Welcome to the
Spring 2025 Provider Conference
Friday, June 6, 2025 — 9:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m.
Mt. Hood Community College, Vista Dining Room
26000 SE Stark St., Gresham, OR 97030
A map of the campus along with driving and public transit directions is available here.
All events are in Building 10.
The Conference is full, and the waitlist is closed. Virtual attendance options will be finalized no later than June 4, 2025. Please see the session descriptions below for details.
Please contact Bill Boyd (bill.boyd@multco.us) with questions or concerns about this event.
Conference Theme
Partnerships with Purpose
The theme for the Spring 2025 Provider Conference is Partnerships with Purpose: Navigating Uncertainty, Connecting Community, Strengthening our Systems
Conference Tracks
Organizing Conference Sessions
The Spring 2025 Provider Conference will organize sessions into 4 tracks:
- Frontline Strategies and Best Practices
- The Power of Lived Experience
- Leadership in Challenging Times
- Emerging Needs and Opportunities
Sessions are open to all conference attendees.
Conference sessions
Description of Conference Sessions
[NOTE: the following session descriptions are subject to change]
View Conference Program Guide
Schedule Overview (2 pager)
Session Schedule and Descriptions (updated 5/28/2025)
PDF Version available here
Session Block #1: 9:15am – 10:30am
Session Title: Homelessness and Older Adults in Multnomah County – Status Report
Location: Vista Dining Room
Presenter(s): Laura Golino de Lovato (she/her), Jason Coulthurst & Celine Mazoyer – Northwest Pilot Project, Amy Thompson & Kay Cockerill – NARA Northwest
Presentation Format: Collaborative presentation with discussion
Abstract: As the number of older adults becoming homeless grows, and with more at risk of homelessness, how are service providers working together to serve this vulnerable population? We’ll explore the impact of the prioritization of older adults within homeless and housing services, the gaps in senior-specific services, and ways that we can collaborate more effectively.
Conference Track(s): Frontline Strategies and Best Practices
Link for Virtual Meeting: http://meet.google.com/ikr-czcy-gux
Session Title: Equity in Focus: Introducing the New HSD Program Dashboard Prototype
Location: Town & Gown
Presenter(s): Jenna Kivanc (she/her), Marisa McLaughlin (she/her) & Kalera Stratton (she/they) – Homeless Services Department
Presentation Format: Collaborative presentation with discussion
Abstract: The HSD data team is excited to offer a first look at our new program dashboard prototype, launching in FY26. Join us to explore its innovative features including; measuring equitable outcomes across programming. This session will introduce the new tool, offering hands-on experience, and a collaborative space to share potential applications and insights.
**Attendees to this session should bring their laptops to allow full participation
Conference Track(s): Leadership in Challenging Times, Emerging Needs and Opportunities
Link for Virtual Meeting: https://multco-us.zoom.us/j/92231530521?pwd=as7U8WEWq0UezASvFLgXaHIogrEgHH
Session Title: Landlord Engagement Scenarios: Collaboration with Property Partners along the Housing Placement Timeline
**(first of two offerings of this session)
Location: Classroom AC1001
Presenter(s): Casey Kunzat (he/him) – New Narrative, Jason Wilde (he/him) – Housing Connector, Terri Hsieh (they/she) & Destinee Sanchez (she/they) – Homeless Services Department
Presentation Format: Collaborative presentation with discussion
Abstract: The Housing Multnomah Now (HMN) Landlord Engagement partners, including Somali Empowerment Circle (SEC), New Narrative, Immigrant and Refugee Community Organization (IRCO), and Housing Connector, are presenting a collaborative panel presentation and discussion that aims to focus on scenarios that may come up along the housing placement timeline. Representatives from each of our respective agencies will speak on their experiences during the Landlord engagement pilot with a desire to highlight scenarios where creative collaboration between property partners and landlord engagement providers during the various stages of housing placement led to increased housing stability or identified opportunities for growth. The stages along our Housing Timeline cycle would include, Pre-Move-In, Move-In, Post-Move-In, and Renewal/Rehousing/Move Out. Each point in the timeline would have specific scenarios highlighted for discussion with attendees. There will be opportunity for further questions to discuss landlord engagement support and challenges that have arisen within providers. The goal is to increase awareness for engaging with property partners and begin to streamline landlord engagement work across providers, programs, and regions.
Conference Track(s): Frontline Strategies and Best Practices, Emerging Needs and Opportunities
Link for Virtual Meeting: https://multco-us.zoom.us/j/95817437392?pwd=og3wBAiDO9myK83ewPa4w25xU0LgS5.1
Session Title: Pathways Research Project: Leading with Lived Experience
Location: Classroom AC1005
Presenter(s): Kathleen Conte (she/her) Cassie Marusa (she/her), Theodore Hutchinson (he/they) & Fawn Hakert (she/her) – Portland State Homeless Research and Action Collaborative & Doc Ramblings (he/him) – Homeless Services Department
Presentation Format: Panel discussion
Abstract: People who have experienced being unhoused can provide expertise and unique insight into how the homeless system works – or doesn’t – and help to identify needed improvements. The “Pathways through Homelessness” research study is currently exploring how people navigate homelessness in Multnomah County. Researchers at Portland State University have assembled a committee of 17 individuals with various backgrounds who have lived experiences of homelessness. The committee has been working since the beginning of the study to guide, design, and implement this mixed methods research project. The study includes a large-scale survey and in-depth qualitative interviews. In this session, a panel discussion with the project’s lived experience committee members, researchers, and HSD representatives will describe the committee’s work, present early findings, discuss the value of lived experience in informing research, practice, and policy, and answer audience questions.
Conference Track(s): The Power of Lived Experience
Link for Virtual Meeting: https://multco-us.zoom.us/j/91550412214?pwd=llB8mTKeDH3irfRIg2vsVSRhbGY4ar.1
Session Block #2: 10:45am – 12:00pm
Session Title: Cross Sector Case Conferencing: Healthcare and Homeless Services Connections
Location: Vista Dining Room
Presenter(s): Adam Peterson (he/him) – HealthShare of Oregon & Jenny Greenberg (they/she) – Homeless Services Department
Presentation Format: Collaborative presentation with discussion
Abstract: Cross-sector Case Conferencing is a new dedicated space for cross-system collaboration between HSD’s Homeless Services Providers, Health Share of Oregon, other health system partners, and Multnomah County services such as the Behavioral Health Division, Aging, Disability and Veterans Services, and Homeless Services Department staff. Open to those experiencing homelessness or enrolled in the homeless service system (e.g. Permanent Supportive Housing, Rapid Rehousing, etc.) People, aged 55+ are prioritized; all ages can apply. This pilot case conferencing project is part of a larger regional effort called the Regional Integration Continuum (RIC). The RIC is a coordination hub at Health Share for each of our three county’s homeless services divisions, and the development of a data infrastructure that will create more alignment between the healthcare system and the homeless services system. Come learn about this integration and provide feedback on where connection is needed!
Conference Track(s): Frontline Strategies and Best Practices
Link for Virtual Meeting: http://meet.google.com/tci-pbym-bjv
Session Title: That’s Not My Job! -The Unfortunate Misconception That Finance and Program Can’t Work Together
Location: Town & Gown
Presenter(s): Erin Telles (she/her) – NAYA Youth and Family Center & Laura Golino de Lovato (she/her) – Northwest Pilot Project
Presentation Format: Collaborative presentation with discussion
Abstract: We’re all working towards the same goal in our jobs in the housing and homeless services area: to get the best housing outcomes for our clients. While we work together, the ways to do so are different, sometimes different enough that we get stuck in the mindset that “It’s not my job to do xyz” – such as finance staff not being responsible for client qualifications, or direct service staff not being responsible for making the numbers work. But at the end of the day, it’s everyone’s responsibility to serve the community by putting every single contract dollars to work in the most appropriate, allowable, and effective ways regardless of our individual roles.
Conference Track(s): Frontline Strategies and Best Practices, Leadership in Challenging Times
Link for Virtual Meeting: https://multco-us.zoom.us/j/93616300609?pwd=vpGwuGFWMnHWi6vqQoXJGcvRCyBwvN.1
Session Title: Improving Case Manager Housing Search: The Community Hub Training
Location: Classroom AC1001
Presenter(s): June Kissel – Housing Connector
Presentation Format: Collaborative presentation with discussion
Abstract: Housing Connector’s Community Hub is an online platform centralizing over 530 units in Multnomah County that have reduced screening criteria. By improving case manager efficiency, the Hub allows case managers to do what they are best at: supporting clients. Gain access to the Community Hub by joining Housing Connector’s Community Partnership Manager, June Kissel in an interactive training.
Laptops are recommended but not required.
** Please note **: In order to be eligible for this session, you or another agency must be able to provide resident retention support for the first year of their tenancy.
Conference Track(s): Frontline Strategies and Best Practices, Emerging Needs and Opportunities
This session will not be livestreamed or recorded.
Session Title: Non-Exploitative Storytelling
Location: Classroom AC1005
Presenter(s): Jenka Soderberg (she/her) – Homeless Services Department, Nili Yosha (she/her) – Outside the Frame & Nel Taylor (they/he – Umatilla) – Now This Consulting
Presentation Format: Panel discussion
Abstract: Although it is impossible to completely avoid exploitation when sharing someone’s story of their lived experience with homelessness, we work to minimize the impact of sharing these stories. Because sharing personal stories is important to this work – but how can we do this while minimizing harm? This workshop will offer some tools and techniques that we use to minimize the harm of sharing people’s personal stories.
Conference Track(s): The Power of Lived Experience
Link for Virtual Meeting: https://multco-us.zoom.us/j/92301097528?pwd=1VeoJYO1jgqsAifL14o7tNl6U55Uqk.1
Special Drop-In Session: 1:00pm – 4:00pm
Session Title: HRAP 2.0
Location: Jazz Cafe
Presenter(s): Homelessness Response System Team
Presentation Format: Multi-stop engagement
Abstract: Help guide the reorganization and prioritization of the Homelessness Response Action Plan (HRAP). Join the Homelessness Response System team to help build HRAP 2.0! HRAP 2.0 will result in:
Increased transparency by making it easier for stakeholders to track the work.
Identify gaps in the current plan, and what additional actions will need to be taken to have the intended impact on our goals.
Changes to current or new key performance indicators that better track and measure agreed upon outcomes.
Conference Track(s): Emerging Needs and Opportunities
This session will not be livestreamed or recorded.
Session Block #3: 1:15pm – 2:30pm
Session Title: Bridging the Gap: Healthcare, Disability, and Social Support
Location: Vista Dining Room
Presenter(s): Lisa Rose Gagnon (she/her) – Homeless Services Department & Adam Peterson (he/him) – HealthShare of Oregon
Presentation Format: Collaborative presentation with discussion
Abstract: Many individuals within the homelessness response system require healthcare, disability, and social service support in addition to housing navigation and support. This session seeks to encourage collaboration among service providers regarding the needs, access challenges, and available resources for clients (and their providers) throughout the homelessness to housing continuum. The session will include several rotating small group discussions focusing on areas like physical healthcare, specialty care, mental health and substance use services, and long-term in-home care.
Conference Track(s): Frontline Strategies and Best Practices
Link for Virtual Meeting: http://meet.google.com/ihn-suyk-xvb
Presentation Slides Small Group Questions Provider Survey
Session Title: Supporting the Supporters: Organizational Practices That Honor Neurodivergence and Lived Experience
**(note: this session will run until 3:00pm)
Location: Town & Gown
Presenter(s): Krysten Hall (she/her) – WeShine, Katie Cox (they/she) , Madeline Adams (she/they) – Equi Institute, Geoff Moser (he/him – MHAAO & Dawn Duran-Conrad (she/her) – NARA Northwest
Presentation Format: Panel discussion
Abstract: Many social service and housing organizations rely on the strengths of neurodivergent staff and those with lived experience of trauma, housing instability, or marginalization. While these perspectives are invaluable, the support structures in place often fail to meet the complex and diverse needs of the very people driving the work. In this interactive session, panelists will explore how organizational assumptions, limited systems, and one-size-fits-all approaches can inadvertently harm staff—and by extension, the people they serve. Through real-world insights, collaborative strategies, and lived experience, this conversation will offer tools to build trauma-informed, equitable, and sustainable workplace cultures.
Conference Track(s): The Power of Lived Experience, Leadership in Challenging Times
Link for Virtual Meeting: https://multco-us.zoom.us/j/97531200261?pwd=jch7tAaq48OQQ0UfeWRUq7j8wtp9Gm.1
Presentation Slides Group Discussion Handout
Session Title: Rapid Participatory Action Research in Portland Non-Profit Setting
Location: Classroom AC1001
Presenter(s): AJ Fouts (she/her), Rhonda Fraser (she/her), Ty Brown, Susan Halverson (she/her) & Matt Brock (he/him) – Cultivate Initiatives
Presentation Format: Collaborative presentation with discussion
Abstract: Cultivate Initiatives has completed two rounds of program evaluation and improvement using a Participatory Action Research approach, which involves program users as full collaborators in evaluating the programs they have participated in. This has proven to be a viable method of conducting research to understand program performance and inform improvements to our programming, with relatively little time and cost investment. Including program users in all phases of the evaluation – identifying research questions, selecting methods, collecting data, making sense of the data, and presenting the findings – had at least three main benefits. First, it ensured that we were studying aspects of the program that are important to program users. Second, it increased the likelihood that we were collecting data in a way that was comfortable for the program users. Finally, it resulted in practical suggestions for program improvement that have had material impacts on our programs’ quality of service. Other ground-level service providers can utilize this approach to understand their programs in a way that directly involves and empowers community members with lived experience.
Conference Track(s): Frontline Strategies and Best Practices, The Power of Lived Experience
Link for Virtual Meeting: https://multco-us.zoom.us/j/96585007733?pwd=7U34Pjnug0LqL8Oy1LOpBqLBrhW1Vf.1
Session Title: Demystifying The Village Model
**(note: this session will run until 2:45pm)
Location: Classroom AC1005
Presenter(s): Victory LaFara MSW (they/them) & Lisa Larson (she/her) – Dignity Village
Presentation Format: Panel discussion
Abstract: The true foundational principles of the Village Model, created by Dignity Village in 2000, are rooted in democratic structure, mutual aid, professional support, and specialized mobile services. A key element is the authentic empowerment of unhoused individuals, achieved through the legally protected right to vote in their 501c3 and investing in their leadership development to effectively advocate, organize, and take the lead in shaping service systems design for their own needs. To provide a comprehensive understanding, we will be hosting a panel of village experts who will offer an overview of the model. Following this brief presentation, we will have an extensive question and answer session to ensure all attendees gain a clear grasp of the principles and practices involved.
Conference Track(s): Frontline Strategies and Best Practices, The Power of Lived Experience, Leadership in Challenging Times
Link for Virtual Meeting: https://multco-us.zoom.us/j/95610542857?pwd=ccH5JONxjtru3wZKRjR2P2auVfuiUf.1
Session Block #4: 2:45pm – 4:00pm
Session Title: Drop In Discussion
Location: Vista Dining Room
Presenter(s): Informal facilitation by Homeless Service Department staff
Presentation Format: discussion
Abstract: This will be an informal setting for people to discuss their thoughts about the good work and strong partnerships that exist in our homeless response system, despite all the challenges we face.
Conference Track(s): Emerging Needs and Opportunities
This session will not be livestreamed or recorded.
Session Title: Landlord Engagement Scenarios: Collaboration with Property Partners along the Housing Placement Timeline
**(second of two offerings of this session)
Location: Classroom AC1001
Presenter(s): Casey Kunzat (he/him) – New Narrative, Ahlam Osman (she/her) – Somali Empowerment Circle, Jason Wilde (he/him) – Housing Connector, Khadija Sheikh (she/her), Mohamed Amir (he/him) – IRCO, Terri Hsieh (they/she) & Destinee Sanchez (she/they) – Homeless Services Department
Presentation Format: Collaborative presentation with discussion
Abstract: The Housing Multnomah Now (HMN) Landlord Engagement partners, including Somali Empowerment Circle (SEC), New Narrative, Immigrant and Refugee Community Organization (IRCO), and Housing Connector, are presenting a collaborative panel presentation and discussion that aims to focus on scenarios that may come up along the housing placement timeline. Representatives from each of our respective agencies will speak on their experiences during the Landlord engagement pilot with a desire to highlight scenarios where creative collaboration between property partners and landlord engagement providers during the various stages of housing placement led to increased housing stability or identified opportunities for growth. The stages along our Housing Timeline cycle would include, Pre-Move-In, Move-In, Post-Move-In, and Renewal/Rehousing/Move Out. Each point in the timeline would have specific scenarios highlighted for discussion with attendees. There will be opportunity for further questions to discuss landlord engagement support and challenges that have arisen within providers. The goal is to increase awareness for engaging with property partners and begin to streamline landlord engagement work across providers, programs, and regions.
Conference Track(s): Frontline Strategies and Best Practices, Emerging Needs and Opportunities
Link for Virtual Meeting: https://multco-us.zoom.us/j/92138603063?pwd=aYuV5HRmSkeASiEpa7Fb1UBA5UzGia.1