Preble Street Conference on Homelessness:
Solutions Start with ME
Homelessness is a crisis and is continuing to escalate throughout Maine. This crisis is driven by a wide range of complex factors including a lack of affordable housing and accessible emergency shelter, minimal shelter funding, an increase in unsheltered individuals, and rising numbers of people needing support for managing substance use disorders and behavioral health issues.
New effective strategies and systemic changes are needed to meet the growing challenges in Maine. This 2nd Conference, Solutions Start with ME, provides an opportunity to hear from leaders doing similar work in other parts of the country. Through collective action, we hope to have greater impact for the most vulnerable people in our community. This year’s event will take place on Thursday, October 17, 2024 at the Holiday Inn By the Bay, in Portland, ME.
Join Preble Street, the Atlantic Charitable Fund, and other key stakeholders from throughout the state – state and local government, nonprofits, faith leaders, funders, people with lived experience, and business leaders – to collectively focus on critical solutions for Maine to tackle this growing issue.
At this one-day event in Portland, you will hear from leaders from across the United States about what has and has not worked in their communities and discuss how these strategies can be applied in communities across Maine.
8:00 a.m. Arrival/breakfast
9:00 a.m. Welcome – Mark Swann, Executive Director, Preble Street
9:30 a.m. Keynote Speaker – Jeff Olivet, Executive Director, United States Interagency Council on Homelessness (USICH)
Break: 10:15-10:30 a.m.
Morning Plenary: 10:30 a.m-11:45 a.m.
Innovative Solutions & Effective Strategies from beyond Maine
Facilitator: Jeff Olivet, Executive Director, USICH
Panelists:
- Noah Fay, Director of Housing Programs, DESC (Downtown Emergency Services Center), Seattle, WA
- Joel Givens, Landlord Engagement Specialist and Retired Policeman, Rockford, IL
- Kelly King Horne, Executive Director, Homeward, Richmond, VA
- Hannah Sims, Crisis Systems Manager, Housing Forward, Dallas, TX
- Grover Weyman-Brown, Narrative Specialist, Housing Narrative Lab, Washington, DC
12-1 p.m. Lunch/Networking
1-2:30 p.m. Workshops 1&2
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Workshop #1 Funding Solutions to Homelessness with Maine’s Continuum of Care Facilitator: Erin Kelly, Senior Director of Social Work, Preble Street Panelists:
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Workshop #2 How Maine Will Reach Its Housing First Goals & End Chronic Homelessness Facilitator: Dana Totman, Consultant & former CEO of Avesta Housing Panelists:
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2:30-2:45 p.m. Break
2:45-4:15 p.m. – Workshops 3&4
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Workshop #3 Unsheltered Homelessness: How Other Communities are Solving It Facilitator: Courtney Pladsen, MaineCare Medical Director, State of Maine Speakers:
Facilitated Roundtable Discussion:
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Workshop #4 Meeting the Need for Shelter Using Sustainable Business Models Facilitator: Terence Miller, Advocacy Director, Preble Street Panelists:
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4:15-4:30 p.m. Closing Remarks
| Early Bird registration | (expires Friday, September 20, 2024) | $99 |
| Regular registration | (prior to October 16, 2024) | $129 |
| Onsite registration | $149 |
We want this event to be accessible to everyone. If cost is a barrier to attending or if you’d like information about group discounts for your organization, please reach out to us.
If you’re an organization who would like to sponsor this event, get involved with the work of Preble Street, and empower people experiencing problems with homelessness, housing, hunger, and poverty, please follow the link below. You can also email us at conference@preblestreet.org. Please sign up by 8/30/2024 to ensure you receive full sponsorship benefits.
Learn more about our keynote speaker Jeff Olivet, Executive Director of the U.S. Interagency Council
In his leadership role at USICH, Olivet is responsible for ensuring that federal agencies use their programs and investments to end homelessness in the most strategic and collaborative ways, focusing on proven, effective, and efficient interventions. In addition to his past work as a street outreach worker, a family case manager, and a supportive housing coordinator, Olivet is the founder of Racial Equity Partners and the former CEO of the Center for Social Innovation.
Creating a better shelter system, housing, advocacy, and health care services are just a few of the topics that will be discussed throughout the day. As a sponsor of this conference, you’ll be directly supporting these important conversations and the impacts that result from this day. Follow the link below to register at one of the available sponsorship levels or email us at conference@preblestreet.org to start a conversation! To ensure you receive full sponsorship benefits, sign up by August 30, 2024!
Premier Sponsor
- Your organization’s name and logo listed on the event program and online agenda as the Premier sponsor.
- Your organization’s name mentioned from the conference podium during opening remarks.
- Ten registrations to the conference.
- Plus, all benefits listed in Exhibitor plus.
Equity & Accessibility Sponsor
- Your organization’s name and logo listed on the event program and online agenda as the Premier sponsor.
- Your organization’s name mentioned from the conference podium during opening remarks.
- Ten registrations to the conference.
- Plus, all benefits listed in Exhibitor plus.
Experience Sponsor
- Your organization’s name and logo listed on the event program and online agenda as the sponsor of your chosen conference experience.
- Your organization’s name mentioned from the conference podium as the sponsor of that session.
- Plus, all benefits listed in Exhibitor plus
Session Sponsor
- Your organization’s name and logo listed on the event program and online agenda as the sponsor of your chosen conference session.
- Your organization’s name mentioned from the podium as the session sponsor.
- Opportunity to distribute organizational materials on a table at your chosen session.
- Plus, all benefits listed in Exhibitor plus.
Exhibitor Plus
- Your organization’s logo and link in all conference marketing emails.
- Logo and link displayed on the conference webpage
- Plus, all benefits listed below.
Exhibitor
- Two conference registrations.
- One table in the exhibit hall
Be in the room where it happens…
At the 2022 Preble Street Conference on Homelessness, Greg Payne, the senior advisor on Housing Policy for the Governor of Maine, called for the adoption of more Housing First programs, like Preble Street’s Logan Place, Florence House, and Huston Commons. “The problem is that the pace at which we are getting these desperately needed and highly successful properties up and running is not nearly good enough,” said Payne.
“I think that the question should become less about anticipating the fifth Housing First project in Maine in 2030, but instead focusing on opening the next ten, eleven, or twelve housing-first properties in the next five or six years. We should focus on prioritizing this… I think that we can achieve it.” – Greg Payne
The Results: On Tuesday, July 11, 2023, Governor Janet Mills signed into law a historic budget package, which contained funding for the Food Security Hub, emergency shelters, affordable housing, and Site-based Housing First! The Conference on Homelessness brought together community leaders, members, and key members of local and state legislature and propelled forward conversations on actionable solutions to addressing Maine’s most critical and relevant issues.
So many people from Preble Street played role in securing these legislative wins, and The Conference on Homelessness was a pivotal moment in the journey to persuading legislators and advancing our mission. These wins and the conference took the collective hard work and strategic efforts of staff, clients, tenants, legislators, and many other friends of the agency who made it known that providing resources for Mainers, who are experiencing homelessness, poverty, and hunger, is a priority for our state.
Read the article linked here for a full recap of the 2022 Conference: Conference on Homelessness: We’re not alone in this work – Preble Street.
Preble Street could not put together this year’s conference agenda without the support of our Advisory Board:
- Lauren Bustard, Senior Director of Programs, MaineHousing
- Ryan Fecteau, Senior Officer of Policy and Planning, Avesta Housing
- Debbie Laurie, City Manager, City of Bangor, Maine
- Claudette Ndayininahaze, Executive Director, In her Presence
- Greg Payne, Senior Advisor, Housing Policy, Governor’s Office of Innovation
- Alan Pethick, President/Director, Atlantic Charitable Fund
- Courtney Pladsen, Mainecare (Medicaid) Medical Director, State of Maine
- Mark Swann, Executive Director, Preble Street
- Danielle West , City Manager, City of Portland, Maine
Thank you to our Sponsors!
The Atlantic Charitable Fund
