1. 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

2. 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

3. 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

4. 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

5. 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

6. 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

7. 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

8. 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

9. Available Services

10. 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

11. 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)

12. 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

13. 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