Thank you for attending the Region 6 Veterans Community Action Team (VCAT) meeting last Thursday at the Flint Farmer’s Market. It was a great opportunity for all of us to learn more about each other, share resources, and better serve Veterans and their families. We’re excited for this coalition to get started and make an impact in the region!

1. Altarum Institute integrates independent research and client-centered consulting to
deliver comprehensive, systems-based solutions that improve health and health care.
A nonprofit, Altarum serves clients in both the public and private sectors.
For more information, visit www.altarum.org
Region 6 Veterans Community
Action Team (VCAT)
Monthly Meeting
Flint Farmer’s Market
The Community Room
February 26, 2015 | 1:00 – 3:30 PM

2. 2
Agenda
Time Activity Speaker/Facilitator
1:00 – 1:10 PM Welcome/Announcements Elena Bridges – Altarum Institute
1:10 – 1:20 PM The VCAT Approach Gary Rossio – Altarum Institute
1:20 – 1:50 PM PODIO Presentation Elena Bridges – Altarum Institute
Nick Majie – Altarum Institute
1:50 – 2:00 PM Break
2:00 – 3:00 PM Speed Networking Region 6 VCAT Members
3:00 – 3:15 PM Wrap Up & Next Steps Elena Bridges – Altarum Institute

3. 3
Partners from all organizations in the
community bringing their collective
efforts to bear to serve veterans and
their families
Federal Veteran
Service Partners
State Veteran
Service Partners
City/County Veteran
Service Partners
Community
Veteran Service
Partners
Informal
Support
Network
Veterans
and their
Families
VCAT Focus is
at the
Community
Level
VCAT Approach

4. 4
Challenges:
 Veterans inability to navigate the system and lack of knowledge about
what services and benefits they can receive.
 Mental health treatment and prevention, the lack of affordable housing
and housing benefits access, education benefit access, career services
and job training.
 An absence of a network of service providers and this lack of
communication and collaboration is detrimental to serving Veterans.
Solutions:
 Create a trusted network of service providers that will communicate and
share information with each other.
 Establish an up to date directory of service providers.
 Outreach and marketing, utilizing various forms of communication such
as brochures, emails, websites, etc. in order to better reach all Veterans
and their families.
Breakout Session Recap

5. 5
Update
 Initial VCAT Kick off
 Region 6, January 22, 2015, University of Michigan Flint
 Region 7, February 10, 2015, Lansing Community College
 Region 9, March 24, 2015 at Ann Arbor VA
 Region 5, April 16, 2015 Delta College
 Interviews, focus groups, and surveys
 Building a community leadership group within each area

6. An Overview of Podio
How Coalition Members Can Navigate
and Use Podio to Better Serve
Veterans, their Families and Caregivers

7. The Need
Implementing the “No Wrong Door” philosophy
• Service providers need to be identified
• Their information has to be collected
• Service providers have to come together to educate one
another
Collective Efforts
• Effective Coordination of Services
• Integration of Services

8. Collaborative Tool Requirements
Gather Information Share Information
Foster
Communication
within the VCAT
Produce
Informative
Products that Aid
the VCAT’s Mission

9. The Focus of Today’s Demonstration
• Structure & Security
• Coalition Based Service Provider Directory
• Assistance and Support Requests
• Collaboration Space for Working Groups
• Veterans’ Resources and Events
Podio’s Functionality

10. Podio Structure

11. Security
• The software services that comprise Podio have
been developed by Citrix, a multinational software
company.
– Customer-uploaded data is hosted at the Citrix
Datacenters in Frankfurt and Amsterdam, and
through Amazon Web Services in Dublin.
• Network access to the systems hosting Podio is
controlled through firewalls designed to detect &
respond to various attacks.
• All data in the workspaces are accessible by invite-
only to verified users.

12. Coalition Based
Service Provider Directory
• Allows member service providers to collect
each others information.
• The ability to search and filter the directory to
locate services for helping veterans.
• Organization and Coalition Member Directory

13. Assistance and Support Request
• Allows member service providers to request
support or assistance with helping a Veteran.
• Ability to document case management
(randomized ID number) with multiple
providers assisting in the resolution process.
• Can store completed requests for others to
reference navigation routes to obtain services.

14. Veterans Resources and Events
• A central location for member service
providers to locate events, documents, and
helpful websites to better serve our Veterans,
dependents and caregivers.

15. Collaboration for Working Groups
• A space for VCAT working groups to
collaborate remotely, store resources,
document projects and capture action steps to
achieve the groups objectives.

16. Workspace Example

17. PODIO Next Steps
You will receive an
invitation to join the
“Region 6 Veterans
Community Action
Team” workspace.
A form will be
emailed to you
asking for your basic
member and
organization
information.
Once you are in the
workspace you can:
(1) Create your account
(2) Find & update your
member profile
(3) Find & update your
organization profile
Enter
workspace
Submit
form

18. Any Questions?