Connecticut’s Homelessness Initiative Endangered?

Out of all of the states making progress in ending homelessness, Connecticut is usually the state that people reference as national leaders in progress, and as the most successful. Until now, that is.

Connecticut is a driving force in government initiatives toward ending homelessness, beginning with veterans.In August of 2015 the governor announced in a press release that several initiatives aimed directly at the ending of chronic homelessness among veterans was successful. Chronic homelessness is defined, in this case, as an individual with a disability who has been homeless for a period of at least one year or has experienced four separate episodes of homelessness in three years or less. As of the press release, all known veterans were either housed or on their way to permanent housing. Connecticut is the first state to claim such a major milestone.

As of February this year (2016) an announcement that temporarily homeless vets were accounted for as well, and any vet in the state of Connecticut who becomes homeless can get into temporary housing within 30 days and permanent housing within 60. In this case, they did not achieve the title of first state to get there, Virginia was the first state to claim to end all vet homelessness in November of 2015.

All of this is in an effort towards Zero:2016, an initiative to end all chronic homelessness for all, vets and non-veterans alike, by the end of this year. The focus on vets first and the rest of the homeless population second is the method followed by most -if not all- states.

However, the financial state of Connecticut’s future isn’t secure. With a deficit of $960 million,  budget cuts already having been implemented, and more currently being proposed, advocates working toward ending homelessness fear the state’s ability to meet the goals the state has, up until now, been poised to meet.

These cuts include closing group homes, over 900 state employee layoffs of Social Services, Department of Mental Health and Addiction Services, and the Department of Children and families,as well as losing state subsidies towards daycare for low-income families, parents losing Medicaid coverage. All of these cuts potentially serve to exacerbate the issue of homelessness in the state, as well as seeing cuts to the programs themselves in the future. In the 1990’s, when similar state budget cuts closed state mental hospitals, the homeless population spiked dramatically.

Also take into consideration the fact that all of these initiatives are based on Housing First Models, wherein the homeless are placed in homes prior to addressing mental and physical health concerns, substance abuse issues, education or employment. While this model is superior, with prior government systems requiring all sorts of time and red-tape before someone could get assistance, sometimes leading to people remaining homeless because they were unable to meet the requirements of the program, the only sustainable way to maintain an end to homelessness is to address these issues in tandem with the immediate housing. All of those issues, however, require government funding to execute.  

While the state of Connecticut is having a particularly difficult time, the U.S. Department of Housing and Development has withdrawn funds from shelters and homes all over the country.. New York City has seen the funds zeroed out, and have many housing programs in several other states.

From the Huffington Post: “What could explain HUD’s actions? It’s not that the problem of homelessness has gone away. To the contrary, it’s worse than ever in some places—with tent cities springing up in places like Los Angeles and Seattle, the mayor of Portland, Oregon, declaring a state of emergency, and New York City’s shelter population hovers near an all-time high. Nor is there a sudden cash crisis in Washington. The grants were awarded through HUD’s $2.3 billion Continuum of Care program, which actually got a 5 percent boost in 2016. No, what changed was the minds of HUD policymakers.”

This about-face on funding from the federal government is due in part to the efficacy of Housing First initiatives, and is primarily affecting shelters and halfway homes, but could lead to dire consequences for all states trying to put an end to homelessness. Housing First is great, but until it is firmly and successfully in place everywhere, funding for shelters and homes is a necessity.

From NPR: “Funding from the federal government is particularly pivotal to states like Connecticut which are facing steep cuts that could prematurely end programs that are making incredible strides. Schiessl, a former state representative, said a $3 million investment to expand the program statewide would have saved $25 million in Medicaid-funded emergency visits. But the budget crisis tabled the expansion. “When we go to state legislators and we say we’re doing such decent work that other states are noticing, they say, ‘Keep doing a good job,’ but there’s no funding,” Schiessl said.”

5 Types Of People That Every Successful Startup Needs

So, you’ve decided to start your own business. That’s great! But you need more than an innovative idea for your business to get off the ground, you need to make sure you execute your idea in a way that puts you, and your company, on the road to success. This is a given, but you need to create a business plan, and in doing so you need to accurately and unflinchingly look at  the problems your business may encounter. Then you can begin to devise preemptive solutions to these problems.

Does all of this seem overwhelming? It is, and it will continue to be. Entrepreneurship isn’t for the faint of heart and will take a lot of hard work. But after you get going, you won’t be going it alone. You’ll need to add other people to your team to succeed and grow, and each person you hire should add something crucial to your team. The first five hires you bring on can truly make or break your company. In the very beginnings of any business, startup or no, one wrong hire can derail the entire company and be a drain on your resources. That why these first hires are so pivotal. As an entrepreneur, it is important for you to have a little bit (or a lot) of each of the strengths of these personalities, but it is important to know your own personal limits and bring these other people in. Running yourself ragged trying to catch your weaknesses up to your strengths is, in the end, a liability for both you and your company.

Don’t know what to look for in the first people you hire? Here are five types of people that are crucial to getting a successful startup off the ground.

 1) A Creative Person

If you are the one who thought of the core business idea, chances are the creative person is you. If this is not you, this should be one of the first people you bring on. This will be the person that helps you with the inception of the product or service. They will need to be someone with an element of creativity, who is flexible, and good at inventing unique solutions. This person will have a hunch or a vision of a product that can be built, and ideally not just be a problem solver and a nimble thinker, but can also help you develop a brand identity and give your company it’s personality as well.

2)  A Detail-Oriented Person

The creative person may have a lot of great ideas, but while he or she will be capable of developing a concrete plan, one person does not usually excel at both of these things simultaneously. It requires different mindsets to be reactive and think outside the box than it does to be proactive and organized. This is where a detail-oriented person will be needed. Your detail-oriented person will be responsible for building the product or service itself, and he or she will do the research to find the information necessary to put the creative person’s idea into action. This person helps you determine your strengths and weaknesses, develops actionable plans, and doesn’t get lost looking at fine print. In the beginning stages it can be hectic and stressful, and it is easy for things like filing permits or registering copyrights to slip through the cracks, but this detail-oriented person won’t let that happen.

3) A Builder

Before you have a product or service to sell, you have to make that product or service viable. You need someone who has the technical skills to actually build the product. If your startup is in the technology world, this builder will most likely be an engineer or a developer. But there are many other experts needed for just about any kind of business. If your business is a law consultancy you need a lawyer with experience, a bakery will need a skilled baker, and a vineyard will need an expert in viniculture and viticulture. Because this is your business, at the beginning this builder is probably you. Once the company begins to grow, you will need to make sure that there is an employee or partner with the same technical expertise and skill that you have, otherwise you will not be able to run a burgeoning business and continue to produce services or products at the same time.

4) A Process-Oriented Person

Now that the detail-oriented person has created a set of specifications, you will need to add someone who is process-oriented. This person will ensure that a system is in place in order to put the concept into action. This person should also make sure that each person on the team knows his or her role so that everything is running smoothly. A person with great follow-through, diplomacy, and a good head about how micro actions affect macro situations is needed here. This person should help you develop training procedure for staff, know safety protocols and institute them, and understand how to drive with enthusiasm without being overbearing. Everything from ordering to payroll to website development should have a process.

Now that you have an idea, have researched information to back the idea up, the shell of the product, a system in place to get the product built, and technical skills to build it. There is only one last key person in bringing your business to fruition and who will be the icing on this cake:

5) A Highly Deadline-Oriented Person

The fifth person you will need to add to your team is someone who is fast-paced and highly focused on deadlines. While this may seem counter intuitive, this person will actually need to be a little impatient. This person will hold everyone else accountable. This person may not be the most popular person on the team, but he or she will be crucial to the team meeting its needs. This is your enforcer, your key player to keep responsibilites in check and people on task. They’ll need to be okay playing the bad cop and the good cop together.

Once you have these five people picked out, it is a good idea to think about how these people will interact within the company. Perhaps one particular person needs some extra pushing, and will therefore need to interact with the deadline-oriented person. Perhaps there are two people who should not interface with each other directly, and another person can be used as a buffer. Offsetting skills and personalities amongst your group is very important, especially in the beginning.

It is important to remember not to focus on finding the perfect employee but rather the perfect combination of employees. Everyone has different strengths and no person is without weaknesses. Rather than minimizing weaknesses and setting the bar too high when interviewing candidates, focus on the incredible strengths your candidate may possess and how that can fill the holes in the weaknesses of your other staff. If you seek perfection in one person for too long, the hiring for each candidate could stall indefinitely and your business could become stagnant. All five of these people will work together to create the quintessential formula for a successful team.

High-Quality Technology Is One Of The Best Work Perks Out There

If you’re an entrepreneur or small business owner, you may be wondering what it is that draws employees to a company. Many employers try to advertise their free food or a gym membership, but it turns out one of the most important perks at American companies today is something a little bit more modern. These days, it’s all about the technology.

According to a recent survey by Adobe systems, 81 percent of U.S. office workers value technology more than anything else. That’s right; state-of-the-art technology is even more important to office workers than a beautiful office or on-site amenities. Unfortunately, only a quarter of the respondents in the survey felt that their company technology was “ahead of the curve.”

It’s not surprising that technology has a large effect on the way people feel about their jobs. We are living in the information age, a time during which technology plays a key role in how businesses operate. Employees know this, so working at a company that utilizes top notch technology makes them feel good about the work they’re doing and the company they’re doing it with.

The study showed that in the U.S, people who work at companies with cutting edge technology love their work about twice as much as those who work at companies where the technology is lagging. They also say they feel more creative and more motivated.

The study also offered a lot of useful information about the way office workers function. The study showed that one third of U.S. office workers are “moonlighting,” meaning they are pursuing one or more side jobs in addition to a primary job. Passion was the second driving force behind the increasing number of moonlighters, aside from money of course. Many of these people working multiple jobs believe that the practice of moonlighting will become the norm in the future.

According to the survey, the average U.S. office worker thinks about work a lot: approximately 78 percent of his or her waking hours during a typical workday to be exact. On a day off, the average U.S. office worker will think about work for 41 percent of the day. That’s dedication. It should come as no surprise, since 70 percent of working Americans love what they do. In fact, 80 percent said they would continue working even if they were to win the lottery, and 51 percent say they would continue to work their current job.

Overall, there is a lot that we can learn from the survey conducted by Adobe Systems. We can see that U.S. office workers are passionate and many of them love their jobs. That percentage of people who love their jobs could be even higher if offices step up their game in the technology department. So maybe instead of shelling out the big bucks on free food, amenities, or events, the answer could be acquiring state-of-the-art technology for your business.

Private Companies May Need To Disclose Financial Data To Employees

There have been a number of speculations about private companies being overvalued. Many worry that a technology “bubble” is inflating, and may soon burst. One law is countering this high valuation, forcing employers to share financial information with their employees. Surprisingly, the law that is causing such a shake-up is not a national law, but a chapter of Delaware’s corporate law.

This chapter of Delaware’s law can force startups to be financially transparent with their shareholders, provided that the startups are locally incorporated. One person using this law to his advantage is Jay Biederman, a former manager at Domo, a Salt Lake City-based software service that is currently valued at $2 billion. Biederman is using the law to convince Domo to show him the books. According to the Wall Street Journal, Biederman’s doing so will allow him to better value his shares in the company. Biederman claims that before the rule was invoked, he was denied access to Domo’s financial data.

Typically, the only people who are granted access to a private company’s revenues, profits, and projections are major investors. Over the years, an increasing number of startups have been receiving larger injections of capital for multi-million, sometimes billion-dollar valuations. Because of this trend, analysts question the value of individual shares, warning that companies are overvalued.

Many investors are now demanding to see profit over growth. This is forcing a number of high profile tech startups to cut costs in the form of retracting benefits, laying employees off, or closing offices. Birchbox, for example, got rid of 15 percent of its staff in February. Birchbox cited reasons such as steep shipping prices to Canada and a “hostile” funding climate. Other startups that have been affected include Dropbox, Jawbone, and Evernote.

Silicon Valley entrepreneur Steve Blank, who has started eight successful companies, argues that valuations are no longer based on revenues and profits. This could be a big problem for the founders behind a lot of America’s startups.

Mary Jo White, the head of the the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, recently spoke out against high valuations and called for private companies to have more fiscal transparency.

In Delaware, hundreds of lawsuits have been made to examine company statements. However, according to the Wall Street Journal, most of these lawsuits are settled before being filed, and it’s still unclear whether companies are complying. Chris Biow, a former executive and shareholder inMongoDB and MarkLogic has asked to see the profits, revenues and a list of other stockholders in the companies. MarkLogic did eventually show him the statements, but they refused to share a list of stockholders with him. MongoDB and MarkLogic are both startups that are valued at over $1 billion, and this law could place them on thin ice if they aren’t willing to disclose their data.

A number of privately owned companies that are very successful may soon get busted for high valuation. While this law may only be in one state, its implications can affect privately owned companies everywhere. Additionally, if other states believe they see the value of this, lawmakers in many states could turn this local law into a common, potentially even federal, law.

Ways to Volunteer Help in the Warm Weather

The weather finally warming up, and the oncoming Memorial Day holiday, signal the beginning of summer and vacation season. It means the start of beach days and weekend camping trips, cruises and summer staycations. But it also signals a time when blood and platelet donations decline, homeless and animal shelters fill to overflowing, and fewer people donate supplies than ever.

When the weather is cold, it is easy to step outside and think “I’m so glad I have a way to keep warm and full, I should help those that can’t.” The holidays put people into a giving mood, and get them thinking about contributing more. And that’s great, but often the heat can be just as deadly as the cold, and many shelters become overrun.

As as you start enjoying your summer, here are some ways to make someone else’s life a little bit better as well:

A steady stream of blood and platelet donations is key to maintain enough supplies, and the supply dips dangerously low in summer. Donations can be made before, after, or even during your summer vacation, simply download the American Red Cross Blood Donor App, visitredcrossblood.org or call 1-800-RED CROSS (1-800-733-2767) to see where you can give blood near you, even while out of town. All blood types are needed to ensure a reliable supply for patients.

For the same vacation reasons, shelter volunteering numbers dip much lower because of vacation needs as well as families that need to be taken care of with school out of session. But this is also the time when most shelters fill to capacity. Also donations of food and other items are much more scarce in the summer months than they are around the holidays.

You can check homelessshelterdirectory.org andhttp://www.shelterlistings.org/ to help find Homeless Shelters, Supportive Housing, Housing for Low Income, Halfway Housing, Transitional Housing, Day Shelters, Low Cost Housing near you. For Food Banks, Food Pantries, and Soup Kitchens near you, check out foodpantries.org orfeedingamerica.org

I always recommend calling the shelters or food banks to find their specific needs, but here are some needs shelters always have in the summer:

Feminine hygiene products, sunscreen, bottled water, shampoo/conditioner, Nix lice treatment, toilet paper, bug repellant, hair brushes, razors, shaving cream, lotion, hand soap and body wash, socks of all sizes, underwear (brand new, usually need larger sizes), rain ponchos, blankets and sheets (full and twin sized), towels, women’s bras, maternity clothing, padlocks with keys, reusable water/coffee cups, reading glasses, diapers and pullups for babies and toddlers, baby wipes, bottles and sippy cups, swimsuits, baby formula, books and games, highchairs, outlet covers and baby gates, and brand new car seats, strollers, and pack and play cribs.

For animal shelters, some common needs are:

Kongs, Greenie’s Pill Pockets, canned tuna in water, newspapers, cleaning supplies like bleach, dish soap, sponges, paper towels and facial tissues. Most have food and toy regulations, so make sure that you call before donating those.

Ending Homelessness? Penn University Says it can be Done

A professor at Penn is also a an expert on homelessness. He has spent over thirty years doing research, is recognized nation-wide for his efforts, and has been pivotal in work that attempts to end homelessness the world over.

Dennis Culhane, PhD is a professor at Penn University in addition to being the Dana and Andrew Stone Professor of Social Policy in the School of Social Policy & Practice, Co-Principal Investigator at Actionable Intelligence for Social Policy, and Director of Research at the National Center for Homelessness Among Veterans. He works tirelessly not just to study homelessness, the effects of it, and the efficacy of current programs, but also to educate students on the stigma that comes along with homelessness.

There is paradigm for solving these problems, and Culhane believes that there has been a dramatic shifting of this paradigm in recent years, for the better. As a culture, the U.S. has been putting more faith in a “housing first” approach to residence that gets people housed with no strings attached, rather than the historical process of at-risk people needing to complete substance abuse treatment or mental health treatment in order to even begin the red-tape filled, arduous journey of accessing social services in order to eventually procure housing. This method kept many on the streets unnecessarily. This new approach is getting people into homes first, and then they are engaged in services to treat mental health and substance abuse issues, along with having access to other support as well.

From Penn’s website: “The country’s unsheltered homeless population has dropped by 26 percent since 2010. Veteran homelessness has declined even further: by 36 percent, according to the 2015 U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s (HUD)  (AHAR) to Congress. Culhane is a co-principal investigator of the AHAR.”

Culhane’s research identified two very different kinds of homelessness: those who experience chronic homelessness are often homeless for many years at a time, possibly even indefinitely. Those who experience crisis homelessness are people who have lost jobs, been victims of domestic violence, experience sudden and sometimes sustaining illness or injury, or are reentering society after being released from their incarceration. “Evidence-based solutions have given people the ability to get out of homelessness,” says Culhane. “For people experiencing crisis homelessness, giving them a little bit of assistance often helps. People need a hand up to avoid the downward spiral.”

Since 2009 there have been almost eight hundred thousand Section-8 rental vouchers awarded to those that need them, as well as the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs beginning a program that rapidly rehouses those experiencing crisis homelessness, serving a hundred thousand vets each year.

Homelessness can be solved, says Culhane. “We know what causes it, how to mitigate the risks, and how to help people get re-housed quickly.”

Between hospitalization and medical treatment, jailing and incarceration of the homeless, and the cost of emergency shelter, as well as the supporting costs of things like police intervention and transit workers payroll hours, it is a commonly held belief that it is more expensive for a community to leave a homeless person homeless than it is to house them. “A study from Los Angeles, CA – home to ten percent of the entire homeless population – found that placing four chronically homeless people into permanent supportive housing saved the city more than $80,000 per year.” You can read more studies and facts about the cost of homelessness at endhomelessness.org

Currently, Culhane is working with researchers on the “SP2 Penn Top 10 Social Justice & Policy Issues for the 2016 Presidential Election” project. He authored an essay for the project titled “Ending Homelessness Now,” which explores the tangible and evidence-based ways that the U.S. can end homelessness for both veterans and non-veterans.

Tips for Growing Your Small Business

No matter if you are a tech startup or a family-run business, there are the same hurdles beyond the first round of funding or opening your doors for the first time. The Harvard Business Review has a great piece about the Five Stages of Small Business Growth, which are Existance, Survival, Success, Take-Off, and Resource Maturity.

From the HBR article: “In reaching this stage, the business has demonstrated that it is a workable business entity. It has enough customers and satisfies them sufficiently with its products or services to keep them. The key problem thus shifts from mere existence to the relationship between revenues and expenses.” In Existence mode, the owner is most often the operator as well. Keeping staffing low at the outset to minimize costs is vital. But a car can only run on as much fuel as will fit in the tank. To grow your business, you have to get a bigger tank. Here, we are assuming the Existence, and working on getting you from Existence to Survival and from Survival to Success, with some tips for small businesses to keep in mind as they grow.

-Hire a lawyer. When staffing is so low you are the CEO but also pack all the boxes for shipping, paying the fee of a lawyer can seem like a daunting prospect. But they are invaluable in business growth, filling out paperwork, protecting your assets and intellectual property, and often work as advisors that are great, safe sounding boards for your ideas. As soon as a company starts to appear as though it will garner success, it can become a target.

-Identify strengths. With a small staff, it is vitally important to know where the strengths and weaknesses of each participating individual lay. If you have a business partner but you’re both terrible with keeping track of bookkeeping, you need to know how to afford an accountant. If one of you has the sales skills to pitch the business, but the other has the nurturing to train loyal staff, that information needs to be discussed and clearly outlined upfront. Even if it is only you and one cashier or software developer on the whole team, set clear expectations of everyone involved, and don’t be afraid to draft paperwork that clearly outlines these expectations. Don’t sugarcoat things, either. Hurt feelings are not more important than your business.

-Remember balance, and develop leadership. Things need to get done, and you need to make sure they happen, even if that means doing them yourself. But burning out, or stretching too thin, leads to things falling through the cracks that can bring a young business crashing down. Hire people you trust and then trust them. Train them well. Have meetings with transparency. Have them help you develop training materials for new staff. Hold regular reviews. Give them actual responsibility and work to do and then go home and leave work at the door. Get some sleep.

-Create a succession plan. From day one, it is important to lay out how the exit strategy for closing, succession plan for death or retirement, and guidelines for how selling the business to a larger company is going to play out. What percentages go to whom? Who gets the business if you retire? What if you are hurt and cannot run the business? Who becomes the leader?
-Know who you are. You have to have a brand identity, core values, and an attitude towards business that is clearly laid-out and easy to communicate. You need your customers, your staff, your investors, your partners to know what makes your business unique and what is the heart of the business. Make sure the customers know your face, your employees believe in your ethos, and everyone is committed to the same business practices with a consistent and distinct voice.

-Manage growth responsibly. There’s a saying that every day, you should think about doing ten times that revenue the very next day. If you make 100 doughnuts, are you capable of making 1000 tomorrow? What staff, supplies, and equipment would you need to get from 100 to 1000 doughnuts a day? That’s not to say you should go out and spend money on all of those resources right now, because you may not have the ability to sell 1000 doughnuts and those ingredients would go to waste and the staff would drain you financially. But if you know exactly what it would take, every day, to grow ten times by tomorrow, you have a solid foundation for building over time to increase output.

-Build community around your business. How can you give back? This is as much about charity as it is belonging in your neighborhood. This is as applicable for digital companies as brick-and-mortar ones. Participate in events. Raise money for a good cause that relates to your business. Be nice to the deli on the corner your staff gets lunch from. Even Google changes the logo on holidays and notable dates to keep its users feeling like part of the family.

-Don’t take more money than you need. Tech companies in particular are using high valuations and large rounds of funding for free lunch every day and half-basketball courts in the office. This may make you appealing to talent, but if you sell your business for much less than the valuation, or you hit lean times, those who take less money to start out, and run leaner when they can, will make it through the rough patches without collapsing.