CALGARY ACTION COMMITTEE ON HOUSING AND HOMELESSNESS FRAMEWORK FOR COLLABORATION? Collaboration Working Group

CACHH Model – Key components  Purpose – called our Defining Statement  Commonality  Values  Goals  Framework  Structure & Governance  Philosophical Principles  Operating Principles  Operating Framework

Purpose Determine the thing that can and shall be done, and then we shall find the way. Abraham Lincoln

Purpose CACHH The CACHH Aims to address housing & homelessness issues in our community with a focus on activities (prevention, intervention) that target root causes through working with community, all levels of government and service providers

CACHH Vision Ending Homelessness in Calgary Through Community Empowerment

CACHH Goals 1) Work to address root causes of homelessness 2) Inform & Guide Policy and Funding processes and decisions at all levels of government and the community 3) Ensure our choices are set in consultation with community 4) Ensure continuation of CHF responsibilities beyond 2018

Mandate We’re not gonna misread our mandate Mitch McConnell (US Senator)  The importance of mandate, checking in constantly with the group. Never assume, follow community and lead from behind  Coordinator role

Collaboration – why we do it  “A diverse collection of independently deciding individuals is likely to make certain types of decisions and predictions better than individuals or even experts.” James Surowiecki – “The Wisdom of Crowds: Why the Many Are Smarter Than the Few and How Collective Wisdom Shapes Business, Economies, Societies and Nations”

Collaboration – why we do it Translation: some of us are smarter than one of us; and all of us are smarter than some of us 4 things needed for collective wisdom: Diversity, Independence, Decentralization (People are able to specialize & draw on local knowledge), Aggregation (mechanism exists for turning private judgments into a collective decision)

Collaboration Structure & Framework Collaboration

Trust When a gifted team dedicates itself to unselfish trust and combines instinct with boldness and effort, it is ready to climb - Patanjali  Components of trust:  Relationship Building  History  Respect for the Process  Trust in our common vision  Clarity of roles

Trust in CACHH is based on our shared values:  Ensuring the dignity of the individual  Respect for individual integrity  Innate uniqueness and worth of every individual  Honouring the person  Respecting human rights  As defined by the UN Declaration  As derived from the concept of DIGNITY  Focusing on equity of outcome  Equal access to basic social assets  Equal opportunity and responsibility  This ensures DIGNITY

Commonality/Diversity Our Similarities bring us to a common ground; Our Differences allow us to be fascinated by each other. Tom Robbins (Novelist)

Expertise and Capacity in collaboration  Recognized experts in ending homelessness in Calgary  Common and unified voice; bringing together the wisdom of professionals in our communities to help to coordinate the efforts of all stakeholders  Coordination of effort, capacity building and levers for change continuously improve our ability to achieve our goals  Expertise outside of our collaboration provides perspective and knowledge that will guide the working groups towards a more complete action set

Leveraging Expertise & Capacity Through Collaboration  Coordinating our diverse expertise internally  Establishing and communicating our expertise externally in a unified voice  Understanding the value we add to each other – continuum of service delivery  Leveraging each others expertise and value to create something bigger than each of our organizations/agencies  Increasing efficiency and impact of the continuum of services

Fierce Conversations A fierce conversation is one in which we come out from behind ourselves into the conversation and make it real Susan Scott (Author)

Fierce Conversations: Validations of CACHH Collaboration  Community Forum: Actively listen to the broad community and incorporate feedback at the Working Groups and Executive Committee  Sector and Working Group Discussions: Root cause solutions brought forth to the collaborative are strengthened by conversation  Representation from sectors and Working Groups guide all decision making at the Executive Committee

Resources Human resources are like natural resources; they're often buried deep. You have to go looking for them, they're not just lying around on the surface. You have to create the circumstances where they show themselves. Ken Robinson(Author)

Collaboration addresses root causes

What Next?  FOIP – can we ease the restrictions for clients who don’t agree to sharing and HMIS database  Agency Connections – continue to build opportunities for agencies to learn about each other  Define how agencies / people can use CACHH to improve collaboration / info sharing  Develop a commitment declaration that organizations adopt officially around relationship, commitment and action  Support guests  Support each other  Support outside stakeholders