Re:  Briefing for Councilmember Robbins

City Human Services Policy and Resolution Creating the Human Services Advisory Commission:  Sarah Duffy began the briefing by reviewing the Human Services Policy, which she explained is to “help people fully develop their capabilities.”  She described the role of the Human Services Advisory Commission as assisting with oversight, encouraging and promoting ethnic diversity, recommending innovative approaches to human services, encouraging the use of volunteers, and informing the community about human services.  Tim Stranges explained that one way the Commission participates in human services is to attend site visits to agencies and programs funded by the City.  He described his recent visit to the Latino Outreach Program, an adult ESOL program run by Community Ministries of Rockville that also provides childcare and citizenship classes. 
 
Commission’s 2008 Priorities:  Sarah Duffy told Councilmember Robbins that the Commission frequently hears that there is a lot of need but people don’t always find out about available services as, for example, Asian American residents who may not feel comfortable asking for services.  This is an issue currently being studied by the Commission.  Councilmember Robbins responded that she often hears of this issue with respect to seniors, particularly women who may be living on their husband’s social security and not have enough money for medical or other important needs.  She was involved in getting approval for the handyman program at the Senior Center.

Sarah added that another area of interest for the Commission is services for at-risk youth, primarily adolescents.  These are youth who don’t always participate in school or other extracurricular activities.  They don’t have jobs and are at risk of becoming involved in negative activities.  The third area of interest for the Commission this year is the employment issue, especially as regards those people who are underemployed.

Overview of Human Services Providers Receiving City funding:  Councilmember Robbins asked about the process used in funding nonprofit agencies.  Sarah Duffy explained that one of the tasks undertaken by Commission members has been to look at performance reports from the outside agencies.  Mary Lou Jacobs said that some of these performance measures are in the City of Rockville budget book.  In addition, she said that the committee reviewing all the grant applications from outside agencies also considers the concrete number of Rockville residents being served.

Mary Lou said that she had just learned that the County did not fund the Rockville SHARP Program, one of the programs that had submitted a grant application to the City.  The Collaboration Council also made a decision to withdraw their money. The City had planned to give matching funds.  The County was to provide $20,000, the Collaboration Council $30,000, and the City $15,000.  Mary Lou asked Councilmember Robbins if the Council would consider writing a letter regarding the loss of funding for the Rockville SHARP Program if the Commission were to request their assistance.  Councilmember Robbins said she thought it would be appropriate.

Feedback and Discussion: Tim asked about Mary Lou’s suggestion concerning a letter to the Mayor and Council regarding the Rockville SHARP Program.  Mary Lou said the program provides a means to target services to those youth who are most in need.  By assisting youth who have been suspended from school, the program provides services to Montgomery County Public Schools.  It is based on a partnership between the County and the faith community.  Dr. Munk, the principal at Rockville High School, wants the program.  She talked with a minister at Twinbrook Baptist Church who was excited about it and offered space in addition to recruiting volunteers from his church to serve as tutors.  GUIDE Program, Inc., an agency that has the county contract to coordinate all SHARP programs, wrote the application to the City of Rockville to serve 80 to 100 youth.  Instead of providing a match, Mary Lou suggested that City funds could be used to fund a pilot program so that next year there would be a functioning program.  It would then be easier to get funding.  Mary Lou said she had spoken with the City Clerk and learned that the Commission cannot write directly to the County Council.

Sarah Duffy asked if the Commission should draft a letter now.  Mary Lou said the Commission might want to invite the SHARP Program coordinator to their next meeting.  Kim Dawkins asked if any concerns about the program had been expressed or if this was just a matter of dollars.  Mary Lou responded that the program is a challenge to operate because it has so many customers.  Sarah Duffy said it might be helpful to have a letter from stakeholders.  She would want to have a common understanding.  Tim asked what would happen to the $15,000 if the program were not funded.  Mary Lou said that once before there had been a similar situation.  The money was put into a contingency fund for other Caregivers to use in special situations.  The funds can’t be used for the Recreation fund because the Mayor and Council made a decision at some point that money from the General Fund cannot go into the Recreation Fund.

Re:  Approve May 13, 2008 Meeting Minutes

David L’Heureux moved that the minutes be approved; Tim Stranges seconded the motion.  The motion passed unanimously.

Re:  New Business

Site Visit to Dorothy Day Place
Cindy Griffiths reported that she had participated in this visit and was very impressed.  She found Uwanna Collins to be very organized and was impressed with her system for tracking all donations.  She has a Catholic nun working with her who meets with each woman and provides case management.  Curfew at the shelter is at 10 p.m.  The women also have to be out every day.  There are very few rules.  One is that there are no cell phones.  Another is that each resident must pay something each month in order to be allowed to stay at the shelter.  A fair number don’t make it through the program but many women return.  Cindy said they met one resident who was 19 years old and pregnant.  The rooms have bunk beds.  There is a common area with a washer/dryer.  Most women stay an average of one year.

Site Visit to Manna Food Center
Kimberly said she had participated in this visit and found Manna to be extremely organized.  There is very little office space.  Most available space is used to store food.  She was impressed that Manna has experienced no shortage of donations; in fact there has been an increase of 25%.  Their recent “Stuff a Bus” benefit was highly successful.

One issue the site visit team encountered was Manna’s plan to offer evening hours to residents of Rockville.  They are only open for food pick-ups between noon and 3 p.m., and there are no Saturday hours, which could partially account for their 25% no-show rate.  Professional staff must be present when food is being distributed and the scheduling had not been worked out.  Sarah Duffy commented that the program was not very “user friendly.”  She thought they might consider a performance bonus to encourage staff to work later hours.  Kimberly suggested the use of volunteers as it could literally make the difference between a child eating or not.  Tim offered to call one of the board members to determine their rationale.  Agnes Saenz suggested including these comments in the report as recommendations.

Site Visit to Montgomery Avenue Women’s Center (MAWC)
Cindy, Kim and Mary Lou had all participated in this site visit.  Mary Lou reported that she had originally attempted to schedule this site visit two years ago and she had finally insisted on it.  Because of health problems Norma Fagan, the director, had asked Bob Dorsey, a board member, to take over many responsibilities.  The site visit team had walked in to a situation where transition is ongoing.  Bob is not a paid staff but is carrying out these responsibilities on a volunteer basis. 

Many of the women at MAWC in the program spend their nights at Sophia House, which shares the same location.  Transportation is a challenge for women trying to get to MAWC.  The average attendance is 15 women per day. 

Concern #1:  There is no on-site supervisor.  Individual staff seem to be operating in silos.
Concern #2:  While a schedule of activities exists, the activities don’t all take place.
Concern #3:  There are no procedures in place for handling money.
Concern #4:  There is no certainty as to whether staff understand reporting requirements.

It appeared that Bob is making an effort to get on top of issues.  He is working to get a director of operations.  Mary Lou is planning to send him a letter this week identifying some of the issues and asking to make a follow-up visit.  She plans to take someone from the City’s Finance Department to see how MAWC handles finances.  She asked if the MAWC board sees a monthly report.  Bob said that they do but it does not provide a detailed breakdown.  Kim added that very little information was recorded electronically.  If someone wanted to do an audit, they would have to review paper files.

Re:  Old Business

Summit on Youth

Eric Wang shared an article on youth crime in D.C. that included a suggestion to hold a summit.  The issue needs to be re-framed for Rockville.  It is not a “gang” issue but one of education.  He suggested a letter to the Mayor and Council.  Sarah Duffy said she thought more specific information would be needed.  Cindy said that they would need to involve professionals.  Sarah Duffy added that it would be helpful to look at communities where this has been done. 

David said that youth from St. Raphael’s Church is participating in a world peace summit in Australia this summer.  When they return, they will be all fired up and he thought it would be helpful to get these youth involved in helping other youth.  Many of those attending are Hispanic.  He will check with the church for more details.

There was agreement that Commission members were looking at an event a year away.  Kim asked if commission members would just make suggestions or could actually make the contacts.  It was also agreed that a timeline was needed.  Cindy commented that there are no activities for teens in Town Center.  Parents want more for them to do.

Community Services Division Monthly Report
Agnes commented that there were approximately 20 REAP clients referred by the Community Services Division in April.  Sarah Duffy asked if the program’s funding was still adequate.  Mary Lou said that it is and that a number of people coming in to apply for REAP are new to the program.

Agnes also wanted Commission members to know that she had spoken with Tom Lawrey.  He will not be able to continue as a member of the Commission.  She thought it best to wait until the next Caregivers meeting in September to see if anyone would be interested in replacing him.

Cindy informed Commission members of a call-in program that Rockville Central was planning called Struggling in Rockville.  Mary Lou, Sarah Mahin, and Agnes Saenz would all be taking part.

Re:  Plan Agenda for July 8 Meeting

• Invite SHARP Program Coordinator
• Further discussion of a youth summit
• Discussion of site visits

Re:  Adjourn

David moved that the meeting be adjourned; Agnes seconded the motion.  The motion passed unanimously.  The meeting was adjourned at 9:25 p.m. 

The next meeting of the Human Services Advisory Commission will be held Tuesday, July 8, 2008 at 7:30 p.m. in the Black-Eyed Susan Conference Room in City Hall.