November 2025 Newsletter
- The Three County CoC
- Nov 13
- 11 min read
Link to subscribe to our newsletter: https://lp.constantcontactpages.com/sl/WJSKgHh/threecoc
Three County CoC Updates
The Three County CoC’s Current Status with the Government Shutdown
The Three County CoC has been able to operate as normal with the federal government shutdown as we await more information from the Housing and Urban Development office about the potential upcoming notice of funding opportunity (also known as the NOFO). In the meantime, we are having conversations with our Board of Directors, subrecipients, CoC Membership, and PLE Action Board about what potential future changes may look like in our CoC and are doing what we can to prepare. While we wait for more news, we are continuing our work of supporting participants in accessing housing through the Coordinated Entry system and are working to improve our system in whatever ways we can. As the CoC learns more about what to expect, this will be communicated with our subrecipients and partnering agencies.
A couple of articles worth reading about the upcoming NOFO from the National Alliance to End Homelessness are below:
Upcoming Coordinated Entry Evaluation
The Three County CoC has partnered with two Technical Assistance providers to have our Coordinated Entry System evaluated to ensure that the Three County’s CoC’s Coordinated Entry practices are effectively supporting our participants. In the coming months, our TA Providers want to hear from those who are conducting assessments, attending case conferencing meetings, or are people with lived experience. The Three County CoC will be putting out requests for people to either join our coordinated entry committee meetings or to attend a focus group meeting that the TA providers will be hosting. Your input is incredibly valuable in determining what parts of our system need to be improved!
If you are interested in joining Coordinated Entry Committee or attending the focus groups, please reach out to the Three County CoC’s Coordinated Entry specialist, Vega Johnson at vjohnsonbouchard@communityaction.us
Our PLE Action Board at the National Lived Experience Leadership Conference
The National Coalition for the Homeless will be hosting their annual National Lived Experience Leadership Conference coming up on November 17th-19th . The Three County CoC has members from the People with Lived Experience Action Board attending the conference! We are so excited for them to have this opportunity. In the next newsletter, there will be an update on how the conference went!
Curious about the conference? Take a look at their website here: https://nationalhomeless.org/2025-national-lived-experience-leadership-conference/
Want to join the People with Lived Experience Action Board? Email the Three County CoC Director, Shaundell, at sdiaz@communityaction.us
Winter 2026 Point in Time Count – January 25th
The Three County Continuum of Care, with the help of community partners, will be holding the Winter 2026 Point in Time Count for the night of Sunday, January 25th. The Point in Time Count is the HUD mandated annual count of how many individuals are experiencing homelessness on one given night. The Point in Time count provides vital data for the understanding of homelessness within our community and for funding allocations. The count relies on community members to complete surveys with people experiencing homelessness. Those that are surveyed will be asked if they were unsheltered on the night of January 25th along with a few demographic and population specific questions. The survey can be completed with participants experiencing homelessness from the night of January 25th until January 31st.
The Three County CoC is always looking for more community partners to help with conducting Point in Time Count Surveys. If you or your agency would like to be involved with the Point in Time Count, please take a look at our website page that has all the information you will need! https://www.threecountycoc.communityaction.us/pitcount
If you would like to directly connect with the CoC about the Point in Time Count, please reach out to the Three County CoC’s Compliance Manager Natalie Burtzos at nburtzos@communityaction.us
Project Updates at the Three County CoC
In the past few months, multiple projects in the Three County Continuum of Care began accepting referrals and housing participants!
Louison House’s Bracewell Project
Louison House began accepting referrals and housing young adults under the age of 25 in their Youth Permanent Supportive Housing project. The project has placements for both individuals and families experiencing chronic homelessness. Louison House hosted a beautiful ribbon-cutting ceremony this fall to celebrate the opening!
The Salasin Project Rapid Rehousing Assistance
The Salasin Project began accepting referrals for its Rapid Rehousing assistance for survivors of domestic violence. The project is for those who are fleeing or attempting to flee domestic violence or are homeless because of domestic violence. This project has already been making a huge impact on the populations that we serve, as participants are being safely housed.
Hearthway Permanent Supportive Housing
The Three County CoC has a partnership agreement with Hearthway’s Permanent Supportive housing in Pittsfield for chronically homeless individuals to be referred through the CoC’s coordinated entry process to their permanent supportive housing units in Pittsfield, MA. The CoC has been identifying referrals and participants will be housed beginning in December!
Update to YHDP RRH & PSH Projects
On October 1st, two projects formerly managed by Mental Health Association (MHA) have been undertaken by CAPV’s Youth and Workforce Development and Making Opportunity Count (MOC). What was previously MHA’s Rapid Rehousing and Navigation project is now being administered by CAPV’s Y&WFD Programs and MHA’s Permanent Supportive Housing Project is now being administered by Making Opportunity Count. The transitions have begun and the staff of the projects have been begining to get to know the participants recieving housing assistance.
Getting Involved with the CoC’s Coordinated Entry System
To connect an individual with the Three County CoC’s resources, the first step for entry into our system is to have a Three County CoC specific Coordinated Entry Assessment be completed by a service provider with the participant. If you are working with someone that is experiencing homelessness and you would like to either connect them to an agency that could complete an assessment with them or become a trained Coordinated Entry Assessor, please reach out to the Three County CoC’s Coordinated Entry Specialist, Vega Johnson at vjohnsonbouchard@communityaction.us
If you are working with survivors of domestic violence that are experiencing homelessness or are looking to collaborate to support those experiencing homelessness while in encampments, please reach out to Emma Coles at ecoles@commuityaction.us
Three County CoC Upcoming Events
PIT Count Planning Meeting – Monday November 17th 11 AM
Please join us on zoom to learn more about the January 2026 Point in Time Count. This meeting is open to any community partner or prospective volunteer within Berkshire, Franklin, and Hampshire Counties. Please register here: https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/ZvxxUqHpTLGU6GT1kOfSdQ
Three County CoC Full Membership Annual Meeting – December 18th
The Three County CoC will be hosting our annual full membership meeting at 10am on December 18th. In the meeting, the Three County CoC staff will be sharing updates from this year, some proposed changes to our written policies, and we will be having our very own Jay Levy as our Keynote speaker, who will share with us insights from his book, “Pretreatment In Action: Interactive Exploration from Homelessness to Housing Stabilization”, and how this connects with the current landscape of homelessness. If you would like to attend, please register here: https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/YfC0i4atTLWW4bAGUNF4gw
Annual Candlelight Vigil Homeless Memorial – December 21st
The Three County CoC, in collaboration with the People with Lived Experience Action Board (PLE), is hosting a Candlelight Vigil to honor those who have passed away while experiencing homelessness on Sunday, December 21st. All are welcome, feel free to bring friends and loved ones. The PLE Action Board is finalizing the time and place for the event, so please keep an eye out for more information about the event from the Three County CoC.
If you are unable to attend, please send the names of those you would like to honor to vjohnsonbouchard@communityaction.us before the day of the event. We will be writing their names on candle luminaries to honor them.
Legislative & Advocacy Updates
State & Federal Legislative Impacts
With the government shutdown now ended, full SNAP benefits will be distributed to Massachusetts residents, and Fuel Assistance will now be able to be administered by Community Action. Fuel Assistance funds were not previously allowed to be used during the shutdown due to the funding not being allocated before the shutdown. While this is good news, there may be delays in the funding.
Please use this link to view the Massachusetts Law Reform Institute's live document with updates on the current information known about the impacts of SNAP funding being delayed.
And for more information about Fuel Assistance, please look below at what Community Action Pioneer Valley has published about their Fuel Assistance funding and what they can do to help those in need at this time.
Want more resources for staying up to date on legislative changes, advocacy opportunities, and resources? These are the newsletters & blog updates that we subscribe to:
Public Health Insitute of Western Massachusetts, which includes updates from
413Cares
Clean Slate MA
Healthy Air Network
Healthy Homes
Youth Mental Health Coalition
& more!
Upcoming CoC Trainings
Friday, November 14th & Friday, December 12th at 10:00am: Trauma-Informed Care and Addressing Mental Health In Permanent Supportive Housing: Addressing Mental Health Challenges Among Residents, with Olivia’s Mission & Bay Path University. Register here for either training: https://baypath.zoom.us/meeting/register/7pf1lv60SIO1gJapYPRiDQ#/registration
Thursday, November 20th, 12:00pm: Coordinated Entry Process & Assessment Live Training with Vega Johnson. This training is for those who would like to complete the Three County Continuum of Care’s Coordinated Entry Assessment or would like a review of the process. Link to register: https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/taDQ35n_R06OGx0YGeL-Xg
Thursday, December 4th, 1:30pm: Last part of the CoC Homeless Response System 5-Part Training Series with Nichele Carver of NJC Strategic Planning and Consulting. The topic will be Navigating the New Federal Environment. Register here: https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/Z1hQg5LsSfyy8gsRcu_hlw#/registration
TalentLMS
Was there a training that you missed? You can still view it on the Three County CoC’s TalentLMS training platform! The link to the training catalog is here: https://threecountycoc.talentlms.com/plus/catalog
Three County CoC Committees & Workgroups
Please see below for updates on what our Committees and Workgroups have been working on to address homelessness in our region and information on how to get involved! With some exceptions, these committees meet over Zoom during working hours.
People With Lived Experience Action Board
The People with Lived Experience (PLE) Action Board is a committee of individuals who have experienced homelessness or housing instability that work to address issues within the homelessness response system using their lived experience. The board is developing an overall action plan and has been working on a few projects, including the Summer Point in Time Count’s Summer Cooling Kits, and creating a ‘Homeless Utility Handbook’ with an accessible list of resources. The PLE Action Board often collaborates with other CoC’s across the country doing similar work. If you have experience with homelessness and would like to attend the meetings, please reach out to Shaundell Diaz at sdiaz@communityaction.us
Note: If you are a person with lived experience of homelessness, the Three County CoC encourages you to join any of the meetings listed below, as your input is vital to improving our housing systems.
Coordinated Entry Committee
The Coordinated Entry (CE) Committee serves as a space for evaluating the Three County CoC’s Coordinated Entry System. This includes evaluating the effectiveness of the CE Assessment, how case conferencing meetings are conducted, and overall system performance. The Committee is currently evaluating our CE system, with the assistance of a Technical Assistance Provider from HUD. While we are getting feedback from the TA provider and evaluating our system, it is incredibly important for the Three County CoC and our TA provider to hear from those who are conducting assessments, attending case conferencing meetings, or are people with lived experience. If you are interested in joining, please reach out to vjohnsonbouchard@communityaction.us
Domestic Violence Expansion Committee
The Domestic Violence (DV) Expansion Committee is working on various projects to better both the Three County CoC and regional response to the ever-growing need for more resources and access to housing for those that are survivors or fleeing DV. The Committee has been discussing how best to implement trauma informed practices in our Coordinated Entry system, how to better our relationships with victim service providers in the region, and the development of trainings to support providers in learning best practices when working with survivors. People with lived experience’s presence in these committee meetings are vital to the conversation. If you’re interested in attending these meetings, please reach out to Emma Coles at ecoles@communityaction.us
Community Success Committee
The Community Success Committee is a group designed to assess the Three County CoC’s policies and procedures, along with its data, to ensure that there are no disparities in our housing system or overall practices. The committee focuses on developing practices and policies for agencies in the region to better support both those experiencing homelessness and the service providers that are supporting them, and regularly solicits community feedback to inform initiatives. The committee strives to include the voices of service providers working with those experiencing homelessness and people with lived experience. If you are interested in joining the committee, please reach out to Shaundell Diaz at sdiaz@communityaction.us
Reimagining Interim Housing Workgroup
The Reimagining Interim Housing Workgroup is a part of a nation-wide initiative that is focused on addressing improvements to our emergency shelter and other temporary housing systems. The workgroup focuses on interim housing improvements, the stigma and community perception of the system, and how to best implement trauma-informed practices in the support given. The committee has been working on an action plan to address the issues that come up with interim housing, including training initiatives, mapping a workflow to identify the barriers that come up when navigating the system, and how to build better relationships between agencies supporting those experiencing homelessness. If you would like to join, reach out to Emma Coles at ecoles@communityaction.us
Data Evaluation Committee
This purpose of the Data Evaluation Committee is to discuss ways in which to improve the Three County CoC’s practices using data and analysis to ensure the Three County CoC and the services in the region are being effective in its efforts to end homelessness. The committee uses results from the Gaps Analysis, the Point in Time Count, and the Housing Inventory Chart to inform these ideas. This spring, the committee created and sent out a survey which results informed this year’s gaps analysis to make recommendations for needed resources within Hampshire, Franklin, and Berkshire Counties.
The committee will soon be holding listening sessions for people with lived experience of homelessness to participate in an open-ended discussion around needed resources in the region. If you’d like to be involved, please reach out to Michele LaFleur at mlafleur@communityaction.us
Ranking and Evaluation Committee
This committee meets on a by-need basis to evaluate and rank CoC funded projects for funding purposes. In the next meeting, they will continue to review the committee’s current process for evaluating and ranking projects for funding and will be discussing other funding opportunities. If you are interested in being involved in the process, please reach out to Michele LaFleur at mlafleur@communityaction.us
Youth & Young Adult Homelessness Committee
The Youth & Young Adult Homelessness Committee is a collective of the Youth & Young Adult Action Board, the CoC’s Subrecipients working in our youth housing projects, and other youth housing stakeholders that meet to go over updates and to work on the YHDP Coordinated Community Plan to address and end youth homelessness. If you are a youth under the age of 25 or work with youth and would like to be involved, reach out to Shaundell Diaz at sdiaz@communityaction.us
Landlord Engagement Committee
The Three County CoC will be re-launching this committee to address the increasing need for collaborative landlord engagement. If interested in learning more and attending the committee’s first meeting, please reach out to Natalie Burtzos at nburtzos@communityaction.us
Thank you for reading!
If you aren’t already, please subscribe to receive Three County CoC mailing updates. You will receive emails about upcoming events, training opportunities, and newsletters like this one.
Link to subscribe: https://lp.constantcontactpages.com/sl/WJSKgHh/threecoc
Any questions about the contents in this newsletter? Please reach out to Vega, The Three County CoC Coordinated Entry Specialist at vjohnsonbouchard@commnityaction.us
