Access: The TAC Blog
April 2018: News, Resources, & Happenings at TAC
VA Awards TAC a New Supportive Services for Veteran Families Contract
THROUGH THE SUPPORTIVE SERVICES FOR VETERAN FAMILIES PROGRAM, the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) helps service providers across the country to strengthen the housing stability and independent living skills of very low-income veteran families occupying or transitioning to permanent housing. TAC is honored to have been awarded a new five-year grant from the VA to continue and deepen the technical assistance we have provided to SSVF grantees since the program was launched in 2011. Joining us on the TA team are our longtime partners Abt Associates, the National Alliance to End Homelessness' Center for Capacity Building, the National Coalition for Homeless Veterans, Policy Research Associates, Inc., and Atlas Research.
Nearly 400 SSVF grants fund nonprofit organizations and consumer cooperatives across the country. TAC coordinates and provides specialized TA to all these grantees through in-person trainings, regional gatherings, program site visits, carefully designed products and tools, one-on-one consultation, webinars, and online group learning. By focusing on crisis intervention and housing stability, targeting practices to ensure effective delivery of resources, and using permanent supportive housing to improve both housing stability and behavioral health outcomes, we help communities develop system-level capacity to meet the unique needs of veterans and their families.
TAC Staff in Action
STAFF ACTIVITIES
Ashley Mann-McLellan, TAC Associate, led community-wide rapid re-housing (RRH) trainings in Maricopa County, AZ and Orange County, CA (where she also led an accompanying executive-level training), kicking off efforts to use RRH as a system-wide strategy; Ashley also presented on decision-making and accountability frameworks at a Seattle CoC summit on governance, strategic planning, and racial equity, and gave a workshop on landlord engagement at this month's Housing First Partners conference in Boulder, CO; Executive Director Kevin Martone wrote about the importance of new affordable housing resources in the National Association of County Behavioral Health and Developmental Disability Directors newsletter, drawing on a widely read Access blog post by Senior Associate Gina Schaak and Senior Policy Advisor Lisa Sloane; Lisa was also invited to present on "Housing First and Permanent Supportive Housing 101" to the Oregon Housing and Community Services Department; at a March event, Associate Douglas Tetrault co-presented with the New Hampshire Interagency Council on Homelessness at a discussion on the state's efforts - supported by TAC since 2016 - to end veteran homelessness.
