Today, Angela D’Orazio, the Sisters of Charity Foundation of Cleveland’s program officer for ending homelessness, is presenting at the Cuyahoga County Conference on Social Welfare at Case Western Reserve University.
The conference is an opportunity for social workers to enhance their role in analyzing, formulating and advocating for social welfare policy; assess the changing context for social welfare policy in Cuyahoga County; and identify policy issues arising from practice and community settings in Northeast Ohio. Each year the conference facilitates collaboration and communication among social workers, other human service professionals, consumers of social welfare benefits, and clients of social services concerning the need for effective social policies.
The 2016 conference includes a number of workshops, one of which is presented by D’Orazio about the collaborative work to end youth homelessness in Cuyahoga County, and another that features Partnering for Family Success, a five-year social impact bond initiative of which the Sisters of Charity Foundation of Cleveland is a funder and partner.
WORKSHOP
Ending Homelessness: Cross Sector Engagement in Community Planning
A Place 4 Me: Cross Sector Engagement in Community Planning
Presenters: Angela D’Orazio, Sisters of Charity Foundation of Cleveland; Kate Lodge, YWCA of Greater Cleveland
Description: A Place 4 Me emphasizes the needs of youth who experienced foster care and lack the emotional and material support of a family. Led by the YWCA of Greater Cleveland in partnership with the Sisters of Charity Foundation of Cleveland, Cuyahoga County Division of Children and Family Services, FrontLine Service and the national Jim Casey Youth Opportunities Initiative, the collective model has authentically engaged the public system, nonprofit leaders, funders and most importantly youth in a ten-month planning process to develop a strategic plan to prevent and end youth homelessness. This session will focus on stakeholder engagement in community planning efforts, practice innovation to better serve the needs of homeless and unstably housed youth and in state level advocacy to extend foster care benefits to age 21 and for passage of H.B. 50.
Partnering for Family Success: Cuyahoga County’s Social Impact Bond Experience
Presenters: David Merriman, Office of Cuyahoga County Executive Armond Budish; Carrie Wagner, Enterprise Community Partners; Russell Spieth, FrontLine Service; David Crampton, Mandel School; Karen J. Anderson, Pay for Success Coordinator, Cuyahoga County Division of Children & Family Services; Moderator: Rob Fischer Mandel School
Description: This session is a panel discussion about the Partnering for Family Success project under way in Cuyahoga County. The project is a five-year social impact bond initiative which has completed its first year. The panel will involve several key partners involved in the initiative – Cuyahoga County (governmental unit), Enterprise Community Partners (intermediary), Frontline Services (service provider), Mandel School of Applied Social Sciences (evaluator). The project delivers specialized supports and housing to homeless families with a goal of more rapidly and safely returning children to their parents from out-of-home placements.
The 2016 Cuyahoga County Conference on Social Welfare also features the keynote “A Partnership to Build Community Trust” by Andre Gonzalez, chief of police for the Cuyahoga Metropolitan Housing Authority, and Jenni Bartholomew, MSW, PhD from the Begun Center for Violence Prevention Research & Education at Case Western Reserve University, as well as a plenary session by William Denihan, chief executive officer of the Alcohol Drug Addiction & Mental Health Services Board of Cuyahoga County.