Sheltering Beyond Shelters: Housing Justice Advocacy and its Role in Animal Welfare
[embedded content] Housing is a necessity that impacts all families in the United States, and believe it or not – it also profoundly affects animal shelters. Watch this webinar on the state of housing and the history of housing justice advocacy efforts in the U.S. (and why animal welfare advocates should care). Lauren Loney, Staff Attorney & Policy Specialist for HASS, shares highlights from the HASS shelter intake reasons database, which details more than 20,000 housing-related intakes across the country. Joining Lauren is Megan...
Data Insight: The Potential Power of Intake Data to Keep Pets with Families
One of the sadder things we see in shelter intake lobbies is when someone arrives to surrender the beloved pet of a deceased family member or of a loved one unable to care for a companion. HASS believes there are other solutions to consider before a shelter surrender, especially in sensitive moments such as these, that can benefit both the family in need and a shelter’s ability to manage intake in a positive way. But how can shelters still support this need? It begins with intake data. At HASS, it’s increasingly clear there...
Paws for Celebration: A Look into Resources, Tools, and the Year Ahead From the HASS Division Leads
[embedded content] Watch this webinar that promises a celebration of the work done by the HASS community and valuable insights into tools, resources, and the work shaping the future of supporting people and pets! Hear from HASS division leads: Maggie Lynch, Senior Director of Research and Development, and Amanda Foster, Assistant Director of Implementation Analysis, share our Social Return on Investment (SROI) in Supporting Human-Animal Bonds research collection and examples of data dashboards that help HASS pilots improve their operations....
Human Animal Support Services (HASS) Receives $90,000 Grant from PetSmart Charities
(AUSTIN, TX) November 29, 2023–Human Animal Support Services (HASS), an international project revolutionizing the animal welfare industry by uniting the human and animal welfare approach, is the proud recipient of a $90,000 grant from PetSmart Charities® to benefit an initiative entitled the Competitive Pet Placement project. With this $90,000 grant from PetSmart Charities, HASS will conduct research on how to effectively reduce barriers to adoption within five pilot shelters, implement best practices associated with the...
There’s Likely a Better Way to Get Lost Pets Home: Public RTH
Traditionally, a return-to-home (RTH) takes place when a family arrives at the shelter to be reunited with a lost companion, or whenever animal services have made it a priority for field officers to take pets home vs. bring them straight to the shelter. There is another way shelters can facilitate RTH, which HASS data indicates is likely to be even more effective—working with finders of lost pets in the community and avoiding shelter custody altogether. Where this has been tested in HASS pilot communities, we are seeing that...
Let’s Get Out of the Way of Getting Pets into Homes
Over the last few months, 12 HASS pilot shelters took a deep dive review into their shelter operations and programs, aiming to identify any lingering barriers to positive outcomes as part of a formal Competitive Pet Placement project. An initiative supported by PetSmart Charities, the goal is to make sure animal shelters are not making it harder for people to adopt and foster than it ought to be—and to make it easier for pets to get into homes. HASS trainer, Jenifer Reed with Onyx. Throughout the beginning stages of this process, the...
Human Animal Support Services (HASS) Announces 2024 Policy Platform & Agenda
(AUSTIN, TX) November 7, 2023–Human Animal Support Services (HASS), an international project revolutionizing the animal welfare industry by uniting the human and animal welfare approach, announced today its 2024 policy platform and agenda including the prioritization of the following policy initiatives: increasing equitable access to pet-inclusive housing and affordable veterinary care, expanding federal Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits to include pet food, as well as addressing the way animal shelter conditions...
Creating Connections: How to Build Partnerships Between Animal and Human Organizations
[embedded content] Collaboration between animal welfare and human service organizations is key to successfully supporting people and pets in our communities. By working together and uniting our industries, organizations can bridge the gap and prevent the separation of families. View this panel discussion on just this topic, as well as insights into the HASS Community Connections project. Nichole Hazard, Associate Director of Marketing and Communications for HASS, shares about the partnerships HASS is cultivating between our pilot...
Data Insight: What We Learned from a Simple Question About Visible IDs and RTH Rates
Animal shelters are overflowing with pets that have become separated from their people. According to our HASS pilot data, as well as Shelter Animals Count (SAC), “stray” animals make up around 50% of 2023 shelter intake across the United States. It’s not surprising that organizations are looking for answers to the question, “how can we increase return to home (RTH) rates?” Here’s an example from one of the HASS pilot organizations: With stray pets accounting for nearly 80% of total intake and...
Letter From Vincent: A Q4 Dispatch From the Director of HASS
We were recently in Arkansas, visiting our HASS pilot shelter Cabot Animal Support Services. HASS staff and I were there primarily to support CASS in their data collection, so they can do the good things they’re doing even better — but I always learn from our pilots on these road show visits, which I told you about in my last Letter from the Director, and this was no exception. This time, I got to be part of a large-scale, low-cost drive-thru vaccine clinic that Cabot holds twice a year, and that is the HASS mission in...
