Gardner-White Charituesday contest
Gardner White will donate a $500 gift certificate to two charitable organizations every other Tuesday, our turn begins July 31!
Beginning July 31 at 10 a.m., please vote for us here, and help us win the grand prize, a $1,000 Gardner-White gift certificate!
Vote from 10 a.m., Tuesday, July 31, through 10 a.m. Tuesday, August 7. Please make sure to vote daily and share the post on Facebook
and re-tweet on Twitter!
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Save the Date!
Bring it Home
Thursday, May 9, 2019
Sponsorship, ticket, and attendee information will be available early 2019. If you have any questions before information is mailed and available on our website, please
contact
Lisa Fuhr
at 248-824-7313.
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Thank you!
Thank you to our new and returning supporters for making this year's Connecting for a Cause a record-breaking fundraising event! With your help,
we raised more than $7,400, much of which were directed to our
Critical Needs Fund.
Event photos can be found here.
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Amazon Wish List now available
We provide cleaning supplies and personal care items for our families througho
ut the year. We are always accepting donations for these basic necessities. Please visit our
Amazon Wish List to see a list of our current donation needs.*
Don't forget to start your
shopping from our
AmazonSmile link
and
Amazon will donate 0.5% of the purchase price to us!
*Some items listed on this wish list will be used in our silent auction at our annual fundraising event, Bring it Home. All household items and cleaning supplies will go directly to those we serve.
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Jefferson Oaks: Welcome to the Neighborhood
For more information on providing our Jefferson Oaks residents with resources to ensure long-term housing stability and high-quality programs and services for families with children in our newest, inclusive community, please visit
here.
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VendCasa Realty thank you!
We are grateful to be chosen by VendCasa Realty to participate in their
Where We Give initiative where 10% of their commission from each real estate transaction goes to a local charity focused on assisting in
dividuals and families in need with housing. Thank you for your ongoing support directed to our Critical Needs Fund!
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This month I'd like to introduce you to Audrey White who works with the Michigan State Homeless Information Management System (MSHMIS) as an HMIS Agency Administrator for CHN.
The MSHMIS was developed to meet a data collection requirement made by the United States Congress to the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD). Congress passed this requirement in order to get a more accurate count of individuals who are homeless and to identify the need for, and use of, different services by individuals and families.
Audrey uses HMIS to collect data on the provision of housing and services for homeless individuals and families and people at risk of homelessness. HMIS benefits those we serve by operating as a storehouse of information to allow us to track, provide resources and manage everything related to their housing status as we attempt to connect them to services and transition them from homelessness or prevent homelessness. The data is used by the government to support funding for new grants and much-needed services for vulnerable populations.
Supervisor, Sarah Sporny,
director of Clinical Services and Quality Management, shares, "A
udrey is a very conscientious and thoughtful team player at CHN. Her dedication to the role and the people served at CHN is admirable. CHN is incredibly lucky to have Audrey on our team. I truly believe we couldn't do it without her. She's an absolute agency admin extraordinaire! I, for one, am incredibly grateful for her service."
Let's turn to Audrey now and give her a chance to answer a few questions.
How did you come to CHN?
I was working as a volunteer Career Readiness trainer at South Oakland Shelter. The director made me aware of an opportunity to do data entry for HMIS. I was trained by CHN's HMIS Systems administrator and became a data entry floater for several of our partner agencies. I was then hired as a part-time employee and then later as a full-time employee and have had varying roles here since.
What training is required to do your job?
The job requires certification in HMIS Basic Privacy and Security, Advanced Privacy and Data Sharing and a whole host of other topics related to HMIS. Training is provided through numerous podcasts, shadowing and hands-on training by an HMIS Systems Administrator. Computer literacy and familiarity with troubleshooting are also helpful.
How do you work with HMIS?
In my role as HMIS Agency administrator, I manage the HMIS database and related end-user activities specifically for our agency. I troubleshoot and provide solutions to users' technical support requests, run monthly reports to verify data quality and HUD-related outcomes, provide data to executive leadership and department directors for new grant applications, status reports for board meetings, provide ongoing training for new hires and existing users on HMIS workflows and processes, update users on HUD data standards to maintain compliance and client's privacy, and review HMIS policies and procedures with all end-users.
How does the HMIS system help those we serve?
The data gathered through HMIS provides data to the government to support new grant funding as well as the renewal of existing grants for the much-needed services for our vulnerable populations. HUD funding is also allocated annually based on data gathered through the annual Point in Time (PIT) count (
a count of sheltered and unsheltered homeless persons on a single night in January) and entered into HMIS.
Anything else you'd like to share?
I see this as the perfect job for me. It combines my Master of Social Work and Computer Science degrees, which could seem like a contradiction, but the marriage of the two prepared me for my previous roles here and what I am doing currently. I enjoy the work I do and the people I work with. We work hard and we also have fun. It's one of the only places where I've worked where we get to play games at lunch. I am grateful for the wisdom of the leadership at CHN and for the heart, passion and dedication of my co-workers who greatly help a lot of people!
What are your parting words of wisdom?
A favorite saying of mine is, "Choose a job you love and you'll never have to work a day in your life." God has given every person a unique set of talents, gifts, skills and abilities and when you discover yours and couple those with compassion and kindness, you can be used to enhance and bless the lives of others.
I am grateful for Audrey's work, as well as the work of all CHN team members.
Thank you for your ongoing support!
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With support from:
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