May 22, 2008 - Cloudburst selected by US Department of Housing and Urban Development to be Community Development Technical Assistance (CD-TA) provider for Homeless Programs.

Cloudburst has been selected by HUD to provide services to HUD grantees and program applicants under a national technical assistance grant. Nationally recognized for its expertise in HUD homeless programs and Homeless Management Information Systems (HMIS), Cloudburst will assist grantees or potential applicants of HUD's homeless assistance programs to plan for and implement strategies that result in more permanent housing solutions for persons and families without a home of their own. Cloudburst will work under the direction of HUD's Office of Special Needs Assistance Programs to determine the priorities for delivery of technical assistance to locally-funded Continuums of Care to capture better data on the extent and nature of homelessness, assess service utilization patterns, and evaluate the effectiveness of locally-funded programs to prevent and end homelessness. Cloudburst will work to develop technical assistance documents, i.e. guidance documents, training curricula, tool-kits, etc.; conduct local and national training; provide onsite and virtual outreach and technical assistance support; as well as facilitate metropolitan, regional and statewide collaborations to better understand and document the intersection between homeless and mainstream service utilization.

May 1, 2008 - LANDOVER, Md., The Cloudburst Group today announced that it has been awarded a GSA Management, Organizational, and Business Improvement Services (MOBIS) Federal Supply Schedule, Contract # GS-10F-0218U.

The awarding of this contract vehicle will allow Federal agencies to order goods and services directly from Cloudburst. Services include Research and Analysis, Program Evaluation, Management and Strategy Consulting, Strategic Planning, Performance Measurement, Data Analysis, Training, and Disaster Preparedness.

As a pre-approved provider on the GSA Supply Schedule, Cloudburst has already been evaluated by GSA for its quality of service, administrative and management capability, fiscal soundness, and pricing. For additional information, please contact us at (301) 918-4400 or info@cloudburstgroup.com.

April 2, 2008 - LANDOVER, Md., The Cloudburst Group today announced that Pat Shifflett, an industry leader in public health strategic planning and program development, will join the firm as Vice President of its Health Practice. In this newly created position, Shifflett will open Cloudburst's Atlanta office and will be responsible for managing and driving the firm's growing business in health communications, program planning and technical assistance services.

"Pat has a twenty-year track record of success in health communications and program planning and development," said Al Alvarez, Cloudburst's President and CEO. "She is the ideal person to build the Cloudburst business, and tell the Cloudburst story to public and private sector health professionals."

Shifflett joins Cloudburst from Constella Health Sciences, where she has spent the last six years building and managing Constella's Center for Health Program Advancement, focusing primarily on federal, state and public health organizations, including the Centers for Disease Control. Prior to joining Constella, Shifflett was the Director of Patient and Family Support at the American Cancer Society. Shifflett has been recognized by her peers as an industry leader, winning the CINE Golden Eagle Award for the CDC "Just Talk" Public Service Announcement as well as the PRSA Silver Anvil Award for the American Cancer Society's "Tell-A-Friend" campaign.

Shifflett is a graduate of the Westminister College of Nursing and holds a Master's degree from the Capella University School of Business.

March 20, 2008 - Cloudburst’s nationally-recognized housing experts are under contract to provide assistance to HUD’s Office of Public and Indian Housing, Special Applications Center (SAC), for the voluntary and required conversion of public housing units. The Voluntary and Required Conversion Program identifies distressed developments (or parts of developments) that may be more cost effective when converted from public housing units. SAC, based in Chicago, serves a major support function for the 44 HUD Field Offices serving communities across the country.

Cloudburst is working with SAC staff to develop guidance documents for the field, provide national trainings to HUD and housing authority staff on the conversion process, and conduct site visits to housing authorities with pending conversion applications.

March 17, 2008 - Cloudburst has been selected by The Department of Energy National Nuclear Safety Administration (NNSA) http://www.nnsa.doe.gov to conduct an internal work flow and information management audit to assist NNSA Service Center Departments of Contracting and Personnel Security to improve their information management processes. Cloudburst’s work includes conducting a work flow analysis and information management tracking process, and developing a cost-effective technology solution integrating the features of a legacy work flow system with a robust, state-of-the-art tracking system to seamlessly manage NNSA's inventory of sensitive products and materials.

September 12, 2007 - Cloudburst has been chosen by Heifer International to conduct a mid-term review of its ten-year strategic planning process. The overall focus of the evaluation will be to ensure that Heifer is meeting its purpose of bettering the lives of its intended beneficiaries.

Heifer, a non-profit organization based in Little Rock, Arkansas, works to end hunger and poverty worldwide while caring for the earth. For more than 60 years, Heifer has provided livestock and environmentally sound agricultural training to improve the lives of those who struggle daily for dependable sources of food and income. Heifer is currently working in more than 57 countries, including the U.S., to help families and communities become more self-reliant. Since 1944 it has helped more than 45 million people through training in livestock development and livestock gifts that multiply. Every gift of an animal provides benefits such as milk, eggs, wool and fertilizer, increasing family incomes for better housing, nutrition, health care and school fees for children. Recipients “Pass on the Gift” of the offspring of their cows, goats and other livestock to others in an ever-widening circle of hope.

June 26, 2007 - Under Lockheed Martin Aspen Systems' Community Connections (ComCon) contract, Cloudburst staff are engaged in an important effort to support the integrity of Emergency Shelter Grant (ESG) Program data in HUD's block grant data management system known as IDIS. Cloudburst housing experts will be providing technical assistance to recipients of ESG funds to improve the quality of data provided to HUD regarding activities funded by the ESG Program.

Monday, April 23, 2007 - Cloudburst is pleased to announce that it has signed a contract with the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA), an agency within the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, to provide support to SAMHSA statistical projects - Domain 2S. This work will include Sampling Designs and Statistical Methods; Acquisition, Development, and Collection of Data Bases; Analyses of Large Scale Data Bases; Analyses of Complex Quantitative Data; Development, Implementation, and Testing of Quality Tools; and Information Technology (IT) Statistical Projects. For further information, please contact Steven T. Sullivan, Ph.D. at (301) 918-4400 ext. 14; or sts@cloudburstgroup.com .

Wednesday, March 21, 2007 - Cloudburst has been chosen by Constella Futures Group International to be on Project SEARCH (Supporting Evaluation and Research to Combat HIV/AIDS), a USAID-funded project designed to carry out research and evaluation to improve the coverage, quality and effectiveness of HIV/AIDS prevention, care and treatment programs worldwide. In addition, the Project focuses on strengthening local capacity in HIV/AIDS research and public health assessments. Additional Project SEARCH team partners include The Elisabeth Glaser Pediatric AIDS Foundation and the University of Washington. For further information, please contact Louisa Hart at (301) 918-4400 ext. 12; or lh@cloudburstgroup.com .