And I will hand it off to you, Erica. All right. Yeah. Thank you Chelsea. All right, I'm not seeing any hands up or anything in the chat as of yet. So we are moving you are. We are moving through this agenda pretty fast today. So I guess I'm gonna lean to my next presenters right now we are scheduled to have a quick break. But I know it's only like 220 to 22 or so. So if we want to move forward, just let me know presenters if we need a second, together ourselves and prepare, we can we can do that.
Madam Chair, I would recommend we go on and take the break so that we can allow all of the presenters to assemble. Okay, but the next section
sounds good. So at this point, we will take about a five minute break. So we can be back here in five minutes. That will be great. And hopefully we'll have everyone ready to go and all of our presenters presenter excuse me here. So we'll take a five minute break. At this time and we'll see you all back shortly.
Thank you.
Thank you all for your patience. Just give us just a couple more minutes.
All right, everyone. Thank you. Thank you for your patience. We are going to jump back in all right. And I am going to turn it over, I believe either to Dr. Curly or Tasha Gray. I'm gonna turn it over to both of you all rather. And go ahead and we can start discussing our 2024 board elections.
Awesome. Thank you, Miss George, and good afternoon to everyone. We want to first just frame this conversation about the elections by transparently and intentionally saying that we're going to take some really deliberate time to talk about the elections to talk about the issue brief that was said and to talk about our norms as a body as a COC. This is a passionate issue. There have been some very passionate discussions over the last several weeks. People have been offended people have been silenced. People have been concerned and all of it rightfully so. But as a continuum. of care, where our stakeholders are folks who depend upon us to operate at our maximum capacity of professionalism, and transparency and authenticity and respect. We really need to take this time now to intentionally dive into the board elections. Talk about the circumstances that have surrounded those elections, and hopefully emerge from this moving forward as a cohesive body so that we're able to are you able to hear Can you all hear me Yes. All right. All right. Excellent. So that we're able to move forward cohesively serving our stakeholders, who depend upon us to be able to rise above our own personal differences and experiences and find the best pathway forward so that they can be housed and stable and live their best qualities of life. So we are intentionally going to stop the process. Take a look at these board elections, take a look at our behavior toward one another, and hopefully emerge together as a cohesive whole. So to that extent, I also want to share in leaning into the idea of respectful conversation. We do have our staff who will be muting individuals, if the comments become an inflammatory disrespectful, full of expletives that are that that create unsafe spaces. We certainly welcome authentic transparent discussion, where we should be able to disagree respectfully, and try to arrive at consensus. So if we all could just lean into that. We're all in social service profession. For that reason, we all have stepped up to want to serve those who are homeless or at risk of homelessness, because we believe in the issue. So let's really try to lean into that as our main focus as we move forward forward through this conversation. That said next slide. We just wanted to publicly acknowledge here because I think this is the first time since we've all been together, that an issue brief was sent to all of your attention. It was released on Monday, January 29 2024. We did send that to the entire COC board and the general board membership. We felt it important to be able to share a transparent brief was discussed all of the steps that have been taken to around to resolve conflicts around the 2024 board elections. The intention of this brief was to allow anyone who had questions about what had been done by the COC with regard to elections to give them context and additional information to both RCOC partners. Here on the board, and all those who participated in the general membership and that it should be brief that you received, there was a summary of all the steps taken to try to resolve the conflicts and concerns. There was an overview of the existing governance Charter, which talked about we talked about that even today, the timelines for doing that, and what also exists in the charter regarding board seats and how people are seated and bedded for those seats. As a reminder of the principles of our work that we are here to serve those who are homeless and at risk first and that housing first guides us and then our vision is to ensure that you know homelessness is brief and non reoccurring. And to do that we all need to be functioning as a cohesive whole. And then we also shared in that issue brief what the next steps are to continue to lean into resolving the issues that surround the 2045 election. So that issue brief was received, hopefully by all if you don't have that, please drop a private message to Chelsea in the chat. And now we'd like to move on to a discussion about the principles of our work which will be led by director grant.
Good afternoon, everybody. And thank you Dr. Curley. So I would like to share a few things with you as Dr. Curley introduced the topic also just kind of sharing with you some areas in which we had to lean in to as we navigated this issue, right. So as an executive director of an agency, I often tell my staff when a answer is not always clear or in black and white. That when when it's not black and white, that we have to lean into what our mission is, and what our vision is, and what the values are of our organization. So as a continuum of care board. We're a little bit different than an agency in an organization, right. But similar to any kind of agency or organization, we do have the values and principles that guide the work that we do. And although we may not as a collective, be a direct service provider, we do have to lean into the values and principles that impact the the folks that are ultimately receiving the services that our service providers are issuing. Right. And so one of those same principles is housing first, and I'm sure for many of our homeless service providers who are a part of this COC board. You already know what Housing First is, right? So it doesn't require an explanation from me. If you are already a service provider, you're leaning into it, but as a board member, especially if you're a board member who is not maybe providing direct services, this may be a good time for a refresher and so I will do so as you can see here, you all know that our work is federally mandated. And as such, we oversee COC funding, and we also work alongside the city of Detroit and the Michigan State Housing Development to oversee and administer some of the ESG funding. And so that means that our work then is governed by the principles of Housing First. And so what is Housing First, it is a recovery oriented evidence based philosophy as it says here that recognize housing is a basic human right, and that people are better equipped to make progress in their lives if they have a safe, stable place to live. Housing First recognizes that homelessness is first and foremost a housing crisis, which can be addressed and resolved by providing safe affordable housing. And it recognizes it as a basic human right. Um, so these protections are extended to all persons experiencing homelessness. Tasha, can you stop for a minute Chelsea Can you boot Correll brown out of here now.
Thank you, thank you. And please know that we will boot or mute anyone who was causing disruption to this meeting going forward. All right. Um, so as I was saying, these protections are extended to all persons who are experiencing homelessness and regardless of what background that they may come from, as system leaders the COC board is held to the same standards, as our COC programs and as we are directing policy and programming are required to lean into some of those principles of housing first, which you know, require of us to be inclusive, and to make sure that as we design our programs, or we design policies that govern those programs, that they are not discriminatory and that they are not exclusionary in any way. Um, we also have to lean into our our vision. And so if you go to our next slide. So the Detroit COC vision is, as it states here on the slide that the Detroit Continuum of Care vision is a collective response to prevent an end homelessness, grounded and racial equity, where the system is led by people who are experiencing homelessness and who reflect the community. Members of the community rarely experienced homelessness, and when they do, it's for a short time, and only once homelessness and housing priorities. are intentionally aligned for housing security, housing and services are rooted in dignity as evidenced by the vision above. Our COC has committed to centering people with lived experience in system leadership and decision making. And our system is committed to minimizing barriers for persons experiencing homelessness. So these are just some of our I've ever shared with you some of the principles that govern the work that we do and also the vision that governs the work that we do as well. And now I will hand things over to our interim chair, and is Morgan.
Good afternoon, everyone. Thank you, Tasha. Thank you, Dr. Curly, and for everyone who has gone before me. I apologize again for my tardiness. I had a commitment that I could not miss. A board member agreement I want I want to preface this conversation with the acknowledgement that everyone that is a part of this board is a part of this board. Because of a desire that you have expressed to affect change in the climate of homelessness. You're here whether you represent an organization whether you're a member at large whether you're a partner, who provides funding you're here for the collective good of our community, for all of the people who present for the services. We come to this body with an understanding that collectively, if we work together we can affect that change. Part of that coming together means we come together with like mindedness with the same purpose with men. It doesn't mean that we're clones of each other because I'm pretty amazing. So everybody can't be me, but you can be you and what you bring is is is just as essential to our success as the next person and what they bring. The reason that we we we all felt the need to share some of the things we're talking about today. Is is because we're in a climate that we have never been in before. We know that homelessness is is diverse, we know that it's an epidemic. It's unfair, it's unhuman and that we are gathered together to change that dynamic. We're here to do whatever we can our hearts are in the right places. That That being said, we want to continue in that vein, we want to we want to have the voices and the power and the commitment to confront all in justices as they face us. No matter what it is. We're we're committed with that type of people that type of group, but when we do that, we must do that with respect and integrity and and common ground. You know just what happened today. You all on this meeting. So you just saw the the inappropriateness of what this climate has brought. I have been involved with the COC since 1998. And I have never experienced what we have experienced in the last six months. I can't tell you what happened homelessness as has been wrong for that many years. We have been fighting for that many years. But there's an element present. That isn't an element that's conducive to what we're trying to do. So I surely appreciate all of you you all are so invaluable, and we appreciate your time, your energy, and we want to protect that and you should not have to witness what we just witnessed. You should not have to be a part of it. But it happens and we move on and we do what we have to do even in light of these things that are unfortunate. And these things that are just not right. So I want to talk about first of all, thank you for giving me that that opportunity to share some of my thoughts with you. Most of you don't know but when you gave me the mic, I just kind of added new some things. I appreciate your indulgence of that board member agreement upon becoming a part of the getting your board term. Our board members are asked to sign the board member agreement, which outlines key responsibilities and expectations of board service. And most of it I think we're in that climate right now that we have been receiving them. Hopefully we have signed them and return them to Chelsea. A part of that commitment talks about a commitment to listen to value to utilize the experience and contribution of people who are or have experienced homelessness as equal partners. There are no hierarchies here we're all on the team together, cooperate with and respect the opinions of fellow board members and leaving personal prejudices out of all board discussions, as well as supporting actions of the board even when the board member personally did not support that action taken. Putting the interests of the COC system above your organization you know wearing those different hats switching them all when you have to and personal interests. And ensure respect and courteous conduct and all COC meetings. That's what we signed. Do we do we hope do we all meet that? Do we all adhere to that? I'm gonna I'm gonna venture to say no, we haven't all been as we haven't all adhere to that as we should. The Executive Board and the CLC board plans to develop a code of conduct to complement the existing board member agreement. We have to have a space this is important work. This is hard work sometimes emotional, sometimes heavy. Sometimes, trickery can be triggering To some it could be and we need to have an environment that's conducive for us to be transparent. But that environment should also hold trust. It should be a safe space. It shouldn't be one that I can bear some things to you and not feel targeted or or it should just be free. And we want to be able to to not stop our own growth. Not being free. We want to be free. Can you go to the next slide please? A survey from understanding the intersections I'm I'm going to stop there. I don't know who else is going to come forward. But just let me say again. I am so proud of what we've been able to do. Over the years. We have not seen been successful in all of our endeavors. But we've tried, and that's even a success within itself. I believe we all are in the right headspace. Everybody's here. I think you want to be here. I think you are you're dedicated to this work. Let us let us do some things together when we don't want each other and we trust there. This must be a therapeutic environment when we can trust each other and we can trust each other disagree. You don't have to agree with everything said and done and shape, form or fashion. You just got to support you just got to be there and bring your ideals and your suggestions. But do it in a way that's conducive to the environment that we would want everyone to feel safe in. And I personally apologize if this environment hasn't always felt safe. We are not perfect individuals. But we are trying. And that's all we asked you to do. help pull us up when we need to be pulled up. But do that in love and do that and respect. So I just really thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you, Sarah. Thank you for that note understanding the intersections between homelessness and criminal history. A survey from the Michigan State Housing Development Authority. They released that they released reveal that 4 million Michiganders have a criminal conviction of some type some kind excuse me, people with conviction here histories and Michigan faced the highest levels of housing discrimination. That is so true. 63% of Michigan landlords indicate that criminal records have been a factor in denying tenancy. You know we represent all people who are homeless. We can't pick and choose who we're going to serve. We can we can serve people with dignity and respect. And that's what we're called to do people who are in these predicaments present with trauma beyond some what some of us will never understand. But what we can do is be empathetic and we can be there to support them. And I hope that these words and this presentation has landed on your heart and not chained because we're trying to get your heart today. And we're trying to we try to present ourselves in a way to say we need each other. If we're going to do this and we're gonna affect the change we're trying to make. We need each other. Even when we fall short. We still need support. Thank you all for your time and sharing and listening to our presentation today. I know that some of you may have questions and even comments, let me let me say this. We've been in a climate where we send out emails, yay good or bad and we don't respond. I think that's an indication that it's not a safe space, right? We want you to be able to respond. We want you to be able to come in and we want to be able to change the directory of homelessness in our community. And we do that hand in hand, arm and arm side by side. I am going to now segue it maybe before we go into and I apologize if I'm late. Erica thank you as the secretary for
for going forward with the meeting today. It's very appreciative thank you for that. And I'm since I'm late coming in. I don't know everything we've decided to do. So I'm gonna I'm going to turn it back over into the hands of Erica, who was our presiding facilitator of the day. Erica, has there anything been decided? Do we go straight into public comment or do we have opportunity here? I don't see many hands so maybe we don't have many hands.
Yeah, I don't see any hands right now. I'm not seeing much in our chat right now.
Thank you, sir.
Thank you. And I do see some public comment.
Great so we can get our hands
around. Okay. And yes. So, Tara, we want to go first.
Yeah, I think this was a great presentation. It really gave me something to think about and what I thought about is ... we havin' a whole presentation to try to justify putting a child rapist on the board. However, we've had homeless people come in here and complain. We've had people on the board complain. I have constantly raised the way people have been treated in the shelter. We'd never come together and put as much focus into dealing with those things. As we have with this. This keeps being an ongoing conversation. And we are being soft peddled into making it okay for a child rapist to be on the board. Again, if I am to believe the victim, they were victimized that I am also to believe the victim. This person also potentially sexually assaulted their foster child. I get it when there's the domestic violence. Yes, Housing First. I understand all of that. And I do also understand that there are people who have been convicted of crimes. There are some sitting on the board right this minute, but it's not to call them out. And we don't need to do background checks. But we need to be, quote, intentional. When we say you know what some things are, you know, we don't let you do it four or five times. But then there are some things where we have to draw the line and it is so inappropriate. Even if we just take away the fat, the child right let's talk about the lies, just the continuing of lying to this bloody and we're gonna keep saying that it is okay. And then when you have the opportunity to present and tell the world that you've been exonerated, like you lied to us and told us here it was I need to make a statement. This board needs to make a statement that some stuff we're just not gonna put up with. And we need to move this along to the business of taking care of the homeless people and we can still do that without sitting in concert with a child rapist. And I guess that's where I get lost. Because we say we are here to advocate for everybody. However, we're advocating for the sex offender, but we're not advocating for the people in the shelter that are not being heard. There was never a meeting convened like this for anybody to explain why these organizations are giving raises to directors and CEOs. Meanwhile, they still have the same number of beds as they've always had, and nothing is moving forward with homeless people. There's never been a meeting to say we are going to demand that these organizations, not say things to homeless people like you are lucky to be here and you need to grab this mop and clean up even though we're getting paid to do it and you're not. But again, we never have these meetings and these ongoing conversations. About treatment. I'm now being lied to by the mayor about the housing crisis and how things are looking up here, but they really aren't. People are being sent to shelter because they can't afford to pay their housing and they're forced into eviction. We're not having these long conversations, which is what we shouldn't be having. We're constantly having this long. drawn out conversation to keep a sex offender on this board. It's not appropriate. We need to remove him today. And again, we can still service sex offenders without having them sitting in concert with us on the board. And I don't know what it was that happened that somebody got removed. But somebody just was like, oh, because they said something. The sex offender being on the board. We cannot go through this the next 12 months of outrage public coming in here to complain. There needs to be a line drawn in the sand. You cannot lie to us. You lied on your application. You came in here and continue to lie after the fact if anybody else on this board had lied, especially this many times they'd have been removed without discussion. go so far as to say if this was a black man, I believe wouldn't have even gotten on the board with the same credentials and the same amount of lies. This is ridiculous. It doesn't require it doesn't require a continued conversation. We need to take care of it today and move on to what's really important which is servicing homeless people and getting them out of the shelter. Thank you.
Tara, thank you for your comment. I would like your your comment. I would like to say in response that there is a lot of work that's being done Tara and all of it does not come to the to our board meeting. There are there's committee work. There are committees that work in, in doing a lot of the things that you mentioned, I don't want to negate what they've done their time and their energy. Some of it does not rise to this level. That's something maybe we can look at, but work is definitely being done. And I'm sure before I get on that there was some conversation as far as the issue that you mentioned that it is ongoing, and no one wants to keep talking about it and believe me you we would all like to move forward but there is a process. And there is a legal process. There is a jest process, and we were going to follow that process, which is the reason we gained legal counsel. So I think everything you've said we have we have tried earnestly to respond to those things and we will continue to keep trying to do so. Thank you again, Shannon. Hello, so hello yes, ma'am.
Yes. Um, I just wanted to bring into focus that all of you are in fiduciary and Trustee positions regarding the federal funding and state funding and making decisions on where that gets put here. When you're in those capacities, your moral, ethical and professional background is the utmost highest responsibility. And if you have someone, no matter what type of charge it is, that is willing to lie or falsify information or withhold a secure position that is leaning towards that they're willing to be deceptive in their other aspects of their lives. If there wasn't a problem with it. Then you know, you you would you would tell people about it, you would be forthcoming and you would disclose that information to the people so that way you don't have a situation like this going on. So I just want to kind of, you know, bring it back to that fiduciary and Trustee capacity. And that'll take away all the emotional aspects from all these, you know, special interests that you know, each individual has and wants to exercise and leaving that outside of the board. When you focus in on that Fiduciary Trust, title, titles and responsibilities, then it makes the decision more clear about where you've got to go with that. So I just, I'm trying to observe everything and I, I'm willing to give more time to see what the board comes up with with their governance charter in that code of conduct and what that looks like. But it definitely needs to be addressed. You can't leave what has happened. in limbo, and act like Word, you know, it's just kind of sit on people. So you have to come up with something and it can't take a long time since this. This issue is been going on for a little while now. So you know, I think that would be the most highest focus and and also listening to what attorneys are telling you, but also understand that you can research and look up what these lawful words in yourself. You know, we all are supposed to understand the simplicity of the law. It's common sense to us is not supposed to be complicated where we have to ask bar members what we need to do. So I appreciate what bar members have to say but nine times out of 10 They're giving unlawful advice to people. I hope that's not the case with this board. But I look forward to seeing what happens. So thank you,
I can't remember the lady who spoke before me. But I did want to just Shannon, that was her name. Thank you, Shannon. I did want to say that when it comes to the funding that this board kind of oversees, it is all competition based and none of it is subjective. So no one member makes a decision on who gets funded. Its competition is done by application and performance rating. So I just wanted to share that maybe that's something we can if everybody's not clear, maybe that's something we can talk about in the future. as well. So we're all clear on how that how, how that happens. Thank you had someone else for public comment? I'm not sure I see a hand but I think there was, but Lydia Goddard would be next. Hey, everyone, I think we need to time here hopefully won't be very long. I just wanted to, I guess express as as a person who's in youth spaces, and as a youth provider, this issue is, you know, definitely concerning. I've received quite a bit of information from a lot of different sources and decided to kind of just sit inward with that and and kind of see how things play out as, as we go back to our mission and vision and values. And as we're like, trying to navigate this kind of something that hasn't come up before, right. So like this is new for us. And I think we need to recognize that. I think everyone's kind of like okay, this is concerning. We do need to come up with a process, but we do need to do it in a way that's like everyone mentioned equitable, legal, following protocols. And maybe that means we need to, I think we have some meetings, scheduled to discuss what that protocol is and can that be changed. But just also recognizing that, like, the integrity of the board is so important, and I'm a new board member, right? So I was elected in the same cohort or whatever you want to call it. And when this issue came up, I'm not gonna lie there was a little bit of like, okay, well, if I got this position, and this is just something that we can do, or people can do, and that's not an integrity, that's not a shared value. So looking at that, but for me, I think what would make me feel most comfortable is knowing, like a clear process of like what I know you've explained a little bit, but like what is being done? What is the timeline for that? I'm just so we're not sitting with this. This is an issue. This is an issue and there's no clear defined outcome for us. And I think for those of us who are feeling like this is something maybe sitting on our connoisseur making us feel uncomfortable in our bodies, knowing that there's something happening and a clear definition of what that is and what that timeline is, I think might help. Some of us feel like okay, something's happening. We are addressing this and whatever the outcome is, that it's done in a way that we all agree and feel comfortable with, at least with the process. I'm sure there's some defined stuff out there but I just for me, would help me to know what is actually being done in like a more clear way. And that's all I had. Thanks.
Doctor currently, I apologize and I degress it seems like we went into public confidence. So maybe we should put that I can't remember the lady who spoke before me. But I did want to just Shannon, that was her name. Thank you, Shannon. I did want to say that when it comes to the funding that this board kind of oversees, it is all competition based and none of it is subjective. So no one member makes a decision on who gets funded. Its competition is done by application and performance rating. So I just wanted to share that maybe that's something we can if everybody's not clear, maybe that's something we can talk about in the future. as well. So we're all clear on how that how, how that happens. Thank you had someone else for public comment? I'm not sure I see a hand but I think there was,
Thank you so very much for your comment. Dr. Curly, was there anyone else I thank you for your commitment to the board.
I know you're new and we appreciate you appreciate your time and your energy I'm sorry, I don't hear you Dr. Carew. I don't have any other names and chat. Okay. Okay. Well, I think the business has been taken care of. Again, we thank you for your time for all those who come in today too. I just got a message from Chelsea that only a little over a half of us signed and it's very important, especially if you're a board member to make sure that your your commitment is counted. So please sign in if you have not done so this is an open meeting. So we understand that other people may be here. But please sign in so we can share with you any follow ups or any messages that may come as a result of our conversation here today. We appreciate all of you truly we do. We hope to move forward in this space with more transparency as I've heard some of you say, and we'll continue to do the best that we possibly can to represent the people that we have been put in charge to represent thank you so very much. And I'm going to take the onus to say we're going to officially calls this meeting to end you have your early today. so you got a couple of minutes to do some more work from wherever you are. Thank you so much. I think we got another message please make sure that you see it in the from from brands. just make sure that you read that Thank you all and enjoy the rest of your day. Thank you.
