CARES Collaborative Homeless Management Information System
CARES Collaborative Homeless Management Information System
Please feel free to contact us if you have any questions about the CCHMIS.
| Name | Position | |
|---|---|---|
| Allyson Thiessen | Director of HMIS Programs and Services | atheissen@caresny.org |
| Kelli Clark | HMIS System Administrator | kclark@caresny.org |
| Terry O'Brien | HMIS Data Analyst | tobrien@caresny.org |
| Sue Palmer | HMIS Customer Service Representative | spalmer@caresny.org |
| Bill Robson | HMIS Customer Service Representative | wrobson@caresny.org |
| Cathy Allen | HMIS Data Associate | callen@caresny.org |
| Marissa Perez | HMIS Data Management Specialist, COVID Support | mperez@caresny.org |
| Shara Branon-Bender | HMIS Specialist, COVID Support | sbranonbender@caresny.org |
CARES Collaborative Homeless Management Information System – CCHMIS
CARES of NY, Inc. administrates the most expansive HMIS database in New York State, covering 48% of the geographic area across 26 counties distributed between 12 CoCs.
CCHMIS Continuums of Care (CoCs)
- NY-503 – Albany City & County CoC
- NY-507 – Schenectady City & County CoC
- NY-512 – Troy/Rensselaer County CoC
- NY-519 – Columbia, Greene Counties CoC
- NY-520 – Franklin, Essex Counties CoC
- NY-522 – Jefferson, Lewis, St. Lawrence Counties CoC
- NY-523 – Glens Falls/Saratoga, Washington, Warren, Hamilton Counties CoC
- NY-525 – Balance of State CoC
- NY-601 – Poughkeepsie/Dutchess County CoC
- NY-602 – Newburgh, Middletown/Orange County CoC
- NY-606 – Rockland County CoC
- NY-608 – Kingston/Ulster County CoC
Software
The CCHMIS uses Foothold Technology’s AWARDS software; please visit their webpage for more information.
Policies and Procedures
The CCHMIS publishes its CARES Collaborative HMIS (CCHMIS) Administration Manual (Policies & Procedures) (PDF) for its participating agencies and programs to review and follow.
Security & Privacy
Security and privacy of all consumers in the HMIS is of paramount importance to CARES and participating agencies.
CARES continuously evaluates and updates privacy and security precautions within the database itself, and within our policies and procedures, to ensure that our consumer data is protected.
For more information please feel free to contact us at hmis@caresny.org.
Homeless Management Information System – HMIS
A secure, computerized data collection system used to produce an unduplicated count of persons using homeless services and to capture client-level information over time regarding the characteristics and service needs of individuals and families experiencing homelessness.
All federally-funded homelessness services programs are required to participate in the HMIS. This includes the U.S. Departments of: Housing and Urban Development (HUD), Health and Human Services (HHS), and Veterans Affairs (VA).
Participation by organizations that do not receive HUD funding is voluntary, but strongly encouraged in order to achieve a more accurate and complete picture of homelessness in a community.
CARES is here to help with our HMIS Help Desk team. If you need assistance with data entry, reporting, or other needs, please use the Help Desk feature in AWARDS.
While logged into AWARDS, click “? HELP” then select Help Desk. On the new page, please fill out the form for assistance.
Are you unable to log into AWARDS?
Our Help Desk team can help you! Please click the button below to fill notify our Help Desk of your request.
Forgot your password or need your password reset? Click the button below.
CARES Customer Service Representatives are available to assist agencies with their live data entry needs on the weekends and weekday evenings. Below is the weekly schedule for After-Hours service.
| Day of Week | After-Hours Shift Times |
| Monday – Friday | 5:00 PM – 10:00 PM Eastern |
| Saturday | 1:00 PM – 5:00 PM Eastern |
| Sunday | 1:00 PM – 5:00 PM Eastern |
Anyone requiring the assistance of the Help Desk should fill our the After-Hours Help Desk Request eForm. Upon submission of the form, a CSR will be notified of your request and the agency will be one step closer to a solution.
Advisory Committee
The CCHMIS Advisory Committee acts as a liaison between CARES and the communities that CARES serves.
Big questions demand more perspectives and expertise. The CCHMIS team is eager to collaborate with one or more partners to answer big questions, to help understand our communities, and to improve how we serve clients in the system.
The CCHMIS team collaborates with Siena College on projects to improve the quality of our data and to use our data more effectively.Some of this work was presented at the Bloomberg “Data for Good” Conference in September 2018. Click here to download the poster.
If you would like to discuss a potential research partnership, please reach out to Allyson Thiessen, Director of HMIS Programs and Services.
| Form Name | Description |
|---|---|
| User Agreement Form | Required for new HMIS users. |
| Agency Agreement Form | Required for new participating HMIS agencies. |
| HMIS Report Request | Request a custom HMIS report. |
| HMIS Project Setup Request | Need a new HMIS project created? |
| HMIS (AWARDS) Password Reset | Locked out of HMIS (AWARDS)? Fill out this form to get your password reset. |
| New HMIS User Access Request Form | Request HMIS User permissions for a new User. |
| Modify HMIS User Access Request Form | Request HMIS User permissions edits for an existing User. |
| Terminate HMIS User Access Request Form | Request the removal of HMIS User permissions from an existing User. |
| HMIS Training Request | Need training on something not available in the HMIS training library? |
| After-Hours Help Desk Request | Need help performing live data entry outside of normal working hours? There is a CSR ready to assist you. |
| HMIS New User Training Part I: Policies and Procedures | Take the first part of the CARES Collaborative HMIS New User Training Series. |
| HMIS New User Training Part II: AWARDS Navigation | Take the second part of the CARES Collaborative HMIS New User Training Series. |
| HMIS New User Training Part III: Basic Data Entry | Take the third part of the CARES Collaborative HMIS New User Training Series. After completing this part, don't forget to submit your required documentation. |
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