Brief History
- Currently works in the US and Canada to alleviate homelessness
- Supported the merger of 9 regional HMIS implementations into 1
- Implemented and managed HMIS in New Orleans from 2002-2006
- Provided substance abuse treatment services to youth and individuals on probation
- Advocated for clients at the largest Domestic Violence shelter in the US
A Little About Me
Fran Ledger’s professional experience spans 12 years in the social service field, providing advocacy and assistance to individuals and families, managing complex projects, and building information technology solutions for local governments, foundations and non-profit organizations, both nationally and internationally.
Over the last five years at Canavan Associates, Ms. Ledger has provided technical assistance to Continua of Care (CoC) on behalf of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD). Her primary focus is the use of data from Homeless Management Information System (HMIS) to inform policy decisions and drive program change. As a member of HUD’s HMIS Technical Assistance Team, Ms. Ledger has presented both locally and nationally on HMIS Data and Technical Standards, governance, accountability, management, and disaster planning and recovery.
Ms. Ledger provided expertise on the HUD Disaster Technical Assistance Project, serving CoCs and supporting HMIS implementations in critical disaster recovery efforts from 2005 Hurricanes, Katrina and Rita. She also worked for five years as a System Administrator implementing the Orleans/Jefferson, LA Parish HMIS for UNITY of Greater New Orleans, providing project management and technical support to over 60 social service programs in the greater New Orleans area.
Skills
- Combining the knowledge of social work and technology to inform decision making
- Improving the quality and usability of data for planning and evaluation
- Facilitating disparate stakeholders to make difficult collaborative choices
- Implementing, managing, and utilizing information technology
Presentations
“Clean Data: Using a Data Quality Plan to minimize “Garbage” Data” Southeast Institute on Homelessness and Supportive Housing, October 28, 2011, Clearwater Beach, FL
“Building Knowledge, Effectiveness and Capacity: Advancing Data on Homelessness” Southeast Institute on Homelessness and Supportive Housing, October 28, 2011, Clearwater Beach, FL
“Using HMIS to Manage Service Delivery and Support System Change: Leveraging HMIS Functionality in a Centralized Intake Setting” Southeast Institute on Homelessness and Supportive Housing, October 27, 2011, Clearwater Beach, FL
“Rural Continuum of Care Point-in-Time Methods” with Margot Ackermann, Ph.D., Homeward, National Human Services Data Consortium 2011 Fall Conference, October 14, 2011, Washington, DC.
“Unifying Statewide/Regional HMIS Data Systems: Overcoming Policy and Technical Challenges” with Jen Padgett, Community Technology Alliance, National Human Services Data Consortium 2011 Spring Conference, April 14, 2011, San Francisco, CA
“Program Performance/Outcome Measurements”, Southeast Institute on Homelessness and Supportive Housing, October 25, 2010, Clearwater Beach, FL
“HMIS a Community Database – It’s Not Just HUD Anymore”, Southeast Institute on Homelessness and Supportive Housing, October 26, 2010, Clearwater Beach, FL
“Operational Uses of Data” with Adam Smith, Wisconsin Department of Commerce and David Eberbach, Iowa Institute for Community Alliances. U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, Using HMIS and HEARTH to End Homelessness, September 15, 2010, Denver, CO and September 28, 2010, Atlanta, GA
“Vendor Relations and Changing Software” with Lindsey Stillman, Ph.D., State Housing Trust Fund for the Homeless at the Georgia Department of Community Affairs. U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, Using HMIS and HEARTH to End Homelessness, September 14, 2010, Denver, CO and September 27, 2010, Atlanta, GA
“HMIS 101: Introduction to the World of HMIS” National Human Services Data Consortium Spring Conference, April 2010, Nashville, TN.
“Data Collection: Making the data collection requirements work for you” with Corey Dyer and Wendy Hellinger, 16th Louisiana State Homeless Conference, April 2010, Baton Rouge, LA
“HMIS 101: Introduction to the World of HMIS” National Human Services Data Consortium Fall Conference, October 2009, Providence, RI.
“Using HMIS for Reporting and Performance Measurement” Homeless and Housing Coalition of Kentucky, Inc. 2009 Summit, September 15, 2009, Lexington KY
“Homeless Issues during an Emergency” panel with Willie Mae Martin, City of New Orleans Healthcare for the Homeless and Vicki Weeks, Belle Reve, 15th Annual Louisiana State Homeless Conference, December 2008, New Orleans, LA
“Roles and Responsibilities for HMIS Oversight and Management” US Department of Housing and Urban Development, National HMIS Training, September 2008, Atlanta, GA
“Uses of HMIS to Support Disaster Recovery-Lessons Learned from Katrina/Rita” US Department of Housing and Urban Development, HMIS Conference, September 18, 2006, Denver, CO.
“Calling 2-1-1 in Disaster & Recovery” Keynote Speaker, Virginia Alliance of Information and Referral Systems Annual Conference, May 17, 2006, Fredericksburg, VA
