CARES Collaborative Homeless Management Information System

Please feel free to contact us if you have any questions about the CCHMIS.

Name	Position	Email
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.

Help Desk

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.

Contact the Help Desk

After Hours

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

After-Hours Weekly Shift Times

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.

Submit After-Hours Help Desk Request

Advisory Committee

Advisory Committee

The CCHMIS Advisory Committee acts as a liaison between CARES and the communities that CARES serves.

CARES Collaborative HMIS Advisory Committee

CARES Collaborative HMIS Governance Charter

Research

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.

e-Forms

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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