Spring 2021 Virtual Learning Session: Recordings, slides, and materials

May 26, 2021
Spring 2021 Learning Session Graphic

Built for Zero’s Spring 2021 Session took place May 18 – 20 with over 600 virtual attendees, composed of members of 89 BFZ communities (including seven new communities), strategic partners, and Built for Zero and Community Solutions staff! With three plenaries and nine interactive virtual sessions, members of Built for Zero communities learned how to build upon and measure racial equity in their systems, the necessity of ending single adult homelessness, and launched several new improvement cohorts.

Session speakers, consultants, and facilitators included Regina Cannon, Lisa Bahadosingh, Genesis Garcia, Nastacia’ Moore, and Monique Price of C4 Innovations; Richard Cho, Senior Advisor for Housing and Services, Department of Housing and Urban Development; and Niñon Lewis, Vice President of Institute for Healthcare Improvement; along with Built for Zero staff and community members. Participants also heard from five Built for Zero communities who shared bright spots from their journeys reaching functional zero.

Read a detailed recap of the event here!

Click on session titles below for additional information and links to recordings, slides, and resources.

Session Presenters/Facilitators:

Garen Nigon, Strategy Lead, BFZ/Community Solutions
Candace Morgan, BFZ/Community Solutions
Nate French, Portfolio Lead, BFZ/Community Solutions
Jake Maguire, Principal, BFZ/Community Solutions

“We want you to feel unstoppable. We want you to feel that functional zero is inevitable, like you can achieve and sustain your goals in the face of new challenges and transformation.”

Garen Nigon, BFZ

The Opening Plenary reflected on the challenges of the past year, celebrated achievements and milestones, and provided a picture of what would be in store over the three days of the Learning Session.

Session Presenters/Facilitators: 

Lisa Bahadosingh, REDI Manager, C4 Innovations
Regina Cannon, Chief Equity and Impact Officer; Vice President, Housing Solutions, C4 Innovations
Genesis Garcia, Project Coordinator, C4 Innovations
Nastacia’ Moore, Training and Technical Assistance Coordinator, C4 Innovations
Monique Price, Racial Equity Subject Matter Expert/Manager II, C4 Innovations

“We don’t want to put everything on the shoulders of the homeless response systems, because systemic racism plays out in every single one of our institutions.”

Regina cannon, c4 Innovations

Building on the work from the Fall Learning Session and the results of the survey some participants completed, this session continued to build the foundation for meaningful work to advance racial equity at the community level. Participants learned how to understand racial equity and build shared language, while also exploring the historical context of structural racism and housing and homelessness, along with forms of racialization.

Session Presenters/Facilitators:  

Shantae Smith, Systems Transformation Advisor, BFZ/Community Solutions
Aras Jizan, Portfolio Lead, BFZ/Community Solutions
Caitlin Bayer, Senior Data Solutions Analyst, BFZ/Community Solutions
Esther Tang, Data Solutions Manager, BFZ/Community Solutions

“We want to collect all this feedback and then do something with it. We want to improve system outcomes through the lens of racial equity.”

ARAS JIZAN, BFZ

Participants discovered how the BFZ Team is thinking about measuring racial equity in system outcomes, provided feedback, shared approaches their communities were taking, with the goal of helping shape the tools and support offered to the movement in the future.

Session Presenters/Facilitators: 

Beth Sandor, Principal, BFZ/Community Solutions
Eddie Turner, Senior Strategy Lead, BFZ/Community Solutions
Richard Cho, Senior Advisor for Housing and Services, Department of Housing and Urban Development

Richard Cho, Ph.D., serves as Senior Advisor for Housing and Services in the Office of the Secretary. In this role, Richard advises the Secretary on HUD’s efforts to end homelessness, protect HUD-assisted households from COVID-19, advance the community integration of people with disabilities, connect housing with health care, and crest housing options for returning citizens. Richard brings to this role two decades of experience at the community, state, and federal levels building collaboration between the housing, health care, social services, and criminal justice sectors to address the housing and services needs of vulnerable Americans.

“We’ve proven that we can house anyone. Now our job is to house everyone.”

Richard CHO, Ph.D., Senior advisor for housing and services

Ending single adult homelessness is one of the critical next horizons in BFZ’s collective work. In this session, participants learned from community leaders engaged in this work and heard from senior leaders at HUD and Community Solutions on why this work is an emerging urgent priority.

This Learning Session marked the launch of new cohorts intended to help communities learn faster by matching them with peer communities and coaches that can support the unique needs of each community. The specialized team of coaches for each cohort follow a curriculum by designing changes, testing them, and tracking results.

“It’s our system change, our transformed coalition, our communities that ended homelessness. We’re going to get there together.”

Niñon LEWIS, IHI

The cohorts include:

  • Improvement System Shaper Cohort (I.S.S.): Communities will work toward being certified for a quality by-name list and achieving its first by-name list reduction.
  • Shift Lab Cohort: Communities will work toward achieving its first or next shift, and building improvement habits that will take them to functional zero.
  • System Flow Cohort: Communities will work to reduce the length of time from identification to housing. 
  • Last Mile Cohort: Communities work toward ending homelessness for a target population within the next six months. 
  • Large City Cohort: Communities working to reach functional zero in large, complex cities with a high density of homelessness. 

Session Presenters/Facilitators: 

Garen Nigon, Strategy Lead, BFZ/Community Solutions
Candace Morgan, BFZ/Community Solutions

Participants reflected together on their work as a movement and set the stage for their achievements to come over the next six months.

Session Presenters/Facilitators:

Lauren D’Amico, Data Coaching & Capacity Building Manager, BFZ/Community Solutions
Jane Moy, Data Coaching & Performance Advisor, BFZ/Community Solutions

“We know that we can do it because we’ve done it before with other subpopulations. If we don’t do it now…when are we going to do it?”

Lauren d’Amico, BFZ

This session was designed to help communities understand why BFZ is widening the population-level focus to All Singles and what it takes to go from quality sub-population data to reporting quality All Singles data. During this session, participants explored approaches to collecting and managing data from existing data sources in order to confidently begin building their communities’ All Singles By Name List.

Session Presenters/Facilitators:

“To shift the culture, we start with ourselves.”

Regina Cannon, C4 Innovations

Regina Cannon, Chief Equity and Impact Officer; Vice President, Housing Solutions, C4 Innovations
Lisa Bahadosingh, REDI Manager, C4 Innovations
Nastacia’ Moore, Training and Technical Assistance Coordinator, C4 Innovations
Genesis Garcia, Project Coordinator, C4 Innovations
Monique Price, Racial Equity Subject Matter Expert/Manager II, C4 Innovations

Building on the work from the Fall Learning Session and the results of the survey some participants completed, this session continued to build the foundation for meaningful work to advance racial equity at the community level.

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