Hearts and Minds in Houston: Implementing and Evaluating Cross-Trainings on the Value of Employment for Ending Homelessness

Many communities struggle to ensure that people experiencing homelessness have access to appropriate, effective employment services. Through their work with Heartland Alliance's National Center on Employment and Homelessness (NCEH), stakeholders in Houston, TX, identified cross-system training as a promising means to build buy-in and commitment from staff and leaders from both the workforce development and homeless services systems around prioritizing employment outcomes for people experiencing homelessness. NCEH partnered with Houston stakeholders to develop, deliver, and evaluate a training curriculum for personnel from multiple systems aimed at increasing their knowledge and positively changing their attitudes and beliefs about homelessness and employment. This paper discusses the impact of the cross-system trainings and gives recommendations to other communities seeking to build buy-in for similar cross-system coordination work.