*U.S. Department of Health and Human Services*

*U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development*

*U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs*

*U.S. Department of Labor*

**Improving Access to Mainstream Services for People Experiencing
Chronic Homelessness**

*Olympia, Washington*

*Evergreen College*

## *April 28 - 30, 2004*

**Background Information**

# 

# Resource Persons

Paul Carlson, the Interagency Council on Homelessness Coordinator for
Region X, is responsible for providing coordination and liaison with
State and local governments and Federal agencies in their collective
efforts to combat homelessness in Alaska, Idaho, Oregon, and Washington.
Prior to his appointment, Mr. Carlson served as Strategic Advisor on
homelessness and supportive housing for the City of Seattle, Mayor\'s
Office of Housing. He was responsible for administering the Sound
Families Initiative program funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates
Foundation. This regional program funds housing with supportive services
for families in transition out of homelessness. Previously, he worked
for Harborview Medical Center in Seattle, developing housing resources
for persons with severe mental illness. He has served on numerous local
and regional housing boards, as well as on the National Shelter Plus
Care Steering Committee that advises the Federal Department of Housing
and Urban Development on its national rent subsidy program. Mr. Carlson
received his baccalaureate from Dickinson College, St. Andrews
University, attended Princeton Theological Seminary, and received a
Master of Divinity from Fuller Theological Seminary.

Representative Jeannie Darneille represents the 27^th^ Legislative
District, which encompasses North, Northeast, and East Tacoma, and part
of Fife.  A dedicated community leader, she currently serves on the
boards for Tacoma Community House, the Pierce County Human Services
Coalition, and the Breast Cancer Resource Center.  Jeannie worked for a
decade in colleges and universities before directing non-profit human
services programs at the YWCA and Emergency Food Network.  She has
served as the Pierce County AIDS Foundation Executive Director since
1989.  She received her Bachelor or Arts from Western Washington
University and her Master of Education from Colorado State University.

Deborah Dennis, M.A. is Vice President for Technical Assistance at
Policy Research Associates in Delmar, New York. She is the project
manager on PRA's contracts and subcontracts related to homelessness and
housing, including the National Resource Center on Homelessness and
Mental Illness (since 1988), the Health Care for the Homeless
Information Resource Center (since 1996), the CMHS Supported Housing
Initiative, the CMHS/CSAT Homeless Families Program, and the PATH
Technical Assistance Program. She has written extensively on the housing
and support service needs of persons who have been homeless and who have
behavioral health disorders. Prior to joining PRA in 1988, she worked as
a research scientist in the New York State Office of Mental Health,
where she evaluated programs for people with serious mental illnesses
who were homeless.

Jamie Hart, Ph.D., M.P.H., Practice Area Director at Health Systems
Research, Inc., has vast experience in training, technical assistance,
facilitation, systems integration, curriculum design, evaluation, and
cultural competency. Dr. Hart's work has consistently focused on
integrating systems and improving access to health care for underserved
populations, particularly for certain racial and ethnic populations,
persons facing co-occurring disorders, and persons who are homeless. In
her role as Project Director for the Homeless Policy Academies, she
facilitated Federal Interagency Planning Committee efforts, designed and
facilitated pre-Academy site visits for a majority of the 45 States and
Territories involved in the project, served as a State team facilitator
at the meetings, currently manages the day-to-day operations for the
contract and coordinates the provision of technical assistance to all
participating States. Dr. Hart also served as the Deputy Project
Director of Substance Abuse and Infectious Disease: Cross-Training for
Collaborative Systems of Prevention, Treatment and Care, a collaborative
project funded by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services
Administration\'s Center for Substance Abuse Treatment, the Centers for
Disease Control and Prevention, and the Health Resources and Services
Administration, providing resources for training, technical assistance,
and systems integration to infectious disease, substance abuse, mental
health, and public health practitioners. Dr. Hart holds a Master of
Public Health in health behavior and health education, and both a Master
of Arts and Ph.D. in African American history.

W. Walter Liang was appointed by U.S. Secretary of Labor Elaine L. Chao
as her representative for Region X covering the States of Washington,
Oregon, Idaho and Alaska due to his extensive experience working with
diverse communities.

Prior to being named Department of Labor Representative, Liang was a
Congressional appointee to the U.S. Census Monitoring Board as the
western regional representative. He also served in California as a
gubernatorial appointee and liaison to the Asian community. Under
President George H. W. Bush, he was appointed to the Small Business
Administration. He was also appointed to serve as Assistant State
Treasurer for the State of California. Liang has served six years on the
National Board of Governors of the American Red Cross.

In addition to a number of private sector leadership positions, Liang
served in the U.S. Army during the Vietnam War, has been a member of
numerous boards and advisory councils, and has received various awards
for his work in public service. Liang is a graduate of California State
University at Sacramento.

Chris Oliver, M.S.W., is the Veterans Integrated Service Network (VISN)
20 Homeless Coordinator.  The States that are included in VISN 20 are
Alaska, Idaho, Oregon and Washington. In this area Mr. Oliver is
responsible for the coordination, grant oversight and outcomes
management of VA funded Homeless programs at eight VA Hospitals and in
the four-state area.  Mr. Oliver has been working with homeless veterans
since the inception of the Health Care for Homeless Veterans (HCHV)
program in 1987 in Walla Walla, Washington. The primary mission of the
HCHV programs is to end homelessness among veterans, one veteran at a
time. Currently, the VA, through the continuum of services offered in
its homeless programs, offers residential and rehabilitation services to
over one thousand veterans in VISN 20 everyday. Chris has been employed
by the Department of Veterans affairs for the past 23 years. He received
his Bachelor of Arts from Washington State University and his Master of
Social Work from Eastern Washington University. He is a member of the
Washington State Coalition for the Homeless, the Walla Walla County
Homeless Coalition and serves as a board member for various community
service organizations.

Tom Pearson currently serves as the Director Veterans Employment and
Training Service, U. S. Department of Labor. He was born in Washington
and has lived within thirty miles of Olympia most of his life. A
graduate of William Winlock Miller High School, Tom served three years
in the Army. He was hired by the Department of Labor Veterans Employment
and Training Service (VETS) in 1991 to serve as Assistant Director of
the VETS program in Washington State. In 1999, he was promoted to the
position of Director.

The VETS National Office funds grants to assist homeless veterans with
employment and training needs. The funds for housing are very limited
since VETS is a division of the U. S. DOL and mandated by law and
Congress to provide employment programs. At this time VETS funds three
homeless programs in Washington State.

In his spare time, Tom volunteers as a soccer coach and enjoys the
company of his grandchildren.

Jack Peters serves as Director of Community Planning and Development for
the Seattle Regional Office of the Department of Housing and Urban
Development. His responsibilities include management and administration
of HUD's Community Planning and Development Programs in the State of
Washington. These programs include formula awards such as the Community
Development Block Grant, HOME Investment Partnership, Housing
Opportunity for Persons with Aids and the Emergency Shelter Grants.

Jack also manages several competitive grant programs including the
McKinney Act Supportive Housing for Homeless Persons (Transitional and
Permanent), Shelter Plus Care and SRO Moderate Rehabilitation. This
portfolio encompasses nine Continuum of Care Planning Organizational
units that assist over 300 homeless projects. This provides an annual
award level of \$30 million.

Jack has served as a HUD Representative to the State Advisory Council on
Homelessness since its inception, as well as other Statewide policy
advisory boards involving economic development, environmental quality,
community planning and affordable housing and technical assistance.

Prior to accepting the Seattle position, Jack worked in HUD Offices in
Chicago, Illinois; Detroit, Michigan and Milwaukee, Wisconsin.

Senator Debbie Regala from the 27th Legislative District is a life-long
resident of Tacoma, Washington. Debbie is actively involved in the
community. She has served on numerous boards and committees in the
Tacoma/Pierce County Area. Currently, Debbie is a member of the Board of
Directors of the Sexual Assault Center of Pierce County and the
Tacoma/Pierce County Chapter of the American Leadership Forum. She also
serves as a member of the Board of Directors of the Nature Conservancy
of Washington.

Since her election to the Senate, she has served on the following
committees: Children and Family Services, Corrections; Natural
Resources, Energy and Water, and Ways and Means. Senator Regala is also
a member of the Legislative Ethics Board, the Joint Legislative Audit
and Review Committee, and the Select Committee on Pension Policy. In
addition, she also serves on the Washington Council for the Prevention
of Child Abuse and Neglect as well as the Correctional Industries Board.

Debbie graduated from the University of Puget Sound with a degree in
foreign languages and education. She and her husband, Leo, have three
children and two granddaughters.

David M. Wertheimer, M.S.W., M.Div., Principal Consultant with Kelly
Point Partners (KP2), has worked in a variety of capacities in the human
services arena for more than two decades. KP2 works to improve the lives
of persons living with multiple disabilities and promote increased
effectiveness and efficiency among public and private sector service
systems. KP2 provides consultation, training and technical assistance on
a broad range of human service system issues, with a focus on systems
integration initiatives involving mental health, chemical
dependency/substance abuse and criminal justice systems. Between 1990
and 2000, Mr. Wertheimer served in King County (Seattle, Washington)
government developing and managing mental health services for persons
with chronic and severe mental illnesses. From 1993 to 1997 he directed
the King County ACCESS Project, a federally funded research and
demonstration project focused on homelessness and mental illness. From
1997 to 2000, Mr. Wertheimer oversaw the integration of King County\'s
mental health and substance abuse treatment systems as Systems
Integration Administrator for the [Department of Community and Human
Services](http://www.metrokc.gov/dchs/). In this capacity he developed a
[regional initiative](http://www.metrokc.gov/dchs/mhd/excellence.htm) to
promote excellence in public sector services.

As a clinician, Mr. Wertheimer has developed sub-specialties in working
with sexual minorities and counseling persons experiencing
post-traumatic stress. He served as Executive Director of the New York
City Gay and Lesbian [Anti-Violence Project](http://www.avp.org/) (AVP)
from 1985 to 1990, establishing the first clinical services on the east
coast for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender survivors of
bias-related violence, sexual assault and domestic abuse. The AVP
remains the largest social service agency in the United States providing
specialized services to lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender crime
victims. Mr. Wertheimer is a graduate of Haverford College, Yale
University Divinity School and the University of Connecticut School of
Social Work. He serves on numerous boards and advisory groups, including
the Board of Directors of the Downtown Emergency Service Center
(Seattle), Christopher Housing (Seattle), and Enquiry, Inc. (Langley,
WA).

Carol Wilkins, M.P.P. is the Director of Intergovernmental Policy with
the Corporation for Supportive Housing, where she works to develop and
support the implementation of policy solutions to end long-term
homelessness for people who have complex health needs and multiple
barriers to employment. She has more than 20 years of experience in
public finance, human services and policy work, including work with the
California Legislature's Office of the Legislative Analyst, the State
Assembly Ways and Means Committee, as Deputy Mayor of Finance in San
Francisco, and as Finance Director for the San Francisco Housing
Authority. She is the author of "Building a Model Managed Care System
for Homeless Adults with Special Needs: the Health, Housing and
Integrated Services Network" in *Current Issues in Public Health* and
co-author of the chapter "Making Homeless Programs Accountable to
Consumers, Funders and the Public," presented at the 1998 National
Symposium on Homelessness Research and published by HUD and the U.S.
Department of Health and Human Services. She was a member of the expert
panel convened by the General Accounting Office on homelessness and
barriers to using mainstream programs.

Phyllis Wolfe, M.A., L.C.S.W. is a Special Expert in the Homeless
Programs Branch, Center for Mental Health Services, Substance Abuse and
Mental Health Services Administration, U.S. Department of Health and
Human Services. She has over 25 years of direct work in support of
individuals that are homeless that includes policy, program, practice,
research and advocacy.