Background Information

Presenters/Resource Persons

Terry Ball is the Director, Division of Community Services with the Georgia Department of Community Affairs. Ms. Ball is responsible for the administration of the Section 8 Rental Assistance Programs, the homeless assistance programs of the Department of Community Affairs and the State Housing Trust Fund for the Homeless, and the programs of the Georgia Commission for National & Community Service. She also coordinates the community service efforts between the Department of Community Affairs and other departments of the State of Georgia.

Lawrence Bartlett, Ph.D., is the Director of Health Systems Research, Inc., a firm that helps national, State, and local policymakers weigh their options and make more informed decisions concerning health and human service policies and programs. The firm works collaboratively with its public and private sector clients to develop and implement innovative strategies to improve the health and social well being of individuals, families, and communities. Dr. Bartlett is an economist who brings to these efforts more than 25 years of experience in health services research, evaluation, and policy analysis and in providing “hands-on” technical assistance to State and local governments and private sector clients. Because Dr. Bartlett’s technical expertise is combined with strong group facilitation skills, he is often called upon to provide assistance to governors’ blue ribbon commissions, legislative task forces, and local health care coalitions.

In addition to his work with numerous States and localities, Dr. Bartlett has served as a consultant to a variety of national organizations, including the National Governors’ Association, the National Conference of State Legislators, the American Association of Retired Persons, the Federal Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, and the U.S. Senate Finance Committee. He formerly was the staff director of the State Medicaid Directors’ Association and the director of the National Governors’ Association’s State Medicaid Information Center. Dr. Bartlett holds a doctorate in economics and a master’s degree in health services administration.

Paul D. Barnes has served as Regional Commissioner for the Atlanta Region since July 2002. As Regional Commissioner, he has overall responsibility for the administration of the Social Security and Supplemental Security Income Programs for the eight Southeastern states of Alabama, Mississippi, Tennessee, Georgia, Florida, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Kentucky. The Region serves a population of approximately 54 million and pays monthly benefits in excess of $6 billion.

Mr. Barnes began his career with the Social Security Administration as a Claims Representative in Columbia, Tennessee in 1968. He has held a number of management positions since joining the Agency, including serving as Director of the Southeastern Program Service Center in Birmingham, Alabama, Regional Commissioner of the Chicago region, and the Social Security Administration’s Deputy Commissioner for Human Resources.

Mr. Barnes was born and raised in rural West Tennessee. The son of "sharecroppers", he worked his way through college and graduated Magna Cum Laude from Lane College in 1968. He also earned a Master's Degree in Public Administration from the University of Southern California and is a graduate of Harvard University's Senior Managers in Government Program.

Paul Bolster is currently President of Saint Joseph’s Mercy Care Services, which provides services to the poor and underserved in Atlanta. As a community health organization, Mercy Care focuses on the primary care medical and dental needs of homeless persons, new immigrants and persons with AIDS through 12 mobile sites and two fixed based clinics. It has health promotion and prevention programs that includes Family Violence, AIDS prevention and refers many clients to other community providers. It provides supportive housing and care management services to persons who were formerly homeless.

Prior to joining Saint Joseph’s Mercy Care, Mr. Bolster served for 8 years as the lobbyist for the Georgia Hospital Association and 4 years as Regional Director for the American Hospital Association. Between 1974 and 1986 Mr. Bolster served as a member of the Georgia Legislature while he taught History at Clark/Atlanta University in Atlanta. Mr. Bolster holds a law degree from Georgia State University and a Ph.D. from the University of Georgia. He was born in Maine but has lived in Hotlanta with his wife Riki and three children since 1972.

Craig Burnette, Ed.D., is National Coordinator, Project CHALENG (Community Homelessness Assessment, Local Education And Networking Groups) for Veterans. Dr. Burnette is responsible for the overall planning, development and implementation of Project CHALENG for Veterans. This is a nationwide VA/community program that assesses the unmet needs of homeless veterans in 170 cities and towns and then develops local action plans to meet these needs. Prior to this position, he was Chief of the Domiciliary Care Program at the VAMC in Bay Pines, Florida, where he directed a 200 bed bio-psychosocial rehabilitation center which included domiciliary care for homeless veterans, a substance abuse treatment program, a drop-in day treatment program for homeless veterans and a HUD-VA Supported Housing program. Prior to this, Dr. Burnette was responsible for the clinical and administrative operation of 24 Vietnam Era Veterans Outreach Centers in a seven-state southeast region.

Dr. Burnette served in the US Army as a platoon leader, company commander, and military adviser. His duty stations included Ft. Bragg, Ft. Knox, Ft. Jackson, the Panama Canal Zone and Vietnam.

Charles S. (Chick) Ciccolella is the Deputy Assistant Secretary for Veterans Employment and Training at the U.S. Department of Labor. His agency, VETS, is responsible for helping veterans secure employment and for protecting their rights and benefits through a variety of new and existing programs. Prior to coming to the Department of Labor, he served in the U.S. Senate as the Chief of Operations for the Senate Sergeant at Arms and later, as Assistant Staff Director and Director of Information Technology Policy at the Senate Rules Committee. Before coming to the Senate, Mr. Ciccolella spent twenty-eight years in the U.S. Army, including service in Vietnam, Germany, and Panama prior to leaving as a full colonel. He and his wife make their home in Alexandria, Virginia.

Emily Cooper is a Senior Program Manager with Technical Assistance Collaborative, Inc. Ms. Cooper’s focus is affordable housing for homeless people and people with disabilities. She works with non-profit agencies to troubleshoot and evaluate supportive housing programs and helps local and State governments develop and implement strategic plans to address the needs of vulnerable populations. She also provides customized trainings and information dissemination on housing policy. Prior to joining TAC, Ms. Cooper administered multiple service-enriched housing programs for homeless and disabled persons for the Massachusetts Department of Housing and Community Development, was a U.S. Public Health Service intern with the Federal Center for Mental Health Services, and directly provided services for families and individuals living in shelters, inpatient facilities, and low-income housing.

Dennis Culhane, Ph.D., is an Associate Professor of Social Welfare Policy, Center for Mental Health Policy, at the University of Pennsylvania’s Schools of Medicine and Social Work. Dr. Culhane’s primary areas of research are homelessness, housing policy, and policy analysis research methods. His current work includes studies of the impact of homelessness on the utilization of public health, corrections and social services in New York City and Philadelphia. He has recently completed studies that model the process of housing abandonment, and that assess the neighborhood effects of assisted housing programs. He is also recently led an effort to produce an annual report on the prevalence and dynamics of homelessness in the U.S. based on standardized analyses of automated shelter records.

Deborah Dennis, M.A., is Vice President for Technical Assistance at Policy Research Associates in Delmar, New York. She is the project manager on PRA’s contracts and subcontracts related to homelessness and housing including the National Resource Center on Homelessness and Mental Illness (since 1988), the Health Care for the Homeless Information Resource Center (since 1996), the CMHS Supported Housing Initiative, the CMHS/CSAT Homeless Families Program, and the PATH Technical Assistance Program. She has written extensively on the housing and support service needs of persons who have been homeless and who have behavioral health disorders. Prior to joining PRA in 1988, she worked as a research scientist in the New York State Office of Mental Health, where she evaluated programs for people with serious mental illnesses who were homeless.

Ann Denton, M.Ed., has nearly twenty years experience working with and for people with disabilities. In that work, Ms. Denton has focused on the housing needs of people with disabilities, particularly people with serious mental illness. She has worked with communities and State agencies throughout the country on Continuum of Care planning and creating housing for people who are homeless. She has provided leadership in the area of targeting resources to people who are most in need, especially people making at or less than 30% of the household median area income, and targeting resources to people who are homeless.

Ms. Denton provides leadership at the State level in all these areas. She has served as the past Chair of the Texas Interagency Council for the Homeless and is a founding member and a current Board member of the Texas Homeless Network. She helped to create and implement the Supported Housing Initiative, an activity of the Texas Department of Mental Health and Mental Retardation, which has been identified as a “best practice.” At present, she advises advocacy groups throughout Texas on the local Consolidated Planning Process and provides energetic input to the State ConPlan.

Ms. Denton is the Director of the Austin office of The Enterprise Foundation, a national foundation devoted to the development of affordable housing and decent and safe communities. Ms. Denton’s office operates a statewide training and technical assistance project with the goal of increasing the number of housing units that are affordable, available, and accessible for people with disabilities. Also, the Austin office operates a leadership training project for people with disabilities. This project provides training to people with disabilities in twelve communities over five years, resulting in new leaders and measurable system change at the local level.

Joan Disare has over 25 years of experience in all phases of addiction services management and administration including planning, designing and implementing new program initiatives, procurement and management of numerous federal grants, and oversight of the provider licensing/certification system. She received a B.A. from the State University of New York at Albany in 1973 and a Master of Arts in 1975 from the State University at Albany School Of Criminal Justice.

Currently Ms. Disare serves as the Housing & Homeless Services Coordinator for the New York State Office Of Alcoholism & Substance Abuse Services and is responsible for planning, assessment and coordination of all OASAS homeless and housing policy and program initiatives; oversight of OASAS’ $7 million annual Shelter Plus Care program and fostering partnerships with key federal, state and local housing and service agencies to increase client access to existing housing resources and expand the AOD housing services continuum in New York State.

Peter Hansen Dougherty serves as Director of Homeless Veterans Programs in the Department of Veterans Affairs’ Office of Public and Intergovernmental Affairs. He has been the Department’s principal advisor on homelessness for the past four years, having formerly worked as a program specialist to the Secretary’s Special Assistant on Homelessness. Prior to his current work with the VA, Mr. Dougherty worked for a number of Congressional staff on issues related to housing and veterans affairs. He was a staff member for Senator John D. Rockefeller, IV, where he prepared oversight and legislative hearings for a variety of programs, including housing, insurance, claims adjudication, mental health, and homelessness. He also drafted legislation on VA programs related to housing and the National Cemetery System. Mr. Doughtery has been recognized for his work on veterans issues through a number of awards, including from the National Coalition for Homeless Veterans, and the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration.

John Garrity, M.P.A., is the Director of the Office of Special Needs Assistance Programs (SNAPs) at the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD). Mr. Garrity brings over 20 years of experience administering a variety of housing projects. He currently oversees policy and program development as well as the national competition for homeless assistance funding authorized by the McKinney-Vento Act. Funded at over $1 billion, the annual Continuum of Care process is the largest public sector competition sponsored by the Federal government.

Mr. Garrity obtained his Master of Public Administration from the Maxwell School at Syracuse University. He has received many certificates including a special certificate of appreciation from the Assistant Secretary and a certificate of Special Congressional Recognition. In addition to these many honors, under Mr. Garrity's leadership the SNAPs Office was awarded the Harvard University/Ford Foundation "Innovations in American Government Award" in 1999.

Virginia R. Harmon, Deputy Director, Michigan Department of Community Health, directs the Quality Management and Customer Services Administration; serves as interagency liaison on behalf of DCH; guides and directs the Interagency Supportive Housing programs; and chairs the State’s interagency collaboration initiative through PIT. The Quality Management and Customer Services administration includes the operational units which assess performance for the Qualified Health Plans, fee for service providers and Specialty Services Plan providers of the State Medicaid programs; monitoring and oversight for the enrollment and eligibility determinations for beneficiaries; customer and provider inquiries regarding Medicaid programs; the Accreditation process for local public health systems, and the management of all housing and related programs and services for the constituent population of the Department of Community Health.

Ms. Harmon previously directed the Community Living, Children and Families Administration which included the Office of Mental Health Services to Children and Families, whose programs were delivered through the public mental health system as well as the Maternal, Child and Family Services delivered through the community public health systems. Responsibilities included: State director for Title V (Maternal and Child Health) and Title X (Family Planning) programs; overseeing plans of the public mental health system for the return of persons residing in State-operated institutions to their home communities; providing technical assistance as needed to the responsible community mental health service programs; responsible for OBRA office, which addresses the assessment and service-delivery issues of nursing home eligible persons with developmental and psychiatric disabilities; and working with MSHDA to ensure that Michigan became one of largest of 13 original projects to be awarded the Shelter plus Care (S+C) program in the country.

Ms. Harmon has spent 25 years with the public mental health system, five years as a clinician; 12 as a program manager; and 13 years as an administrator within the Department of Mental Health. She retires on January 31, 2003.

Mary Ellen Hombs is Executive Director of the Massachusetts Housing and Shelter Alliance (MHSA), a statewide coalition of more than 80 community-based agencies. MHSA’s members operate over 200 programs serving homeless people through permanent housing, transitional programs, emergency shelter, outreach, economic development, and health care and treatment programs. Ms. Hombs was previously MHSA’s Director of Special Projects, a position she held for 7 years.

Ms. Hombs is the former Executive Director of the Legal Services Homelessness Task Force in Washington, D.C., a national consortium of legal services attorneys. She worked for over 10 years with the National Coalition for the Homeless and was Housing Policy Director for the Coalition for the Homeless in New York City. She has more than 25 years of experience in homeless advocacy and programs. She is the author of numerous books and articles on homelessness. She holds a master’s degree in city planning from Howard University.

Mark Johnston, M.P.A., is the Deputy Director of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s (HUD’s) Office of Special Needs Assistance Programs, which administers HUD’s homeless assistance programs. Among other responsibilities, he has served as Deputy Director of the Federal Interagency Council on the Homeless. He has a master’s degree in public affairs from Indiana University at Bloomington, and a bachelor’s degree in public policy from Brigham Young University.

Charles H. Kieffer, Ph.D., is Michigan State Housing Development Authority’s lead policy and program specialist in the area of homelessness, responsible for coordinating comprehensive efforts to respond to homelessness on a statewide basis. This role includes administration of Emergency Shelter Grant programs, supportive housing programs, homeless prevention initiatives, homeless facilities development, and related inter-departmental activities. He chairs and coordinates the efforts of the Michigan Homeless Assistance Advisory Board (Statewide Continuum of Care planning body) as well as the Housing & Homelessness Committee of the State’s Human Services Collaborative Body. He also is orchestrating design and implementation of the Michigan Statewide Homeless Management Information System. As MSHDA is developing strategies and programs to fulfill its strategic goal of “closing the housing gap for persons who are homeless and most in need,” Dr. Kieffer provides internal leadership for related policy issues. Prior to assuming this statewide role, he served for nearly two decades as the director of an innovative community-based non-profit organization providing a wide array of human services and homeless services programming.

Philip F. Mangano is the Executive Director of the United States Interagency Council on Homelessness (ICH). The Interagency Council is under the authority of the Assistant to the President for Domestic Policy within the Executive Office of the President. Members of the Council are Cabinet Secretaries. ICH coordinates the activities of 15 Federal agencies to improve the delivery of housing and services to homeless individuals and families. Congress established the ICH in 1987 to help streamline the government’s approach to homelessness by coordinating multiple efforts of Federal agencies and other designated groups. ICH can recommend improvements in programs and activities conducted by Federal, State, and local government as well as local and volunteer organizations. The Interagency Council is charged with the prevention and reduction of homelessness.

Prior to his appointment by President Bush to lead the Interagency Council on Homelessness, Mr. Mangano was the founding Executive Director of the Massachusetts Housing and Shelter Alliance (MHSA), a statewide coalition of 80 agencies which operate over 200 programs that serve homeless people through permanent housing, transitional programs, emergency shelter, outreach, economic development, and health programs. During the twelve years Mr. Mangano led MHSA, the organization coordinated a statewide continuum of care strategy of prevention and intervention focused on the provision of next step residential, housing, service, and employment options for homeless individuals. MHSA was awarded the 2001 “Nonprofit Sector Achievement Award” from the National Alliance to End Homelessness.

For his work with homeless people, Mr. Mangano has received numerous awards and recognitions from media outlets, State agencies, and community organizations. He has been named a “City Light” by the Boston Globe, and received many community achievement recognitions, including citations and awards from the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, City of Boston, the City of Cambridge, the Massachusetts Department of Mental Health, and Public Health, United Way, Social Action Ministries, the Boston Rescue Mission, and the Black Pastors of Cambridge.

Michael McDaniel is a Health Insurance Specialist with the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services in the Atlanta Regional Office, which covers the States of Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina and Tennessee. He is coordinator for the State Children's Health Insurance Program (SCHIP) for all eight States, as well as HIV/AIDS Coordinator for all eight States. He also serves as senior resource person for Medicaid eligibility. He has worked in various areas of the Medicaid program since 1976 - a very long time.

Jesse Merrill is a 46-year-old African-American and a consumer of mental health and addictive disease services with co-occurring diagnoses of paranoid schizophrenia and alcohol dependence. Mr. Merrill has a six year history of episodic homelessness, using shelter resources both in the West and Metro areas of Georgia. He has successfully completed the certification process and is employed as a Peer Specialist at the Highland Rivers Community Mental Health Center in Cedertown, GA where he provides consumer to consumer mental health services.

Daniel Nichols serves as Special Assistant of Strategic Communications for the Assistant Secretary of Veterans’ Employment and Training, an agency of the U.S. Department of Labor. Mr. Nichols’ primary responsibilities include the development of agency outreach, promotions and advocacy programs, which permits him broad access to all of the agency’s veteran-focused grants and services for the purpose of creating linkages with other Departmental and Inter-Departmental programs. In addition, Daniel oversees a number of special-focus projects that tie veteran employment programs to the goals of the department, such as through the 21st Century workforce initiative, the Incarcerated Veterans Transition Program, faith and community-based linkages for grantees and relevant homeless programs and services. Mr. Nichols brings a solid understanding of the grant, faith-based, and human services communities, master-level education and expertise in concept analysis, and success in developing and streamlining communication conduits. Lieutenant Nichols continues to build upon his leadership skills as an officer in the U.S. Naval Reserve.

Cheryl (Cheri) Nolan has a long and distinguished career in the criminal justice field, servicing four Attorneys General and three Presidents, most currently as Deputy Assistant Attorney General in the Office of Justice Programs. She was appointed to this position in July 2001. Ms. Nolan's current responsibilities in the Office of Justice Programs (OJP) include oversight of the National Institute of Justice, the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention, and the Office for Victims of Crime. In addition, she has led the development and release of the current government-wide initiative to help reduce recidivism, entitled The Serious and Violent Offender Reentry Initiative.

Ms. Nolan was affiliated for several years with the television show America's Most Wanted. There she continued the work she began at the Justice Department working with State and local law enforcement, elected officials and crime victims as executive assistant to John Walsh, the host of the program. Her extensive work in the justice field was preceded by distinguished service on the White House staff of President Ronald Reagan and in various Cabinet agencies including the Departments of Commerce, Energy and Treasury. She joined the Justice Department for the first time in 1987 on a temporary assignment for then Attorney General Edwin Meese. That temporary assignment turned to a permanent one as Deputy Director of the Office of Liaison Services for two succeeding attorneys general: Dick Thornburgh and William P. Barr. In that capacity she was involved in some of the most important judicial and legislative battles on crime issues of the late 1980's and early 1990's.

Fred C. Osher, M.D., is a community psychiatrist with clinical and research interests focusing on the co-occurrence of mental and substance use disorders, and persons with these disorders within the justice system. Dr. Osher is the Director of the Center for Behavioral Health, Justice, and Public Policy and an Associate Professor of Psychiatry at the University of Maryland School of Medicine. He has a long history of public sector service at local, State, and Federal levels. Previous positions include: Director of Community Psychiatry at the University of Maryland; Acting Director of the Division of Demonstration Programs at the Center for Mental Health Services, SAMHSA; and Deputy Director of the Office of Programs for the Homeless Mentally Ill at the National Institute of Mental Health. He received his Bachelor of Arts degree from Harvard University in 1974 and his doctor of medicine from Wayne State University in 1978.

Yvonne Perret is a psychiatric social worker who has been the Program Director of the SSI Outreach Project in the Community Psychiatry Division of the University of Maryland Medical System for almost 10 years. This innovative program assists homeless adults who have serious and persistent mental illness with accessing SSI and other benefits as well as the possibility of presumptive SSI benefits. Ms. Perret has about 25 years of social work experience and has worked in foster care, geriatrics, child abuse and neglect, and mental health. She is the author of several articles and the co-author of Children with Disabilities: A Medical Primer, currently in its 4th edition. Ms. Perret is also president of the Mental Health Association of Maryland, a member of the board of directors of the National Mental Health Association, and the recipient of several awards for advocacy and social work.

Patricia A. Post, M.P.A., is a policy analyst and communications manager for the National Health Care for the Homeless Council—a membership organization of health care providers working with homeless people across the United States, based in Nashville, Tennessee. She is the author of a monograph on Medicaid enrollment barriers for eligible homeless people entitled Casualties of Complexity: Why Eligible Homeless People Are Not Enrolled, published by the National Council in May 2001 with support from the Bureau of Primary Health Care/HRSA/DHHS. Ms. Post writes and edits a clinical publication for homeless health care providers across the United States, and staffs the National Council’s Medicaid Reform and Policy Committees. She is also a member of the TennCare Partners Monitoring Group, composed of mental health care providers, researchers, health care consumers and their advocates, who work to maximize the effectiveness of the behavioral health component of TennCare, Tennessee’s Medicaid managed care demonstration program.

Doris Rippey, is a Program Analyst with the Division of One-Stop Operations, Employment and Training and Administration, Department of Labor in Washington, D.C. Her principal focus is on policy and service provision under the Workforce Investment Act to specific populations, including individuals with disabilities and individuals who have limited-English proficiency. She serves as the Division representative for ETA's Atlanta Regional Office, and coordinates the resolution of policy and other issues for the states of Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina and Tennessee. Her previous work was in international education; before moving to Washington she was resident director of the International House of Philadelphia, a non-affiliated residence for 400 students from 85 countries. She has a master's degree in human resource development from the George Washington University.

Jeremy Rosen, J.D., is an Equal Justice Works Fellow and Staff Attorney at the National Law Center on Homelessness and Poverty, in Washington, D.C. Mr. Rosen received his B.A. from the University of Wisconsin-Madison in 1994, and his J.D. from the George Washington University Law School in 1998. Before joining the Law Center, Mr. Rosen was a staff attorney with Legal Services of Greater Miami, where he co-directed the Homeless Legal Assistance Project and specialized in government benefits law.

At the Law Center, Mr. Rosen focuses on issues relating to the receipt of Supplemental Security Income (SSI), food stamps, TANF (welfare), and other public benefits by homeless people. He monitors nationwide activity affecting the access of homeless people to benefits, and devises legal and policy strategies to ensure that Federal and State agencies take affirmative steps to help more homeless people receive the income assistance to which they are entitled.

Mark D. Trail is serving as the Chief of the Medical Assistance Plans, in the Department of Community Health. As Director of the State Medicaid agency he is responsible for all Medicaid functions and services, as well as the state SCHIP program, PeachCare for Kids. The combined programs provide health care coverage to over 1.5 million Georgians, with expenditures approaching $5 billion dollars. He has worked for over 27 years in a variety of health care fields, serving in both the public and private sectors.

Mr. Trail attended Georgia State University in Atlanta, Georgia, receiving a master’s degree in community counseling. Mr. Trail has served as a member of the following associations: President of the Georgia Public Health Association, National Association of County Behavioral Health Directors Board of Directors, and the State Board of Nursing Home Administrators, and now serves on the Executive Committee of the National Association of State Medicaid Directors. Mr. Trail is married to Carol and has three children. He is active in his church and community and enjoys riding motorcycles.

Carol Wilkins, M.P.P., is the Director of Intergovernmental Policy with the Corporation for Supportive Housing, where she works to develop and support the implementation of policy solutions to end long-term homelessness for people who have complex health needs and multiple barriers to employment. She has more than 20 years of experience in public finance, human services and policy work, including work with the California Legislature’s Office of the Legislative Analyst, the State Assembly Ways and Means Committee, as Deputy Mayor of Finance in San Francisco, and as Finance Director for the San Francisco Housing Authority. She is the author of “Building a model managed care system for homeless adults with special needs: the Health, Housing and Integrated Services Network” in Current Issues in Public Health and co-author of the chapter “Making Homeless Programs Accountable to Consumers, Funders and the Public,” presented at the 1998 National Symposium on Homelessness Research and published by HUD and HHS. She was a member of the expert panel convened by the GAO on homelessness and barriers to using mainstream programs.

Francine Williams, M.A., is the Center Director for the National Resource Center on Homelessness and Mental Illness, operated by Policy Research Associates (PRA) Inc. in Delmar, New York, under contract to the U.S. Center for Mental Health Services. She is responsible for managing and overseeing all of the Resource Center’s technical assistance, knowledge synthesis and knowledge application activities. Prior to this, Ms. Williams served as PRA’s Homeless and Housing Division Manager with oversight and management responsibility for all of PRA’s homeless and housing projects. Prior to coming to PRA in 1997, Ms. Williams worked in employment and residential programs for people with mental illnesses, many of whom had been homeless.

Facilitators

Robert J. Burns is a Policy Analyst at the National Governors’ Association (NGA) Center for Best Practices. There he provides technical assistance to Governors and their staff on a variety of health policy issues, including health care oversight and quality, mental health, substance abuse, and oral health. Prior to joining NGA, Mr. Burns was a Research Analyst at Health Systems Research, Inc. in Washington, DC. In this role, he provided managed care technical assistance to State substance abuse agencies using Federal block grant funds. His professional experience also includes work in sales and marketing at CIGNA HealthCare in Atlanta, GA, and at Value Behavioral Health, Inc., a managed behavioral healthcare organization located in Falls Church, VA.

In 1995, Mr. Burns received his undergraduate degree in health policy and administration from the University of Tennessee, and he subsequently served as a White House intern in the Office of former Vice President Al Gore.

Martha Fleetwood is the Founder and Executive Director of HomeBase. Ms. Fleetwood founded HomeBase, out of her work as senior staff attorney at Public Advocates, in 1986, and has personally conducted many HomeBase projects. These include: designing the Regional Initiative to Reduce Homelessness around the Bay Area; designing a multi-service center to provide housing and services for homeless people in Alameda County; providing technical assistance to numerous cities and counties in developing planning documents on homelessness; designing community-wide responses to meeting State and Federal mandates; and, evaluating the grant programs and funding strategies on homelessness of the San Francisco Foundation. She spearheaded HomeBase's homeless health care project to survey the field of existing homeless health services delineating the systems and policies involved; identify innovative models of care; forecast the future gaps in meeting needs; and make preliminary suggestions on potential directions for service providers and funders. She is skilled at the use of technology in support of community initiatives; and has broad experience in a wide range of negotiation settings. Ms. Fleetwood holds a B.A. from the University of California at Irvine and a J.D. degree from Harvard Law School, and has held significant positions of responsibility with the Department of Justice and the legal arm of the National NAACP. An African-American woman who has personally experienced the domestic violence aspects of homelessness, she brings a level of compassion to technical assistance rarely glimpsed in someone so skilled. She has formed the HomeBase Board of Directors, a majority African-American group.

Donna Gold, R.N.C., has served as Project Director at Health Systems Research, Inc. managing CSAT, CDC, and HRSA’s Substance Abuse and Infectious Disease: Cross-Training for Collaborative Systems of Prevention, Treatment, and Care. In this initiative, Ms. Gold facilitates the Federal Interagency Advisory Group and also serves as a lead facilitator and curriculum developer for the project. Specializing in systems integration to address the multiple health care needs of clients, she brings 27 years experience as a certified psychiatric nurse. Administratively, her experiences include work as the former Chief Operating Officer for a national non-profit training firm, where she was also Director of Business Development credited with the start-up of 25 million dollars worth of new Federal Initiatives in 8 years. As Project Director for the State of Connecticut’s Training Center for the Mental Health and Addictions, she coordinated a Center that designed and trained over 250 different courses annually. Previously, Ms. Gold also assumed the role of Deputy Director for CSAT’s Prison Technical Assistance Project and for 10 years was head nurse for three different mental health and dual diagnosis, inpatient treatment programs. Her commitment to people that are homeless began with her work as psychiatric liaison nurse working in the late 1970’s linking State hospital clients with Community Mental Health services statewide. Currently, she is involved as an onsite T/A provider and facilitator for the Department of Health and Human Services, the Department of Housing and Urban Development, and the Department of Veteran Affairs homelessness collaborative.

Jamie Hart, Ph.D., M.P.H., Project Director for the Homeless Policy Academies, brings vast experience in training, technical assistance, facilitation, systems integration, curriculum design, evaluation, and cultural competency. Dr. Hart’s work has consistently focused on integrating systems and improving access to health care for underserved populations, particularly for certain racial and ethnic populations, persons facing co-occurring disorders, and persons who are homeless. In her role as Project Director for the Homeless Policy Academies, she has facilitated pre-Academy site visits for thirteen of the twenty-five States involved in the Project, has served as a state team facilitator at the meetings, and is currently managing the day-to-day operations for the contract and is coordinating the provision of technical assistance to all participating States. In addition to this role, Dr. Hart also serves as the Deputy Project Director of Substance Abuse and Infectious Disease: Cross-Training for Collaborative Systems of Prevention, Treatment and Care, a CSAT, HRSA, and CDC-funded collaborative project that provides resources for training, technical assistance, and systems integration to state substance abuse, mental health, and public health practitioners. Dr. Hart holds a M.P.H. in health behavior and health education, along with an M.A. and Ph.D. in African American history.

Sue Marshall is currently the Executive Director of The Community Partnership for the Prevention of Homelessness, a public/private partnership in the District of Columbia. The Community Partnership works to foster local neighborhood initiatives to resolve chronic community problems, including homelessness. The Partnership was the implementing entity for the D.C. Initiative on Homelessness, a $20 million national demonstration in partnership with the District government and HUD. Currently, the Partnership administers more than $30 million of publicly funded services to the homeless in the District on an annual basis. Ms. Marshall has an extensive history of public service, including 8 years as the Vice Chair of the District of Columbia Housing Finance Agency. She has also served as Chief of Staff of the DC Department of Human Services, Mayor’s Homeless Coordinator, Staff Economist to the DC Council Committee on Finance and Revenue, Urban Policy Analyst for the Department of Housing and Urban Development and housing market analyst for the Urban Institute. She has significant experience in providing technical assistance to nonprofit community-based organizations in the areas of capacity building, organizational development and management and economic development.

Patrick Moynahan, Domestic Division Director of the QED Group, LLC, has more than 20 years experience in the design, implementation and assessment of social policy and programs for governmental agencies and nonprofit organizations, including housing, homelessness, economic and community development. Mr. Moynahan directs QED’s policy research and program evaluation work with domestic Federal agencies, including the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. Recently, he supported HUD’s Office of Special Needs Assistance Programs in assisting Continuum of Care communities evaluate their Homeless Management Information Systems needs. Mr. Moynahan is an experienced trainer and technical assistance provider in HUD homeless assistance programs, and he has directed the development of policy reports and studies assessing the effectiveness of HUD programs, including reports to Congress.

Jamie Taylor has worked in planning, implementing and funding nonprofit programs for over 20 years. She has coordinated planning services for mental health care, housing, case management, employment, substance abuse prevention, HIV/AIDS services as well as public policy, legislative advocacy, peace and community organizing projects. She has worked with collaborative planning teams to develop projects for housing and support services for special need and homeless populations as well as successful health care programs for families who are uninsured. Jamie provides technical planning and facilitation assistance to a broad variety of non-profit organizations in Connecticut.

Stacy C. Watts, Health Programs Specialist/Task Manager, has over 12 years of corporate, legal, and public administration experience with a background in implementation of sound project management strategies. She has demonstrated expertise in community outreach and partnership development, especially in support of hard-to-serve populations. She has been responsible for program coordination activities under the Center for Medicare & Medicaid Services’ (CMS) National Medicare Education Program (NMEP). In that role, she provided consulting services and acted as point of contact for multiple CMS Regional Offices. Last year as a Health Programs Specialist supporting the health initiative for the Neighborhood Networks Program, Office of Multifamily Housing Programs, U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), Ms. Watts conducted health pilot development, developed partnerships with national and local community-based organizations, and identified strategies for program outreach and development. Ms. Watts currently serves as a task manager for the CMS Risk Adjustment Training for Medicare +Choice organizations. Ms. Watts earned a J.D. from the University of Baltimore School of Law and a master of public administration from the George Washington University, Washington, D.C. Ms. Watts volunteers with local chapters of several national health organizations, focusing much of her work to support the elimination of racial and ethnic health disparities.

Jim Wuelfing, CPP-R, is owner of the New England Center, a company dedicated to quality training and technical assistance services. Mr. Wuelfing has many specialties including: community organizing, facilitation, prevention, spiritual growth, community awareness, curriculum development, peer education, stress management and problem gambling prevention. He has also co-written and co-trained the highly praised workshop, “Racism of the Well Intended”. He has trained professionals around the country and in Europe. Mr. Wuelfing has been on the faculty of the New England School of Alcohol Studies for eleven years and has served on both the planning committee and the faculty of the New England School of Prevention Studies. He also serves as a on-line faculty member for the Addictions Transfer of Technology Center – New England at Brown University.

Mr. Wuelfing received his B.A. from the College of the Holy Cross in Worcester, MA. He spent 13 years serving as an Assistant Dean and Associate Dean at his alma mater. He was also the Director of Prevention Services and Training Manager for ETP, Inc. for six years.