Informational Session: Coordinated Access and Assessment

1. Informational Session: Coordinated Access and Assessment System Navigators and their Role June 9th, 2014 – 1:00PM

2. What is Coordinated Access and Assessment (CAA)? • A streamlined process by which those at-risk or immediately experiencing homelessness can be assessed for the most appropriate intervention and be connected rapidly to a specific program or resources based on need • Creates a transparent and equitable process for program entry through the use of a standardized assessment tool and housing placement process • Targets resources and interventions to those who need them most • Ends the “run around” that individuals and families face in finding program openings and navigating eligibility criteria

3. Navigating and Matching Process Purpose:Rapidly get vulnerable clients from assessment to housing • Once a client is assessed using the BDAT, they will be prioritized for the appropriate intervention to end their homelessness • A Navigator will be assigned to clients based on their BDAT score to get them rapidly document ready • The Navigator will be in regular communication with Community Matchers to signal when the client is ready to be matched with housing

4. What does a CAA System Navigator do? • Navigators help highly-vulnerable homeless persons get housed through the CAA system • Serve as point of contact for both the client and the CAA System Matchers • Help clients become match ready – at a minimum, assists clients in assembling documents needed to enter housing • While a client is waiting to be matched, the Navigator maintains contact with the client and may ensure they attend required appointments, connect with benefits and services, and overcome barriers as they arise in the housing process.

5. Who will be CAA System Navigators? • Many agencies in our Continuum already have specialists who are doing the work of the System Navigators!! • Anyone whose job responsibilities include: finding housing for homeless clients should become a navigator. (Outreach workers, case managers, housing locators or specialists) • For an effective CAA system, there must be System Navigators throughout our Continuum, particularly in emergency shelters, transitional housing programs, drop-in/resource centers, amongst our outreach teams, and in our behavioral health programs; wherever vulnerable and homeless individuals and families are being served already. **Other requirements: • Navigators must be employees of an organization who provides behavioral health services, homeless outreach, or case management. • Navigators must have a supervisor responsible for ensuring they carry out their responsibilities ethically and appropriately.

6. How will all this work? Matching Clients to Navigators: Using the PMCP (Performance Management and Communications Platform) the Community Matchers will connect clients with specific System Navigators based on their priority in the housing intervention and on the following factors: • If the client indicates they already have a relationship with a particular Navigator or agency with navigator capacity. • Based on where the client is staying at night; • Example: If the client stays in a particular shelter, the client would be matched with a Navigator at that shelter; or • If the client sleeps outdoors in a particular location, the client would be assigned to an outreach team that works in that location. • Where the client spends time during the day, and • Example: If the client spends time at a particular drop-in center, the client may be assigned to a Navigator at that location. • Any specialized supportive service for which the client qualifies. Community Matchers: Leroy Fowlkes (Mercy Supportive Housing) and Gabby Knighton (MOHS-HSP)

7. How will all this work? (cont’d) • System Navigators will participate in weekly Case Conferencing sessions to keep the Community Coordinator and Community Matchers up-to-date with client progress • Once a client is Match Ready – the System Navigator will work with the client and community matchers to find the best program fit when a unit becomes available. • System Navigator helps client prepare for the move to housingand either hands over the service relationship to a housing program or helps connect the client with other community-based case management

8. Questions? We have multiple case managers that do the work of system navigation – how many should sign up as System Navigators? • All of them! While it is unlikely that all will be assigned to a client at once, having the capacity and ability to rotate amongst Navigators will be important. Do all of my agency’s Navigators need to attend the Case Conferencing Session weekly? • No! For agencies where multiple staff are navigating individual clients, one Navigator can meet with other Navigators and report on their behalf at the case conference session. Is my agency required to have a Navigator? • Yes and no. For some agencies, providing Navigators is not within the scope of their work, but if it is, the expectation is that you would use your skills and services to help clients already within our system get housed as rapidly as possible. Coordinated Access and Assessment is a community-wide process and utilizing community services to rapidly connect and house clients is part of the HEARTH Act’s System Performance Measures.

9. Next Steps Register each individual Navigator from your agency using the google document: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1d4S0Qsiv6NL8X63dON-mIBvBJ6qxo5CxY4_xqkQ2FkI/viewform Attend the Navigator Training: June 17th, 2014, 2:30-4:00 PM at Our Daily Bread Employment Center Set aside Tuesday from 2:30-4:00 for the Case Conferencing Session (at least one Navigator should attend on behalf of the agency)