VA Annual VA2K Walk and Roll on May 17, 2023
May 17, 2023, the VA is organizing its annual VA2K, a 2K walk and roll in support and awareness of Veterans experiencing homelessness. This is a community event. It’s free and open to the public and located at the White River Junction VA main campus in White River Junction, VT.
In January, organizations across Vermont had a very successful Homelessness Awareness Day, including the White River Junction VA Healthcare System. The Veterans at Veterans Inc. and The Veterans Place stood up a pop-up soup kitchen and fruit punch-and-paint event where Veterans expressed themselves through art and the art was displayed at the VT State House.
This May, for the VA2K we are looking to all of you, our community partners and stakeholders in preventing and ending Veteran homelessness, to participate in this event.
Ideas for participation:
- Another pop-up soup kitchen
- Display of art work
- Other innovative and creative ideas to raise awareness for Veterans experiencing homelessness
- Show up and walk or roll
- Show up with information about your program, etc.
Attached is the flyer and poster for further information about the event.
Please reach out to Meghan Snitkin at meghan.snitkin@va.gov or 802-295-9363 x6939 or Jason Brill at jason.brill@va.gov if you have ideas about ways you would like to participate in raising awareness for Veterans experiencing homeless at this event.
On behalf of the WRJ VA Healthcare System Homeless Team and the partner agencies of the VT Veterans Committee on Homelessness, thank you for your interest and willingness to raise awareness on the issues facing Veterans experiencing homelessness in Vermont.
May 24, 2023 NAEH 2023 State of Homelessness Report: Homelessness Trends in the United States Webinar
Join National Alliance to End Homelessness on May 24th from 2-3 PM for a webinar in which they will share findings from our 2023 State of Homelessness Report. Continuums of Care conduct a Point-in-Time (PIT) count of people experiencing sheltered and unsheltered homelessness on a single night in January. They also take an inventory of beds and units that serve people experiencing homelessness in their Housing Inventory Counts (HIC). The Alliance’s annual State of Homelessness Report leverages both to analyze trends in homelessness across the United States. It provides systems, providers, advocates, policymakers, and others with information to help shape their work (for example, calculations of bed utilization and unmet need). Register Here
LGBTQIA+ Inclusive Spaces and the HUD Equal Access Rules Training May 10th 10 AM Required Annual Training and Resources
In the interest of creating inclusive spaces for LGBTQIA+ guests through the lens of HUDs equal access rules please join for a live question and answer panel created by the State of Vermont, Office of Health Equity Integration, in partnership with the Vermont Coalition to End Homelessness and Chittenden County Homeless Alliance.
Register for this training panel by filling out this form for the training panel on May 10th from 10-11 AM. Your email will be used to send an invitation to a Microsoft Teams Meeting, meeting reminders, and any follow up resources from the training. You will have the opportunity to ask panelists questions you may have about creating inclusive spaces that have come up from watching the filmed training session OR may have come up for you in your setting.
Asynhronous Training to View in Advance: Please view this Equal Access Training in advance of the discussion panel training(pre-recorded and under 1 hour)
Training Panel members:
- Christina Brown (she/her), Director of Basic Needs Program, Spectrum Youth & Family Services
- Clare LaFrance (they/them), Health Equity and Community Engagement Coordinator, Office of Health Equity Integration
- Kelli Klein (she/her), Clinical Manager, National Health Care for the Homeless Council
- Will Towne (he/him), Chief Operating Officer, Spectrum Youth & Family Services and CCHA Co-Chair
Please ensure that at least one member of your agency completes the required annual training.
Additional Resources:
Chittenden County Homeless Alliance Equal Access Rule Information This is the CCHA resource page for information and links as annual training to providers to effectively implement:
The Equal Access to Housing in HUD Programs Regardless of Sexual Orientation or Gender Identity Rule,
The Equal Access in Accordance with an Individual’s Gender Identity in Community Planning and Development Programs Rule
GLAD HUD Equal Access Rules Resources
National Health Care for the Homeless Council: Foundations of LGBTQIA+ Health Care and Homelessness: Terminology, Concepts, and Best Practices
The National LGBTQIA+ Health Education Center– A host of free trainings both text and webinars. You might consider Foundations of LGBTQIA+ Health, Part 1 as a starting point for training staff. They also have a toolkit regarding Supportive Housing and Health Services for LGBTQIA+ Youth Experiencing Homelessness: Promising Practices
Vital Record Resources:
National Center for Transgender Equality Resource
Vermont Vital Records page as well as the Affidavit of Gender Identity Form
HUD Equal Access Poster and link to HUD provided Resources on housing discrimination and persons identifying as Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, and/or Queer/Questioning (LGBTQ)
Information issued by HUD on Transgender Day of Visibility – March 31st, 2023
In June 2022, Executive Order 14075; Advancing Equality for Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer, and Intersex Individuals established a new Subcommittee on Sexual Orientation, Gender Identity, and Variations in Sex Characteristics (SOGI) data (87 FR 37819). Throughout the remainder of 2022, the Subcommittee developed a Federal Evidence Agenda on LGBTQI+ Equity which is “a roadmap for federal agencies as they worked to create their own data-driven and measurable SOGI Data Action Plans to help assess, improve, and monitor the health and well-being of LGBTQI+ people over time”. You can read the FACT SHEET: Biden-Harris Administration Releases First-Ever Federal Evidence Agenda on LGBTQI+ Equity. This month, HUD has developed and will soon release its SOGI Data Action Plan, its approach to gathering the evidence needed to understand the housing barriers experienced by LGBTQI+ individuals and the policy changes HUD and the Federal Government can make to address these barriers.
HUD Technical Assistance providers released the Emerging Practices to Enhance Safety at Congregate Shelters. This safety guide demonstrates ways to create safer, more accessible, and inclusive congregate shelters, regardless of size or mission. Entering shelter can be difficult, for some, the trauma they have endured in shelter, or which they believe they will endure makes entering shelter an impossibility. The needs of vulnerable populations are at the center of the guide, including transgender, non-binary, and gender nonconforming individuals seeking shelter. The creation of this resource repeatedly highlighted how important mutual respect and community building were to lowering barriers, and creating environments that are welcoming and inclusive. Consistent with HUDs priorities around Race Equity and Equal Access and learning from our work during the peak of the COVID crisis, the team used equity as a lens through which to develop these recommendations
https://www.hud.gov/program_offices/fair_housing_equal_opp/housing_discrimination_and_persons_identifying_lgbtq
