The 2017 National Health Care for the Homeless Conference will take place June 21-24 in Washington, DC. With the theme, “Working Together for Access,” the National Health Care for the Homeless Council has issued a call for proposals for conference workshops, posters and other learning sessions. These are due no later than Friday, October 28. This is a great opportunity for Baltimore to continue its national leadership at the intersection of homelessness and health. In order to ensure that submissions from Baltimore are of the highest quality and that we can both budget for the cost of workshop presenters and maintain adequate coverage in our clinics, we’ve established the following process for all Health Care for the Homeless staff interested in submitting proposals for consideration.

WORKSHOP APPROVAL

• All draft proposal topics must have the approval of Management Team supervisors (directors, vice presidents or chiefs).
• Management Team supervisors are encouraged to review content of proposals to ensure quality of workshop content and that the employee is in good standing and able to represent Baltimore at a national conference. (Supervisors may seek professional development training for staff members who are interested in presenting but may benefit from additional skill building.)
• Directors are responsible for ensuring coverage for their teams during the 2017 conference and should exercise discretion in who/how many people submit proposals.

TIMELINE

• By COB Friday, October 14: Staff members who have received supervisory approval must notify Barbara DiPietro of the Title and Track of the proposal. (Barbara is available to offer advice and help developing proposals, but please ask for assistance sooner rather than later.)
• Monday, October 17: Barbara will compile all submissions received into a spreadsheet and send to Human Resources and the Senior Leadership Team.
• Tuesday, October 18: Senior Leadership will review and approve proposal submission requests to assess breadth of agency representation, quality of proposals, clinic coverage during the conference and financial impact.
• By Friday, October 21: Executive Team will make final decisions on any outstanding proposals.
• Week of October 24: Staff submit approved proposals to the National Council for consideration in a national “blind” review process.

Find more information about the National Council’s call for proposals here.