New to the FSS program? Join us for this optional introductory session to learn more about the program and build the foundation to make the most of your conference experience. We’ll cover the basic rules and regulations of FSS as well as some differences between programs operated by public housing authorities and multifamily affordable housing owners.
 

In recent years, the research has become undeniably clear: health, housing, and wealth are all inextricably linked. A person's home environment affects nearly every aspect of their health, including access to quality, affordable health services, prevalence of certain diseases, maternal health and infant mortality, and even overall life expectancy. Furthermore, affordable housing and economic security are key social determinants of health (SDOH). Join us in conversation with experts from the field to discuss how we can strategically build partnerships between the affordable housing, asset building, and health sectors and shine a spotlight on some of the innovations currently underway in this area.

While FSS has been an integral program at public housing authorities for nearly 30 years, the program is still relatively new to multifamily owners. In this breakout session, we’ll hear from FSS thought leaders and innovators on how their organizations are pioneering new ways to deliver FSS programs and promoting the growth of the program with multifamily housing owners across the country.

The ability to be an effective partner and coach to FSS participants is an essential skill for an FSS Coordinator. Because of this, it is important to regularly and intentionally reflect on our personal values, strengths, and biases that impact the work we do with families. During this workshop, attendees will take part in an activity and conversation around personal money values and the impact they can have on our work with FSS participants.

We know the positive impact that the FSS program has on participants, but what about after they graduate? How do clients incorporate their FSS experience into the journey after the program ends? And why is it that some participants don't reach graduation? We asked clients themselves to understand more. Join Hannah Thomas, Senior Associate at Abt Associates, as she shares what she's learned in the field, and hear from Compass about how we're incorporating that feedback to improve our services.  

Identifying where your money is going and where you want it to go are essential steps to ensuring that your spending priorities match your life priorities. Budgeting also makes it easier to effectively establish both short-term and long-term goals, track progress towards those goals, and build emergency savings to protect from unforeseen expenses. In this session, we'll discuss budgeting and savings best practices that you can use directly with FSS participants.

Just because we can’t be together in person doesn’t mean we can’t build relationships and learn from each other at this year’s conference! Are you interested in connecting with other FSS practitioners from around the country to ask questions, get ideas, and share best practices? Join us in this session for one of two virtual networking opportunities. We’ll utilize the breakout room feature of Zoom to split into smaller discussion groups throughout the session and discuss different topics related to FSS.

Just because we can’t be together in person doesn’t mean we can’t build relationships and learn from each other at this year’s conference! Are you interested in connecting with other FSS practitioners from around the country to ask questions, get ideas, and share best practices? Join us in this session for one of two virtual networking opportunities. We’ll utilize the breakout room feature of Zoom to split into smaller discussion groups throughout the session and discuss differenttopics related to FSS.

Isabel Wilkerson, winner of the Pulitzer Prize and the National Humanities Medal, is the author of critically acclaimed, bestsellers The Warmth of Other Suns, and Caste: The Origins of Our Discontents. “Wilkerson's work,” in the words of The American Prospect, “is the missing puzzle piece of our country's history.” She captivates audiences with the universal story of migration and the enduring search for the American dream. Wilkerson has become an impassioned voice for demonstrating how history can help us understand ourselves, our country and our current era of upheaval. Join us for an invigorating keynote session discussing race in America and Wilkerson's most recent novel Caste. 

In the last several years, the idea of providing universal basic income (UBI) has gained interest and popularity globally. In the United States, states, municipalities, and other organizations are piloting UBI initiatives, including Springboard to Opportunities, a non-profit organization based in Jackson, Mississippi. In our first Spotlight on Innovation of the conference, we’ll highlight Springboard’s Magnolia Mother’s Trust, which currently provides $1,000 per month of direct cash assistance with no strings attached to families for a full year. It is the first program of its kind in the U.S. that specifically targets extremely low-income families headed by an African American woman living in affordable housing. In this session, attendees will learn more about this pilot as well as the conversations currently taking place at a policy level on this topic.

You asked clients questions. You collected and stored the answers in your data system. You've scheduled a meeting with your team to review the data...but now what? For data conversations to be productive, you need to translate your data into clear stories that are meaningful to your stakeholders. Together we will learn and practice creating five common types of impact stories you can tell with data.

Engaging and incorporating the perspectives of your FSS participants into program design and delivery is essential to operating an effective, high-quality program. In this session, we’ll share key learnings from Compass’ Client Advisory Board, which is now tackling a new set of priorities in its second year of work. We’ll also hear more about the ways in which the Philadelphia Housing Authority has implemented feedback loops to incorporate client voices, and learn directly from two FSS participants on how we all as practitioners can better incorporate participant feedback into our FSS programs.

Good credit is critical to securing a strong financial future, and for many families with low incomes, it is also an important first asset. In early 2020, Credit Builders Alliance convened a collaborative of national thought leaders – including Compass Working Capital – to identify and advance a variety of credit building best practices in affordable housing contexts. In this breakout session, we’ll share the learnings from this group, including new ideas and best practices that can be tested now to more directly incorporate credit building into affordable housing.

A Trauma-Informed Approach involves understanding, recognizing, and responding to the effects of all types of trauma. It also emphasizes physical, psychological, and emotional safety and helps survivors rebuild a sense of control and empowerment. In this session, we’ll hear about the science behind how Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) can impact people in adulthood and what it truly means to take a trauma-informed approach in your FSS program.

Do you have questions or feedback to share with HUD about FSS? Here’s your opportunity. This session will also include an update on what HUD is currently working on to improve the FSS program and priorities for the upcoming year, including an update on funding and the status of the FSS legislation passed by Congress in 2018.

Stories engage, connect, and inspire us in ways that few other tools can. In this session, you’ll hear from a diverse set of speakers in brief talks focused on topics ranging from how telling stories can help shift systems and policy to how we canalter the narrative for what it means to live in subsidized housing.

There are currently over two million households eligible for the FSS program nationally, yet the total program enrollment mostly recently reported by HUD was only 2.2. million and just over 75,000 households. Because the traditional in-person FSS program models are expensive to scale, we know we must explore new technology-enabled pathways to reach the millions of families nationwide who could take advantage of FSS. In one of this year’s Spotlights on Innovation, we’ll highlight tools and resources that can better support practitioners to work in a remote environment as well as share early learning from Compass Working Capital’s Remote Services Pilot, where we’re exploring how outreach, enrollment, and financial coaching can be conducted remotely. Finally, we’ll touch on the ways in which the global health crisis brought on by the rapid spread of the novel Coronavirus, Covid-19 in early 2020 both underscored the need for housing providers to strengthen their virtual service abilities and accelerated necessary innovations in the field.

Do you have questions specific to your FSS program that you would like to discuss with a HUD representative? As the conference approaches, we’ll open sign-ups for these optional 15-minute, 1:1 sessions with the HUD team to get your questions answered. Advanced sign-up is required and space is limited.