9:00

Funders Forum Opening Remarks

• Sarah Frankfurth, Director of Regional Programs and Partnerships, Northern California Grantmakers

Funders Together Commitment to Racial Equity

Amanda Andere shared information about about Funders Together's commitment to racial equity and what it means for our work and our members. 

Resources:

• Funders Together's commitment to racial equity
• Funders Together's racial equity resource page

9:30

State of the Movement and the Need for a Unified Agenda

We set the stage by discussing what's happening in the homelessness policy world, why we need to develop a unified agenda if we want to be successful at ending homelessness, and why it's critical to build racial and housing justice into everything we do. 

Speakers: 

• Amanda Andere, CEO, Funders Together to End Homelessness
• Tomiquia Moss, Founder and Chief Executive, All Home
• Nan Roman, CEO, National Alliance to End Homelessness

10:30

Morning Break

10:45

Narrative Change for What? Defining Clear Goals and Strategies

Many funders have been interested in learning about narrative change. Before learning how to do narrative change work, it's first critical to know what we want to change and how narrative change can be a tactic for meeting that goal. We heard from speakers who have been doing this work in different ways to learn about narrative change research, grassroots organizing, and what their end goals are. 

Speakers:

• Lauren Bennett, Director of Communications and Policy, Funders Together to End Homelessness (moderator)
• Andrea Evans, Senior Planner, Tipping Point
• Gloria Bruce, Executive Director, East Bay Housing Organizations
• Carroll Fife, Director,
• Alina Harway, Communications Director, Non-Profit Housing Association of Northern California

Resources:

• All In campaign - Tipping Point 

12:00

Lunch

12:45

National Alliance to End Homelessness opening plenary

2:00

Funders Forum resumes

We heard from Cynthia Nagendra, Executive Director, UCSF Benioff Initiative on Homelessness and Housing on what the Iniative is and how they hope to contribute to the field. 

Resources

• Slides

2:15

Rapid Rehousing and Diversion Lessons from the Puget Sound Family Homelessness Initiative

The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation has been funding an initiative to end family homelessness in the Puget Sound region of Washington State for the past decade. The initiative is being implemented by Building Changes, a Seattle-based intermediary, and is the subject of an extensive longitudinal evaluation being conducted by national research firm Westat. This presentation will focus on recent key findings from the evaluation regarding families receiving rapid re-housing and diversion assistance and their housing trajectories over 18 months following service receipt. The presentation will describe the varying trajectories families take and the role that factors such as employment, income, and family background (such as past evictions, felonies, and current domestic violence) play in shaping these outcomes. These findings are among the first to thoroughly analyze rapid re-housing and diversion outcomes over such an extended period of time and offer an understanding of what factors either help families maintain their housing or serve as barriers to stabilization. After sharing key learnings, the panel led a discussion about how other funders can use this research to advocate for evidence-based practices in their own communities and how we can use this data to build the case for interventions that work.

Speakers:

• Kollin Min, Senior Program Officer, Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation
• Annie Pennucci, Director of Learning, Measurement, and Evaluation, Building Changes
• Debra Rog, Vice President, Westat

Resources:

• Building Changes Rapid Re-Housing Outcomes for Families: A Demographic Analysis research brief
• Building Changes A Demographic Analysis of Rapid Re-Housing Outcomes for Families full report
• Powerpoint of Westat's evaluation findings (Not for sharing or citation)

3:00

Diving Deeper in Roundtable Conversations | 3:00-4:30 pm

We had time for small group conversations so that participants could go deeper on topics covered throughout the day. These roundtable conversations included:

• Rapid Rehousing and Diversion Lessons from the Puget Sound Family Homelessness Initiative - led by Kollin Min, Annie Pennucci, and Debra Rog
• What Do We Know about Narrative Change? Research from the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative - led by Robert Avruch, Advocacy Associate, Housing Affordability, Chan Zuckerberg Initiative
• Building Public and Political Will Through Organizing - led by Gloria Bruce, Executive Director, East Bay Housing Organizations, and Karen Smulevitz and Stevi Dawson (organizers)
• Taking Action Through a Rapid Response Fund: How Can You Join? - led by Katie Hong, Director of Special Initiatives, Raikes Foundation
  • If you are interested in learning more about the Rapid Response Fund, please email Lauren Bennett, Communications Director, Funders Together to End Homelessness

Bay Area Funders Meeting on Homelessness | 3:00-5:00 pm

We had a space dedicated for those who were interseted in learning more about housing and homelessness in the Bay area. Bay area funders came together to learn about the different efforts across the Bay to address housing and homelessness.

4:30

Networking Reception