Tip #2: Make sure that the PCC for your FSS program is in place and operating the way it should.
Having a program coordinating committee (PCC) for your FSS program is required by the regulations. The PCC must include one person from the housing authority, and one person who's a participant in the rental assistance program where your FSS program is operating. (Whether the person from the rental assistance program is an FSS participant doesn't matter for PCC membership.)
HUD's intent in requiring the PCC is:
- To help you have an FSS program that's run on expert advice and real fact
- To bring PCC members' services directly to your clients on a priority basis — your clients in housing are their clients in services
Design a mutually beneficial referral and intake system. You might offer a career center's clients priority on the waiting list for housing in exchange for in-depth vocational assessments for your FSS clients, for example. Such an arrangement benefits both parties.
How do you know if your PCC is in place and operating as it should?
- Is it having regular meetings?
- Are clients getting into that joint referral and intake system?
- Are the leaders in the services that your clients need attending the meetings? If not, why? Most likely, their needs aren't being met, and/or they don't see the common goal. Open up lines of communication on the phone and at other meetings, reidentify your common goal, and reverify the commitment to working through the PCC to develop mutual achievement of that goal.
Next: How to maintain a successful FSS program: Tip #3
In her capacity with the San Diego Housing Commission, NMA Senior Associate Trainer Patti Zatarain-Menard designed, developed, and implemented one of the nation’s largest and most successful family self-sufficiency programs. For the past two decades, she has worked with Nan McKay and Associates conducting training seminars nationally and undertaking consulting assignments on federally subsidized housing.
