2020 Conference Agenda
We're thrilled to share the final schedule for the 5th annual National FSS Conference.
Please note, due to our virtual format, all sessions will take place in Eastern Daylight Time (EDT).
Event Schedule:
Tuesday, October 20th:
Sessions, Workshops & Networking - 11:30am-5:15pm (EDT)
Wednesday, October 21st:
Sessions, Workshops & Networking - 11:30am-5:30pm (EDT)
Thursday, October 22nd:
Sessions, Workshops, & HUD Office Hours - 11:30am-3:30pm (EDT)
To view more information about each session, click on a title below.
Tuesday,
October 20
Welcome & Plenary Session
11:30 AM - 12:30 PM EDT
Introduction to the Family Self-Sufficiency Program (Optional, Pre-Conference)
Sandra Suarez
Director of Special Projects
Compass Working Capital
Laura-Kay Demezieux
Coach Support Specialist
Compass Working Capital
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.
12:45 PM - 2:00 PM EDT
Opening Remarks
Sherry Riva
Founder and Chief Executive Officer
Compass Working Capital
Kahfii King
Manager of Strategic Initiatives
Compass Working Capital
Health & Wealth: Understanding the Connection and Confronting the Inequities
Peggy Bailey
Vice President for Housing Policy
Center on Budget & Policy Priorities
Dr. Thea James
Associate Chief Medical Officer and Vice President of Mission
Boston Medical Center
Moderator: Maggie Moore
2022 Master's of Public Health in Nutrition Candidate
Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health
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.
Breakout Sessions
2:30 PM - 3:15 PM EDT
Expanding the Scope and Impact of FSS to Multifamily Housing: Perspectives from Early Adopters
Carissa Janis
Program Analyst and Multifamily FSS Lead
U.S Department of Housing & Urban Development
Priya Jayachandran
President
National Housing Trust
Debbie Nutter
Chief Executive Officer and Co-Founder
The Caleb Group
Trevor Samios
Vice President of Resident Services & Customer Experience
WinnCompanies
Moderator: Meaghan McCarthy
Vice President of Affordable Housing and Consumer Empowerment
Housing Partnership Network
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.
Money Values: Understanding How Our Experiences and Personal Values Impact FSS Participants
Claudia Riley
Senior Financial Coach
Compass Working Capital
Tania Shabazz
Financial Services Manager
Compass Working Capital
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.
3:30 PM - 4:15 PM EDT
Helping Residents Thrive in FSS: Lessons From New Research in the Field
Ann Lentell
Chief Program Officer
Compass Working Capital
Hannah Thomas
Senior Associate
Abt Associates
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.
Budgeting & Savings 101
Ana Estrella
Financial Coaching Manager
Compass Working Capital
Joselyn Yrayta-Mart
Program Manager
Compass Working Capital
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.
4:30 PM - 5:15 PM EDT
Virtual Networking, Part I (Optional)
Jason Andrade
Financial Services Manager
Compass Working Capital
Carla Wahnon
Financial Coach
Compass Working Capital
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.
Wednesday,
October 21
Opening & Keynote Presentation
11:30 AM - 12:15 PM EDT
Virtual Networking, Part II (Optional)
Dwayne Keys
Senior Financial Coach
Compass Working Capital
Lashaunda Watson
Client Outreach & Engagement Specialist
Compass Working Capital
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.
12:45 PM - 2:00 PM EDT
Keynote Presentation with Isabel Wilkerson, Author of The Warmth of Other Suns & Caste
Isabel Wilkerson
Author & Journalist
Moderator: Markita Morris-Louis
Chief Strategy Officer
Compass Working Capital
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.
Spotlight on Innovation
2:30 PM - 3:30 PM EDT
Providing Direct Cash Assistance to Families: Perspectives from Policy & Practice
Aisha Nyandoro
Chief Executive Officer
Springboard to Opportunites
Rachel Black
Associate Director, Safety-Net & User Voice, Financial Security Program
The Aspen Institute
Tom Shapiro
Professor of Law and Social Policy & Director, Institute on Assets and Social Policy
Brandeis University
Moderator: Betty Francisco
General Counsel
Compass Working Capital
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.
Breakout Sessions
3:45 PM - 4:30 PM EDT
Finding a Story in Data: From Numbers to Narrative
George Reuter
Director of Impact and Innovation
Compass Working Capital
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.
Listening to the Voices That Matter Most: Integrating FSS Participant Perspectives into Program Delivery
Telesha Mervin
Compass/Cambridge Housing Authority FSS Program Graduate and Compass Client Advisory Board Member
Akriah Pressley
Clarifi/Philadelphia Housing Authority FSS Participant
Kim Rogers
Program Director
Clarifi
Moderator: Sandra Suarez
Director of Special Projects
Compass Working Capital
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.
4:45 PM - 5:30 PM EDT
Credit Building in Affordable Housing: Best Practices from the Field
Dwayne Keys
Coaching Manager
Compass Working Capital
Talia Kahn-Kravis
Manager of Program Innovations & Business Development
Credit Builders Alliance
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.
Taking a Trauma-Informed Approach in Your FSS Program
Anice Chenault
FSS Program Manager
U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development
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.
Thursday,
October 22
Plenary Session
11:30 AM - 12:30 PM EDT
Updates from the Department of Housing & Urban Development
Anice Chenault
FSS Program Manager
U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development
Carissa Janis
Program Analyst and Multifamily FSS Lead
U.S Department of Housing & Urban Development
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.
2:15 PM - 3:30 PM EDT
The Power of Stories: Impacting People, Programs, and Policy
Moderator: Markita Morris-Louis
Chief Strategy Officer
Compass Working Capital
Adria Crutchfield
Executive Director
Baltimore Regional Housing Partnership
Irene Dunbar
Compass/Cambridge Housing Authority FSS Participant
Shaniqua Lewis
Author of Summer Housing Boy
Ana Estrella
Financial Coaching Manager
Compass Working Capital
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.
Spotlight on Innovation
1:00 PM - 2:00 PM EDT
Spotlight on Innovation: Strengthening Our Capabilities to Deliver Services Remotely
Kyna Carney
Compass/Boston Housing Authority FSS Participant
Kelly Cronin
Director of Rental Assistance Programs
Boston Housing Authority
Dawn Duncan
Compass/Boston Housing Authority FSS Participant
Julianna Stuart
Vice President of Community Impact
Preservation of Affordable Housing
Anisha Vichare
Data Analyst
Compass Working Capital
Moderator: Moriah Nelson Garcia
Program Manager
Compass Working Capital
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.
Breakout Sessions
1:00 PM - 4:00 PM EDT
Office Hours with the Department of Housing & Urban Development
Anice Chenault
FSS Program Manager
U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development
Carissa Janis
Program Analyst and Multifamily FSS Lead
U.S Department of Housing & Urban Development
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.
2:30 PM - 3:15 PM EDT
Closing Remarks
Markita Morris Louis
Chief Strategy Officer
Compass Working Capital
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