Health & Housing Solutions Summit: Shaping the Future to Accelerate Action

February 13, 2024

We invite you to join Lutheran Services in America, in partnership with ELCA World Hunger, for the Health and Housing Solutions Summit: Shaping the Future to Accelerate Action on May 7 & 8 in Washington, D.C. The convening brings together Lutheran Services in America network members, practitioners, philanthropic stakeholders, thought leaders and policymakers to engage in robust dialogue to advance aligned action. Join us to inform and spur new approaches to expand access to affordable housing along with needed support and services to improve health and opportunity for people across the country.

As part of the convening, we will release a new report developed in collaboration with Abt Global to highlight a variety of approaches across the Lutheran Services in America network that address housing insecurity and other health-related social needs. Drawing from these approaches, the convening will include opportunities to:

  • Strengthen our collective capacity by identifying and exploring approaches that are expanding access to housing with support and services, through a focus on financing, partnerships, equity and data to inform and guide aligned action.
  • Catalyzing innovation and collaboration by examining the most promising approaches – what works, why, and how – that can be improved for greater spread and scale including through policy levers to accelerate change.
  • Sharing Solutions: Amplifying the faith-based, trusted, community-centered leadership of our network with partners to shape the future of affordable housing that meets the diverse needs of communities.

The Essential Lutheran Role in Health and Housing

Across the country, Lutheran Services in America network members are taking action to improve the housing landscape of their communities. This convening builds off of our Housing Solutions Collaborative that was formed last year that connects members with external leaders and resources to strengthen collective efforts. Network members are improving housing in a variety of ways, including through:

  • Developing affordable housing for children, youth and families and seniors.
  • Expanding housing access for people with disabilities and New Americans.
  • Revitalizing existing housing and stewarding land historically owned churches and faith-based schools to increase the supply of mixed income housing; and
  • Improving housing security with access to supports and services, including behavioral health.

There is no cost to attend the convening.

Agenda

Find out more about the Health & Housing Solutions Summit’s two days of programming.

Speakers

Check out our list of speakers.

Resources

View program resources from the convening.

Travel & Hotel Recommendations

Washington National (DCA) is the closest airport to the site of the summit; Dulles International (IAD) and Baltimore/Washington International (BWI) are alternatives that add 40–60 minutes of travel time. Attendees are responsible for their travel expenses.

Lutheran Services in America has secured a courtesy block of 15 rooms at each of the following hotels:

Rooms are going quickly, so reserve yours today!

Contact Kent Mitchell for more information.

The Role of Faith-based Health & Human Service Providers in Shaping Policy to Advance Health and Opportunity

December 19, 2023

Featuring: Dr. John J. Dilulio and Dr. Stanley Carlson-Thies

Lutheran social ministries have a long-standing faith tradition of service in over 1,400 communities in America. Our presence and partnerships in these communities position us to build congressional and administration support for policies and funding that advance health and opportunity for all people.

Join us for a conversation with Dr. John J. Dilulio and Dr. Stanley Carlson-Thies, who were instrumental in setting up the White House Office of Faith-based and Community Initiatives under the Administration of George W. Bush and reconstituting it under the Obama and Biden administrations. Their continued thought leadership informs current debate about how to make faith-based, community-driven solutions at the heart of our national response to poverty.

Speakers

Dr. John J. Dilulio is the Frederic Fox Leadership Professor of Politics, Religion, and Civil Society at the University of Pennsylvania. He has served as the Founding Faculty Director of Penn’s Robert A. Fox Leadership Program (1999-2018) and Partnership for Effective Public Administration and Leadership (2018-present). He is the author, co-author, or editor of more than a dozen books including a leading textbook, American Government, 16th edition (with Meena Bose, Matthew Levendusky, and James Q. Wilson, Cengage, 2016); Bring Back the Bureaucrats (Templeton, 2014); and Godly Republic: A Centrist Blueprint for America’s Faith-Based Future (University of California Press, 2007). 

Dr. Stanley Carlson-Thies is director of the Institutional Religious Freedom Alliance at the Center for Public Justice. He is co-author of Free to Serve: Protecting the Religious Freedom of Faith-Based Organization (Brazos, 2015), served in the Bush White House faith-based office, and advised the Obama faith-based initiative. He holds a PhD in political science from the University of Toronto.

Video Recording

 

Innovative Approaches to Measuring Impact in Lutheran Services in America Collaboratives

November 2, 2023

Featuring: Jackie Aman of Wilder Research and Rose Johnson & Sarah Mihich of Transform Consulting Group

How well are we doing at connecting rural older adults to the health, social and economic support they need to thrive? Is your team growing in its ability to center issues of race equity in your family stabilization work? These are just two of the questions being addressed for Lutheran Services in America members by innovative approaches to measuring impact in Lutheran Services in America collaboratives.

Please join us on December 7 at 2 p.m. ET to hear from evaluation partners and peers engaged in the Lutheran Services in America Rural Aging Action Network (RAAN) and Family Stabilization Initiative (FSI) about how innovative approaches to impact measurement are supporting their work on the ground.

Speakers

FSI Speakers

Jackie Aman is a Research Scientist with Wilder Research who led a recent evaluation of FSI’s Collaborative Learning Model, incorporating survey methodologies and an art-based evaluation tool, “ripple mapping.”

Katy Smith is the Director of Community Programs for AK Child and Family, where she is responsible for the supervision, oversight, and administration of all community based programming, including their participation in the Family Stabilization Initiative.

RAAN Speakers

Rose Johnson is a Project Consultant and Sarah Mihich is a Project Data Analyst with Transform Consulting Group. Together, they have led data analytics and visualization work, as well as training, for participating RAAN organizations and leaders.

Michelle Madsen is the Senior Director of Community Services with Lutheran Social Services (LSS) of South Dakota, where she provides leadership for mentoring, childcare and education services, including their RAAN, their Older Adult Resource Network.

Tanya Urquieta is the Project Program Coordinator of Lutheran Social Services of South Dakota’s RAAN, their Older Adult Resource Network. In this capacity, she leads community engagement and connects older adults to resources in and around Armour, South Dakota.

Video Recording

Resources

 

Understanding and Motivating the Multi-Generational Workforce

October 26, 2023

Navigating the intricacies of a multi-generational workforce can be a challenging endeavor. Are you worried your cross-generational teams aren’t working together as effectively as they could or meeting their highest potential? Understanding the strengths and influences of each group can help you appreciate and motivate the diverse generational viewpoints in the workplace.

Learn from workplace expert Dr. Ingrid Provident of Select Rehabilitation how you can prevent generational collisions from occurring while managing to the strengths of each generation. You’ll leave with a strong understanding of the common characteristics of the different generations in the workforce, the best ways to manage and communicate across generational differences, and how to more effectively build your team around the strengths and preferences of each.

Presenter:

  • Ingrid Provident, Ed.D., OTR/L FAOTA, Education Specialist, Select Rehabilitation; Associate Professor, Chatham University

Video Recording

Resources

Advancing Equitability Outcomes in Child Welfare: A Toolkit for Sustainability

October 10, 2023

When decisionmakers discuss reducing racial disproportionality in the child welfare system, they frequently focus on how services are delivered, the types of services that are provided, and how the system and its resources should change to reduce structural inequities. But what if decisionmakers also centered issues of race in how services are implemented and sustained? This is the approach of the Lutheran Services in America Family Stabilization Initiative, which partnered with Chapin Hall to create a Sustainability Toolkit to release later this month. A webinar about the toolkit, Advancing Equitable Outcomes in Child Welfare: A Toolkit for Sustainability, will be held at 2 p.m. Eastern / 1 p.m. Central on Wednesday, November 1.

Transforming Older Adult Health Through Value-based Care, in Partnership with Serviam

September 29, 2023

If you’re in the senior living industry, you’ve probably heard the buzz around value-based care (VBC). It’s a concept that seems complicated but has the potential to revolutionize the way we provide and pay for care in senior living communities. So, what is it exactly, and why should you, as a senior living operator, be interested?

Join Alan Fairbanks, owner and operator of Bickford Senior Living and president of the Value Based Care Alliance, to learn the basics of value-based care. Learn the core elements of value-based care, the opportunity for operators to get paid with VBC, and how to get started running this transformative healthcare model.

Our thanks to Serviam for their partnership!

Video Recording

Resources

Coalition for Better Social Care Meetings

September 12, 2023

The Coalition for Better Social Care connects leading Lutheran Services in America members to advance innovative partnerships and financing solutions that marry health and housing.

Contact Susan Newton for more information.

Learn More

Coalition for Better Social Care

Family Stabilization Initiative Meetings

September 12, 2023

The Family Stabilization Initiative expands services in underserved communities and activates community networks to address the disproportionate number of children of color separated from their families.

The collaborative will convene leaders from participating member organizations including AK Child & Family, Lutheran Community Services Northwest, Lutheran Social Services of South Dakota and St. John’s United, alongside evaluation and fidelity partners to share insights and progress, identify areas of opportunity and discuss key next steps as well as action commitments that continue to move the work forward.

Upcoming Sessions

FSI holds monthly meetings.

  • August 14, 2024 — 3:00–4:00 p.m. ET
  • September 11, 2024 — 3:00–4:00 p.m. ET
  • October 23, 2024 — 2:00–4:30 p.m. ET
  • November 13, 2024 — 3:00–4:00 p.m. ET
  • December 4, 2024 — 3:00–4:30 p.m. ET

Learn More

Family Stabilization Initiative

Housing Solutions Collaborative Meetings

September 12, 2023

The Housing Solutions Collaborative works to find innovative solutions to housing insecurity. The first year of the Housing Solutions Collaborative will focus on building:

  • Peer connections and opportunities
  • A curriculum on affordable housing tailored to Lutheran social service providers
  • Access to a network of national experts on health and housing
  • Opportunities for investment and financing partnerships
  • Federal, state and local advocacy actions

Upcoming Sessions

The Collaborative meets bi-monthly.

  • September 18, 2024
  • November 20, 2024

Learn More

Health & Housing

Rural Aging Policy Roundtable

September 11, 2023

Rural aging leaders from across the Lutheran Services in America network will come together virtually at our first Rural Aging Policy Roundtable on Thursday, October 12 at 2:00 p.m. ET to grow our collective capacity to lead and achieve change through our federal advocacy work and amplify our $23 billion united faith-based voice.

During this roundtable, rural aging leaders will have the opportunity to:

  • Engage with peers leading aging initiatives in rural communities across the country
  • Share your voice on policy issues critical to rural communities
  • Learn how we can work together in advocacy efforts to amplify the critical voice of Lutheran social ministry

Contact Ashley Washington to learn more.