3:00-4:00 p.m.

Breakout Sessions

NETWORKING BREAKOUTS: AFFINITY GROUPS

Networking: People with Lived Experience

Join a casual affinity space to connect with other leaders who have lived experience of homelessness for community and networking.

Lakeshore A

Networking: Executive Leaders

Join an affinity space to connect with other executive leaders who lead their organizations, Continuums of Care, or local government agencies.

TOPICAL BREAKOUTS:

Lakeshore B

Data and PWLEH: How to Have A Robust BNL

Participants will discuss processes and policies to ensure accurate data by including and integrating people with lived experience of homelessness. Participants will learn how to include people with lived experience in data validation and in understanding disparities in their data. Furthermore, participants will learn how to ensure that the voices of people with lived experience are included in developing data policies and how to utilize them when collecting data.

Greenway AJ

Health and Homelessness: Collaboration Across Systems

This interactive session will take a deep dive into replicable models and frameworks from BFZ communities that built relationships and created collaborative projects across systems at the intersection of health and homelessness. It aims to provide attendees with a roadmap of how they might replicate this cross-sector collaborative work with health systems and public health agencies in their own community. We’ll cover topics including data sharing, medical respite, Medicaid waivers, and more!

Greenway DEFG

Effective Encampment and Unsheltered Strategies

National leaders from Clutch Consulting will support this breakout session and provide participants with practical tactics and strategies proven to meaningfully respond to encampments and unsheltered homelessness. You’ll learn approaches through real-world case studies that center permanent housing for individuals affected, while addressing public health and safety concerns. Designed for system leaders working to address these challenges, participants will leave with front-edge learning and concrete tools to apply back home.

Regency Room

System Improvement Skill-building

In the same way there are community-level methods and approaches for system improvement, there are specific individual skill sets and competencies system improvers need to drive those strategies forward. This session will provide an overview of competency lanes that support system improvement and some training resources your community can tap into to develop those skills. We’ll also use the space to surface critical competencies and perspectives that are missing from the conversation.

Mirage

Building a Strong Backbone

Continuums of Care and homeless system leaders often face coordination across many cities, counties, regions, and sometimes states where data systems, partners, elected officials, and strategies are not aligned. Trying to wrangle all of these stakeholders and geographies can be a challenge. Learn how applying a backbone model with dedicated systems capacity is advancing success across BFZ communities and getting everyone rowing in the same direction.

Greenway BCHI

Implementing the Built for Zero Report Suite Available in WellSky Community Services

Connect with fellow data staff in other communities using WellSky Community Services as we dive deeper into implementing the reporting suite locally. We will build on the available resources on the BFZ WellSky report webpage, and explore how the reports can be used to make data-driven system improvements. This session is limited to communities using WellSky Community Services HMIS platform.

Lakeshore C

10:45-11:45 a.m.

Breakout Sessions

NETWORKING BREAKOUTS:

Networking: Data Leads

Join fellow HMIS leads to learn from one another about best practices in data collection, PIT count strategies, data collection for compliance, and project outcome evaluation.

Lakeshore C

Networking: Building Learning Systems in Large Cities

Designed for those working in a large city context, this session addresses the complexity and unique challenges of ending homelessness in a large city. Niñon Lewis from HC2 Strategies will support this breakout session and guide the group in identifying and sharing practices to leverage ongoing learning in a large city context. Participants will take away concrete ideas to monitor and respond to shifting and emerging needs while continuing to drive impact over time.

TOPICAL BREAKOUTS:

Lakeshore B

Kickstarting Property Engagement Initiatives

Is your community committed to launching or enhancing property engagement efforts? In this breakout session, we’ll explore a foundational step in advancing housing placement by fostering collaboration through a coordinated group, ultimately including service providers and residential owners/managers. Access resources and learn from experts who have successfully implemented similar initiatives. Seize this opportunity to drive significant change in housing accessibility.

Greenway BCHI

State Public Health Departments as Partners

The Policy and Advocacy and Health Care teams invite Built for Zero communities to join us to explore the topic of state public health departments as partners. Highlighting policies, best practices, and resources that states can use to reduce and prevent homelessness, this interactive discussion will focus on sharing knowledge and building our network of advocates.

Greenway AJ

Coordinated Prevention for Housing Stability

Explore innovative strategies for preventing housing instability and homelessness through coordinated efforts. This session will highlight best practices, collaboration techniques, and actionable plans to enhance housing security. It is ideal for service providers, policy makers, and advocates aiming to strengthen their community’s prevention initiatives.

Regency Room

From Research to Action: Strategies to Prevent and End Youth Homelessness

What is working to reduce youth homelessness? Come hear more about the latest research from ORS Impact about the practices and strategies to prevent and end youth homelessness and how communities are utilizing these interventions to make youth homelessness rare and brief. Bring your questions!

Mirage

Designing and Identifying Spaces to Meaningfully Engage with PLEH

Participants will discuss and understand how to create and improve upon spaces that allow meaningful engagement with people with lived experience of homelessness (PLEH). Participants will learn how to develop a space that encourages honesty, transparency, and vulnerability. This created space will form relationships between systems, system leaders, and people with lived experience of homelessness to ensure that people with lived experience feel belonging and are able to access their power to participate in solutions to end homelessness.

Lakeshore A

System-Level Resourcing

Securing sustained funding to continue your community’s work is a universally experienced challenge. Join this panel discussion and breakout conversation with communities who have developed collaborative resource development structures to more efficiently and effectively secure long-term funding for their communities. Leave with some action steps your community can take, and help contribute to the network’s collective understanding of the resource ecosystems our communities operate in.

Greenway DEFG

3:45-5:45 p.m.

Plenary: Film screening and panel discussion

Telling Meaningful Stories about the Work to End Homelessness

The national media landscape is fraught with misinformation and misleading stories about the root causes of homelessness. Join us to learn from communities who have been able to rewrite their local narratives and tell stories of hope rooted in the reality that communities can and must end homelessness, for all.

Exclusive film screening: Until We’re All Home

Until We’re All Home is a mosaic of stories about solving homelessness, told by people working to tackle this complex social problem, one day at a time. They’re neighbors, formerly unhoused, local leaders, social workers, veterans, landlords, and young adults across six U.S. cities. With stories collected over six months, this feature film offers an unseen eye on our society’s most pressing issues, the power of partnerships and resilience, and our profound need for empathy and community.

Following the premiere will be a panel discussion facilitated by David Bornstein, CEO of Solutions Journalism Network. Panel members will include several of the film’s storytellers from cities including Minneapolis, Gulf Coast, Sacramento, and Denver, along with the filmmakers.

Nicollet Ballroom

Data Office Hours

Data leads can join data coaches for 1-1 data coaching/deep dive support.

Lakeshore B

10:15-11:15 a.m.

Breakout Sessions

NETWORKING BREAKOUTS:

Ending All Homelessness

This breakout session will bring together communities working to end all homelessness in a shared learning space around the unique challenges of this work. We will cover topics identified by leaders working in this space, with an emphasis on youth and family homelessness and sustaining functional zero. Designed for anyone working towards these goals, we will share bright spots from the sector in a peer-to-peer learning environment.

TOPICAL BREAKOUTS:

Lakeshore A

Mapping the Housing Placement Process

Understanding the housing placement process is a crucial step to identifying and addressing roadblocks, opportunities for improvement and barriers to getting people housed. This session will provide an overview of how communities can undertake a Housing Placement Process Mapping exercise to obtain a qualitative and quantitative understanding of how the housing placement process currently operates. The mapping exercise is used as a basis to identify process improvements that can be implemented to reduce the amount of time it takes an individual from enrollment into housing.

Regency Room

How Funders Can Maximize Impact and System Performance

This breakout session, supported by Homebase, will present approaches around aligning funding contracts around the measures that matter to your system, as well as thoughtful monitoring and just-in-time support to improve the performance of programs and your system overall. Designed for Continuum of Care, city, and county leaders who fund homeless services, the session will share concrete practices that will elevate the performance of your systems and drive impact over time.

Lakeshore B

Case Conferencing Implementation

This breakout will be facilitated by our partners at Homebase. They will provide guidance on developing a coordinated entry system that uses case conferencing effectively to prioritize resources and house people more quickly, including how to implement the Built for Zero suite of Case Conferencing tools.

Mirage

Telling a New Story about Homelessness

Do you ever feel like the grim news you see about homelessness doesn’t match the progress you’re seeing in your communities? Let’s change that. Join Community Solutions’ Communications Team for a session on what you can do to prove to your audiences — including stakeholders, decision-makers, and local media — that homelessness is solvable.

Greenway BCHI

Flexible Funding 101

Flex Funds can fill individual-level gaps where other resources are not available, but administrative infrastructure, data-driven strategy, and clear, flexible policies and protocols are critical to success. At this session, you’ll learn the “how-tos” of Flex Funding from communities that have successfully leveraged them to drive community-level outcomes. We’ll preview the BFZ Flex Fund Guide intended for communities that have received, are applying for, or are trying to strategically spend Flex Funds.

Greenway AJ

Ending Veteran Homelessness

This breakout will allow communities to hear from the VA National Homeless Programs Office about bright spots, promising programmatic practices, and the federal One Team strategy to end veteran homelessness.

Greenway DEFG

PWLEH Learning Lab: Funding for PWLEH Work

This is an invite-only breakout session for communities participating in the Learning Lab to discuss different ways to fund, develop, and implement PWLEH work.

Lakeshore C