Making Employment a Reality for Homeless Veterans Ann Greenlee, DOL/VETS DVET Hawaii & Guam Bridget Komine, DOL/VETS ADVET Hawaii & Guam Erin Rutherford, Catholic Charities Hawaii HVRP & SSVF Program Director Jackie S Nguyen, VA Homeless Veterans Employment Services Community Employment Coordinator

Hawaii Demographics State is made up of 7 populated islands – 1.43 million residents 989,000 live in the City and County of Honolulu Median family income for Honolulu is $96,000 Median family income state wide is $48,000 Minimum wage $10.10 State Unemployment rate is 1.7% Lots of available jobs in the service and hospitality industries Cost of living is over 187% of the national average with housing at 298% Disconnect between salaries and cost of living results in high rates of homelessness Honolulu has the highest rate per capita in the US

Developing a TEAM Approach Why we needed to do something different The VA , HVRP grantees & the State JVSG all provide employment services 3 HVRP grantees were serving approximately 300 annually 3 JVSG DVOPs were serving approximately 100 annually The VA Homeless Employment Program was serving approximately 300 annually Some veterans were participants in all programs; some in only one There was no coordination between our agencies We realized that to best serve our homeless veterans we needed to coordinate our efforts Initial team meeting in 2015 Agreement to work together and leverage our resources The process has continued to evolve and change over time

Employment Team Core Members – Case Conference Team Partner Members VA Community Employment Coordinator US DOL/VETS HVRP Grantees US DOL/VETS JVSG Grantee State of Hawaii State DLIR DVOPS & LVER VA Vocational Rehabilitation Counselors Partner Members US DOL/VETS Hawaii Staff Employers – specifically those hiring homeless veterans Federal and State Housing Resources Veteran Focused Community Organizations Partner Members meet quarterly to share program initiatives Core Members meet monthly as an Employment Case Conference Team

Employment Case Conference Objectives Promote team development, effective collaboration, and closer working relationships Prevent staff splitting Avoid duplication of services Share strategies to motivate veterans towards employment Decrease frustration and burnout Empower each other and our clients Share ideas and encourage thinking outside the box

Employment Barrier Discussions Difficult to engage Veterans (e.g. low motivation, etc.) Criminal Background (e.g. self and community stigma, etc.) Medical/Mental Health Issues Veterans on disability income who want employment (e.g. SSI, SSDI, VBA benefits, etc.) Substance Use Cultural and diversity issues

Employment Case Conference Protocol VA CEC coordinates conference line and passcode Roll call and introductions Core members discuss challenging cases with confidentiality to establish a common understanding of participant barriers, service needs, and to establish similar employment plans (IEP) CEC follows up with case managers after call to coordinate meeting with veteran and resources appropriate to address each challenge Core members provide case updates on subsequent monthly calls

Benefits of Team Approach to Participant Referrals Participants access any core program and receive referrals to all of other core employment programs Homeless Veterans have access to all services, job referrals, and employment opportunities Results oriented Expands the number of Veteran friendly employers Triples number of staff working to find Veterans a job All team members receive credit for employment placement Avoids duplication of services while providing veterans access to services no one program can deliver

Available Services

Employment Team Keys to Success Belief that success is higher when everyone works together No one agency is better, more productive than another Community collaboration – everyone on the same page and in constant communication Maintaining relationships between team members as employees change Ensuring participants are aware that they will have a coordinated team approach to employment Maintaining and expanding relationships with employers hiring homeless Incorporating local Continuum of Care (COC) Program to identify homeless veterans for employment programs

COC Interface in the Process Identifies Veterans COC created a Veterans By-Name List (BNL) of all Veterans experiencing homelessness on Oahu in 2015. 357 Homeless Veterans on our COC BNL The BNL sorts Veterans based on prioritization criteria. Criteria includes: Length of Homelessness, VI-SPDAT (Assessment) Score, and Tri-morbidity We filtered the BNL by categories: Age (18-70) Discharge Status (no Dishonorable) Location (Rural or Urban) Level of need (i.e. anyone who scored less than a 10 on VISPDAT assessment)

COC Referral Process SSVF Program receives referrals for Veterans who are prioritized as needing Rapid Re-housing Assistance Veterans who fall below the Rapid Re-Housing range are referred to HVRP since they will not receive a housing referral and must self-resolve Community presentations advertising HVRP increase referrals for Veterans who are at-risk of becoming homeless. HVRP is being incorporated as part of Prevention/Diversion strategic planning

Can This be Duplicated? Not all areas will have all team members that exist in Hawaii All areas in all states are covered by employment counselors at one of the 2,500 American Job Centers where DVOPs & LVERS work All states have one or more VA Employment Coordinators All states have Continuum of Care Programs Agreeing to pool resources and coordinating participant services is the first step From there, the sky is the limit