General Meetings

The LA BOSCOC hosts general meetings at least twice per year for the entire Continuum of Care membership. General meetings are an opportunity for members to learn about what's going on in their service networks and provide input into how homeless services are delivered in their communities. Often, there are presentations from service providers who are doing great work and training from experts on how to improve projects that serve people experiencing homelessness.

The next LA BOSCOC quarterly meeting is April 1, 2019.

Good Standing

The following CoC member organizations are considered to be in Good Standing.

This list was last updated on October 18, 2018.

CoC Member Organizations in Good Standing

ASSIST Agency
Calcasieu Parish Police Jury
Capital Area Alliance for the Homeless
Catholic Charities of Baton Rouge
Catholic Charities of Southwest Louisiana
City of Lake Charles
Education and Treatment Council
Gulf Coast Social Services
HAART
HP Serve
Jeff Davis CADA
Louisiana Department of Children and Family Services
Louisiana Housing Corporation
Maison des Ami
Mental Health America of Louisiana
O'Brien House
Options for Independence
Options Villa
Our Lady of the Lake Regional Medical Center
Project Celebration
Salvation Army of Baton Rouge
St. Bernard Battered Women's Program
St. Vincent de Paul of Baton Rouge
Start Corporation
Southwest Louisiana Law Center
Terrebonne Parish Consolidated Government
Volunteers of America Greater Baton Rouge
Youth Oasis

Forms, Policies, and Procedures

The LA BOSCOC creates forms, policies, and procedures that HUD requires certain projects to use. Those projects include those funded by the Continuum of Care (CoC) Program, the Emergency Solutions Grant (ESG) Program, and certain other projects funded by HUD, SAMHSA, the Veteran's Administration, or the Louisiana Housing Corporation.

Committees, Subcommittees, and Working Groups

Overview

The LA BOSCOC has commissioned several committees (including subcommittees and working groups) to carry out its functions.

Committees are an important part of the LA BOSCOC's governance structure. While the Board is responsible for implementing new policies and procedures, committees are the primary mechanism for LA BOSCOC members to submit proposals to the Board. 

Each committee has a general area of oversight; many committees also have specific responsibilities outlined in the LA BOSCOC Governance Charter.

Benefits of committee membership

There are two main benefits to joining a committee:

• Committee members play a significant role in the LA BOSCOC's direction; if you have a policy or procedure you'd like to change or implement, you should join a committee!
  

• To be considered in Good Standing, member organizations must have at least one staff person serve on at least one committee (or the Board). Only organizations in Good Standing can be certified by the LA BOSCOC to apply for CoC Program funds, ESG funds, and several other funding sources. For more information, please refer to the LA BOSCOC Governance Charter.

How to join a committee

All committees are open enrollment; any individual member, or any member organization's staff person, can join any committee at any time. (Exception: members of the Project Scoring Committee are appointed by the Board.)

To join a committee, simply email its Committee Chair (see below for a list), copying the Continuum of Care Manager at glevine@lhc.la.gov, and let them know which committee you'd like to join. 

List of committees and Committee Chairs

Last updated October 16, 2018. For more information about many of these committees, please refer to the LA BOSCOC Governance Charter.

Coordinated entry Committee

• Chair: Laura Martinez at Start Corporation | laura.martinez@startcorp.org

• Oversees the Coordinated Entry System, which is responsible for how people experiencing homelessness are prioritized for and referred to housing and services

HMIS Committee

• Chair: TBD

• Oversees the Homeless Management Information System (HMIS), the statewide database for information about people experiencing homelessness

Membership and Rules Committee

• Chair: Randy Nichols at Capital Area Alliance for the Homeless | rknichols@homelessinbr.org

• Oversees policies and procedures for the CoC, including how the CoC votes, its membership criteria; also reviews all ethical issues

Written Standards committee

• Chair: Addie Duval at Start Corporation | addie@startcorp.org

• Oversees written standards for providing housing and services to people experiencing homelessness, including through the CoC Program and ESG

Youth Working Group

• Chair: Tekoah Boatner at Youth Oasis | tboatner@youthoasis.org

• Oversees delivery of housing and supportive services for youth experiencing homelessness

Domestic Violence Working Group

• Chair: Delma Porter at Southwest Louisiana Law Center | dporter@swla-law-center.com

• Oversees delivery of housing and supportive services for people fleeing domestic violence

Veterans Working Group

• Chair: Garrick Gordon at Volunteers of America Greater Baton Rouge | ggordon@voagbr.org

• Oversees delivery of housing and supportive services for veterans experiencing homelessness

Substance abuse Working Group

• Chair: Twanda Lewis at Louisiana Health and Rehab Center | tlewis@lahealthandrehab.org

• Oversees delivery of housing and supportive services for people experiencing homelessness who live with substance abuse disorders

Monitoring

Overview

The LA BOSCOC is required to monitor each CoC Program-funded project at least once annually.

Generally, the LA BOSCOC tries to monitor each CoC Program recipient once annually, monitoring all of their CoC Program-funded projects during the same session. Whenever possible, the LA BOSCOC attempts to jointly monitor shared recipients with other, similar Louisiana Housing Corporation funding sources to reduce the monitoring burden for each recipient.

The projected monitoring schedule for calendar year 2019 can be found here.

At least 30 days in advance of the monitoring date, the LA BOSCOC will send each recipient a monitoring letter and a copy of that recipient’s Monitoring Tool. The Monitoring Tool is composed of several different documents (“sections”): one for each project based on its project type, plus the General Section and the Financial Section.

You can find sample versions of the monitoring letter and the different Monitoring Tool sections below.

• Sample Monitoring Letter

• General Section (pub. 10/9/18)

• Financial Section (pub. 10/9/18)

• Transitional Housing Section (pub. 10/9/18)

• Rapid Re-housing Section (pub. 10/9/18)

• Permanent Supportive Housing Section (pub. 10/9/18)

April 1, 2019 General Meeting

When: April 1, 2019 from 1 PM to 4 PM

Where: Bluebonnet Library @ 9200 Bluebonnet Boulevard, Baton Rouge, LA 70810

Call-in Number (listen-only; doesn't count for Good Standing): 1-877-273-4202 * Room Number 518-637-083

Lunch Information: no lunch will be provided

Agenda: agenda will be released as the meeting approaches via the LA BOSCOC email distribution list; to be added to that list, please email Gordon Levine, Continuum of Care Manager, at glevine@lhc.la.gov

Selected Topics: 

• CoC Program FY19 funding

• Coordinated Entry

• Board Structure