County. Keep the ideas coming!