HUD SNAPS Community of Practice Fall 2020 Semester

Dear CoC & HMIS Leads,

Please find HUD's announcement below.  This is for the upcoming Community of Practice tracks starting in July and going through November.  The Community of Practice Initiative is a way for communities to access HUD Technical Assistance through an online, group learning, peer-to-peer collaborative approach. Communities of Practice are created around specific topic areas that CoCs may elect to enroll into based on the unique needs and challenges of their community.  See announcement below for the list of topics.

A couple of important notes regarding this:

While most of the topics are open for CoC self-selection, four topics will be by invitation only for this coming session and will open up to CoC self-selection in later sessions.  Invitation only topics for the session starting in July are: System Modeling, Rating & Ranking, Coordinated Investment Plans and Right-Sizing Inventory.

More information and registration links for the Communities of Practice will be coming soon and will be sent to the CoC points of contact on record in esnaps.  If the CoC point of contact has changed, please go into esnaps and change the information so that your CoC will receive these links.   It is not an open registration, so if other people within the CoC have thoughts about which topics the CoC should be focusing on, the CoC point of contact should talk with those CoC members and work with them to make sure the best decisions are made for each CoC.

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Introducing: HUD SNAPS Community of Practice Fall 2020 Semester


HUD is excited to announce the fall semester of the Community of Practice Initiative, an
exciting way for communities to access HUD Technical Assistance through an online, group
learning, peer-to-peer collaborative approach. This collective approach to TA delivery draws on
the strengths of communities and their expertise in the field to foster a space that encourages
resource sharing, innovative out of the box thinking, best practices, and connections across
differing CoCs. Communities of Practice are created around specific topic areas that CoCs may
elect to enroll into based on the unique needs and challenges of their community.

Each Community of Practice will be made up of approximately 10 CoCs and two TA

provider facilitators. Each Community of Practice will meet once per month by video
conference for approximately 90 minutes. During these meetings, participants will have
discussions and activities designed to help them think through the challenging issues in their
community. The facilitators are trained in using the dynamic functionality of the video-based
meeting platform so that participants gain as many of the benefits of in-person meetings as
practicable. In addition to the monthly meetings, participants will engage with their TA
providers through “office hours” and other methods depending on the needs of the CoCs within
that group. HUD expects participants to prepare between sessions using exercises designed to
help think and plan around their goals, particularly as they work to implement changes in their
CoC through the development of individual Action Plans. These preparation activities range
from reading background and framing materials, participating in small group or one-on-one
discussions with other participants, and other exercises that help participants apply their
knowledge and skills to their CoC.

Our next series of Communities of Practice are set to launch in July 2020. 

Upcoming topic areas include:

✓ Coordinated Entry
✓ CoC Governance
✓ Foundations of an HMIS
Implementation
✓ Foundations of Data Quality
✓ Reduce Inflow
✓ Housing Focused Practices
✓ Leadership Development
✓ System Performance Improvement
✓ System Modeling
✓ Project Rating and Ranking
✓ Consolidated Investment Planning
✓ Right-Sizing Inventory

Stay tuned for more information about the fall Community of Practice semester. If your CoC is interested in applying to the July 2020 Community of Practice semester, they will soon be able to visit the Learning Management Systems (LMS) website to fill out a Learning Request Form to start the process!


*Note: Due to registration being limited, completing the Learning Request Form does not
guarantee enrollment. CoCs will receive a follow up email regarding enrollment status.
Additionally, CoCs may only request enrollment into 2 CoPs per semester and are encouraged to
choose their top two topic areas.