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HomeMy WebLinkAbout~Master - ASSET Meetings Minutes 01/19/231 ASSET & Joint Funders Meeting Minutes January 19, 2023 @ 5:00 pm CityChurch, 2400 Oakwood Road, Ames The Analysis of Social Services Evaluation Team (ASSET) Board and Joint Funders Meeting was called to order by Chair Nikki Fischer at 5:03 p.m. with the following members present: Jane Acker, Bronwyn Beatty-Hansen, Gloria Betcher, Jehan Faisal, Latifah Faisal, Bryce Garman, Ed Gillott, Linda Hagedorn, Mayor John Haila, Lisa Heddens, Sandra King, Jean Kresse, Mike Lazere, Quinn Margrett, Linda Murken, Anneke Mundel, Anita Rollins, Deb Schildroth, Jenny Schill, Sarah Schroeder, Ron Smith, Nicholas Tansey, Ashley Thompson, Mike Zenor, Matt Franco, Emily Sargent, Milly Agai, Scott Dryer , and Lois Vidimos (Administrative Assistant) Guest: Shari Reilly, The Bridge Home WELCOME/INTRODUCTIONS Introductions were made by each attendant. PUBLIC FORUM No one wished to speak during public forum. FUNDERS APPROVAL Murken motioned and Betcher seconded to approve the September 8, 2022, Joint Funders meeting minutes. Motion carried unanimously. TREASURER’S REPORT Additional Funder Support At the November 30, 2022, ASSET Administrative Team meeting, there was an approval to request an additional $200 per Funder for FY23 to cover increased expenses. However, in reviewing our upcoming expenses, it appears we need to request more. Our upcoming expenses total $2,204 as follows: • $60 Nite Owl (additional charge for printing ASSET budget books) • $990 January Hearing and Work Session Meals • $674 Dropbox annual fee • $480 Web Hosting annual fee As of 7/1/23, we will increase our General Fund Invoice from $600 per Funder to $1,000 per Funder to cover increasing expenses. REPORTS Joint Funders Mayor Haila expressed his appreciation to all the ASSET team, volunteers and Funders. He appreciates the partnership. Mental health and meeting basic needs are still the City’s top priorities and for FY23-24, we increased our ASSET allocations by 6%. Franco, United Way of Story County Board Member, stated that they increased their ASSET allocations by 3% for FY23- 24. Faisal, Chair, Story County Board of Supervisors, noted that Story County increased its allocation by 5% for General Basic. She also thanked the volunteers. Admin Team Schildroth stated that recommendations will go to the City Council on February 14. 2 Kresse, United Way, stated that recommendations will go to the United Way Board on January 26. Schroder, ISU Student Government, stated that they increased their ASSET allocations by 3% for FY23-24. To be determined when recommendations will be considered by Student Government. King, Story County, stated that recommendations will go to the Story County Board of Supervisors around February 14. Chair Fischer stated that since this is her last ASSET Board and Joint Funders meeting, she wanted to thank everyone, and she has enjoyed her time on ASSET and meeting all the members and Story County is amazing. She still has ASSET Administrative meetings to finish out. She was thanked for her time and commitment. Past Chair Thompson echoed Chair Fischer’s comments and has enjoyed working with County and City officials. We are fortunate as it is not like this in all communities. NEW BUSINESS Consideration of approval of the Volunteer recommendations for FY2023/24: Education Panel – Jean Kresse, Health Panel – Sandra King, and Financial Stability Panel– Deb Schildroth Education Panel Notes From Kresse: The Education Work Team met on January 9, 2023. There were 31 programs considered for funding from 15 agencies. Of the 31 programs – 22 are recommended to receive an increase, two are new programs, one did not request funding, two requested less funding, three programs are recommended to receive less funding and one is recommended for level funding. The total funding for this current fiscal year is $1,161,870. The requested amount was $1,400,317 – an increase of $238,447 or 21%. Recommendations – Story County had $11,979 and the City of Ames had $17,160 unallocated funds that were moved to Financial Stability, all UWSC and ISU Student Government funds were allocated. There were two new programs, one from an existing agency and the other from a new agency. All Aboard for Kids requested funding for a new program called Full Steam Ahead and it is the ASSET program called Supported Employment for Developmentally Disabled. This is a need that was identified as their current summer participants aged out. The Full Steam Ahead Budget is based on 16 autistic students, and focuses on pre-employment skills, workplace readiness, career exploration, hygiene, and other skills. They request $8,906 and the recommendation is $6,566. The Community Academy is a new agency to the ASSET process and requested $105,000 for their out of school program. The volunteers are recommending $17,972. The program is a service-learning model and engages students (preschool through 12th grade) at all income levels. The program focuses on long-term community projects in collaboration with their peers, mentors, and community leaders. This helps kids become engaged and invested in each other and their community. Projects include working with the city on planting trees and maintaining trees. This past summer students spent time at the Baker Development and worked with the people who live there, connecting students to our community. Kresse pointed out that prior to this funding cycle Campfire was receiving funding for three programs – two were under childcare, which are under the Financial Stability category and the third was Youth Development and Social Adjustment – under Education. After working with the leadership at Campfire it was determined that they were not licensed for childcare but out of school programs. The Adm Team decided to consolidate the three programs into Out of School Learning. Total ASSET funding for this current fiscal year for the three programs totaled $30,995 – requested was $41,000 and the recommendation is at $31,750 or an increase of $755. 3 Volunteers Volunteers reviewed Funder priorities, drawdown reports, and performance measures through Scorecard during the work session to make these recommendations. A question on The Community Academy was asked, if they requested $105,000, but are only receiving $17,972 what will this cover? Kresse, Chair Fischer and Past Chair Thompson explained that this will help fund those children from families with lower incomes. Health Panel Notes From King: The Health Work Team met on Thursday, January 12, 2023, 25 services and nine agencies were funded. Overall, just over 90% of the overall funding request was met for a total of $1,383,507. This represents 29% of the $4,824,030 total ASSET funding for FY24. Some additional notes on funding requests are: Only five services were not funded at 98% or more of the request as follows: 1. The Bridge Home – Service Coordination – Rapid Rehousing – Funding was not requested for this service for FY23, as the agency had trouble drawing down all the funds in FY22. While the funds were eventually drawn down, there was no request to fund this service in FY23. For FY24, the request is $35,672 compared to $10,743 received the last time funding was requested in FY22. The funding recommendation for FY24 is $11,502 (a 7% increase over FY22 budget, the last time funding was requested). 2. LSI Crisis Childcare – The agency has experienced difficulty finding providers for this service and could not provide the service or draw down the funds. They believe they’re on track to provide the service now and requested $20,727 and funding is recommended at $19,161 or 92% of the request. 3. Primary Health Care – Dental Clinic – Requested $207,350, recommended for funding $145,136. The agency has had trouble drawing down the funds and, in some cases, needing a reminder. When the agency first became an ASSET agency, it was noted at that time that the need for ASSET funding would likely decrease as other funding sources (i.e. Medicaid) were tapped. 4. YSS – a. Service Coordination – Requested $52,000, a 200% increase over FY23’s budget allocation of $19,000. Funding was recommended at 9.5% over FY23’s budget. b. Substance Abuse (Outpatient) – Although the request was level with FY23’s allocation, the agency has had trouble drawing down funds. The funding recommendation was more in line with the agency’s use of funds about 31% less than the request. Requested $63,670, recommended funding $43,670. Unallocated Funds –  $7,176 transferred to Financial Stability from ISU to be used to support University Community Childcare, which is a high priority.  $57,252 – Funds were set aside for emergency shelter services as follows: o $38,828 – Story County o $18,424 – City of Ames Financial Stability Notes From Schildroth: This is the largest panel in terms of services, agencies, and funding. Servicesinclude childcare, food pantry, rent and utility assistance, and transportation. The Financial Stability Panel is recommending a total of $2,242,340 to fund services. This is an increase of $46,544 or 2.2% over the current fiscal year funding level for this panel. It’s also approximately 53% (similar % to the current year) of the total funding 4 recommendations that the ASSET Board is considering this evening. This is primarily due to many of the services meeting the Funder’s priorities as well as significant increases in asks for services such as rent/utilities, food pantries, and childcare. There are 2 new/expanded services on this panel. Supportive Housing from TBH with requests to City, County, and United Way and Navigator service through Good Neighbor with requests to the City and United Way. Funding for these new services is not being recommended. The Navigator service is receiving County ARPA funds for two years. There is 1 agency on this panel, Able Up Iowa, who did not submit a budget request for FY 24. Staff shortages continued to be a theme amongst many of the agency presentations. Increases in budgets reflect increases in wages and benefits to attract and retain staff. The Red Cross has its Disaster Services in this panel and historically requests have been made to the City and United Way. A request was not made to the City for FY24 but only to United Way and it was a significant increase ($21,000). Red Cross carries a federal charter and an agreement with FEMA addressing disaster services. Because of this, they will provide services regardless of local funding. The need for Emergency Shelter services continues to grow and TBH has been unable to meet this need. They requested $247,927 which is a $92,209 increase over the current year and the recommendation to the Funders is $155,718. TBH also requested funds for its new service Supportive Housing in the amount of $115,000. The volunteers did not allocate funding to this service due to service delivery issues with Emergency Shelter services. TBH’s request for Rapid Re-Housing was for $30,460, up from $20,996 for FY22/23. The Volunteers are recommending flat funding of $20,996. An additional recommendation from the Volunteers is that Funders reserve a total of $181,640 for Emergency Shelter services and that the Funders engage in an RFP process for these services and that meetings continue with ASSET staff to ensure continuity of services. The breakdown per Funder for the recommended RFP funding is as follows: City of Ames: $66,258 County: $89,330 United Way: $26,062 Mayor Haila asked if the RFP timeline for TBH, and is for FY24 or FY25? Schildroth stated it is for FY24 and if approved by all Funders, work on RFP will begin immediately. We would review any proposals, select entity to provide service and funds would continue for the new entity with any funds left. The important thing is no lapse in this service. King explained that the community has outgrown the current shelter and additional hotel rooms. People in need of these services are being turned away and this is troublesome, especially with the winter weather. There was discussion on this gap in service. Garman motioned to start the RFP process, Schill seconded. Motion carried unanimously. Schildroth explained that a letter will be drafted to TBH immediately. Haila asked how probation services fit with priorities? Schildroth said CCJ is unique as they provide services for lower level crimes. Their probation officers are also referring clients to other resources which is promoting prevention. Latifah Faisal stated that with CCJ’s case management and support, she feels most clients are successful after going through this process. Schildroth explained they are working on a shoestring budget and that the CCJ Executive Director has a small caseload. Mundel said their data is very good and so are the numbers they serve. 5 Overview of the process Kresse explained there is lots of information to review in a short amount of time. And thanked Mundel for her hard work on the data. Volunteers also agreed and offered their comments on how they think the process went. Kresse announced ASSET will be working with the MBA Class at ISU to take a look at the budget allocation spreadsheets and the process to see how they might help improve it. OLD BUSINESS - None ADDITIONAL ITEMS – None INFORMATION/ANNOUNCEMENTS: • Funding Recommendation Posted: January 20, 2023 • ASSET Admin Team Meeting: February 1, 2023, 12:15pm @ United Way • ASSET Meeting: February 9, 2023, 5:00pm @ CityChurch • ASSET Admin Team Meeting: March 1, 2023, 12:15pm @ United Way • ASSET Admin Team Meeting: April 5, 2023, 12:15pm @ United Way • ASSET Meeting: April 13, 2023, 12:15pm @ CityChurch ADJOURNMENT at 6:15pm`