SEATTLE (November 14, 2016) – Today, the Seattle Human Services Department (HSD) announced that the Downtown Emergency Service Center (DESC), in partnership with Operation Sack Lunch, has been selected to operate Seattle’s navigation center site when it opens later this year. DESC will operate the 24-hour, low-barrier shelter while Operation Sack Lunch will provide food and meal support to those at the shelter.

“As the City works to implement the long-term strategies to address our homelessness crisis laid out in Pathways Home, we must immediately address the need for low-barrier and 24-hour shelter options,” said Mayor Murray. “Today’s selection of the new navigation center operators brings us one step closer to providing emergency shelter and services to people who are not well served by our current system.”

On June 9, Mayor Murray issued an executive order directing the creation of a new low-barrier, one-stop service center for people living unsheltered to receive personalized support and transition them into permanent housing. This award intends that the Downtown Emergency Service Center, in partnership with Operation Sack Lunch, will offer support for basic needs like shelter, hygiene, meals, secure and accessible storage, case management, and supportive services including referrals for substance abuse and mental health treatment.

Seattle’s navigation center will be modeled on the San Francisco Navigation Center,  a dormitory-style living facility that provides people living outside with shower, bathroom, laundry and dining facilities, and a place to store their belongings. The navigation center will be a 24/7 site that welcomes pets, couples and individuals currently struggling with addiction.

“Through a collaborative approach, the Downtown Emergency Service Center and Operation Sack Lunch will work together to provide the wraparound client services and meal support to make the Seattle Navigation Center successful,” said Human Services Department Director Catherine Lester. “We know that increasing access to low-barrier, 24-hour shelter is one of the most important ways we can transform our response to the growing number of people living unsheltered in our city.”

HSD’s contracted outreach providers will continue to engage individuals and families experiencing homelessness and facilitate referrals to the Navigation Center. Priority will be for those who have relocated from the I-5 East Duwamish Greenbelt to the transitional encampment at Royal Brougham Way.

The $1.67M in allocated funding for this project is derived from the City of Seattle Homelessness State of Emergency funding ($475,000), Washington State Department of Commerce ($600,000) and private donations ($600,000).

The Human Services Department, in coordination with partners, continues to review potential sites for the navigation center. The awards announced today are conditional, contingent on the finalization of budget and other contract details.

Individuals, businesses, and philanthropic organizations can make donations to the navigation center on the United Way of King County website.

The Seattle Human Services Department is funding seven organizations to provide youth development and educational support services. Funding awards total over $708,000, and provide constructive school year and summer programming for middle and high school at-risk youth. Funding is focused on serving African American, Hispanic, Native American, Asian and Pacific Islander, and English language learning youth (ELL).

 
This grant opportunity requested proposals for youth development, educational support or both program areas. The Human Services Department is investing in these programs to help youth increase self-confidence, build social skills, and increase connection to their school and community. Likewise, educational support is vital to helping youth make academic progress during the school year and during breaks.

 
Asian Counseling and Referral Service was awarded $116,046 to provide youth development services to southeast Asian youth. Funding for the Southeast Asian Young Men’s and Young Women’s Group will expand the current afterschool program and add summer youth development enrichment programming. Youth can participate in documentary filmmaking, community service learning, civic engagement, physical recreation, and academic pre-employment support.

 
El Centro de la Raza was awarded $89,068 to provide youth development and educational support to Latino youth. The Afterschool Drop-in Program provides academic support and activities for youth living in the new onsite El Centro de la Raza housing “Plaza Roberto Maestas.” Summer programming will include academic and cultural enrichment activities, recreation and field trips.

Interim Community Development Association was awarded $96,131 to provide youth development programming with a focus on first generation limited ELL Asian and Pacific Islander youth. The Wilderness Inner-city Leadership Development youth program provides afterschool and summer community programs and an environmental justice leadership development program.

Neighborhood House was awarded $75,357 to serve youth within the Highpoint public housing neighborhood. The Studio program provides an afterschool and summer approach to build STEM engagement and skills, combine hands-on activities, receive mentorship, prepare for college and career, and get involved with the community. This program is supported by University of Washington STEM mentors, and youth have the opportunity to provide an annual project showcase for the community.

Refugee Women’s Alliance received $111,297 to provide youth development and educational support programming with an emphasis on serving youth from refugee and immigrant families. The ReWA Youth Program will provide customized academic support through one-on-one and small group tutoring including English as a second language homework support and a variety of positive engaging peer group activities.

Vietnamese Friendship Association was awarded $116,046 to provide educational support with an emphasis on serving ELL youth. The program will be offered afterschool, at the Seattle World School on Saturdays, and over the summer. The Vietnamese Friendship Association will provide tutoring, homework help, credit retrieval, native language courses, and service learning opportunities.

YWCA was awarded $104,335 to provide youth development and educational support for low income African American girls. GirlsFirst aims to engage youth in academic achievement, self-empowerment and awareness, and career discovery. These girls will have the opportunity to participate in a robotics team, summer leadership academy, choir, and onsite afterschool programming at four local high schools.

The Human Services Department invests more than $22.7M to help prepare youth in Seattle for success. To learn more about HSD’s work to ensure that all of Seattle youth are prepared to for the future regardless of race, income, immigration status and neighborhood please visit our website. These awards are funded by the City of Seattle General Fund.

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The Seattle Human Services Department is one of the largest contributors to Seattle’s safety net. HSD provides $89 million in funding through 450 contracts to nearly 200 agencies supporting Seattle’s most vulnerable residents each year. The department works closely with its community partners, including other public and nonprofit funders and service providers, to understand current and emerging human service needs, and to create and invest in a comprehensive and integrated regional human services system.

Today the Human Services Department, the Harvard Kennedy School Government Performance Lab and Bloomberg Philanthropies’ What Works Cities hosted a convening to discuss the results of a one-year pilot program in Seattle focused on retooling the department’s homelessness contracts.

Begin ning in August 2015, the Government Performance Lab embedded a fellow for a year in the City of Seattle’s Human Services Department to support the implementation of results-driven contracting for the department’s most important homelessness contracts. This project was a part of What Works Cities—an initiative to help 100 mid-sized U.S. cities enhance their use of data and evidence to improve services, inform local decision-making, and engage residents.

The pilot project was designed to allow the city to fully realize the potential of its contracted dollars by setting up the necessary systems – clearly identifying goals, tracking performance, and meeting regularly with providers – that allow them to actively manage their contracts. The Government Performance Lab recommended two main components to the pilot: consolidating contracts and implementing results-driven contracting strategies to focus contracts on performance goals.

“Mayor Murray has laid out the 4 key ways Seattle can continue to transform our city government: transparency and accountability, increased efficiency, better financial management and innovation through the use of data. Our year-long pilot with the Government Performance Lab is a perfect example of using those cornerstones to rebuild our response to homelessness,” said Human Services Department Director Catherine Lester, “By using results-driven contracting and the outcomes framework we have the tools to make a more effective system.”

Seattle continues to be a national leader in exploring new ways to reduce homelessness in the city. Just this week, Mayor Murray unveiled a budget proposal that includes a record $59 million investment in homelessness services and its Pathways Home initiative.

Staff from other WWC cities, including San Francisco, Anchorage, Tacoma, Bellevue, Portland, Denver, Gresham, Las Vegas, and Boston, were also in attendance as well to learn about Seattle’s work, discuss their cities’ challenges with homelessness, and share about their own successful initiatives.

Today, Mayor Edward B. Murray announced $12 million in new funding to implement strategies laid out in the City’s new homelessness plan, “Pathways Home“, Seattle’s Person-Centered Plan to Support People Experiencing Homelessness.” This funding is sourced through a combination of new general fund dollars, additional revenue from the housing levy to support an increase to the Homelessness Prevention Program and a continuation of funding for key programs originally funded under the 2015 State of Emergency.

“By providing funding for key element of the Pathways Home Plan, I believe we can make a dramatic and visible difference in the number of people currently experiencing homelessness through a major transformation of our homeless service delivery system,” said Mayor Ed Murray.

The 2017-2018 Proposed Budget includes almost $1 million in investments that will help to create capacity to house the unsheltered families on the waitlist. These investments will fund rental assistance and one-time funding to address immediate needs to divert people from homelessness, rapid rehousing funding, as well as funding for motel vouchers for families. This also includes a $200,000 investment in domestic violence and sexual assault housing first and case management programs.

The proposed budget also includes $5 million to fund investments in new best practices, as well as to continue best practices, initially funded as part of the State of Emergency. The new investments include funding to convert an existing shelter to a 24-hour model and funding for a new navigation center, which will be a 24-hour low-barrier shelter with case management. Programs continuing from the State of Emergency investments include funding for rapid rehousing and diversion for single adults, outreach to unsheltered individuals and families, youth case management, and mobile medical van services.

To support system transformation, the proposed budget includes $1.1 million in investments for staffing and data capacity, enhancing the Coordinated Entry system and standing up the Housing Resource Center. Human Services Department (HSD) is making significant changes to their current business practices around homelessness investments, to implement Pathways Home. Performance-based contracting requires new data expertise to collect and interpret both program-and system-level data and a deeper level of expertise to actively monitor fidelity to best practice program models.

As the City transforms its homelessness investment system in coordination with All Home and King County, there is an immediate need to shelter those living in crisis outdoors.  To address this, the 2017-2018 Proposed Budget includes $2.1 million to maintain stability in shelter and encampments as system changes are made. These investments maintain the additional shelter beds and increased operating hours funded as part of the State of Emergency. The proposed budget also includes funding for a faith-based partnership to expand shelter capacity and operating support. These investments maintain stability in shelter system capacity as HSD moves toward a Request for Proposal (RFP) process for all homeless investments in 2018.

The Mayor and City Council are engaged in efforts to modify encampment cleanup protocols and examine options to provide safe alternatives to camping in public spaces, additional services and supports for people living unsheltered.  A task force has been convened to develop potential recommendations and the 2017-2018 Proposed Budget includes $2.8 million to improve coordination and outreach; increase safe sleeping locations, shelter and housing options; address public health and safety issues and the storage of belongings.

Today the Seattle Human Services Department announced five organizations which will be funded to work on youth mental health issues. The award, totaling over $600,000, seeks to provide outpatient mental health counseling services for African American, Latino, Native American, and Asian/Pacific Islander youth.

The five proposals granted will address mental health counseling and treatment to Seattle youth with mental health disorders or behavioral concerns. These grantees will have a specific focus on providing care for youth on Medicaid or who lack medical coverage for treatment. These awards are funded by City of Seattle General Fund.

Southwest Youth & Family Services was awarded $157,263 to provide onsite individual and family mental health services to Black/African American (including African immigrant), Hispanic/Latino, Native American and Asian/Pacific Islanders, low income, LBGTQ and immigrant and refugee youth. They also plan to provide services to Seattle schools or locations that are accessible and convenient for the youth and their families.

Asian Counseling & Referral Service will provide mental health services to youth attending Franklin, Garfield, Rainier Beach, Cleveland, Roosevelt, West Seattle, Chief Sealth and South Lake High Schools, as well as Alki Kurose, Washington, and Mercer Middle Schools.  Asian Counseling & Referral Service was awarded $142,631 to deliver youth mental health services.

NeighborCare Health was granted $166,305 to continue their work providing culturally appropriate counseling services for youth and their families through school-based health centers. NCH works with schools to identify students in need of health services, including those at risk academically and receives referrals from the school nurse, administration, teachers, guidance counselors, and others.

United Indian of All Tribes Foundation has operated the Labateyah Youth Home in Ballard since 1992 to address the disproportionately high number of American Indian/Alaskan Native homeless youth in our community. They were granted $85,484 to connect youth with services to address their behavioral health needs and incorporate other culturally appropriate therapeutic activities such as drumming, sweat lodges, talking circles, etc that have been shown to be highly effective in addressing the mental health needs of homeless youth.

Therapeutic Health Services practices ‘non-traditional’ alternative methods by providing individual, group and family counseling and intervention, outreach and school and community based counseling sessions in homes, schools and the community. Therapeutic Health Services was awarded $85,484 to implement this work.

Please visit the HSD website to see a full list of funding opportunities.

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The Seattle Human Services Department is one of the largest contributors to Seattle’s safety net. HSD provides $89 million in funding through 450 contracts to nearly 200 agencies supporting Seattle’s most vulnerable residents each year.  The department works closely with its community partners, including other public and nonprofit funders and service providers, to understand current and emerging human service needs, and to create and invest in a comprehensive and integrated regional human services system.

SEATTLE (Sept. 7, 2016) – With the current State of Emergency on homelessness, the City of Seattle, King County, United Way of King County and All Home announced a new level of cooperation and integration across the continuum of care for people experiencing homelessness.

The four entities have signed a funding memorandum of understanding that makes significant reforms to how homeless services contracts are administered and funded, to create an improved crisis response system with a renewed focus on exiting people from homelessness.

The changes come after two reports commissioned with national experts recommended steps to better align the region’s service delivery with national best practices to generate the most effective outcomes.  The recommendations include shifting investments to support the most effective interventions and high-performing programs by instituting performance-based contracting.

“The City of Seattle has created an action plan called Pathways Home to implement the recommendations,” said Catherine Lester, director of the City’s Human Services Department.

“Pathways Home is our way toward a long-term solution to homelessness, not simply managing the problem through short-term emergency measures,” said Lester. “Developing a ‘by-name’ waiting list will allow us to actively problem-solve for people who are long-term shelter stayers or who are living outside. By reducing barriers to our shelters and providing more 24-hour shelter options, such as the City’s new navigation center, we can bring more people in off the street, properly identify their individual needs and shift them on to a stable housing situation. These steps alone will allow us to unclog our shelter system and allows us to respond to the 500 families with children known to be living outdoors tonight and move them indoors within a year’s time.”

“These reports provide us with our most thorough understanding of our regional response to homelessness,” said Mark Putnam, Director of All Home. “Together, funders and providers have created our current homeless response system, and together we can make the critical improvements necessary to get more people housed.”

“King County is already working to embrace system change, by moving to score our current homeless shelter funding applications based on program performance and client outcomes, and by championing an enhanced shelter model that combines safe shelter with access to the services that create meaningful pathways out of homelessness,” said Adrienne Quinn, Director, King County Department of Community and Human Services. “System reform guides us to greater accountability and I am confident that, working together, funders and providers can make the changes needed to serve more people and serve them more effectively.”

“When people donate to United Way, they are entrusting their hard earned dollars to get results, and to build a community where people have homes,” said Sara Levin, Vice President of Community Services at United Way of King County.  “We are excited to be to moving to a funder-driven system in a coordinated way with the City of Seattle and King County.  The performance-based metrics we have identified together were informed by this research that tells us how to quickly reduce the unsheltered population if together, we are willing to make the tough decisions required.”

The reports include a System Wide Analytics and Projection (SWAP) report commissioned jointly by the four entities and conducted by Focus Strategies, a Sacramento-based homeless system performance management firm, and a report commissioned by the City of Seattle conducted by Barbara Poppe, former executive director of the United States Interagency Council on Homelessness.

The full SWAP report, the signed memorandum of understanding, and additional information is available on the All Home website.

The full report by Barbara Poppe and Associates is available and the Pathways Home action plan document can be found at seattle.gov/homelessness.

Seattle, WA – Today, the City of Seattle Human Services Department announced the availability of up to $1.67M in funding to create a Seattle navigation center intended to serve at least 75 people at a time.  The funds will be awarded through an open and competitive request for qualification (RFQ) process.  Nonprofit agencies and federally-recognized Indian tribes in the State of Washington are eligible to apply.

This RFQ is a direct result of the Executive Order issued on June 9^th by Mayor Edward Murray, which directed the creation of a new low-barrier, one-stop service center for individuals without shelter to receive customized support needed to move into permanent housing.

“Operationalizing the navigation center is a critical step in creating a person-centered homelessness response system.” said Catherine L. Lester, Seattle Human Services Department Director. “By providing 24-hour, low-barrier shelter alternatives to our most vulnerable neighbors, we will be better able provide individually tailored services to help move more people into stable housing.”

The navigation center is modeled on the San Francisco Navigation Center which is a dormitory-style living facility that provides people living outside with shower, bathroom, laundry and dining facilities, and a place to store their belongings. Additionally, the navigation center will provide round-the-clock case management, mental and behavioral health services, and connections to benefit programs and housing all in one location.

Initially, clients referred from the I-5 East Duwamish Greenbelt and the transitional encampment located at Royal Brougham Way and Airport Way will have first priority for the navigation center.   Other focus populations for this funding include homeless individuals who are African American/Black, Multi-racial or American Indian/Alaska Native.  This focus is based on population data and local homeless counts that show racial disproportionality of those who are affected by homelessness.

This funding intends that staff on site will offer support for basic needs like shelter, hygiene, meals, secure and accessible storage, case management, and supportive services including meaningful referrals substance abuse and mental health treatment. These services are intended to be designed for quickly routing clients into housing or other long-term placement.

While service center clients will not be required to be drug-free and sober, the location will not operate as a safe injection site. The navigation center is a 24/7 harm reduction model that welcomes pets, couples and individuals currently struggling with addiction.

The $1,675,000 currently available through this RFQ is derived from the following sources:  City of Seattle Homelessness State of Emergency ($475,000), Washington State Department of Commerce ($600,000) and private funding ($600,000).  Individuals, businesses, and philanthropic organizations can make donations to the navigation center on the United Way of King County website.

Those interested in learning more about the RFQ application process are welcomed to attend an information session on Wednesday, September 7, 2016.

Information Session
1 – 2 p.m.
El Centro de la Raza, RM 307
2524 16^th Ave. S.
Seattle, WA 98144

Applications will be due by 12 p.m. on Tuesday, September 27, 2016 online or hand delivered to the Seattle Human Services Department at 700 5th Avenue, Suite 5800.

Please visit the HSD website to view and download application materials.

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The Seattle Human Services Department is one of the largest contributors to Seattle’s safety net. HSD provides $89 million in funding through 450 contracts to nearly 200 agencies supporting Seattle’s most vulnerable residents each year.  The department works closely with its community partners, including other public and nonprofit funders and service providers, to understand current and emerging human service needs, and to create and invest in a comprehensive and integrated regional human services system.