The Anchorage Coalition to End Homelessness welcomes Meg Zaletel as Executive Director

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Anchorage Coalition to End Homelessness (ACEH)


** WEEKLY DIGEST
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Spotlight


** Photo by Matt Waliszek
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** The Anchorage Coalition to End Homelessness welcomes Meg Zaletel as Executive Director
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The Board of Directors is proud to announce Meg Zaletel as Executive Director. Meg Zaletel has guided the Anchorage Coalition to End Homelessness (ACEH) as Interim Executive Director since November of 2021. The Board of Directors selected Zaletel to assist during a time of transition, both in the community and at the coalition. Zaletel brings a deep understanding of the partnerships, policies, and best practices to the work.

“Meg Zaletel’s subject matter expertise, her energetic, unfailing commitment to housing as the solution to homelessness, her compassion, and her intellectual rigor all make her an excellent choice to lead ACEH.” Diane Kaplan, President and CEO Rasmuson Foundation.

The board tasked her with four main objectives; to keep ACEH operational, build internal capacity, strengthen the management team, and strategically align ACEH as an innovative and reliable community solutions agency. Zaletel has achieved much more in a short time. She has provided subject matter expertise, resources and guidance to the facilitated workgroup between the Mayor’s office and Anchorage Assembly. Zaletel has brought in the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) Disaster Technical Assistance to assist with the Mass Care Exit Strategy. She has also shown leadership and persistence in advocating for people experiencing homelessness, always keeping in mind that the solution to homelessness is housing.

ACEH has a long history of innovation and determination and is excited for the direction that Zaletel will take the coalition. The goal of ACEH is to achieve a milestone known as functional zero. This means that as people become homeless, they are quickly connected to housing and supportive services that promote independence and minimize community impact.

“Meg’s professional background and passion for improving our community make her the ideal candidate to lead ACEH at this time.” Nathan Johnson, Board Chair.

“Zaletel grounds the Continuum of Care in compassion, and takes a nuanced approach to working with a broad array of partners. Anchorage needs to focus on the long-term goal of making homelessness rare, brief and one-time. We welcome her leadership in furthering our mission.” Judith Crotty, Board Vice Chair.

ACEH was founded in 2004 and brings together homeless service providers, local businesses, government, medical providers and social service agencies to address homelessness. ACEH believes that coordination and collaboration are necessary to assist people in accessing housing. In 2012, ACEH became the HUD designated lead for the Continuum of Care, and is responsible for the Homeless Information Management System, Coordinated Entry, the Notice of Funding Opportunity, and is the community convener on homelessness.

“I am excited for this opportunity to continue work that is meaningful to me. This is a pivotal moment for homeless services in our community, and I look forward to partnering with others who share our mission.” Meg Zaletel, Executive Director ACEH.
View the Press Release ([link removed])


** ACEH Updates
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The Anchorage Coalition to End Homelessness (ACEH) works with allies in the community to design, create, and lead implementation for the Anchorage community plan on homelessness. More about ACEH ([link removed])


** Anchored Home Housing Surge Update
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The Alex Hotel
The Alex Hotel is officially closed for non-congregate emergency mass care as of Saturday, 30^th of April. Residents were successfully transitioned to stable housing.

Please send any questions and comments to: [email protected] (mailto:[email protected])

Emergency Housing Vouchers (EHV)
92% of the submitted EHV referrals have been accepted. These referrals are the result of the 120+ applications filled out at the EHV Housing Fair at the Sullivan Arena and the Aviator.

For information on similar events in the future, contact Celia Macleod, ACEH Director of Programs & Services at: [email protected] (mailto:[email protected]?subject=Future%20Events)


** Voter Education - Ranked Choice Voting
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ACEH is facilitating training for our members and local providers, to equip them to effectively educate houseless individuals on ranked choice voting and their rights.

Please reach out if your organization is interested in training contact ACEH at: [email protected] (mailto:[email protected])
[link removed]
WATCH A SHORT VIDEO ON RANKED CHOICE VOTING
More Information ([link removed])


** Congratulations Tahnee!
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ACEH proudly congratulates Tahnee Conte-Seccareccia, Director of Finance & Administration, for being selected as one of the three 2022 Alaska Young Professionals Summit finalists.

Tahnee is an invaluable member of our team and keeps us all on track during these strategic, and often hectic times. Congratulations from the entire team Tahnee. ACEH is lucky to have you!


** March '22 Built for Zero ([link removed]) Data
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Individuals housed: 87
Individuals new to homelessness: 283
Individuals who accessed homelessness services and suports: 3,045

View the full Data Dashboard ([link removed])


** Local Housing & Homelessness Highlights
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Inspiring stories from the Anchorage community, news and information about housing and homelessness, and tangible ways you can get involved and help people in need.
View ACEH Members ([link removed])


** Shiloh Community Housing

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During the Anchored Home Housing Surge, many individuals and families will be moving into their new homes.
Help create a “Welcome Home” starter kit with all the essentials someone needs to move into housing and start their new life!
View the list here ([link removed])
To learn more or arrange a donation drop-off, contact Shenee at (907) 770-1319 or at [email protected] (mailto:[email protected])


** Alaska Legal Services
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Pandemic Food Benefits Q&A

With food prices rising in Alaska, you may have questions about SNAP benefits. What summer programs are available for families? What happens when the pandemic programs end?
Join Alaska Legal Services for a Facebook Live event to discuss these and other questions about food benefits with:

Heather Parker, Supervising Attorney, Alaska Legal Services Corporation

Elizabeth Seitz, Program Coordinator for School Meals, Alaska Department of Education and Early Development

Cara Durr, Director of Public Engagement, Food Bank of Alaska
View Event Details here ([link removed])


** ICA Alaska Team
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Data Quality In A Nutshell
Data quality is the extent to which the information in AKHMIS (Alaska Homeless Management Information System) accurately represents real-world clients. High quality data within AKHMIS is integral to all work towards ending homelessness because it:
* Provides a clearer understanding of homelessness within the community, which:
+ Allows for data-informed decisions at both the project- and system-levels.
+ Enables a CoC (Continuum of Care) and providers to tell the story of homelessness as realistically and completely as possible. This is especially important for advocacy and community education.
* Provides direct care staff with immediate access to client information that streamlines service delivery and referrals for clients.
* May improve a client’s experience with the Coordinated Entry process and help determine which services they are eligible for.
* Results in more accurate and complete reports for funders and stakeholders, which can affect:
+ Meeting the requirements for CoC and other federal funding streams.
+ The funding opportunities providers may apply for; and
+ A provider’s ability to obtain funding to provide services.

FOUR COMPONENTS OF DATA QUALITY
HUD (The United States Department of Housing & Urban Development) identifies data quality as having four components: completeness, timeliness, accuracy, and consistency. These components are defined below.

WHY DATA COMPLETENESS IS IMPORTANT
Complete data is critical to finding the right services for clients to end their homelessness experience. Incomplete data can negatively impact the AK CoCs’ ability to make population-level assessments, analyze patterns in client information, identify changes within the homeless population, and adapt strategies appropriately. AKHMIS data quality is also part of funding applications, including CoC- and ESG-funding, and low AKHMIS data quality scores may impact renewal funding or future funding requests.

WHY DATA TIMELINESS IS IMPORTANT
Entering data into AKHMIS in a timely manner is necessary to ensure that clients receive or make connections to the services they need in a quick and efficient manner. Timely data entry also ensures that data is accessible when it is needed, whether for monitoring purposes, meeting funding requirements, or for responding to requests for information. Finally, when data is entered in a timely manner, it helps reduce human error that can occur when too much time has elapsed between the data collection/service transaction and the data entry.

WHY DATA ACCURACY IS IMPORTANT
Information entered in AKHMIS needs to accurately represent the clients who are served by any homeless service projects contributing data to AKHMIS. Inaccurate data, sometimes referred to as incongruent data, is evaluated at both the client and household levels, and highlights data elements that appear to rationally conflict with one or more other data elements.

WHY CONSISTENCY IS IMPORTANT
Data consistency means that data is understood, collected, and entered in the same way across all projects in AKHMIS. Consistency directly affects the accuracy of data.

RESOURCES: Data Quality Plan ([link removed])


** National Housing & Homelessness Highlights
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** Community Solutions
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Linking Homeless Response and Health Care
Health systems in five Built for Zero communities have joined the effort to solve chronic homelessness.

Homelessness and health are deeply entwined. A recent Governing ([link removed]) article explored how homeless response and health systems are collaborating to end chronic homelessness.

As part of an initiative guided by Community Solutions and the Institute for Healthcare Improvement, major health systems are seeking to understand the role they can play to improve health and housing outcomes for people experiencing chronic homelessness. Participating health systems include CommonSpirit Health, Davis Health, Kaiser Permanente, Providence Health System, and Sutter Health.

The Health Care and Homelessness Pilot Initiative aims to break down fragmentation and spark collaboration between homeless services and health care providers.

“Everyone wants to solve this problem, but once you really get into it, it is complex and layered,” says Trish Rodriguez, Senior Vice President and Area Manager for Kaiser Permanente. “You have to start at that fundamental level of collaboration.”
Read the Article ([link removed])


** US Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD)
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CDBG: Improving Lives and Strengthening Communities Report Now Available
The CDBG: Improving Lives and Strengthening Communities Report ([link removed]) by the Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) Coalition serves to inform stakeholders on the importance of CDBG to community advancement and success.

CDBG has been critically underfunded and program grantees have had to contend with less funding to address surmounting needs. Program grantees are faced with a lack of CDBG funds to help them undertake concentrated improvements and development in low-income neighborhoods.

Funding is directed to all states, territories, and congressional districts annually. It remains one of the most important resources for state and local governments and their partners to use in devising flexible solutions to meet community development needs.
Read More ([link removed])


** National Alliance to End Homelessness (NAEH)
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Webinar: Building an Effective Homeless Response System: Getting Ready for the 2022 CoC NOFO
Join the Alliance as it relaunches its SYSTEM Series to kick off a new series of webinars, blog posts, and resources designed to strengthen your system and prepare for the 2022 CoC NOFO.
Register Here ([link removed])


** National Low Income Housing Coalition (NLIHC)
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NLIHC Launches New IDEAS Webpage
NLIHC announces the launch of the Inclusion, Diversity, Equity, Anti-racism, and Systems-thinking (IDEAS) webpage ([link removed]) , with resources, research, videos, and more. Our IDEAS initiative ensures that NLIHC’s organizational commitment to equity shapes every area of our operations. The initiative also provides tools and tactics to help partner organizations incorporate IDEAS into all aspects of their work.

The new webpage highlights NLIHC’s policy, research, and advocacy work to advance racial equity and inclusion in federal housing policy. In addition, the webpage provides historical context for understanding the housing disparities we see today; helps advocates better understand the interconnected, dynamic, and adaptive nature of systems; and provides tools to help advocates advance anti-racist policies and redress the impacts of decades of intentionally racist housing and transportation policies.
Visit the IDEAS Webpage ([link removed])


** Bring Impact to Your Inbox
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Receive emails with inspiring stories from the Anchorage community, news and information about housing and homelessness, and tangible ways you can get involved and help people in need.
Subscribe to the ACEH Weekly Digest ([link removed])
ACEH Weekly Digest for 5/4/2022
Please reach out to [email protected] (mailto:[email protected]?subject=ACEH%20Weekly%20Digest) if you have questions, suggestions, or resources you would like to share in the weekly digest.

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