June 8, 2023 — Fresno-Madera Continuum of Care
Documented by Ramon Castanos
Here’s what you need to know
- At its June 8 meeting, the Fresno Madera Continuum of Care Board approved scoring tools for coordinated entry and new housing projects. The tools help evaluate how much they are spending from grants for new projects and ensure equity in housing projects.
- They also talked about COVID grants that were received in April, which are being used to provide medical care and mobile showers for the unsheltered.
- The board also discussed steps they are taking to help reduce homelessness by June 2024. Their goal is to reduce family homelessness by 35% and adult homeless by 20%. They are working with community leaders in Fresno County to help with their goals.
Jody Ketcheside, vice chair, Turning Point of Central California Inc.
Maya Spark, Homebase
Misty Gattie-Blanco, treasurer
Sara Mirhadi, secretary, Poverello House
Katie Wilbur, RH Community Builders & Elevate Community Services
Kiel Lopez-Schmidt, Fresno Housing Formation of Ad Hoc Committee
Sara Mirhadi, Secretary, Lived Experience Advisory Board
Alex Sanchez, LEAB chair County of Fresno
Shannon Duncan, County of Fresno DSS
Joe Pasillas, city of Fresno
Joel Bugay, County of Madera
Beverly Novella, San Joaquin Valley Veteran
Follow-up questions
- What are the requirements and benchmarks for these scoring tools?
- Do the scoring tools examine zoning laws?
Actions/Discussions/Public Comment
No public comment
Approved
- The majority approved scoring tools for coordinated entry and housing projects.
- It was approved for $2,500 for board meetings for administer support other than Wilbur, who abstained from her vote.
- “I will both abstain from this vote for RH and Elevate,” Wilbur said.
- Approved scholarships, stipends and 2023 budget for the updated Lived Experience Advisory Board (LEAB):
- “First and foremost, when they put this league together, we did not or actually figure it out,” said Misty Gattie-Blanco. “We guessed how much this would cost us right now based on meetings based on members. We weren’t sure what that would entail.
- Gattie-Blanco said they originally had $6,000 budgeted and they are requesting another $6,000 to make it $12,000 as a cushion.
- She said they are changing from meeting once per month for two hours to two times per month for an hour and a half.
- She said they anticipate the board members participating in upcoming city and county RFP panel reviews that are coming up.
- She said they have only spent less than $500 in scholarships because the one particular conference that one of our members went to, he was able to get a scholarship through that conference.
- She said the chair was awarded a scholarship to attend the National Alliance to End Homelessness conference, so they’ll only be paying approximately $100 for transportation to and from the airport.
- They’ll come back in December 2024 with an update.
- She said if the money isn’t spent this year, it will be reallocated within the budget next year.
- Discussions
- Julian Mendoza, with Hope Sanger, a rural agency, spoke.
- “We are a temporary Transitional Living Center that offers services to transient homeless and shelter families going through a crisis. Would these clinics be available in the rural area? And if they are? Is there a schedule for that? Or how do we maybe get that on the calendar?”
- Sanjeev Dillon, Assistant Medical Director for Mobile Heal, said she should email them at Mobile Heal. “We’ve been focusing on the urban setting, but I don’t see why there would be a huge issue going on in the rural areas, but it is something we can talk about for sure, Dillon said.
- Dillon confirmed that when he said “rural” he was referring to Madera County.
The Fresno-Madera Continuum of Care will meet next on June 15 to discuss how it can expand applicants for the Housing Choice Voucher program.
The meeting adjourned at 9: 40 a.m.
If you believe anything in these notes is inaccurate, please email us at fresnodocs@fresnoland.org with “Correction Request” in the subject line.