Skip to content 
Organization: Lancaster County Community Action Partnership (CAP)
Population Served:
Solution:
Insights From: Sheldon Kepiro | Published: May 18, 2026 | 
7 Mins
Summary:
Lancaster County Homeless Coalition relies on CaseWorthy as the central HMIS and case management platform for its HUD-funded homelessness programs. Under HMIS Lead Sheldon Kepiro, CaseWorthy’s guided workflows and baseline HUD configuration have significantly improved data quality, System Performance Measures reporting, and LSA compliance, reducing end-of-year scrambles and freeing staff for direct client support. CAP also built a locally-owned coordinated entry prioritization tool using CaseWorthy’s apBuilder. In December 2025, a live API integration with Find Help via Pennsylvania’s PA Navigate initiative extended CaseWorthy into a true closed-loop referral network, giving CAP visibility into referral outcomes across partner organizations for the first time.
Strengthening HUD Compliance and Closed-Loop Referrals with CaseWorthy
Lancaster County Community Action Partnership (CAP) is a leading anti-poverty organization in Pennsylvania and a cornerstone of the community’s homeless response system. Since 2019, Lancaster has relied on CaseWorthy as its HMIS and case management platform, helping streamline data collection, strengthen HUD compliance, and improve service coordination across coalition programs. Under the leadership of IT Director and HMIS Lead Sheldon Kepiro, CaseWorthy has become the system of record for multiple HUD-funded projects and a foundation for countywide collaboration.
In December 2025, Lancaster deepened its data ecosystem by completing an integration with Find Help through the statewide PA Navigate initiative. This connection extends Lancaster’s ability to exchange referral data with external partners, advancing progress toward a fully closed-loop referral network and a more connected community response.
About Lancaster County CAP
Lancaster County CAP is the county’s largest anti-poverty organization and a core member of the Lancaster County Homelessness Coalition. It administers and supports multiple HUD-funded projects, including emergency shelters, coordinated entry, street outreach, and several housing programs, alongside broader anti-poverty services where staff act as navigators. CaseWorthy serves as the central HMIS and case management system of record for these HUD programs and selected CAP services, with limited dual data entry where other mandated systems are required. Sheldon’s dual role, supporting CAP and serving as HMIS Lead for the Homelessness Coalition, ensures CaseWorthy supports both organizational and community-wide HMIS needs.
The Challenges
Before adopting standardized processes in CaseWorthy, Lancaster County CAP and the Homelessness Coalition faced several HMIS and HUD reporting challenges. They struggled to reliably capture all HUD-required data elements for System Performance Measures and the Longitudinal Systems Analysis (LSA). Missing or incorrect data increased the effort needed to complete reporting and risked impacting funding.
The Homelessness Coalition also needed a consistent, policy-aligned coordinated entry process and better data sharing across programs, without creating duplicate entry or fragmented client records. On top of this, Lancaster needed the flexibility to respond quickly to HUD requirement changes and local priorities without costly custom development.
The Solution: CaseWorthy as the HMIS Hub
Lancaster County CAP implemented CaseWorthy as the central HMIS and case management hub for its homeless programs and core services.
Key configuration elements include:
HUD-Aligned Baseline
The Coalition uses CaseWorthy’s baseline HUD configuration for System Performance Measures and LSA data, ensuring continuous alignment with changing HUD standards.
Guided Workflows for Data Quality
Using CaseWorthy’s workflow engine, Sheldon built guided workflows for intake, assessments, annual updates, and exits. Staff are guided through each required step to prevent skipped or incomplete forms.
Shared Client Record
CaseWorthy provides a shared client record for CAP and coalition users, enabling coordinated services and reducing redundant data collection.
Staff report that structured workflows make navigation simpler and reduce cognitive load, allowing more time for direct client support.
Coordinated Entry Innovation: Housing Assessment Tool (HAT)
When HUD retired the VI-SPDAT, the Coalition used CaseWorthy’s apBuilder to create a local prioritization tool, the Housing Assessment Tool (HAT). The tool uses locally defined questions and a community-informed scoring model to align with local priorities. HAT generates prioritization reports that highlight which households are “next up” for housing based on need and vulnerability. Because the tool lives inside CaseWorthy, the Coalition can easily update questions and scoring as community needs and HUD guidance evolve. This flexible, configurable approach helps the coalition maintain a data-driven, locally owned coordinated entry process.
Closed-Loop Referrals at Scale
PA Navigate / Find Help Integration
A standout element of Lancaster County CAP’s implementation is its inbound integration between CaseWorthy and Find Help, branded statewide as PA Navigate. This integration extends CaseWorthy beyond a single-agency HMIS to serve as the data hub for a broader social care referral network.
Previously, Lancaster County CAP could only see true closed-loop referral statuses for organizations operating within CaseWorthy. External referrals offered no automated updates, leaving staff without visibility into whether clients were eligible, enrolled, or actually served.
Solution: Via CaseWorthy's API integration with Find Help
Inbound Referrals
Referrals from PA Navigate/Find Help are automatically sent into Lancaster County CAP’s Caseworthy environment, matching to existing client records or creating new ones so all activity stays tied to a single shared profile.
Closed-Loop Status
Referral updates (eligible, not eligible, served, etc.) automatically return to Caseworthy from Find Help, completing the loop without manual data entry.
Terminology Alignment
Empower Lancaster aligned PA Navigate and Caseworthy concepts and user roles (e.g., “seekers” and “helpers” with clients and users) to support smoother coordination and reporting.
Scalable Onboarding
The integration launched in December 2025, with single sign-on planned for future expansion as more organizations come onto the platform.
This connection allows Empower Lancaster to track referral outcomes even when partners use other systems, extending closed-loop visibility community‑wide and strengthening the story they can tell about needs, access, and outcomes.
Results
With CaseWorthy serving as the county’s HMIS hub, Lancaster has seen real transformation in how data drives its work. HUD-required data for System Performance Measures and the LSA is captured more reliably than ever, giving CAP confidence in its compliance and the accuracy of its reporting.
Regular data reviews throughout the year help prevent the annual “crunch time,” freeing staff to focus on strengthening data quality and supporting clients rather than fixing system issues. Day-to-day operations flow more smoothly, with streamlined workflows and far less duplicate data entry. Coordinated entry is now guided by a locally controlled, fully customizable prioritization tool within CaseWorthy, making the process both more responsive and community-driven.
And as the Find Help integration moves toward rollout, Empower Lancaster is positioned to achieve true closed-loop referral visibility across PA Navigate and its network of community partners, setting the stage for deeper collaboration and long-term sustainability.
Featuring Insights From
Sheldon Kepiro
Sheldon Kepiro is IT Director at Lancaster County Community Action Partnership (CAP) and HMIS Lead for the Lancaster County Homelessness Coalition. Since adopting CaseWorthy in 2019, he has led the platform’s configuration across CAP’s HUD-funded programs, including emergency shelter, coordinated entry, street outreach, and housing. Sheldon built CAP’s custom Housing Assessment Tool after HUD retired the VI-SPDAT, and led the organization’s December 2025 integration with Find Help via PA Navigate, making CAP one of Pennsylvania’s first organizations to achieve true closed-loop referral visibility across community partners.
