Foothold Goes Back to School at User’s Conference 2018

In June, the Foothold community came together for our 11th annual User’s Conference at NYU’s Kimmel Center in downtown Manhattan. Over 100 agencies using Foothold’s complete electronic record, AWARDS, joined us for a day of learning, networking, and thinking. This year’s event was focused on education. We wanted our attendees to walk away with tangible takeaways that would make them better AWARDS users and more knowledgeable about the industry in which we work. We also made it a goal to make the User’s Conference as accessible as possible to all Foothold agencies and offered a virtual attendance option for the first time.

To kick off the day’s learning, we brought together executives from three national associations that monitor and respond to the changing landscape both in Washington DC and across the country. The panel consisted of Deb De Santis, President and CEO, Corporation for Supportive Housing (CSH), Esme Grant Grewal, Vice President of Government Relations, American Network of Community Options and Resources (ANCOR), and Rob Morrison, Executive Director and Director of Legislative Affairs, National Association of State Alcohol and Drug Abuse Directors (NASADAD). Moderated by Foothold CEO Marlowe Greenberg, these industry leaders discussed trends and challenges they are seeing in the human services sector and offered advice to agencies on how to cope with the changing landscape of care. Here is a recording of the full panel discussion:

In an effort to cater to the individual interests and needs of each attendee, we debuted “Office Hours,” which gave participants one-on-one sessions with Foothold experts to enhance their knowledge on any topic of their choice. Subjects ranged from tutorials of specific AWARDS modules to high level discussions on federal mandates. Each Foothold client has a dedicated Implementation Consultant or Senior Customer Success Manager with whom they speak with on a regular basis. These Foothold client service representatives are committed to understanding our clients’ processes and priorities. They make sure agencies are getting the most benefit out of AWARDS, and offer training and ongoing support for the life of each contract. “Office Hours” gave attendees the unique opportunity to meet and learn from members of the Foothold team outside of their normal communications.

For the last several years, Foothold Technology has given out the Impact Prize to recognize innovation and excellence in using AWARDS. The Impact Prize winners are announced annually at the User’s Conference, and this year it felt especially appropriate considering our theme. Our 2018 winners were MHY Family Services for Greatest Impact on Agency Operations, Bowery Residents’ Committee for Greatest Impact on Client Services, and Niles Family Services for Greatest Impact on the Community.

This year also marked the 10th anniversary of our AWARDS Certification course. Certification is a rigorous, three-level training program for agencies aiming to turn staff members into true AWARDS experts. To celebrate Certification and encourage this level of learning from all Foothold agencies, we took a look back on the history of Certification and paid special tribute to all members of the Foothold community who graduated from the course.

Our 2018 User’s Conference was one of our strongest conferences to date and is always a special time for members of the Foothold community to connect with and learn from one another.