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Transforming the Trauma of Homelessness into Windows of Opportunity
All conference attendees are invited to register in the Ballroom starting at noon. Registration will be open until 8pm. You will be able to receive all of your conference materials and get any questions you have answered.
Tour of nearby Lotus Village, the largest women’s shelter in the country providing trauma informed, evidence based, wrap around support services, including in-take sanctuary, children’s wellness center, education center, culinary center, hydroponic farm, healing hands salon, art and activities lab, yoga center, gardens, and supportive residential programs.
Ballroom at the Doubletree Hilton Hotel, Biscayne Bay
Welcome & Thank You’s
Speakers – Grettel Jiménez-Singer, Director of NWSN; Constance Collins, Executive Director of NWSN; Isabella Dell’Oca, Executive Director — Lotus House; Julie Grimes — DoubleTree Hilton Hotel
Volunteer Instructor, April Buchwald
Welcome & Thank You’s / Video: Grettel Jiménez – Singer, Director – NWSN, NWSN/Directory Launch (Neha Gajwani, Volunteer Research Associate), Ms. of Ceremonies: Jatericka Lamons, Lotus House Women’s Shelter Program Coordinator and Alumna
Caroline Bettinger-López is Senior Advisor on Gender and Equality at the U.S. Department of Justice, Office for Victims of Crime, where she has helped to lead the development of the first-ever U.S. National Plan to End Gender-Based Violence. Professor Bettinger-López engages in advocacy before domestic and international law and policy forums to address gender-based violence, racial justice, and immigrants’ rights. She has taught at University of Chicago School of Law and Columbia Law School; and was a Skadden Fellow at the ACLU Women’s Rights Project and federal law clerk. She is a Commissioner on the Lancet Commission on Gender-Based Violence and Maltreatment of Young People.
Evidence based, best practices for shelter in-take, operations, programming and supports, education, resources, and post-exit follow-up addressing the gender specific needs of women and their children for effective solutions to end and prevent homelessness.
Principles for trauma informed, gender specific, intake and assessments, therapeutic supports, resource coordination (case management), and programming from intake to exit and beyond. Understanding the trauma of those we serve. Why doing so will reduce conflicts, advance overall wellbeing, and build the foundation for success for women, youth and children.
Walk the Walk – Basic principles and models for equity, inclusivity, diversity and peer leadership, management and mentorship in women’s shelters and programs. The why’s and how’s of building an effective team of program alumni and diverse and inclusive teams and giving voice to those with lived experience at all levels of your organization, from the Board participation to day to day operations, management, supervision and leadership of operations, programs and facilities.
Gloria Estefan is a Cuban-American singer, songwriter,actress, and businesswoman. Estefan is an eight-time Grammy Award winner, a Presidential Medal of Freedom recipient, and has been named one of the Top 100 greatest artists of all time by both VH1 and Billboard.
Simple Ways to Create a Welcoming Sanctuary – Basic principles and models for trauma informed, truly accessible, welcoming and efficient design and spaces, even (always!) on a limited budget. Features to promote accessibility for those with special strengths and needs and a cleaner, safer, healthier environment.
From intake to exit, how to make children feel welcome, safe and protected. Children’s welcome and informational video. Deep Protective Factors for Children: welcoming child-friendly spaces; educational supports, after school tutoring and homework assistance; close coordination with support systems; child and family therapies; and arts and enrichment programs that heal, support and uplift children and youth for social and emotional wellbeing and educational success.
Understanding the trauma histories of women experiencing homelessness and the need to provide holistic health and wellness supports and enriched programming to heal, advance whole health and wellness, empower and uplift women and their children. Plus, breaking down barriers to achieving financial stability and long term housing success through financial literacy, educational opportunities, job readiness training and employment assistance, and legal and social services and supports to secure and maintain needed benefits. We know there are systemic challenges and barriers to success, e.g., the absence of adequate truly affordable housing and permanent supportive housing; insufficient rental subsidies; rental subsidies that terminate before long term stability is achieved, to name a few. Here we discuss proven strategies to help program participants successfully exit the shelter system, achieve financial stability and break the cycle.
Understanding the trauma histories of women experiencing homelessness and the need to provide safety plans, resource guides, post-exit case management, financial supports, supportive housing and other models for long term success with effective post-exit follow up strategies.
The need for early, universal assessments for all children and providing evidence-based therapeutic interventions to heal, support and strengthen children, youth and families. Basic principles and models to provide effective therapeutic support for children and families. How you can transform shelter into a window of opportunity and break the cycle.
Special Guest Christine King, City of Miami Commission Chairwoman: Born in Guayana, she is the first woman to be named Chair in the history of the City of Miami’s Commission. Miami is the core of a metropolitan district with 6.4 Million people, 4th largest metropolitan district in the Southeast and 9th largest in the United States.
Mayor Francis Suarez, City of Miami Commission: The son of Cuban American immigrants, he is serving as the 43rd Mayor of Miami, he has worked to build a Miami that serves as a beacon of freedom, opportunity, and responsibility across America.
Volunteer Instructor, April Buchwald
Preliminary NWSN Gaps & Needs Report and Policy Agenda: Gabriela Saenz, Research, Policy and Public Education Director — Lotus House Women’s Shelter
NWSN Directory Launch: Neha Gajwani, Volunteer Research Associate — NWSN
Elements of Successful Fundraising Plans, Donor Relations and Development, Social Media Campaigns, In-Kind Drives, Friend Raising, Volunteers and Corporate Engagement, Thrift Stores and Social Enterprise; Galas and Other Strategies.
Evidence based, best practices for shelter in-take, operations, programming and supports, education, resources, and post-exit follow-up addressing the gender specific needs of women and their children for effective solutions to end and prevent homelessness.
Learn how a strategic combination of establishing endowments, charitable funding and new market tax credit financing can help you develop new or redevelop aging shelters into state-of-the-art facilities offering comprehensive supportive services. Joint presentation by national new market tax credit experts.
This session will present some of the most innovative legislative, philanthropic, and public private partnership initiatives to end homelessness in the country. Learn from experts about: Miami-Dade County’s establishment of a homeless trust to fund shelter, supportive services and housing initiatives; the establishment of a county wide children’s trust to support the needs of vulnerable children; and New York’s judicially established right to shelter and the funding that flowed to shelter vulnerable women and children; and utilizing Federal low income tax credit financing for permanent housing.
A social worker, community connector and catalyst for change prior to becoming the first female Mayor of Miami Dade County, the 14th largest in the United States. Mayor Levine Cava is deeply committed to addressing the special needs of women and children experiencing homelessness and an advocate for enriched resources for all children.
Policies and Procedures; Talent; Resources; Oversight, Monitoring and Continuous Quality Improvement, Succession Planning; Cross Training & Benefits of Becoming CARF Accredited.
Open Forum with Breakout Tables for Sharing and Innovation – Pick and Choose: Each table has leaders, large pads to share ideas and innovation, the pads are posted for everyone to rotate and look at, and content typed up and shared for attendees; 20 Minutes per Table.
Lead Facilitator: Amy Turk, CEO — Downtown Women’s Center
1) Organizational Vision, Mission and Strategic Business Plans.
2) Development Strategies for the Bread and Butter Givers (Operating/Short Term).
3) Strategies for Long-Term Financial Stability: Public vs. Private Funding; Reserves; Endowments; Capital Campaigns; and More.
4) Tailoring HMIS and Electronic Health Record Systems to Meet Your Needs: Wellsky Representative HMIS Tailored EHR Systems.
5) Your Talent – Strategies for Investing In, Retaining and Supporting your Team.
6) Getting The Most From Your Board: Board Functions, Composition, Recruitment and Management.
7) How Research Can Help You Better Serve, Improve Outcomes and Fund Your Services: Establishing collaborations with universities; development of your service driven research; training and fidelity; maintaining your database; your own institutional review and policies.
8) How to Apply CARF Standards for Capacity Building and Continuous Improvement: A CARF representative will be present to answer questions and further explain how the standards can benefit your organization.
9) Policies and Procedures: Building the foundation for your work, from the basics to the sublime. Examples to consider.
10) The Infrastructure and Resources Needed to Serve Domestic and Intimate Partner Violence Survivors.
11) Learn More About New Market Tax Credit Financing to Build Your Dream Facilities From the Experts.
Keynote speaker Margaret Mitchell, CEO YWCA USA
Margaret Mitchell leads YWCA USA, which has been at the forefront nationwide of the most critical social movements for over 160 years — from women’s empowerment and civil rights, to affordable housing and pay equity, to violence prevention and health care.
Tour of nearby Lotus Village, the largest women’s shelter in the country providing trauma informed, evidence based, wrap around support services, including in-take sanctuary, children’s wellness center, education center, culinary center, hydroponic farm, healing hands salon, art and activities lab, yoga center, gardens, and supportive residential programs.