Update on the Nevada Statewide Strategic Plan on Homelessness

Speakers: Michele Fuller-Hallauer (Winged Wolf Innovations, LLC) and Adrienne Babbitt (HUD)

In this plenary, presenters from the Nevada Interagency Council on Homelessness to Housing Subcommittee for Technical Assistance, will share updates on the Nevada Strategic Plan on Homelessness.

Monopoly of Injustice: The intersections of Monopoly and the Grants Pass Supreme Court Case

Speakers: Kaylah Maese & Tia Smith (ACLU)

 Grants pass is a significant Supreme Court case centered on the city’s anti-camping ordinance and its impact on homeless individuals. The case upheld the city’s right to enforce criminal penalties against involuntarily homeless individuals for public camping.

Policy Pathways to Homelessness Solutions in Nevada

Speakers: Brooke Page (CSH)

The Self-Care Quotient: Knowing the first steps of your self-care and tips on cultivating S.A.F.E. Spaces for normalizing well-being at work

Speaker: Ann-Marie Talley

This discussion is on cultivating your self-care and S.A.F.E. (Supported, Authentic, Fulfilling, Empowered) Spaces at work with the Self-Care Quotient (SCQ) self-assessment tool and guided imagery mind-body skill workshop. Learn more about the SCQ wellness meetups and steps you can take now to improve your overall well-being with the help of the 8 dimensions of wellness. Discover the evidence-based practices and tools NativeSELF CARE uses for navigating, curating and incorporating wellness at work with gamified wellness quests and self-care challenges for busy professionals like you, that are changing the way we approach normalizing well-being at work.

Street Outreach: What Works

Speakers: Louis Lacey & Alyssa Johnson (Help of Southern Nevada)

In this presentation, presenters will review effective outreach strategies that help connect clients to meaningful services and resources. They will share the process of navigating clients through services in order to assist them to overcome barriers to successfully engaging in these systems. They will also go over practices that are not helpful and potentially damaging to clients and will review what resources to connect clients to, what to include when assessing a client, ensuring diversity in outreach teams, and developing and implementing effective data collection systems.

Building Healthier Futures: Housing Support for Pregnant Persons and Community Care Solutions

Speakers: Kyle Lowe (Care Source);  Grissel Oliveros, Andrea Ramirez-Cofer, Shannon Pickering, Autum Sparlin (SNHD)

Presenters shared insights from two impactful programs. First, CareSource, a Medicaid plan, and the City of Columbus’ Healthy Beginnings at Home research study, which examined the impact of housing supports on birth outcomes for pregnant individuals experiencing homelessness. The findings revealed significant improvements in birth outcomes and maternal health, emphasizing the role of Medicaid, city government, and housing authorities in addressing social determinants of health. Next, the Southern Nevada Health District (SNHD) will showcase Project SURE, which connects multiple Las Vegas organizations serving the unhoused. This initiative demonstrates how combining public health expertise and nonprofit resources creates a stronger, more sustainable safety net for those in need. Attendees will engage in an interactive mini bingo session facilitated by the Project SURE team which is designed to highlight existing community resources.

The $22 Million Pyramid: One Community’s Take on the Integration and Interconnectedness of Partnerships, Policy, and Practice to Develop, Sustain, and Address Ever-Evolving Challenges to an Effective Homelessness Response System

Speaker: Eboni Jett

This session, is an introduction to the community of San Antonio’s ideal functionality for the development, implementation, and impact of our Homelessness Response System. The presentation will provide a description of their interconnected approach to leveraging partnerships to develop sustainable strategies and policies to, in practice, effectively impact the way people are connected to resources and serviced in our response system. This session showcased  the intersection of Policy, Practice and Partnerships as well as provide information on their performance monitoring, analysis, reporting and addressing non compliances. The presenter explored a very clear picture of where the community started with this work in 2020, where they are currently, and the work being done to ensure they are always deliberately progressing toward their ideal state of functionality. Using this community as an example allows for some others who are trying to figure out governance and the vital role it plays enables the audience to see one example of the process and see it is a very slow and tedious process. Yet, with an understanding of where you’d like to be, you are able to lay out the road map for how to get there with time, consistency, and persistence

Youth Homelessness: The Hidden Challenges

Speakers: Arash Ghafoori (NPHY);

Meg Pike (CCSD/Title 1 HOPE)

Trevor Macaluso (EDDY House)

Paths to Independence: Exploration of Recovery-Focused or Shared Living Strategies

Speakers: Kevin Glover and Audry Futryk (Freedom House);  Kirsten Carl (TJOP)

This panel highlights two distinct strategies for supporting individuals experiencing homelessness. One agency focuses on best practices for addiction recovery through sobriety-based residential and transitional living, addressing mental health, employment, and self-confidence. The second agency implements a shared living model where individuals experiencing homelessness share rent and utilities. Both strategies emphasize personalized support, helping people achieve stability based on their unique needs.

The Game of Life: How Systems and Institutions Influence Our Destiny

Speaker: Dr. David Marlon (Vegas Stronger)

This presentation highlighted the incentive structures created by local and federal policy with respect to homelessness. Participants will be invited to analyze, as a group, whether certain current, proposed, and past government policies related to homelessness help communities accomplish their goals–and what are those goals, anyway?

How to Combat a Person Blaming Culture

Speaker: Tanesha Travis

If you’ve found yourself feeling awkward or unsure about how to address person-blaming statements, this session is for you. When we hear things like “they are manipulating the system,” “they lied during the assessment,” or “we are setting them up to fail,” we need to be equipped to respond in the moment. Being equipped with responses supports a person-centered and trauma informed approach to conversations, and moves away from blaming people for challenges that are most often a result of ineffective systems.

This session will provide strategies for responding to person-blaming statements using multiple styles. We will use data to back up why these statements are inaccurate (as well as inappropriate). Our hope is that you’ll walk away prepared to Whack the Moles that are harmful and offer constructive alternatives aligned with trauma informed, person-centered practices.

People with Lived Experience 

Speakers: Donica Martinez,  Martin Castro (Southern Nevada Lived X Consultants); Lawrence Dodson (Washoe County Lived Experience Advisory Board- LEAB)