NEW! This training now offers 36 Continuing Education Hours for Social Workers and LMHCs!

The Spring 2019 Course Schedule is below. Please note - the in-person piece of this training will take place at the New York Alliance office at 240 Washington Avenue Extension, Suite 506, Albany, NY 12203. 

Commitment: Students will be expected to participate in all sessions. After a one-hour introductory webinar, there will be an opening two-day in-person session at the New York Alliance office. This will be followed by a series of six 1-hour webinars. The course will conclude with a second two-day in-person session and an additional 2-hour webinar. Reading assignments and feedback papers will be assigned throughout the course.

Registration will fill up fast!
Cost for the course is as follows:
New York Alliance Member: $800
Non-Member: $1,200

QUESTIONS OR SPECIAL ARRANGEMENTS? 
Please contact Carol Napierski, Senior Director of Innovation at 518-407-5563 or email her at [email protected]

About the Course:

The New York Alliance for Inclusion & Innovation Housing Navigator Course was developed in 2015 through the Balancing Incentive Program (BIP) grant. The 30 plus hour course provided relevant education and resources to assist a Housing Navigator in supporting a person with I/DD in creating housing options. 

Students will learn how housing is funded, developed and sustained. They will understand how to base the housing process on the needs of the individual, their social capital, their assets and income and their choices and options. They will design an individual's housing plan. At the conclusion of the course, they will be qualified to create housing opportunities for individuals and to develop agency capacity for more housing options. 

New York is facing a housing crisis for people with Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities (I/DD); housing costs are high, housing is scarce, and our I/DD system is undergoing significant change. Supporting people to find housing opportunities can be challenging with today's evolving systems and leaner budgets. Agency housing professionals may have limited knowledge of housing systems, eligibilities, entitlements and the opportunities afforded through housing networks.

Housing Navigator Information for CEUs
Quality of life is often defined by the opportunity to make choices around housing, money management, and community life.  In order to attain personal quality of life goals, individuals with disabilities often rely on the assistance of care coordinators and others to negotiate complicated housing resources and supports, effectively optimize benefits, savings, and earnings, and make informed and sustainable choices about where and with whom they live.

Human services professionals are able to acquire the skills and knowledge necessary to be effective assistants in this journey through participation in the Housing Navigator curriculum.  Using a blended in-person and webinar format consisting of 4 days of in-person lectures and 6 one-hour webinars, the Housing Navigator course examines public and private resources that fund housing options, congregate living options and their implications, initiating and facilitating person-centered choices, benefits management and sustainability, and much more.

Learners will develop person-centered skills in the following areas:

• Networking with community planners, tax experts, and other property-related stakeholders
• Considering the process, sustainability, and implications of group home living
• Assisting individuals to network across systems and make personal choices for where and with whom they live based on transportation resources, community social and employment opportunities, and lifestyle requirements
• Managing benefits, savings, and earnings to support personal housing choices
• Exploring community resources and options for transportation, employment, recreation, and relationships

Continuing Education Hours:  36 hours for Social Workers and LMHCs participating in 4 in-person classes and 7 webinars.

Watch for announcements about Housing Navigation post certification enrichment webinars for those who have completed the Housing navigator course and would like to enrich their housing knowledge and skills

The New York Alliance for Inclusion & Innovation SW CPE is recognized by the New York State Education Department's State Boards for Social Work and Mental Health Counselors as an Approved Provider of Continuing Education for licensed social workers and Licensed Mental Health Counselors provider numbers #0105 & MHC-0054.