Nebraska/Iowa Peer to Peer Homeless Symposium

On June 6-7, 2017, HUD's Omaha and Des Moines field offices hosted its 2017 Nebraska/Iowa Peer to Peer Homeless Symposium. The event took place at the Barbara Weitz Community Engagement Center on the University of Nebraska-Omaha campus in Omaha.

The Nebraska/Iowa Homeless Symposium takes place annually in a collaborative effort by federal, state and local homeless service providers in the two-state area. This year's symposium had a total of 5 tracks, 25 separate sessions and 2 plenary panel sessions. The theme for this year's symposium was "Bridges To Housing," emphasizing the housing and care for homeless youth.

The event was free and open to the public with the target audience of social service practitioners, homeless services providers and support staff, agency administrators and staff from intersecting support programs (such as health, employment, education and justice-reentry), and community leaders.

Attendance for the symposium numbered 259 participants from five surrounding states and included local and national keynote speakers in the homeless and human services arena-Doug Weinberg of the Nebraska Department of Health and Human Services, and Steve Berg of the National Alliance to End Homelessness.

HUD staff from Region VII offices of Kansas City, Des Moines and Omaha (l-r):
front row - Teri Robertson, Treka Henry, Shari Garner, Julie Sleeper, Earl Redrick and Jeff Collins;
second row - Steve Eggleston, Tim Severin, Andrew Burgin-Anton, Greg Cecil,
Robert Pulster (USICH), Reggie Robinson and Bruce Ladd.

More pictures of the symposium (https://www.flickr.com/photos/hudopa/sets/72157683034824510/).

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