Dallas-Collin Continuum of Care Enters Final and Critical Stages in Adopting Pieces Iris™ as its Single Homeless Management Information System

The Dallas-Collin Continuum of Care (CoC) manages the community’s response to the experience and risk of homelessness. One of its most important roles in this capacity is to operate a Homeless Management Information System (HMIS) to collect critical data and drive improvement in homeless services. In its CoC Strategic Work Plan – Building an Effective Homeless Response System, the CoC sets as of its most important goals the development of a single HMIS system, into which all homeless service providers, including shelters and outreach street teams, would consistently enter their data. After all, we, as a community, can’t know anything meaningful about the true nature of homelessness if we don’t have unsheltered and emergency sheltered data in one data collection system.

As the CoC leadership surveyed the landscape, one obvious partner stood out in the need to take its HMIS to the next level, PCCI, a non-profit born out of the Parkland Health and Hospital System. PCCI founded Dallas’ PCCI Information Exchange Portal (IEP). It describes this initiative on its website as follows:

Different providers in the healthcare system and across community-based organizations have limited means of communication, causing vital patient information to slip through the cracks, information that is essential to providing excellent healthcare or even saving a life. The Dallas Information Exchange Portal (IEP) will create a secure seamless system that connects healthcare and community-based organizations in the Dallas region, allowing for smart sharing of information that makes a tangible difference in the lives of first thousands but, ultimately, we hope millions of people.

Integrating information from social and healthcare organizations will provide quality and safe healthcare for the broadest range of citizens in our community. The IEP will provide a higher, more consistent level of healthcare to all members of the community, especially the most vulnerable populations, resulting in more efficient, cost-effective use of resources and, most importantly, lives saved.



Ruben Amarasingham

PCCI President and CEO

PCCI built their Pieces Iris™ software solution to HMIS specifications, and they knew they needed the CoC for the system to truly work. The CoC recognized that Pieces Iris™ is designed as a cut above all other HMIS systems in existence today. It represents the only known effort of building a new HMIS, case management, coordinated access and resource inventory on a new platform. PCCI’s Dallas IEP and the CoC see this as a symbiotic relationship. The Dallas IEP needs the cohort of persons experiencing homelessness within their integrated system as they represent some of the community’s highest risk and most costly patients. They need the homeless service providers’ network to extend the continuity of care for these patients. For the last few months PCCI and the Metro Dallas Homeless Alliance (MDHA), the CoC’s lead agency, have been working together on a process of discovery to figure out if such a partnership was feasible, and building out the system, per MDHA’s client specifications and preferences.

Significant progress has been made in the development of the HMIS template within the Pieces Iris™ software. MDHA’s HMIS team worked with the PCCI development team to combine the HMIS data collection and reporting system required of multiple federal and state funding authorities with enhanced interface, functionality and reporting innovations. All CoC stakeholders from leadership to end users have been reviewing the application in meetings and demonstrations, before the MDHA board considers a resolution to select Pieces Iris™ as the next single HMIS software solution for the community at its board meeting on November 12th.

As we enter the final and critical stage of this process, there remain three key events:

• 10/30/15 – 9am-noon – Pieces Iris™ as HMIS Play Day ‐ Hands on demonstrations for end users on Pieces Iris™ software (PCCI Offices - 8435 N. Stemmons Freeway, Ste 1150, Dallas)

• 11/6/15 – 9-11am - Demonstration and Public Hearing of Pieces Iris™ as the new HMIS software solution (Center for Community Cooperation, Oak Corner Room, 2900 Live Oak St. , Dallas)

• 11/12/15 – 9-11am – MDHA Board of Directors meeting - resolution to select Pieces Iris™ as the next single HMIS software solution for the community to be considered

Dr. Ruben Amarasingham, Founder, President and CEO of PCCI and the co-inventor of the Pieces IRIS™ software system will join us for the final two events. Amarasingham is a noted expert in the development and evaluation of health information technology, the application of informatics concepts in healthcare, and the use of innovative care models to reduce disparities, improve quality, and lower costs. The CoC leadership and MDHA Board of Directors and staff, as well as PCCI’s leadership, encourage community stakeholders to join us and participate in all three of these important events.

Rare, Brief and Non-Recurring

Perhaps the most important national body in the homelessness arena is the United States Interagency Council on Homelessness (USICH). USICH is an independent Federal agency. Its job is to “coordinate the Federal response to homelessness and to create a national partnership at every level of government and with the private sector to reduce and end homelessness in the nation while maximizing the effectiveness of the Federal Government in contributing to the end of homelessness.” In this capacity, in 2010, it wrote Opening Doors, a national strategic plan to end homelessness. The plan was amended and updated in 2012, updated in 2013, and has just been amended and updated once again.

Check out the full version here: http://usich.gov/resources/uploads/asset_library/USICH_OpeningDoors_Amendment2015_FINAL.pdf

Check out just the 2015 amendments here: http://usich.gov/resources/uploads/asset_library/Summary_Changes_2015_OD_Amendment.pdf



Opening Doors 2015

The following is from the Opening Doors page on the USICH website. I have copied it here and put the main items and functions that MDHA and bodies like it in every community figure heavily into, in bold.

“Opening Doors presents objectives and themes that build upon the lesson that mainstream housing, health, education, and human service programs must be fully engaged and coordinated to prevent and end homelessness. These include:

• Increasing leadership, collaboration, and civic engagement, with a focus on providing and promoting collaborative leadership at all levels of government and across all sectors, and strengthening the capacity of public and private organizations by increasing knowledge about collaboration and successful interventions to prevent and end homelessness.
• Increasing access to stable and affordable housing, by providing affordable housing and permanent supportive housing.
• Increasing economic security, by improving access to education and increasing meaningful and sustainable employment and improving access to mainstream programs and services to reduce financial vulnerability to homelessness.
• Improving health and stability, by linking health care with homeless assistance programs and housing, advancing stability for unaccompanied youth experiencing homelessness and youth aging out of systems such as foster care and juvenile justice, and improving discharge planning for people who have frequent contact with hospitals and criminal justice systems.
• Retooling the homeless response system, by transforming homeless services to crisis response systems that prevent homelessness and rapidly return people who experience homelessness to stable housing.”

I put the entire final point in bold text, because this is the core of where we go from here, but really where we have been headed from the start. After all, the idea of service providers working together as a homeless response system is not new to Dallas. Indeed, Dallas’ ten year plan envisioned such a system, led by MDHA: “A seamless system of care needs to be developed…” Why?  “Individuals benefit from client-centered services that place the burden of coordination on the systems that serve them.”

Laura Green Zellinger, former Executive Director of the USICH, elaborates on this important point in the national context: “With true coordination and collaboration, homeless providers and mainstream systems can work together to create a seamless response that does not expect people to navigate multiple programs in an effort to get their needs met…” This Zellinger emphasizes is the only way we can, “prevent homelessness whenever possible or otherwise ensure that homelessness is a rare, brief, and nonrecurring experience.”

Now, we have to really make this happen. That is why the 2015 amendment provides, “An operational definition for an end to homelessness... An end to homelessness means that every community will have a system in place that ensures homelessness is prevented whenever possible or is otherwise a rare, brief, and non-recurring experience.” (Emphasis mine – DSG.)

This is why MDHA and the Dallas area Continuum of Care developed the Continuum of Care Strategic Work Plan (CoCSWP). It is no coincidence that the subtitle of this document that guides our work this year and next is "Building an Effective Homeless Response System". Through this plan, we are building a system that will deliver on the promise to, “prevent homelessness whenever possible or otherwise ensure that homelessness is a rare, brief, and nonrecurring experience.”

Are you with us?

No, seriously, are you with us? This is not a rhetorical question. As Opening Doors clarifies on the national level and the Continuum of Care Strategic Work Plan (CoCSWP) emphasizes on a local level, the only way we end homelessness is through community wide commitment to making homelessness rare, brief and non-recurring. "Community" means each and every one of us. So, review the CoCSWP, and see where you fit in, and how you can be part of the systemic solution. In other words, we humbly disagree with Pink Floyd. You are not just another brick in the wall.

Dallas Public Library - First Annual Community Forum: Re-Defining Community: One Conversation at a Time

Wow! This was an incredible program, organized by the Dallas Public Library's H.E.L.P. Homeless Engagement & Leadership Program. We, at MDHA, were privileged to be one of the co-sponsors. 

H.E.L.P. is a robust initiative, that conducts an array of library programs for those experiencing homeless. They promote social interaction and inclusion, and provide individualized assistance with information, referral, resume writing and job applications. You can't miss the H.E.L.P. desk on the first floor of the central branch.

I love origin stories of individuals and organizations. The origin story of H.E.L.P. is beautiful and simple. When Jo Giudice became the Director of Libraries a little more than two years ago, she was of course cognizant of the many interactions libraries have with the homeless. She just decided they should be positive! So, she led the library in doing just that. It started with simple Coffee &Conversation. It now includes Game Day, Throwback Thursday Movies, Music Classes, Urban Photography and even the popular Street View Podcast. The main thing, though, is just the positive proactive welcoming approach.

After Jo welcomed everyone, Shavon Moore, our Continuum of Care Program Coordinator, spoke eloquently about homelessness in Dallas, our annual Point in Time Homeless Count, and how MDHA is ending homelessness. The keynote was "We Are All Homeless" delivered by artist and SMU professor, Willie Baronet. He passed out signs he has been buying from folks standing on street corners, and showed art he had created from some of these. He discussed, at length, an extensive 7620 mile road trip to buy more signs, and a documentary he is creating about this experience, the folks he met along the way, and what he learned from them. You can learn more about this at www.weareallhomeless.org

Next was a very meaningful community panel, a lunch and group discussion, and a ribbon-cutting for the new community exchange area on the first floor of the Central Library, and its centerpiece a beautiful mural. Check out this article in the DMN for more about this: www.dallasnews.com/news/metro/20150514-downtown-dallas-library-hopes-mural-inspires-community-to-connect.ece Don't forget to visit, admire and engage, when you have a chance!

2015 Point-In-Time (PIT) Homeless Count This Thursday, January 22, 2015

Dallas, Texas – If you happen to be standing in front of Dallas City Hall this coming Thursday, January 22, 2015 at 5pm, you will see an interesting sight. A few hundred people will gather in front of the building, only to then fan out into the night. Their mission? To count and survey those in our community who are experiencing homelessness. The Point-In-Time (PIT) Homeless Count in Dallas is conducted by the Metro Dallas Homeless Alliance (MDHA), and is a requirement under U.S. Law.

In fact, during the final ten days of January such counts will take place in every community across our nation. The PIT, which occurs every year, allows communities and the nation as whole to track progress towards ending homelessness, and gather vital data about the needs of those experiencing homelessness. Dallas and the nation as a whole are committed to ending veteran homelessness this year and chronic homelessness next year.

Here in Dallas, MDHA’s grantees and partner agencies count guests and residents in shelters and housing sites, while the above mentioned community volunteers, escorted by Dallas police officers, locate and count those living elsewhere. Similar counts are conducted the same night by the Collin County Homeless Coalition and by the cities of Garland, Irving and Mesquite, who are all part the Dallas area Continuum of Care organization, which is led by MDHA.

MDHA still needs volunteers for this huge operation, which in Dallas is subsidized by the Real Estate Council Foundation. Volunteers must be at least 18 years of age, should wear clothing appropriate for the weather and comfortable shoes, and bring a flashlight, a pen, and a clipboard.

SIGN UP HERE TO TODAY TO VOLUNTEER: http://www.signupgenius.com/go/60b0a4ea8ae2aa02-2015

For questions, contact Shavon Moore, at shavon.moore@mdhadallas.org or 972.638.5627

Leader in the Fight to End Homelessness Set to Retire, As Agency Prepares to Build on His Legacy

Dallas, Texas – Michael M. Faenza, President and CEO of the Metro Dallas Homeless Alliance (MDHA), and a national leader in the area of mental health for the past 35 years, announced his retirement last week, effective January 1, 2015. He will remain with MDHA in a consulting role, as the agency searches for his successor. MDHA is an association of organizations devoted to ending homelessness in Dallas and Collin Counties, by putting people into homes. In order to end homelessness, it facilitates over $16,750,000 of annual federal funding, coordinates services, and drives improvement in more than 45 different transitional housing (TH), rapid rehousing (RRH), and permanent supportive housing (PSH) programs. 

Faenza, a distinguished alumnus of the University of Texas at Arlington Graduate School of Social Work, was a fixture of the Dallas social service scene from 1979 to 1993. He was the first vocational coordinator for Dallas County Mental Health Mental Retardation (MHMR), Executive and Clinical Director of the Letot Center for runaway youth, within the Dallas County Juvenile Department, and Executive Director of the Mental Health Association (MHA) of Greater Dallas. He was then elevated to President and CEO of the National MHA in Washington, D.C., a position he served in for 14 years.

Faenza returned to Dallas in 2007 to serve as the President and CEO of MDHA. Under Faenza’s leadership, MDHA took The Bridge, Dallas’ state of the art, $28 million homeless intake and service center, from a mere idea on paper to a fully functioning institution, that today serves as a model for other cities around the country. The Bridge was spun off as a separate non-profit three years ago. Dallas Mayor Mike Rawlings, then the Dallas “Homeless Czar”, reminisced fondly about that period, “Mike came to be my partner as we put together our long term vision to service the homeless many years ago. I enjoyed working with him and never have I met a man that has a bigger heart for those that don't have a voice.”

Larry James, President and CEO of CitySquare, and a MDHA board member emphasized Faenza’s decisive impact on Dallas, beyond The Bridge: “Working with the community to bring $17 million annually back to Dallas from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development for use in providing permanent supportive housing, while creatively adding hundreds of units of housing for the homeless in partnership with the Dallas Housing Authority, Mike has distinguished himself as a fierce and innovative leader. MDHA wishes him only the best while acknowledging that he will be missed.” During his tenure at MDHA, Faenza oversaw an increase in PSH units of about 350%, from 600 to 2050, a continued drop in chronic homelessness to 65% below where it was in 2004, and an improvement of more than 30% in PSH services in just the last three years.

MaryAnn Russ, fellow board member of James, and President and CEO of the Dallas Housing Authority, echoed these sentiments earlier this year: “Due to our partnership with MDHA, we prioritized the housing of those experiencing homelessness, and have so far housed more than 3400 formerly homeless individuals and families. In monetary terms, with an average rent of $700 per month, our investment tops $28,000,000 annually. This would not be happening, if not for Faenza and MDHA’s forward thinking.”

Faenza has continuously emphasized that the fight against homelessness is just a piece of the puzzle, in the general fight against poverty. Earlier this year he stated, “Dallas still has some of the highest poverty rates in the country, affordable housing is scarce, and the mental health provider reimbursement system is dismally underfunded.” Indeed, throughout his tenure, it has been important to Faenza to remind the community that ending homelessness, will not make these larger problems go away.

Britton Banowsky, Commissioner of Conference USA, and Chair of the MDHA board, was effusive in his praise of Faenza, saying, “Mike's contribution to the homeless in our community cannot be overstated. His passion for the cause and years of dedicated service are a great example for all of us. MDHA and our many partners that support and provide service to the homeless are grateful for Mike's leadership. Our work is already underway to find his successor, who we expect to build on the great foundation in place and take the organization to an even higher level of service.”

Perhaps the most important indicator of Faenza’s success is how his staff feels upon his retirement. David Gruber, MDHA’s Development Manager, summed it up, saying, “I know I speak for all of us, when I say that Mike is not just a leader, but a true friend and a great inspiration to each one of us. His model of leadership is one, where the absolute focus is always on those who need help, giving a voice to the voiceless, without compromise. As a tribute to him, we will carry on his vision, and continue the fight to end homelessness in our community.”