Street Outreach — News — Louisiana Balance of State Continuum of Care

Overview

The Louisiana Housing Corporation (LHC), in partnership with OrgCode Consulting, is pleased to announce a Street Outreach and Prevention/Diversion/Intervention Training Series focused on equipping case managers, outreach workers, and program managers with the practical tools to implement and conduct effective street outreach, homelessness prevention, diversion, and rapid resolution (or “intervention”).

Each session is independent; you can register for one or both. Both sessions will be presented by Erin Wixsten from OrgCode.

Each session in the series is FREE and open to any organization in Louisiana that is interested in attending.

Session #1: Homelessness Prevention, Diversion, and Rapid Resolution

When: Thursday, November 5, from 9 AM to noon CST

Where: online via webinar

Description: “Diversion is about saying “yes” to helping households navigate a safe alternative to shelter that is appropriate to their specific circumstances through an investment of staff time that have specific problem-solving skills and access to flexible resources to put the solution into action. There are nine steps to an effective diversion practice, with each step progressing more deeply into resolving the current housing crisis while concurrently determining if shelter access will be required. In this session we will examine how to best provide prevention services, implement diversion, and promote resiliency and self-sufficiency in ensuring if a person does become homeless, they do not remain homeless for long. Among the topics covered: problem-solving mindset; flexible problem solving and financial supports; maximizing resiliency; setting up where and when to conduct diversion; how to focus on rapid resolution with those that cannot be safely and appropriately diverted; and, data that matters to diversion, prevention and rapid resolution.”

Session #2: Impactful Street Outreach

When: Thursday, November 12, from 9 AM to noon CST

Where: online via webinar

Description: “The focus of this three hour course is how to have an impact in street outreach such that people can move from being unsheltered to having a place to call home. Among the topics covered: safe and respectful engagement; understanding unsheltered homelessness; distinguishing contact driven outreach from housing-focused outreach; clarifying the role of outreach; interface with law enforcement; the service orientation for effective outreach; assessing encampments; and, measuring outreach.”

Overview

The Louisiana Housing Corporation has released the Emergency Solutions Grants (ESG) Notice of Funding Availability (NOFA) for Funding Year 2018 (FY18).

ESG funds projects that serve people experiencing homelessness. ESG is an annual formula-based funding source distributed by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) to states and certain entitlement areas.

Click here to access the full ESG FY18 NOFA.

The application period began June 5, 2018; applications are due August 31, 2018.

What does ESG fund?

ESG funds the following project types:

Street Outreach
Homeless Prevention
Emergency Shelter
Rapid Re-housing

For more information about these project types and eligible costs, refer to 24 CFR Part 576 or https://www.hudexchange.info/programs/esg/.

How much funding is available?

Funding is allocated by formula to each Continuum of Care (CoC) in Louisiana, and to each Region of the LA BOSCOC. Each CoC and Region receives funding in proportion to the size of its homeless population. (Homeless population is reported during the January 2018 Point in Time Count.) All CoCs/Regions are eligible to apply for at least $50,000 regardless of their homeless population.

ESG funding by LA BOSCOC Region is as follows:

Baton Rouge Region: $148,430
Houma Region: $50,000
Lake Charles Region: $67,697
Natchitoches/Sabine Region: $50,000
Plaquemines/St. Bernard Region: $50,000

In addition, the Louisiana Housing Corporation is offering a $300,000 grant to fund one Homeless Prevention project dedicated to reducing the number of people who exit Department of Corrections custody into homelessness. For more information, see page 20 of the ESG FY18 NOFA.

Who can apply?

Each Region will submit one Regional Application through its Regional Applicant. Regional Applicants will consist of one or more project applications that fund one or more organizations.

Regional Applicants were elected by member organizations in attendance at the June 2018 LA BOSCOC General Meeting. They are as follows:

Baton Rouge Region: St. Vincent de Paul of Baton Rouge (contact: SVDP BR)
Houma Region: Terrebonne Parish Consolidated Government (contact: Kelli Cunningham)
Lake Charles Region: Calcasieu Parish Police Jury (contact: Tarek Polite)
Natchitoches/Sabine: Project Celebration (contact: Mitzi Harris)
Plaquemines/St. Bernard: St. Bernard Battered Women's Place (contact: Gail Gowland)

Both private non-profit organizations and units of local government, including cities and parish governments, are eligible to apply. Please contact your Regional Applicant if you would like to receive funding through the ESG FY18 NOFA.

Every agency that wishes to receive ESG -- either as a regional applicant or sub-recipient -- is required to attend the following information session:

ESG Mandatory Information Session
June 27, 2018
9:30 AM to Noon

Louisiana Housing Corporation
2415 Quail Drive
Baton Rouge, LA 70808

If you plan to attend the information session, please send your RSVP to Aimee LeBlanc at aleblanc@lhc.la.gov.

Questions?

Please email your questions about the ESG FY18 NOFA to Winona Connor, ESG Program Manager at the Louisiana Housing Corporation, at wconnor@lhc.la.gov.