Topics:
1. Important: Activation of FY20 Accounts for Grantees on Extension
2. Register Now: Rapid Resolution Office Hours October 9, 2019 12:00 EDT
3. Save the Date: National Webinar October 10, 2019 2:00 EDT
4. Important Update: Federal Partners Housing Conferences
5. Reminder: September is Suicide Prevention Month
6. New: Training and Travel Request
Important: Activation of FY20 HHS accounts for Grantees on Extension:
For those grantees that requested a 1-month extension of the FY19 grant period, but do not require the full month to meet program goals and spend down funds, HHS activations for FY20 will occur every two weeks after 10/1/19. It is imperative that grantees email the Regional Coordinator (email subject line must include your SSVF grant ID) to notify the Program Office of the last day they incur SSVF expenses of their FY19 award. At that time, the grantee's FY20 HHS account will be activated in the next round of activations.
For example, if a grantee requested a 1-month extension (thru 10/31/2019) and identifies the last day of incurred expenses to the FY19 grant is on 10/11/19, then the grantee must email the SSVF Regional Coordinator to report this final date of expenditures and confirm the end of the grant extensions. Having completed these steps, the grantee can expect the HHS PMS account for the FY20 grant award to be activated on 10/15/19. If the last day of incurred expenses to the FY19 grant is identified between 10/15/19 and 10/31/19, then activation will occur on 11/01/19. To be clear, if a grantee with an extension does not notify the program office of the final day their grant incurred FY19 expenses, then the SSVF Program Office will assume the full month extension was needed and will activate the FY20 HHS PMS accounts between 11/1/19 and 11/15/19.
Register Now: Rapid Resolution Office Hours October 9, 2019 12:00 PM EDT
The SSVF Program Office will continue to support SSVF providers as they implement Rapid Resolution in their communities. The next SSVF Rapid Resolution Office Hours call will take place on October 9th, 2019 at 12:00 Noon EST. This call will focus on new Rapid Resolution data standards, and HMIS reporting requirements.
Please Register for the call using the link below:
https://attendee.gotowebinar.com/register/5745842559858910722
Save the Date: National Webinar October 10, 2019 2:00 EDT
In this webinar, the SSVF Program Office will review the SSVF Resolution process and provide an overview of important updates for the new grant year including changes to reporting requirements.
A link to this webinar will be provided when available
Important Update: Federal Partners Housing Conference
The SSVF Program Office, with the support of the US Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), the US Interagency Council on Homelessness and other federal and national partners, is pleased to announce confirmed locations for the upcoming 2019 Federal Permanent Housing Conferences. The events are targeted to SSVF Grantees, HUD-VASH representatives, and CoC Partners. Please note location changes for the East and West coast conferences:
• East Coast (Ft Lauderdale, FL): October 22-23, 2019
• Mid-Region (Dallas, TX): November 5-6, 2019
• West Coast (Hollywood, CA): November 19-20, 2019
Registration is now open for the East and Mid-Region conferences. Questions related to these events can be sent to the SSVF program's technical assistance address at
ssvf@tacinc.org.
Reminder: September is Suicide Prevention Month
Please join the SSVF Program Office in educating your staff and sharing tools and resources to support the #BeThere campaign to help prevent Veteran Suicide.
As a reminder, All SSVF grantee staff must be trained annually in SAVE, a suicide prevention training from VA. Staff should first attempt to request in-person training from their locally certified SAVE trainer, either a VAMC Suicide Prevention Coordinator or Homeless Program Staff Point of Contact (POC). For assistance in locating your local Suicide Prevention Coordinator, click here
https://www.veteranscrisisline.net/get-help/local-resources. If in-person training is unavailable, all staff should view the SAVE training webinar on Suicide Prevention found at this link
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PJWUmib-QU8&t=80s, also located on the VA Office of Mental Health and Suicide Prevention website, or view the SSVF webinar on Suicide Prevention located here
https://attendee.gotowebinar.com/recording/1414163663883484675.
Starting in our new grant year for 2020, we will be encouraging grantees to share VA suicide prevention resources with your community partners by discussing with them the availability of in-person and web-based SAVE training along with other VA resources on Suicide Prevention. Grantees are encouraged to share resources when meeting with community members at CoC, CES, and other community partner meetings and trainings and to document these efforts.
Here are a few additional ways you and your staff can support the #BeThere campaign:
Add #BeThere to your email signature. Add the #BeThere logo and the
BeThereforVeterans.com https://bethereforveterans.com URL to your email signature to highlight these resources and spread awareness.
•Ask your staff to familiarize themselves with the warning signs of suicide at
VeteransCrisisLine.net.
https://veteranscrisisline.net
•Share VA's Social Media Safety Toolkit
https://www.mentalhealth.va.gov/suicide_prevention/docs/OMH-074-Suicide-Prevention-Social-Media-Toolkit-1-8_508.pdf and encourage others to learn how to recognize and respond to social media posts that may indicate emotional distress, feelings of crisis, or thoughts of suicide.
•Remind employees in your program about how to discuss Veteran suicide, and point them to VA's Safe Messaging Fact Sheet
https://www.mentalhealth.va.gov/suicide_prevention/docs/OMH-086-VA-OMHSP-Safe-Messaging-Factsheet-4-9-2019.pdf as a guide.
•Share with employees and community members the link to VA's Mental Health resource page at
www.mentalhealth.va.gov.
https://www.mentalhealth.va.gov/
New: FY20 SSVF Travel and Training Expectations
Starting October 1, 2019 SSVF Grantees will not be required to submit the Travel and Training Request Form in GIFTS to request non-VA travel and training. Travel is allowable as a direct program cost only when such travel will provide a direct benefit to the SSVF program and grant award. Travel costs have a high audit profile and are routinely examined by auditors and other government stakeholders to determine the reason and scope of the travel. Grantees must be prudent with all funds and must be aware of the perception related to travel costs, grantees should be thoughtful when determining the number of employees to send to each training or conference. The grantee/traveler are required to document in their files how the travel directly benefits/relates to the SSVF grant and project. All travel and training expense must adhere to Federal Travel Regulations. Staff travel Per-Diem expense reimbursement is allowable if it meets the reimbursement standards.
Please note, grantees must attend VA-mandated training sessions. Trainings will be conducted by VA and its technical assistance providers. Information on training, including eligible training expenses, will be emailed to grantees. It is also expected that grantees will provide training for case managers and staff who will provide supportive services to very low-income Veteran families. VA mandated training will be provided at no-cost to grantees. In rare instances, VA may also strongly encourage external training that is considered mission critical. An example of this is mediation training to support SSVF's Rapid Resolution initiative. In such circumstances, VA will not apply the 1% cap to such training costs.
Thank you,
SSVF Program Office