A New Day

Upgrading Columbus & Franklin County’s Homelessness Management Information System (HMIS) Selection Process Kick-Off Meeting September 29, 2006

Overview

      What is an HMIS?

Who is in charge of HMIS?

Why are we planning to upgrade the HMIS?

What will be the process for the upgrade?

How will a new HMIS be selected?

How can you participate in the selection process?

What is an HMIS?

Homeless Management Information System  A software application designed to record and store client-level information on the characteristics and service needs of homeless persons throughout a Continuum of Care jurisdiction.

Source: US Department of Housing and Urban Development HMIS Fact Sheet

Homeless Management Information System  Key Characteristics of HUD HMIS:       Local, not national database Unduplicated, aggregated counts Longitudinal database Responsibility of each local Continuum of Care Universal and program-specific data elements required Privacy protections and security protocols Source: US Department of Housing and Urban Development HMIS Fact Sheet

Columbus & Franklin County HMIS

  

Coverage

 Emergency shelters   Financial assistance & housing placement programs (Transition, Prevention, Outreach)

Client-level data

 Supportive housing (permanent & transitional) Demographic  Outcome

Program-level data

  # served Outcomes

Sample Data from the HMIS

   Over 900 persons received emergency shelter each day Average daily number sheltered was 101 single adult women, 449 single adult men, and 382 family members Average family size was 3.6 members with the majority of families headed by women (88%)

Who is in charge of HMIS?

Columbus & Franklin County Continuum of Care Steering Committee

Continuum of Care Steering Committee 

Purpose

  Annually prioritizes over $6,000,000 in funding from U.S. Department of HUD Designs and coordinates HUD Continuum of Care grant application process for Columbus and Franklin County

Continuum of Care Steering Committee  Members   Local funders, government representatives, service providers, and consumers Four seats represent local providers   Four seats reserved for homeless service consumers Members represent a variety of organizations and interests

Continuum of Care Steering Committee  Members ADAMH Board City of Columbus Citizens Advisory Council Columbus City Council Columbus Metro. Housing Authority Columbus Coalition for the Homeless The Columbus Foundation Columbus Health Department Community Connection for Ohio Offenders Community Shelter Board Corporation for Supportive Housing Franklin County Board of Commissioners Franklin Co. Dept. Job & Family Services Legal Aid Society of Columbus Ohio Capital Corporation for Housing United Way of Central Ohio Veterans Administration Veterans Service Commission

Continuum of Care Steering Committee -- HMIS      Selected the Community Shelter Board to implement the HMIS in 1990 Provides partial funding through the HUD SHP program Annually reviews funding requests for CSB HMIS operations Receives quarterly HMIS reports on program performance Mandated that all HUD CoC funded projects participate in the HMIS by not later than 2007

Community Shelter Board

Created in 1986 to respond to the growing needs of homelessness in Franklin County.

Vision: CSB and its partner agencies, combined with the full support of the community, will provide meaningful solutions and alternatives to combat --- and eventually eliminate -- homelessness in our city .

Mission: The Community Shelter Board, by coordinating community based efforts, fostering collaboration, and funding services, assists families and individuals in Central Ohio to resolve their housing crisis.

Community Shelter Board -- HMIS    Manages the HMIS for the community Funded by:   HUD SHP funding City CDBG funding  Private donations/CSB general funds Staffed by:    Director of Data & Evaluation HMIS System Administrator Data Analyst

Community Shelter Board -- HMIS   Assures data quality:  Annual program review and certification  Quarterly data quality checks  Ongoing oversight and managements Provides technical assistance:   Training for users & administrators Individual agency support

Community Shelter Board -- HMIS  Prepares Reports:  System & Program Indicator Reports (annual & quarterly)   Snapshot reports Funder reports  Special requests

Why are we planning to upgrade the HMIS?

Current Concerns with HMIS

     User interface is not intuitive Easy to create duplicate records and other data quality problems Difficult for agencies & CSB to generate reports Not 100% compliant with HUD standard You know the rest…

Current plusses of HMIS

   Per agency survey in 2006, overall satisfaction was higher than expected Automated system reports now available “Devil we do know”

What will be the process for the upgrade?

Upgrade Process & Timeline

Agency survey Winter 2005-06 Pre-Upgrade Selection process Pre-implementation planning Implementation, includes data migration Evaluation Summer-Fall 2006 Fall 2006 – Spring 2007 Spring 2007 – Summer 2007 2007 - 2008 TBD

HMIS Upgrade Key Considerations      Meets HUD standards Improvement upon current HMIS Costs to community (agency and CSB)   Direct (initial and ongoing system costs) Staff Resources availability   Start-up Ongoing Approval by Continuum of Care Steering Committee

How will a new HMIS be selected?

HMIS Selection Process Overview Phase 1 September 2006 Establish Selection Committee Phase 2 October – November 2006 Phase 3 December 2006 – January 2007 Phase 4 February – March 2007 Set selection criteria, vendor’s list, and issue written RFP Evaluate vendor responses, conduct vendor demonstration Select vendor/product, negotiate contract funding, implementation schedule

Selection Process Roles

Selection Committee Community Shelter Board Workgroup Participants Plante & Moran Decision Makers Process and technical support Technical recommendations Process and technical support

Selection Committee Responsibilities

      Attend meetings and participate in decisions Represent interests of community Set selection criteria Participate in RFP process Gather user feedback on demos Final selection

How is the Selection Committee formed?

     Each participating HMIS agency has one delegate Key community funders (United Way, City, County) appointed one delegate Citizen’s Advisory Council has two delegates CSB has two delegates Two organizations with technical expertise

Selection Committee Members

             Michael Smith, ADAMH Virginia O’Keeffe, Amethyst, Inc.

Owen Bair, CAC Bruce Garrard, CAC Carla Williams-Scott, City of Columbus Aaron Riley, CATF Beverly Wilkes, CHN Marcus Mattson, CRP Barbara Poppe, CSB Mark Russell, CSB Board TBD, Franklin County TBD, Gladden Community House Adrienne Corbett, HFF             TBD, Huckleberry House Matt White, HUD TA Team Terry Bechtle, LSS –FM/FH James Alexander, MH Wil Spinner, NCR TBD, Pater Noster House Kara Hill, SA Dick Reynolds, SE/ FOH Lynette Cook, United Way Jim Nagle, VOA Kevin Wampler, YMCA Colleen Bain Gold, YWCA

Workgroup Participants Responsibilities

     Provide feedback on HMIS functions Provide specifications Attend vendor demonstrations Score vendor Identify additional questions for the vendor

How is the Workgroup formed?

   Each participating HMIS agency may send one or more participants Other Selection Committee members can send participants CSB will provide four participants

Workgroup Participants

 Sign up today!

CSB staff role

    Provide operational support and leadership Manage the HMIS selection schedule and process Contract with Plante & Moran Maintain communications with the Continuum of Care Steering Committee

Plante-Moran’s Responsibility

     Provide preliminary vendor list Provide best-practice tools Facilitate workgroup meetings to develop requirements Compile vendor responses/ apply rating structure Review of vendor license and support agreements/ recommend changes

Selection Process Outcomes

1) 2) 3) Better meet the needs of CSB, partner agencies, funders and the community for accurate and timely reports on homelessness.

Increased ability to evaluate program outcomes and analyze data trends.

Meet HUD’s HMIS standards

Keys to Selection Project Success  Full community participation  HMIS participating agencies  Funders  Consumers of homeless services

Keys to Selection Project Success  Good selection criteria    Selecting a knowledgeable Work Team Collecting data requirements from all sources Talking with other organizations about their HMIS programs

Keys to Selection Project Success 

Selecting the right vendor

    Developing the RFP Attend vendor demonstrations Scoring vendor results on feedback forms Reference checks and site visits as needed

Keys to Selection Project Success  Negotiation of the contract and funding project   Collaborate with Selection Committee on final choice Review contracts and funding options

How can you participate in the selection process?

 Shared vision  Commitment  Sign-up to be a Workgroup Participant!