HEAL Activities Underway!

Since the graduation of our HEAL trainings, the Network has been quite busy with various advocacy opportunities. Since April, HEAL has been supporting County Board Supervisor Lawson-Remer in her proposal to assess the County programs and General Relief enrollment. HEAL members had firsthand experience with many barriers holding them back from benefitting from the program that were designed or their needs. Since the passage of the proposal, Koné Consulting has been hired by the County of San Diego Health & Human Services Agency (HHSA) to work with the Social Services Advisory Board’s ad hoc Outreach, Accessibility, and Enrollment Task Force (aka “Enrollment Task Force”) on an assessment of the efficiency and effectiveness of the County’s. Last month, HEAL participated in the first round of interviews to provide input on the enrollment process and designing a survey that will be distributed soon. Office of Supervisor Lawson-Remer also developed a housing policy package, asking the County to be a stronger partner working collaboratively across the region to accelerate housing production, in helping to convene, support, fund, and drive the regional housing production solutions in San Diego. HEAL also provided comment in support of this proposal in the recent County Board meeting. We are proud that one of our new HEAL members, DeForrest Hancock, who was selected by the Benioff Homelessness and Housing Initiative (BHHI) to serve on the Statewide Lived Expertise Community Advisory Board. BHHI is launching a statewide survey of homelessness across 8 counties in California (including San Diego). The Lived Expertise Advisory Board is to guide and inform the survey research team of the California Statewide Survey of Homelessness led by the BHHI at UC San Francisco. By serving on this Advisory Board, DeForrest will represent San Diego and collaborate on the survey process (support in engaging hard to reach areas). Congratulations DeForrest!