Portfolio
Building Changes has been instrumental to Yakima County by providing assistance in helping our community implement projects under the Washington Families Fund and Homeless Grant Assistance Program. It is refreshing to work with an organization that really “Gets it!” and is common sense based when it comes to communications, technical assistance, and overall “approachability”. They have been very helpful in resolving program bumps in the road and actual implementation of concepts.
Tim Sullivan
Housing Specialist
Yakima County Department of Community Services
Yakima, WA
Examples of Our Work
Building Changes’ unique skills as a convener, facilitator, and catalyst are evident in our diverse portfolio of consulting work. For more information about resources that we have produced, go to Research and Publications.
Developing Community Employment Pathways for Homeless Job Seekers in King County & Washington State (2007)
In 2006, Building Changes collaborated with the City of Seattle Office of Housing to lead a community planning process to assess the existing connections between the workforce development and homeless service systems. The resulting report, which was prepared as part of the Seattle/King County Taking Health Care Home (THCH) initiative, describes the homeless employment services landscape and identifies promising opportunities for action. It provides strategies for improving collaboration, enhancing homeless assistance and employment services, and promoting systems change across the workforce development and homeless assistance systems in King County and Washington State. This planning process, and the opportunities for action that the Developing Community Employment Pathways report recommended, spurred our community to action. As a result, Building Changes launched Community Employment Pathways (CEP) in 2008.
The THCH initiative is a part of a national effort funded by the Corporation for Supportive Housing and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation to prevent and end homelessness for people with chronic health problems. It is aimed at changing the way that housing, health, and social support services are financed, organized, and delivered. Funding for the Developing Community Employment Pathways report was provided by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.
Housing within Reach: A Call to Action for Snohomish County Communities (2008)
The Housing Consortium of Everett and Snohomish County contracted with Building Changes to develop a plan for dramatically increasing the number of households assisted through affordable housing and homeless prevention services in Snohomish County. After several months of talking to advocates, convening key public and private stakeholders, and analyzing potential new strategies, Building Changes delivered a report titled Housing within Reach: A Call to Action for Snohomish County Communities, which described the strategies necessary to more than double the households receiving housing assistance in the county, from 14,000 to over 32,000 over the next ten years.
Read more about Building Changes’ role in this project and the outcomes in Success Stories.
Washington State Supportive Housing Institute (2008)
The Supportive Housing Institute is a highly interactive project development initiative created by the Corporation for Supportive Housing. The Institute is designed to teach communities how to develop and operate permanent supportive housing for individuals and families that are homeless and/or disabled.
In 2008, Building Changes, the Corporation for Supportive Housing, and Common Ground collaborated to bring this Initiative to Washington State, with funding support from the Washington State Department of Community, Trade & Economic Development (CTED), DSHS/Mental Health Division (MHD), and the Washington Families Fund. Teams from Benton/Franklin, Clallam, Lewis, Pacific, Skagit, Spokane, Okanogan, and Walla Walla Counties participated in intensive workshop sessions that took place between March and September 2008. The Institute’s goal is to create at least 100 new permanent service-enriched housing units across the state.
Homeless Grant Assistance Program (2006-2008)
Washington State’s Homeless Grant Assistance Program (HGAP), created by the Housing and Homelessness Act of 2005, provides grants to Washington State counties for innovative projects that reduce homelessness and demonstrate systems change. The program is administered by the Washington State Department of Community, Trade, and Economic Development (CTED), which began contracting with Building Changes in 2006 to facilitate a peer assistance network among the first eight grantees of the program. To ensure that these pilot programs are successful, and that their successes can be replicated by other counties, Building Changes coordinates meetings and workshops among the various project administrators and staff, maintains an informational list-serve and online resource library, and documents the design and implementation of each project. Building Changes continues to provide this assistance for the 23 award projects (totaling more than $30 million) funded to date.
A Plan to End Young Adult Homelessness in King County (2008)
In King County, over 8,000 people are homeless at any given time, including approximately 1,000 young people between 18 and 25 years of age. The Committee to End Homelessness in King County (CEHKC) contracted Building Changes to lead a community planning process and develop this plan as part of the efforts of CEHKC to end homelessness by 2014. The plan identifies the distinct needs of homeless young adults, strategies for improving the existing system of housing and services, and priorities for funding. Building Changes led this countywide project with guidance from a 20-person task force including homeless young adults, and in partnership with the King County Housing Authority, the Committee to End Homelessness in King County, and the CEH Homeless Youth and Young Adult subcommittee.
Preventing Homelessness in King County, Washington (2008)
The Ten-Year Plan to End Homelessness in King County defines prevention activities as “the provision of emergency assistance and interventions designed to directly prevent individuals, families and youth from becoming homeless” – or closing the front door of homelessness. These activities include, but are not limited to, the provision of emergency rent/ mortgage assistance, utility assistance, emergency financial assistance, case management, and links to job training and placement.
The Prevention Task Force of the Interagency Council (IAC) of the Committee to End Homelessness in King County (CEHKC) contracted jointly with Building Changes and Lisa Gustaveson Consulting to assist them in developing this report, which integrates a review of best practices and findings of the Prevention Task Force into a set of recommendations for the improvement of King County’s prevention services and interventions. The following planning framework was used to guide the development of the report recommendations: 1) Build upon best practice models, both local and national, to enhance programs that have a high success rate; 2) Identify service gaps and develop methods of increasing the capacity of the prevention system; and 3) Research and identify predictors and factors that cause people to be at risk of homeless ness, as well as the types and duration of services that prevent homelessness.
A Roof Over Every Bed in King County: Our Community’s Ten-Year Plan to End Homelessness (2004-2005)
The City of Seattle’s Human Services Department and Office of Housing contracted Building Changes to facilitate and advise the development of King County’s 10-year plan to end homelessness. The plan, known as A Roof Over Every Bed in King County: Our Community’s Ten-Year Plan to End Homelessness, was developed by a coalition of more than 30 housing and service providers, faith organizations, businesses, county and city governments, homeless people and homeless advocates, and guided by the Committee to End Homelessness in King County (CEHKC), which is also responsible for implementing the plan and ensuring that its goals and objectives are met. The key elements and priorities of the plan are: 1) Prevent homelessness; 2) Move people rapidly from homelessness to housing; 3) Build the public and political will to end homelessness; 4) Increase the efficiency of the existing systems; and 5) Measure and report outcomes.
Alameda Countywide Homeless and Special Needs Plan (2004-2006)
Building Changes (then known as AIDS Housing of Washington) was contracted to lead this planning process, which was a unique collaboration among community stakeholders, cities and Alameda County, CA government agencies representing three separate care systems — homeless services, HIV/AIDS services and mental health services — to develop one plan with mutual goals and joint effort for implementation. The resulting plan, now known as EveryOne Home: Ending Homelessness in Alameda County, outlines a reorientation of housing and service systems to end chronic homelessness within ten years and significantly reduce housing crises for these vulnerable populations in Alameda County over fifteen years.
Oregon Balance of State HIV/AIDS Housing & Services System Integration Plan (2008)
The Oregon Department of Human Services contracted Building Changes to facilitate the development of this plan, which identifies housing resources, gaps, challenges, and opportunities for collaboration between HIV/AIDS housing and services providers and their colleagues providing mainstream housing and services, in order to strengthen housing and services systems integration across the state of Oregon and increase stable housing, access to care, and prevention of homelessness for persons with HIV/AIDS. The plan was funded by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD).
From Locked Up to Locked Out: Creating and Implementing Post-release Housing for Ex-prisoners (2003-2007)
In 2003, Building Changes (then known as AIDS Housing of Washington) published From Locked Up to Locked Out: Creating and Implementing Post-release Housing for Ex-prisoners as a resource guide to help community organizations better plan and implement post-release housing and related services to support the transition of individuals out of prison. The book was updated in 2005 with new chapters on Family Reunification and Collaborating with Departments of Correction, as well as additional resource recommendations. In 2007, with funding from the Open Society Institute, Enterprise Community Partners, Gilead Sciences, and Boehringer-Ingelheim Pharmaceuticals, Building Changes released an updated version of the book, along with a new lesson-by-lesson curriculum/teacher’s guide and PowerPoint presentation and companion DVD, which features more than 60 minutes of video footage of staff and clients of successful reentry housing programs from across the nation, keyed to each curriculum chapter. The updated book, lesson-by-lesson training guide and PowerPoint presentation, and companion video on DVD are designed to be used together as a comprehensive training curriculum.
