Nikki Buckstead - Candidate Interest Form 2021 - Orange County Continuum of Care Board Attachment A

Oct 3, 2026

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Orange County Continuum of Care Board Candidate Interest Form Attachment A presents Nikki Buckstead’s expressed interest in serving on the CoC Board, including her preferred seat selections and targeted expertise areas. It details her leadership role as Executive Director of Family Solutions Collaborative and her commitment to supporting providers working to end homelessness. The form summarizes her Coordinated Entry and Homeless Management Information System experience, her perspective on Housing First and related policies, and her track record with committees, workgroups, and family-focused program implementation.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryExam

FormatPDF

Pages3

Reading Time8 min

AccessFree to download

Board Candidate Interest Form

Seat Selection and Expertise Focus

Interest in Serving on the Board

Continuum of Care Experience Summary

Homeless Service System and Housing First Perspective

Coordinated Entry System and HMIS Experience

Disclosures and Conflict-of-Interest Statement

ORANGE COUNTY CONTINUUM OF CARE BOARD CANDIDATE INTEREST FORM ATTACHMENT A Date: November 16, 2021 Name: Nikki Buckstead Agency: Family Solutions Collaborative 1. Please select the seat you are interested in filling McKinney-Vento Representative Veteran Representative Emergency Solutions Grant (ESG) Entitlement Jurisdiction or Funded Agency/ Recipient Agency At-Large Seat: Affordable Housing Development Background and Expertise At-Large Seat: Expertise on Homeless Services and/or Subpopulation focus: (please check one) Black, Indigenous, and People of Color (BIPOC) Diversion ✔ Families LGBTQ People with disabilities Prevention Rapid Rehousing Transitional Aged Youth At-Large Seat (with no focused area of expertise) 2. What is your interest in serving on the Continuum of Care Board? I am privileged and humbled that I get to serve as the Executive Director of the Family Solutions Collaborative which makes up 24 of the leading family homeless service providers in Orange County. My interest is to support the homeless providers and partners that do the work to end homelessness in our Community. Having participated in a variety of boards in the past, I view it as part of my civic duty to be engaged in the solutions to the challenges and to work collaboratively with others who hold board seats, as well as the the staff with the Office of Care Coordination. I am also very interested in ensuring the policies that are presented to the CoC Board are fair, equitable and best-practice, while meeting the needs of the community we serve. Ensuring the voice of the family, and the family providers, is crucial to ensuring family homelessness is addressed accordingly. There are unique challenges to working with families and children and ensuring those unique challenges are 3. Provide a summary of your experience with the Continuum of Care. With a focus of the FSCs work on family shelter and family coordinated entry system, I have been engaged and involved in a variety of meetings and workgroups, including but not limited to the Policies and Procedures Committee, the CES Steering Committee, the Shelter Workgroup, the Housing Opportunities Committee Meeting as well as the upcoming PIT Advisory Committee Meeting. I have been active and engaged in each of those meetings, and the FSC has a standing agenda item to present atthe CES Steering Committee and the Housing Opportunities Committee Meeting each month. The FSC has ensured engagement in other ways with the Continuum of Care through our DV Integration Process, Diversion Expansion Project and other related work groups-all to enhance, build and support the homeless continuum of care process. The FSC currently operates the Access Point Network and Shelter Network Meetings, all related to the flow and process of the continuum of care. In other Counties, I held similar board seats, similar to Continuum of Care boards including a Technical Member and 2nd Vice Chair of the Sacramento County Alcohol and Drug Advisory Commission, San Juan Unified School District Board, board member of the National Council on Alcoholism and Drug Dependence, New York, NY, etc. 4. Provide your experience and perspective on the Homeless Service System, Housing First, and Homeless Policies relevant to the Continuum of Care. I fully support the perspective of housing first, as does the FSC. As administrators of the Family Coordinated Entry System, we/the FSC supports the policies and procedures of the Continuum of Care, while at the same time, advocating for best-practices to ensure equity and fairness. Having initiated and implemented major changes to the family system over the last year, including the inclusion of DV providers into Coordinated Entry, Diversion Expansion Project, addition of a new family Access Point, two new Shelters and Transitional Housing into our system, as well as increased training and technical assistance to our 24 members, I am committed, t

FAQs

Which board seats and expertise areas is Nikki Buckstead interested in?

She indicates interest in McKinney-Vento Representative, Veteran Representative, and an at-large seat, including expertise on homeless services and/or subpopulation focus such as BIPOC, LGBTQ, people with disabilities, Diversion, Families, Prevention, Rapid Rehousing, Transitional Aged Youth, and an at-large seat with no focused area.

What is Buckstead’s stated interest in serving on the Continuum of Care Board?

She highlights her role as Executive Director of Family Solutions Collaborative and focuses on supporting homeless providers and partners working to end homelessness, emphasizing collaboration, fairness, equity, and best-practice policies that meet community needs.

What experience does she describe with Coordinated Entry and HMS/HMIS?

She describes serving as an administrator of the Family Coordinated Entry System, attending weekly match meetings and the CES Steering Committee, and building Family CES projects in HMS where dashboards and reports are produced, working with staff, shelters, access points, and members to operate Family CES effectively.

Oct 3, 2026

Upload by Fahsai