The Minnesota Statewide Training Planning Workgroup (comprised of state agency staff, Continuum of Care (CoC) leads, and nonprofit partners from across the state) was formed in 2019 to help identify resources and strategies to better meet the training needs of shelter and housing providers across the state. This page will be built out to include a variety of training topics.
COVID-19 Trusted Messenger Training
The Minnesota Department of Health (MDH) has contracted with ACER, African Career, Education, and Resource Inc, in partnership with MICAH, Metropolitan Interfaith Council on Affordable Housing to operate the COVID-19 Trusted Messenger Vaccine Program. The COVID-19 Trusted Messengers will be people experiencing homelessness or living in congregate settings (such as supportive housing, sober homes, halfway houses, and correctional facilities) who are trained to share information with their peers about COVID-19 vaccines. The hired messengers will share their own experiences, and provide a non-medical, non-threatening perspective to aid their peers in making decisions about the COVID-19 vaccine. Trusted Messengers will be trained and provided ongoing support by MDH and MICH.
The Trusted Messenger program is not currently accepting applications. If you have questions or want to be considered if future resources become available, you can email josh.leopold@state.mn.us. We will be sharing training resources and key learning with all through this site and the weekly provider webinar.
- COVID-19 Vaccine and Motivational Interview Training for Trusted Messengers Slide Deck
- Watch the training here
Shelter Worker Training Series
St. Stephen’s Human Services has created an online Shelter Worker Training Series that covers a series of core training topics for shelter staff. Topics covered include:
- Altered Mental Status
- Cultural Awareness
- De-Escalation Training
- Ethics
- Harm Reduction
- Native American Cultural Awareness
- Navigating Shelter for LGBTQQI Folks
- Shelter Journey
This work was funded by the Department of Human Services’ Office of Economic Opportunity (OEO).
StreetWorks Training
In partnership with DHS-OEO’s Safe Harbor initiative, StreetWorks offers a comprehensive interactive training that has been developed in collaboration with youth workers and multidisciplinary professionals from across the state and reflects an evidenced based understanding of client centered care, cultural responsiveness, safety, trauma-informed care, and harm reduction.
2016/2017 Metro Safe Harbor Training Videos – Topics include:
- Safe Harbor/No Wrong Door Overivew
- Sexual Exploitation & Ouutreach to Youth
- De-escalation Best Practices
- Reaching Out to Wounded Youth with a Trauma Informed Approach
- Health Professional Boundaries
- Motivational Interviewing
- Vicarious Trauma and Self Care Practical Strategies
- Intersectionality & Cultural Capacity
Minnesota Coalition for the Homeless Virtual Learning Series
The Minnesota Coalition for the Homeless hosted a virtual learning series in November 2020. You can watch all of the videos on the MCH YouTube channel.
Housing First
The following materials are identified for providers and community partners to learn Housing First principles and best practices. A sample check list is also included to help you make a basic assessment of whether and to what degree your program is using the Housing First approaches.
Introduction to Housing First:
- Housing First: Sam Tsemberis TED Talk
- Why we do Housing First – Video from DESC in Seattle
Core principles of Housing First and Rapid Rehousing:
Sample Checklists: