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HomeMy WebLinkAboutHuman Services Group 1022201 Report out to ICC 10/22/20 Human Services Work Group NOTE: This document is not Human Services Work Group’s Final Report, but rather a status report on completing our Report. The next Human Services meeting is Friday the 23rd of October at which time we plan to finalize our Report. Human Services Work Group Status Update 21 Members Have met 9 times, soon 10 times to finalize our report, while our 4 sub-committees have met many additional times Summary of teamwork: • Early on - Developed a list of 12 Potential Actions or “Project Concepts,” and prioritized those with 4 top priorities: o New and creative solutions around safe, affordable, and quality housing that include emergency and longer-term affordable housing o Community-wide resilience and cohesion activities o Study/survey/effort to determine overall health and well-being of our community and to help assess the ongoing human needs with referral to appropriate agencies/assistance o Broadband access – which we talked to the Broadband Work Group and felt our concerns were being addressed through them • Heard from the County at our August 21st meeting about existing funding and potential new funding opportunity (JeffCo Coronovirus Relief Funds) that have to be spent by October 31st, now November 30th as we understand it, with proposals for spending those funds due by September 4th o Directed our 4 subcommittees and member agencies to develop draft projects as to how Human Services best thinks funds could be used – those drafts were completed and submitted to BOCC by the Sept 4th deadline. We submitted 9 proposed “Projects” and later prioritized those into 1 of 3 priority rankings. Six of our Project were selected for funding, some in coordination with other Work Group proposals. o Our Work Group engaged with other groups to make sure we coordinated similar ideas. We worked closely with the Children and Families Work Group on multiple proposals (Navigator, Youth tutoring, childcare), communicated our priority for Broadband to the Broadband Work Group and Communicated with the Food System Resiliency Work Group about our meal plan for the American Legion Shelter and delivery of groceries to vulnerable/immune-compromised seniors. o The approved Projects are now underway with implementation and contracting. • Human Services Work Group is now holding 2 meetings, one already held Oct 9th and one this coming Friday (tomorrow) to finalize our recommendations for the longer-term and “Chapter Outline” submission to ICC – so, while our submission isn’t yet finalized, the following information summarizes the general recommendations Human Services will likely provide in our Final Report. Initially Human Services was looking at 28 different Project concepts, and, at this point, Human Services is looking at proving recommendations in our Final Report for 19 Projects. 2 Likely Human Services Work Group Final Report Projects - Summary o We believe that all the projects we submitted for short-term CARES funding (6 projects) that received approval for that funding will have continuing needs into the future (past the Nov 30th project finalization and funding completion) and will therefore be included in our Report for that longer-term funding ▪ American Legion or other facility 24/7 for emergency shelter ▪ Daily meals at emergency shelter ▪ Household Utility Assistance ▪ Olycap COVID Navigator (Coordinated with Children and Families Work Group) ▪ Paid Tutors and physical facilities (Coordinated with Children and Families Work Group) ▪ Food delivery for seniors (Coordinated with Food Resiliency Work Group) o Human Services Work Group is proposing several projects that overlap with other Work Groups or outside agencies: ▪ Human Services will recommend and supports the Broadband Work Group’s effort at expanding and making widely available broadband access. ▪ Human Services will recommend and supports the Culture and Events Work Group on outdoor rain-protected facilities ▪ Human Services will recommend and supports the Children and Families Work Group on enhancing or supplementing daycare offerings. A focus for Human Services is to expand this need to children too young for most childcare ▪ Human Services will recommend and supports the Children and Families Work Group on providing assistance for parents with school aged children, especially guidance for parents addressing school curriculums ▪ Human Services will recommend and supports the Food Resiliency Work Group on food provision and delivery, and adds the need to help support and expand the existing school backpack program ▪ Human Services will recommend and supports infrastructure and funding to support COVID testing, coordinated with Jefferson County Healthcare and Jefferson County Public Health o Several Project Concepts, some that were submitted for the CARES Act funding but didn’t receive funding and several other projects that we did not submit will be combined into one Project ▪ Overall Project Title: How is your Neighbor, Jefferson? • Campaign focused on facilitating human connections by informing community members of pertinent crisis and non-crisis resources • Use of “Rack Cards” for distribution and encouraging neighbors to be in touch with neighbors • Incorporation and consideration of community members with intellectual and developmental disabilities (I/DD), those who are isolated, and those with mental health concerns • Formation of a committee on communication with public affairs specialists to help creatively get the word out on how help can be made available for those who need help (using social media, etc.) • Conduct a survey to assess the overall health and well-being of the Jefferson County community. And, through this effort, request community members to self-identify if they have needs in this time of COVID. • Work with community volunteers for making connections and provide training for those volunteers 3 • Work with a goal of preventative approaches to helping community members in need rather than dealing with issues and concerns after they have become a problem. o Finally, several projects will be proposed that stand alone, or that may become part of Appendix A – Issues Identified but Beyond the Scope of this Plan, including: ▪ Develop funding for families who could be evicted ▪ Helping with cost of insurance ▪ Development of more housing at all levels ▪ Identify and implement appropriate sites for serving the homeless population ▪ Encourage governments to use existing property inventories in identifying and implementing new homeless housing needs ▪ Watching for and filling human service gaps as they become identified In the Table below is an initial list of Human Services Project Concepts that we are using as we narrow our Final Report list of recommendations and projects. Those projects shown in green are those projects that were funded for short term CARES funding, dark blue projects are those that were submitted and not funded, and projects in light blue are those that were not submitted but that are projects we are considering for our Final Report: Project Activity Priority New and creative solutions around safe, affordable, and quality housing that include emergency and longer term affordable housing American Legion open 24/7 through December 1 Single daily meal for clients sheltered at American Legion through December Household Utility Assistance Development of more housing at all levels from transitional housing to housing for working families Once appropriate site(s) has been identified, create a formal proposal to bring to County administrator and/or County Commission for re- purposing this property to serve homeless population. IGG Human Services Work Group commissions/generates an exhaustive list of county real estate (e.g. county campgrounds, parks, etc.) with an eye for where to shelter JeffCo's most vulnerable homeless population during and in the aftermath of the COVID crisis. Community-wide resilience and cohesion activities OlyCap COVID Navigator 2 Paid Tutors and physical facilities for students Obtaining food and delivery for seniors/immune-compromised How’s Your Neighbor, Jefferson? Governments and school districts identify rain-protected outdoor locations and manage their availability throughout the winter for school classes, community meetings, and people in need of social interaction. Study/survey/effort to determine ongoing needs with referral to appropriate agencies/assistance Conducting a survey 3 Community Volunteers for Human connections Identify disabled folks who may not be already identified through existing social services. Provide personal contact services for these folks who may be isolated at home with little or no social/community contacts. 4 Bring some of the same services offered by a mental health professional and medication prescriber to individuals in their respective encampments or homes Affordable access to Broadband and Internet, provision of cell phones Referred to Broadband Team 4 Funding for individuals/families who need assistance for rent, mortgage payments Develop funding streams to assist families facing eviction due to loss of employment 5 Assessing the need for help with insurance Create and widely distribute resource list of available human services Development and distribution of a services list to community members that need the services 6 There are many organizations in our community with a variety of human services available-people in need of these services may not even be aware of their existence or how to access them. ICC engages the Jefferson Community Foundation to create a Volunteer Clearing house. Governments, public institutions and third sector groups that serve basic needs identify gaps. Write volunteer job descriptions Create online platform, post opportunities, and intake forms. Eventually staff Clearinghouse itself with volunteers Find work for the hundreds of volunteers displaced from large events such as the County Fair, Wooden Boat Festival, and PTFF. Reduced public revenues Free Covid-19 screening for anyone who asks or wants it (No symptoms required) Develop infrastructure to allow of this type of testing working with Jefferson County Public Health and Jefferson Healthcare. 7 Enhance daycare/childcare to help workforce if schools remain virtual. Enhance or supplement current daycare offerings. Work with community leaders to develop funding and create options. 8 Support for Families educating children at home Guidance for parents (mentorship and support individuals or groups). Often they do not feel they have sufficient education themselves, confidence or knowledge of how to support, motivate and direct their children’s school work. 9 ICC develops consistent messaging on COVID-19 for Jefferson County communities and visitors. Form a committee of communications and public affairs specialists from Governments, Public Health, the Chamber, health-oriented nonprofits, KPTZ, and Enjoy PT. Identify or recruit a facilitator skilled in behavior change communications, audience research, message testing, and identification of channels. Enlist local artists, filmmakers, actors, and musicians to produce posters, PSAs, and very short street performances 10 ID Gaps in Human Services and work to fill those gaps Look for gaps in services, identify gaps in existing services 11 5 Food security for school aged children, low income, and vulnerable people Expand the existing “Backpack” food program for school children over weekends to more than just weekends and to more than just school children. Work closely with our GREAT FOOD BANKS in developing this program to help folks get to the Food Banks themselves or to deliver food to those who can’t travel easily, such as those with Intellectual/Developmental Disabilities and seniors. Also, because in some areas of the County where senior lunches have been curtailed, restart those maybe with just a take out type service if safe distancing can’t be provided through live lunches. 12