Home Forward Iowa Updates

This past week, Home Forward Iowa welcomed six new board members! We are so excited about the diverse strengths, experiences, and passions of these new members and what their place on the board will bring to HFI’s efforts to end homelessness in Iowa.

Check out these bios to learn more about each new member!

Linda Munden

Linda is the Associate Director at the Bridge Home in Ames. She is the lead organizer for coordinated entry in the Two Rivers Coordinated Entry Region and is active on several regional and statewide workgroups and committees addressing housing and homelessness.

Eric Tudor

Eric is the Associate Director of Strategy & Recruitment at Dordt University in Sioux Center. He has lots of experience in the nonprofit world from founding Sioux County Off-Road Trails and co-founding Outlet 75. He is enthusiastic about working to improve rural poverty and is excited about subjects surrounding sustainable community growth and equitable infrastructure projects.

Tara Carr

Tara is the Executive Assistant to the CEO & Chief Strategy Officer at Western Home Services in Cedar Falls. Her professional experience in housing connects her to HFI’s mission.

Kristin Millhollin

Kristin is a Victim Advocate at Crisis Intervention & Advocacy Center in Adel. Kristin has significant experience with coordinated entry, and she is passionate about homelessness and those affected by it.

Dennis Ahern

Dennis is a Production Floor Supervisor at John Deere in Waterloo. He has a passion for issues of diversity, equity, and inclusion.

Jennifer Ratcliff

Jennifer is the Executive Assistant for Investor Relations, Business Development, Finance & Accounting at Casey’s General Stores in Ankeny. She has a passion for bettering the communities served by Casey’s.

We look forward to the important progress in the fight against homelessness that HFI will make with the contributions of these new board members. Stay tuned for more updates on what we’ll be up to!

Home Forward Iowa has been up to some exciting work lately! We are currently working on multiple initiatives and are excited to be able to share a recent success story about one initiative.

One of HFI’s biggest roles is that of a connector. Much of HFI’s work involves engaging health, education, governmental, faith-based, and other entities serving those experiencing or at risk of homelessness, as well as shelters and housing provider agencies, and we seek to provide them with valuable support by connecting them to resources and to each other. This is exactly what happened recently through a collaboration with Amerigroup.

Earlier this year, Amerigroup Iowa Program Director John McCalley shared with HFI Executive Director Tim Wilson that Amerigroup needed contacts in a few communities in Iowa. Amerigroup was having trouble identifying partners in some areas of the state to manage one of their assistance services, a program which provides supportive housing services to members who are at risk of or experiencing homelessness. In most of Iowa, Amerigroup has contracted with Community Action Programs (CAPs), but in a few communities, the CAPs did not feel they had the staff capacity to take on managing this program.

In Tim’s conversations with John, he learned about Amerigroup’s supportive housing services and how they assisted many Iowans facing homelessness, and he knew HFI could help. He began connecting John with service providers he believed would be capable of managing the assistance or who at least would know of such an agency in the community.

“Tim and HFI are among the most effective resources Amerigroup Iowa has as we strive to provide homelessness diversion and housing security to Amerigroup members who at risk throughout Iowa.”

John McCalley, Amerigroup Iowa Program Director

HFI’s connective role led to several important partnerships between Amerigroup and Iowa agencies, including the Muscatine Center for Social Action and the Clinton YMCA, and the result has been supportive housing services made available to housing-challenged Amerigroup members in areas not previously served.

“HFI, under Tim’s leadership, has been a fantastic bridge builder for the homeless population. With his tutelage, the Muscatine community can more clearly understand and utilize the homeless resources available. More people have been affected by housing issues during the pandemic, and this partnership will help us reach them more efficiently.”

Scott Dahlke, Executive Director of Muscatine Center for Social Action

This is just one example of the important work HFI is doing through serving as a connector. Connecting resources of all types needed by Iowans facing homelessness is key to building a true coordinated services system, and HFI sees such a system as a crucial part of solving homelessness in Iowa.

Home Forward Iowa’s first event is officially in the books! Last Tuesday, Home Forward Iowa’s supporters gathered virtually for a trivia night, and it was a blast. From questions about crimes and strange laws to movie taglines and classic tv show theme songs, there were questions to challenge even the most avid trivia goer! Trivia winners ultimately claimed prizes from some great places across Iowa like the Waterloo Bucks, G. Mig’s 5th St. Pub, and SingleSpeed Brewing.

We want to first thank the event’s sponsors who made this night possible, GreenState Credit Union and Kalinoski & Chaplinsky. We also want to thank everyone who attended the event – your support of Home Forward Iowa makes a difference in the fight against homelessness in Iowa!

We are so excited about the success of this event and look forward to hosting more in the future!

We’ve got exciting news! Home Forward Iowa is having our first ever virtual trivia night on Tuesday, May 4 at 7:30 PM! Trivia Tuesday is going to be a night full of fun, competition, and great prizes, and we’d love for you to join. Tickets are only $10 per person, and you can play individually or on a team with friends and family.

Our event is hosted by the Quad Cities’s own Mister Trivia, who is sure to make this event a memorable one! He’s ready to test your knowledge of categories like urban legends, sports, strange laws, crimes, and movie taglines.

There are some great prizes to be won. Raygun t-shirts, tickets to the Waterloo Black Hawks, a tasting at Park Farm Winery, tickets to Arnold’s Amusement Park, and more!

We’d like to thank GreenState Credit Union and Kalinoski & Chaplinsky who have generously sponsored this event. We are very grateful for the support of both of these great organizations!

Did you know that when you buy on Amazon, a portion of your purchase price can be donated to a nonprofit of your choice at no cost to you? This program is called AmazonSmile, and Home Forward Iowa has just joined!

All you have to do is click here to select Home Forward Iowa as your nonprofit of choice. From now on whenever you purchase on Amazon, go to smile.amazon.com first, and Amazon will donate 0.5% of the purchase price to Home Forward Iowa. This donation will only occur if you are shopping from smile.amazon.com, so make sure you start from there and not the main amazon.com.

This is an easy way to help in our fight to end homelessness in Iowa, and we hope you take advantage of this great opportunity!

AmazonSmile and the AmazonSmile logo are trademarks of Amazon.com, Inc. or its affiliates.