Texas Balance of State Continuum of Care News
September 2019
Texas Homeless Network is the lead agency for the Texas Balance of State Continuum of Care (TX BoS CoC) . The TX BoS CoC is a group of stakeholders that collaboratively plan and operate the CoC and a range of housing and services to prevent and end homelessness. The TX BoS CoC covers 215 counties and includes 24 Local Homeless Coalitions (LHCs) that plan, deliver, and evaluate local systems.
Announcements
TX BoS CoC General Meeting October 8th, 8:00-11:00

The next TX BoS CoC General Meeting will be held on Tuesday, October 8th, from 8:00-11:00 A.M. Every fall, the CoC holds an in-person CoC General Meeting immediately prior to the Texas Conference on Ending Homelessness. This year the meeting will be held at the Omni Houston Hotel.

If you are attending in person, you don't need to RSVP; just join us that morning.If you are attending by webinar, r egister for the webinar here .

We've spoken at prior General Meetings about the CoC developing a strategic plan over the next year. The strategic plan will ensure that all CoC members are working toward common goals and that there are measurable benchmarks and monitoring processes for tracking progress towards those goals. During this meeting, CoC members will have opportunities to discuss their communities' and project participants' needs, which will inform the goals and strategies in the plan. Bring your ideas! Strategic Planning Committee members, as well as our consultant, Corey Masson from NXTBoard, will be there to hear your comments first-hand.

AGENDA
8:00-8:30 -- Networking and continental breakfast
8:30-8:45 -- Welcome by Sophia Checa, Director of Continuum of Care Programs
8:45-9:00 -- State of the CoC Address by Dani Shaw, CoC Board Chair
9:00-10:30 -- Member input for Strategic Planning process, facilitated by Corey Masson
10:30-11:00 -- Get Involved with the CoC by CoC staff at THN

We hope you're able to participate in the meeting in person or by webinar.

 Contact  Mary Stahlke , CoC Manager, at   mary@thn.org   or 512-861-2180 if you have any questions or need assistance.
Interested in attending the National Alliance to End Homelessness Conference in February?

Texas Homeless Network (THN), as the CoC Lead Agency, will pay for five (5) General Members to attend the National Alliance to End Homelessness Conference focusing on solutions for individuals experiencing homelessness from February 19-21, 2020 in Oakland, California. THN will pay for flights, per diem, lodging, transportation to and from the conference hotel, and conference registration. If you are interested, please complete this online application.

For more information about the 2020 conference, go here.

Need help deciding? Check out last year's conference materials.  
Important Dates
OCTOBER
October 2019 General Meeting
Tuesday 8 October 2019, 08:00 AM - 11:00 AM
Topics: State of the CoC Address by CoC Board Chair, Dani Shaw; CoC member input for the CoC Strategic Plan
NOVEMBER
No CoC General Meeting in November

DECEMBER
December 2019 General Meeting
Wednesday 11 December 2019, 02:00 PM - 03:30 PM
Topic: Point-in-Time (PIT) Count and Housing Inventory (HIC)


Opportunities
Distressed Cities Technical Assistance Program (DCTAP)

HUD is accepting requests for Technical Assistance (TA) under the new Distressed Cities Technical Assistance (DCTA) Program. This program is designed to assist communities with populations under 40,000 that are struggling to recover from natural disaster and economic decline. The TA program will be community-specific and scaled to ensure a measurable impact on communities’ growth and resilience, as well as an efficient use of public funds. DCTA may be used to build capacity around:
  • Financial management 
  • Economic revitalization 
  • Affordable housing development
  • Disaster recovery and resiliency planning
  • Cross-sector partnership building
  • Utilizing federal development programs
To learn more about this new TA program, including eligibility requirements and how to request assistance, visit the  Distressed Cities Technical Assistance   page on the HUD Exchange.

Across the TX BoS CoC...
These articles were gathered from Google Alerts and emails sent directly to us. If you have articles about your community's efforts to prevent and end homelessness that you want highlighted in our next newsletter, please email the articles to   txboscoc@thn.org.
Staff Recommendations


The following are resources TX BoS CoC Lead Agency staff have found that we believe would be beneficial to your local efforts to make homelessness rare, brief, and one-time:
Our newest team member Linda is currently reading Emergent Strategy Shaping Change, Changing Worlds by Adrienne Aaree Brown

" In the tradition of Octavia Butler, Emergent Strategy is radical self-help, society-help, and planet-help designed to shape the futures we want to live. Change is constant. The world is in a continual state of flux. It is a stream of ever-mutating, emergent patterns. Rather than steel ourselves against such change, this book teaches us to map, assess, and learn from the swirling structures around us in order to better understand and influence them as they happen. This is a resolutely materialist “spirituality” based equally on science and science fiction, a feminist and afro-futurist incantation to transform that which ultimately transforms us."

Get your copy here
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Anyone who works or lives in the CoC's geographic area, and all housing and homeless services projects in the CoC's geographic area, are considered to be members of the CoC. The CoC has an open invitation process, so members may join at any time.

THN invites members to participate in the CoC's activities. Learn more on the email list , the website , and social media . CoC General Meeting minutes and recordings are posted on THN's website, in the TX BoS CoC "Get Involved" page at  https://www.thn.org/texas-balance-state-continuum-care/get-involved/ . Presentations by and conversations between CoC members and staff on relevant topics keep members informed and up-to-date.

Share this email with anyone you think may be interested!
CoC General Meeting Schedule

Stay informed about CoC happenings by participating in the monthly webinars. Each meeting will feature a topic that is important to preventing and ending homelessness. See the schedule for dates, topics, and registration links.
CoC Program Funding

If you are a representative of an agency that is interested in applying for United States Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) Continuum of Care (CoC) Program funding, please contact txboscoc@thn.org .
Your CoC Team

Get your questions answered and some face to face time with all of the CoC staff on the second Tuesday of every other month during the CoC General Meetings.
The TX BoS CoC is a focus area of the Texas Homeless Network.