HMIS Governance Retreat Seeks Broad Input
We invite you to read this message from Mike Manhard, Chair of HMIS Interim Governance Board:Dear Partners in Preventing and Ending Homelessness.I am writing to alert you to a retreat that will be taking place next Monday 11/14 to help define and create a new, permanent governance structure for HMIS.As you may know, HMIS has gone through a number of major changes over this past year. In effort to improve Minnesota’s ability to meet the increasing demands of HMIS, two major actions began in Spring 2016:
- The Institute for Community Alliance (ICA) was selected to serve as Minnesota’s Interim HMIS Lead Agency (LA) and State System Administrator (SSA). In this role, ICA has been tasked with providing all core data administration and reporting functions for HMIS. This interim term was identified to last up to 18 months—at which point a permanent system administrator (which may be ICA) would be identified.
- An Interim Governing Board was formed to govern this interim term and to collaboratively plan and build towards our ideal future HMIS governance, leadership and data system. This interim Governing Board is seeking to have a new governance model identified for adoption by the end of this year.
In effort to identify the new, permanent HMIS governance structure; the Interim Governing Board executive committee has planned a Governance Retreat that will be held on Monday 11/14.The purpose of this retreat is to identify a permanent HMIS governance structure that will:
- Retain and build upon the trust and partnerships we have and will need to prevent and end homelessness
- Provide representation and control that will meet the needs of current and future HMIS stakeholders (CoCs, State agencies, Tribes, DV, etc.)
- Create a thriving and functional decision-making body where timely and well-informed decisions can be made without multiple layers of process-related delays
The HMIS Interim Governing Board Executive Committee has identified a roster of attendees (with an effort to keep the roster of participants broad enough to ensure ample representation of interests and small enough to make swift progress in the retreat). The roster of attendees is listed at the end of this note.In order to ensure that all voices are heard at the Governance Retreat, I am writing to invite you to connect with me or any of the attendees of the retreat with suggestions/thoughts/concerns regarding the new HMIS governance structure. Those in attendance will be expected to represent the interests and concerns of those not in attendance.I encourage you to connect with any of the attendees listed on the roster and I look forward to reporting back to you all on the results of the retreat and future governance recommendations for HMIS. Please contact me or Carla Solem (carlas@cableone.net) with any questions or concerns.Sincerely,MikeHMIS Interim Governance Board Chair
Roster of HMIS Governance Retreat Attendees
| Name | Organization | Who they represent |
| Bill Vanderwall (facilitator) | MN Housing Partnership | |
| Abby Guilford | MESH | SMAC CoC |
| AG Huot | Central MN Housing Partnership | Central CoC |
| Carla Solem | NW and West Central CoC | NW and West Central CoC |
| Cathy ten Broeke | State Office to Prevent & End Homelessness | Office to Prevent & End Homelessness |
| Charles Obije | St Louis County | St Louis CoC |
| David Eberbach | ICA | ICA |
| David Hewitt | Hennepin County | Hennepin CoC |
| Demetri Vincze | ICA | ICA |
| Ho Nguyen | MCBW | DV/SA providers |
| Jane Lawrenz | DHS | State agencies |
| Jennifer Prins | Three Rivers CAP | SE CoC |
| Jennifer Trombley | Minnesota Housing | Office to Prevent & End Homelessness |
| Joel Salzer | Minnesota Housing | State agencies |
| Justin Vorbach | SWMHP | SW CoC |
| Kathy Berg Hansen | Salvation Army | Agencies/end users |
| Laura DeRosier | Hennepin County | Hennepin CoC |
| Mark Herzfeld | Ramsey County | Ramsey CoC |
| Mike Manhard | MESH | All stakeholders |
| Nathaniel Saltz | MAC-V | Veterans |
| Patty Beech | NE CoC | NE CoC |
| Rebekah Moses | MCBW | DV/SA providers |
| Steve Horsfield | Simpson Housing Services | All stakeholders |
| Tammy Moreland | Mille Lacs Band of Ojibwe | MN Tribal Collaborative |
| Tom Balsley | DHS | State agencies |
| To be named | Minnesota Coalition for the Homeless | All stakeholders |