Posted by: Mark Putnam in Washington State, Washington Families Fund, Trainings and Workshops, Supportive Housing, Snohomish County, Pierce County, King County, Homelessness, Homeless Grant Assistance Program HGAP, Families, Employment, Affordable Housing on
Apr 29, 2009
As I was driving through Skagit County the other day, taking in the tulips on the way back from meetings in Bellingham, I began thinking about the incredible range of work Building Changes is leading in many corners of the state. We are a Seattle-based agency, but we are working hard to make an impact beyond our headquarters. Consider:
Consulting Services:
On April 21 and 22, we continued our co-leadership of the Supportive Housing Institute, hosting two days of trainings (days 6 and 7 of the 12-day training series) in Sea-Tac in partnership with the Corporation for Supportive Housing and Common Ground. Five staff --
Erin Chambers,
Emily Nolan,
Mariah Ybarra,
Alice Shobe, and
myself -- provided trainings on supportive services planning, funding, and best practice models at the Institute.
I spent the beginning of this week in Spokane, WA where I experienced hail, snow, sun, and an informative training facilitated by
Jonathan Beard. Building Changes sponsored the training for homeless families providers. The training sought to clarify the not always obvious differences between SSI and SSDI. While their acronyms are only one letter off, they are very different programs.
SSI stands for Supplemental Security Income and is a welfare program that makes payments to aged, blind and disabled people who also meet the means test (looks at income, resources, and living arrangements). SSDI on the other hand is an insurance program, hence its name, Social Security Disability Insurance, and claimants must have paid money into it through the Federal Insurance Contribution Act (FICA
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
We are here with local nonprofit and government leaders and community members in Longview, WA today to announce nearly $1 million in support service funding to two nonprofit agencies serving homeless families in Cowlitz County -- Drug Abuse Prevention Center and Emergency Support Shelter. To date, the Washington Families Fund has awarded nearly $13 million to 36 programs across Washington state, but this is the first time we have funded programs in Cowlitz County. The size of the awards speaks not only to the great need in this community but also to the strength and commitment of the agencies and their partners. We have been extremely impressed with the passionate commitment of both agencies to ensuring that clients are housed AND able to gain success and self-sufficiency through tailored
I recently heard President Obama's press conference on the way home from work -- he fielded a question about homelessness well, in my biased opinion, as he focused on job training and education as a primary solution to ending family homelessness. Building Changes and the Washington Families Fund fully support this approach, and are working here in Washington state to ensure that homeless job seekers are able to access job training and post-secondary education that leads to family wage jobs.
Here's the excerpt from the press conference:
QUESTION (from Kevin Chappell of Ebony Magazine): Thank you, Mr. President. A recent report found that as a result of the economic downturn, one in 50 children are now homeless in America. With shelters at full capacity, tent cities are sprouting up across
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