Hmis Summit
July 25-27, 2023
List of Sessions
What is New and Upcoming in the HMIS?
Tuesday, July 25th | 9:30 to 10:30 AM
Presented by Gerry Leslie
MCAH has been working on a number of exciting things behind the scenes within the HMIS. This session will be a demonstration of some of the new and biggest changes we will be launching in the next few months. This will include some information on core changes to Community Services itself as well as additions in the Data Warehouse.
Privacy Recertification
Tuesday, July 25th | 11:00 AM to 12:00 PM
Presented by Gerry Leslie
This session will be a live version of the privacy recertification training, including a number of new elements which will be making their way into the recorded trainings in the near future. The session will focus primarily on the MSHMIS and NC HMIS privacy model, how it works, important concepts driving it, and how to get the most out of privacy to create sharing plans while still ensuring protection of client information.
Using Reports to Monitor Data Quality and Improve Program Performance
Tuesday, July 25th | 11:00 AM to 12:00 PM
Presented by Jayce Ashwill, Balance of State HMIS Liaison, HMIS Local System Admin (MI-510, MI-512)
Do you feel like you are constantly fighting an uphill battle with data quality in your program? Would you like to feel like you understand the reports your agency is submitting to HUD and MSHDA? Do you want to be able to trust that you are making data-informed decisions while trying to improve program performance and the services you are providing to your clients?
This session will review how to utilize a monthly/quarterly schedule to stay on top of running reports to make data quality as efficient and accurate as possible at your agency. This session will also review how to use your CAPER/APR to drive Project Performance and draw connections to how System Performance Measures are impacted by your local project.
This is a Michigan-specific session.
Agency Administrators Fundamental Help Desk and Escalation
Tuesday, July 25th | 1:00 to 2:00 PM
Presented by Jesse Sanderson and Thurston Alexander-Smith
This session geared for Agency Administrators, particularly those who are new to their position, will help familiarize you with the chain of command when it comes to technical assistance and support. Additionally, we will highlight some of the most common requests you may receive in your work and go over how best to handle them.
Humanizing the Voucher Process Through HMIS Data
Tuesday, July 25th | 1:00 to 2:00 PM
Presented by Matthew Tommelein, BA (he/him/his), Coordinated Entry Programs Manager, Community & Home Supports, Inc.
Community & Home Supports, Inc. (CHS) in Detroit has been piloting some housing choice voucher HMIS work that partners with MSHDA Housing Agents to include and retain HMIS ID numbers in their internal voucher tracking. The result has increased the return rate of applications after pull, the number of people briefed, and the number of literally homeless participants leased with an executed voucher.
The work has been part of a new RRH initiative between CHS and the City of Detroit to operate an RRH program called Sheltered Housing Placement (SHP).
This session will focus on Michigan-specific data but may be useful to all users.
FY2024 HMIS Data Standards: HUD and Federal Partner Updates
Tuesday, July 25th | 2:30 to 3:30 PM
Presented by Candice Wiseman-Hacker, MPA (she/her/hers), Solution Architect/Manager Industry Compliance, WellSky
October 1st, 2023 will bring new data collection and reporting requirements for HUD and the Federal Partners. The FY2024 HMIS Data Standards documents released this spring by HUD and the Federal Partners outline numerous changes to data collection and reporting requirements, including a new focus on client-centered data collection and client-centered language. In this session, we will step through new data collection practices found in both in the HUD Data Dictionary and in the HUD Data Manual and we’ll review the FY2024 HUD and Federal Partner reporting requirements.
New and Improved in the HMIS Data Warehouse
Wednesday, July 26th | 9:30 to 10:30 AM
Presented by Kaity Hemgesberg and Gerry Leslie
Join us as we dive into all of the changes and progress made in the HMIS Data Warehouse within the past year, as well as improvements and reports to come! We’ll highlight the currently available HMIS Data Quality Tool, improvements made to existing reports, and enhancements planned for the future.
Expanding Horizons: Unlocking Potential with HMIS Data in Youth Homeless Response
Wednesday, July 26th | 9:30 to 10:30 AM
Presented by Matthew Tommelein, BA (he/him/his) , Coordinated Entry Programs Manager, and Lydia Goddard (she/her/hers), Youth Outreach Coordinator, Community & Home Supports, Inc.
Leveraging the power of HMIS data is an integral part of our youth by-name list process to identify potentially unsheltered youth in our community. By analyzing cross-system data, we are able to pinpoint youth not on a housing track who have exited to, or whose current living situation at most recent contact is a place not meant for human habitation. We are using similar processes to identify various subgroups of youth experiencing homelessness, enabling us to tailor our services and interventions to meet their specific needs more immediately. For example, we use this process to find youth in the Coordinated Entry system fleeing domestic violence who are not connected to housing navigation. We currently have connected every youth who has reported they are fleeing domestic violence to Coordinated Entry to a housing track.
The utilization of these processes is creating a profound impact on our efforts to address youth homeless response and created opportunities for early intervention and improved outcomes. We utilize a process for matching empirical data of an individual’s months of homelessness to their client identifier to preemptively identify chronically homeless youth and immediately respond, reducing the amount of time spent homeless and ultimately reducing chronic youth homelessness in our community. We have been able to connect transient youth to the CoC and YHDP resources within their county of origin for the potential of more sustainable long-term outcomes. We are piloting integration of disability data in conjunction with the TAY-VI-SPDAT as a triage tool which has resulted in a higher numbers of youth accessing appropriate housing supports. This targeted approach has not only improved outcomes for individual youth but has also contributed to the overall effectiveness of our homeless response system. By harnessing the power of data, we are able to identify and assist those most at risk, ensuring that no youth goes unnoticed or unsupported.
This session will focus on Michigan-specific data but may be useful to all users.
Case Plan Module
Wednesday, July 26th | 11:00 AM to 12:00 PM
Presented by Hannah Patton
This session will provide an overview of the Case Plans tab in Community Services and the features end users are able to access to maximize case management, coordinate services, track goals, and implement action plans in order to influence more successful outcomes for their clients’ housing objectives.
System Admin I/Local System Administrator Help Desk and Escalation
Wednesday, July 26th | 1:00 to 2:00 PM
Presented by Thurston Alexander-Smith and Jesse Sanderson
This session geared for Local System Administrators, particularly those who are new to their position, will help familiarize you with the chain of command when it comes to technical assistance and support. Additionally, we will highlight some of the most common requests you may receive in your work and go over how best to handle them. For those who are new to your position, we recommend also attending the System Administrator I Orientation session in this year’s summit which will be held on Thursday from 2:30 to 5:00 PM.
Community Services Mobile Updates
Wednesday, July 26th | 1:00 to 2:00 PM
Presented by David Tweedie, Community Services Solutions Management Team, WellSky
Learn how the new version of the WellSky Community Services mobile application can help people get back on their feet. This new version incorporates much of the feedback WellSky has received from clients at recent conferences, focus groups, webinars and one-on-one sessions. See how new functionality can assist with ending homelessness by allowing people receiving services to potentially input their own personal data, simplifying access to community resources, viewing real-time shelter bed availability, and incorporating goals and action steps from the case plan.
Data Warehouse System Mapping Report
Wednesday, July 26th | 2:30 to 3:30 PM
Presented by Gerry Leslie
Understanding performance of your entire service delivery system is crucial to evaluating the work your community is doing to effectively end homelessness. MCAH will be demonstrating a brand new report in the HMIS Data Warehouse called the System Pathways report which is designed to help you understand exactly what is happening as clients flow through your system. This report is designed to give you a high-level view of your system of care, while also giving you the ability to generate by-name list reports for clients who may be getting stuck at various points in your service delivery system. It is a wonderful tool for case conferencing and housing prioritization meetings to help you get the most out of the work you are doing.
HMIS and ESG: What Do I Do?
Wednesday, July 26th | 2:30 to 3:30 PM
Presented by Lisa Worth, MA (she/her/hers), ESG Homeless Programs Coordinator, NC Department of Health and Human Services
This session will cover the basic HMIS requirements for ESG/ESG-CV funded organizations. We will provide tips and reminders essential to data entry, collection, and reporting for ESG/ESG-CV. This will include how to stay in compliance, ESG annual CAPER requirements, ESG-CV CAPER requirements, and how to wrap-up ESG-CV data and reporting.
This is a North Carolina-specific session.
The Future of Artificial Intelligence in Homeless Services
Thursday, July 27th | 9:30 to 10:30 AM
Presented by Gerry Leslie
Artificial Intelligence (AI) development is one of the hottest topics in the tech world today, due to recent developments with ChatGPT, Otter AI, and other tools integrated into our smartphones, digital assistant devices, and predictive analytics tools. This session will open the hood on AI, looking at both the huge upsides and potential drawbacks it will have in the world of homeless services. It will take a look at how AI will assist us in the future with specific tasks, while also looking at protections we can take to ensure AI will not be abused to either diminish privacy protections or discriminate against groups of people that we serve.
How Your Feedback Has Informed HMIS Learning Center Changes
Thursday, July 27th | 11:00 AM to 12:00 PM
Presented by Kaity Hemgesberg and Lauren Grant (she/her/hers)
During this session, we will discuss the various concepts and user feedback we’ve incorporated to bring our Learning Management System (LMS) to life. From its original creation ten years ago to the coming evolution of an LMS made for an ever-changing work environment, we will discuss the process of cultivating and creating content focusing on the needs of various types of end users and preview those outcomes on the HMIS Learning Center.
The Emergency Shelter Program: What Does the Data Tell Us So Far in FY23?
Thursday, July 27th | 11:00 AM to 12:00 PM
Presented by Emily O’Brien, Emergency Shelter Program Data Analyst, The Salvation Army Great Lakes Division
This session will be outlining ESP outcomes and overall information for both ESP Motel and Shelter programs.
This is a Michigan-specific session.
Training the Trainer: Strategies for Training HMIS Users
Thursday, July 27th | 1:00 to 2:00 PM
Presented by Lauren Grant (she/her/hers), Thurston Alexander-Smith, and Tawana Dawkins, HMIS System Administrator, Data Evaluation Analyst, Cumberland County Community Development
Are you at a loss when it comes to your community’s HMIS training needs? It can be difficult balancing your agency’s specific training needs with your other job responsibilities. This session will discuss strategies for using the available training resources in the HMIS Learning Center while addressing specific program workflows. Our facilitators will present scenarios and concepts that can help bolster your HMIS user training toolkit. There will be opportunities for brainstorming and collaboration among attendees to discuss what they are doing in their own communities.
Accessing Content with a Screen Reader
Thursday, July 27th | 1:00 to 2:00 PM
Presented by Kim Casey, Director of Accessibility, Ablr
Although screen reader users are one of the main population for whom digital accessibility is intended, most accessibility people have not seen a screen reader being used. People who use screen reader software approach websites in a very different way, and what works for one population does not necessarily work for the other – for example, screen reader users can’t assess a website at one glance. Instead, they tab through the site element by element. These differences in approach have critical implications for the usability of a site, and it is therefore important to understand the screen reader user perspective. This presentation provides a screen reader user’s journey through various digital resources.
System Administrator I Orientation
Thursday, July 27th | 2:30 to 5:00 PM
Presented by Gerry Leslie, Thurston Alexander-Smith, Jesse Sanderson, and Lyn Raymond
This session will be a standard orientation for System Administrator I or Local System Administrators in their local community. It will review standard System Admin responsibilities and practices, look at the HMIS Operating Policies and Procedures, and generally help HMIS System Administrators better understand the jobs they do and the responsibilities they have. This will be a two and a half hour session, and is targeted at both new and experienced HMIS System Administrators looking to better understand what it is that they do.